Delicious Geography!

It is finally time to announce the title of the book I have co-authored with my father—Delicious Geography: From Place To Plate. Hooray!!! It has been quite a labor of love and after many delays (and tears), I am happy to tell you that it is now available for pre-order on Amazon and will be in our shop by mid-November for those of you who want signed copies.

I had no idea how difficult writing a book was—and I only wrote a portion of it! There are so many people involved in the making of a book and so many different processes along the way. I am very thankful to the people who have helped this project to move forward—mainly my family for giving me the time,space and gentle nurturing I needed and my parents for the whole idea in the first place. We are all getting very excited to actually hold the finished product in our hands. We have seen the final proofs and they look great. The designer who did the cover did a fantastic job—don’t you think?

Obviously, this is not a book about vanilla, per se, but my father (having previously published two books) wanted me to ‘get my feet wet’ and then get that wet foot into the door of publishing, so, hopefully this will make way for more opportunities. In fact, I am heading to New York City this month to a publicity summit to pitch a future book idea that will be more vanilla-centric. Your prayers and good wishes are most welcome!

This book is not about vanilla, but I did include vanilla in as many recipes as I possibly could! The premise for this book was to investigate different geographical concepts and then solidifying that learning by then making a recipe that would extend the experience into the kitchen and hopefully continue even more conversation, learning and fun at the dinner table. The recipes that are in this book are traditions in our family. Next week we have a ‘Godfather’ night planned—a full menu to go with the movies (including Godfather cocktails and Cannoli Bites—both recipes from the book!) My hope is that this book will inspire a few new traditions within your family.

I always love to hear about how families celebrate! Traditions and celebrations are the moments, the oasis to aim for—for our whole family. They are the times that give us that sense of anticipation —and as I always tell my kids—anticipation is about 80% of the fun! The planning, preparing, shopping, making lists & invitations, making things for loved ones—are all a part of the celebration process and (most of the time!) I look forward to all of it.

In celebration of our book, we have created a few different ways for you to celebrate with us: we will be having an open house with a reception featuring yummy recipes from the book, a trivia game hosted by my father with lots of prizes and of course, we will be signing copies of our book. There are two events; one on the Big Island at our Mill site in Paauilo. It will be on Saturday, November 19 from 4-7 p.m. All are invited, please RSVP here. We will also be hosting an open house at my parents home in Kailua, Oahu on Friday, December 2 from 4-7 p.m. For this event, RSVP here.

If you do want to order a book directly from us, both my father and I will sign them to you, gift wrap them and ship them to you or a loved one—just in time for the holidays! This really will make a wonderful, creative gift option for someone special in your life. We can include a bottle of our vanilla extract or a bean if you like…The books should be here, at our Mill site, by mid-November and we will be shipping them out as soon as we get them.

Thank you all for being patient with me through this process. So many of you have been asking for a cookbook and I know this is something that you will all enjoy. I hope this finds you all well and getting ready for the wonderful Fall season—my favorite time of the year. I also hope to see you at one of these events—to lift a glass and celebrate with you!