Never a dull moment

We have been living through interesting times this past month. Remember that proverb, "May you live in interesting times"? Apparently Robert Kennedy quoted this "ancient Chinese curse" in a speech in South Africa in 1966. Only it turns out that there is no such curse, or at least, not in China. The only known Chinese proverb related to this sentiment reads, "It's better to be a dog in a peaceful time than be a man in a chaotic period." I'm sure it sounds more graceful in its original tongue.

Anyway, we've weathered some interesting times in recent weeks, most poignantly with the recent and much-too-soon death of Scott's uncle Ron Magram, who had a lot to teach us all about finding meaning in difficult times.

We've emerged in relatively good shape, and last week I got some very exciting news indeed. Remember that book proposal that I mentioned? Well, if all goes according to plan, my first cookbook -- everything you ever wanted to know about apples and more (that's not the title) -- will be published in Fall, 2008 by W.W. Norton. If it goes a little slower than that, it'll be more like Fall, 2009.

My editor (I have an editor!) has encouraged me to not worry too much about the dates at the moment, but I've been diving in these past couple of weeks. Hence this photo. It's an apple Dutch baby pancake I made this morning. Good (and pretty, no?), but too much flour in the batter. I think I'll get it right in the second round. There's also some cinnamon rice pudding with apple compote in the fridge. I need to figure out some sort of food distribution scheme because it's piling up.

From here on out I'm going to use this blog as a journal to record what I'm learning as I work on the book. This project is going to take a while and the incline of the road ahead is daunting from this angle. Especially since I'll be writing this on the side (though not in secret). Bird by bird, as they say. Or, in my case, apple pie by apple pie. This is the good side of "interesting."