A quick response here to all who commented on my last post or sent me emails or had questions. As well, a very warm thank you for being my readers in the first place, and for otherwise staying tuned to my odyssey as a first time author. It’s been quite a journey and I’m grateful to all who’ve come along for the ride, some of you literally and many in spirit.

A few facts:

My Nepenthe will be in stores across the country. Currently it can be purchased on line at the Phoenix Shop. Amazon is also pre-selling it, though if not purchasing through the shop, I am encouraging people to buy one from your local independent bookstore if you can, instead.

Nepenthe will have the first run of books within a couple of weeks (and about a month ahead of everywhere else), so if you want to make sure you get a copy for the holidays, and a signed one at that, place your order through the Phoenix Shop, or otherwise join us for the book launch event on October 24th to pick one or more up on site. We will have stacks of books on hand and I will be signing them right then and there.

I have a list of events here that I am continuing to update. Making plans to be in Santa Fe and hopefully Seattle into the new year. I will sign books at each event, talk about what it was like to grow up at Nepenthe, hopefully hear your own stories, and at some, may give a slide show or share a special recipe from the book.

In interest of sharing and a little on the design elements of my book: The red Millefiore fabric on the spine of my book was designed by my uncle Kaffe Fassett.

Other fabrics of his, as well as fabrics that were scanned from remnants of my grandmother’s smocks, are used throughout the book. If you love this fabric or Kaffe’s fabrics in general you can purchase them at Glorious Color, a wonderful resource that also sells Kaffe books and other items designed by him, as well fabrics by Brandon Mably, his assistant. Look for Kaffe’s new line of floral trays, a simple carry sack, rugs, and other household items. Hint: Crate and Barrel’s new catalog is selling dinner napkins made from the same fabric, so if you want to have a My Nepenthe home party, this is the way to go (you can also make your own, more in line with the DIY gestalt).

I will continue to post musings on food, family and Big Sur (and Oakland) living on this blog. I’m already onto another project but can’t quite tell you yet; besides keeping up with all else that I do (food styling), it should be fun.

And finally, being somewhat web challenged at times, I hope to get some help updating the look and feel of this blog, and otherwise make a webpage that is purely for the book. As for many things in life, trying not to get ahead of myself and go one day at a time.

I leave you with one of the more personal images from my book: