Book Update!

So. Last week was crazy up in here, guys. Lots of prep for the last two days of shooting for the cookbook, which involved a lot of sugar, running around and swearing. Then there was the actual shoot, which was as awe-inspiring as the first shooting day I spent with the dream team of photographer Leigh Beisch and prop styling queen Sara Slavin a while back. Seriously, these ladies are some of the most divinely creative people I have ever met. Leigh can make absolutely anything look lush and sexy and Sara brings the equivalent of an Anthropologie housewares section (and then some) with her to every shoot. Now that all the shots for the book are complete (we even sneaked a few of me in the mix--awkward and yet very exciting) and the first design proofs are being put together, this is all getting Really Real.

It's quite a mind-blowing experience to go from playing mad scientist in one's kitchen and forcing samples on your husband every half hour to being in a gorgeous photo studio with two incredibly experienced women who can turn your humble recipes into Food Supermodels. Everyday, I dorkily showed up with boxes of my confections, prepped them to my liking and then brought them to set where Leigh and Sara and their assistants (Hi Diana, Sean, Harrison, Cassie and Kari!) worked their magic. Bella the Pug brought canine cuteness and stood watch for wayward scraps. I was constantly thanking my lucky stars that they were the team chosen to bring all my treats to life. They all made it such a fun experience, and totally make me look like I know what I'm doing, which clearly is key. Since the shoot wrapped, I feel lost without my village. That's the best kind of team you can hope for on a creative project, really.

I have to say thanks to so many of you who have sent sweet tweets, e-mails and notes on The Facebooks. It's so nice to know that a few people besides my mom might buy a copy. Oh! And! I'm really excited to finally be able to reveal that the book is all about the fluffy, puffy art of homemade marshmallows. You can even pre-order it on Amazon now, people! This is all bananas-level surreal, I'm telling you. I sort of can't believe that a tiny seed of an idea I had months and months ago has grown into a real, live book, and that my trusty editor Margaret at Quirk Books is as wacky as I am and so pumped about homemade mallows. For this, we will be soul sisters forever, I am sure of it.

Now that we're really in crunch mode with proofing before we send everything to the printer and give you all the most fabulously sweet, puffy book of all time, I may be away from this space a little more than I'd like. But before you know it, mid-August will arrive and I'll be all up in your area with a bunch of new recipes and stories and what not. And then, come next Spring, I'll be begging you all to tell every single person you know about my crazy little marshmallow book. So just get ready for that, is all I'm saying. For now, I'm goin' back in.