The Week in Review

On Wednesday night, Day 2 of Publication, my 8-year-old was sitting at the dinner table waiting for her chicken with biscuits (recipe on the way) when she  said, “Mom, you weren’t here for dinner Monday or Tuesday night.”

“Yeah?” I said.

“That’s so unlike you.”

“I know,” I told her. “Remember, my book is out this week. There’s a lot going on. It’s going to be a little hectic. You want to hear what’s going on?”

“Nah. Oh, I forgot to tell you about the finals of the KenKen competition.”

I’m sorry if you feel a little like my kids right now, and I promise that we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming soon, but I’ve been so overwhelmed by emails and instragrams and facebook posts and reviews that it just doesn’t feel right not to acknowledge how grateful I am for all the feedback. (Do not mistake this for complaining.) I just wanted to share a few of of the highlights, beginning with the photo below of my friend Kirsten and her adorable daughter Billie, who apparently thinks the skillet of meatballs (or Andy’s head?) is scratch-and-sniff.

The photo on the left was sent by reader Betsy, who I think should be a prop stylist in her spare time. (Eight books, by the way. Now there’s a loyal supporter.) On the right  is me signing books at BEA, a book convention in NYC and first on line was Hallie (not shown), who I lived next door to for the first 18 years of my life and hadn’t seen in ages. I knew it was going to be a good day.

There was this post on facebook, from the amazing Dahlia Lithwick of Slate, that should keep me going for the next few decades: “Congratulations to Jenny Rosenstrach who’s book Dinner a Love Story (based on the blog I have been slavishly following) goes on sale today. She is a national treasure and her cookbook will be one as well.” 

From Frankie via DALS: “Reading through the phases of your love story has me looking forward to the rest of mine – future sleepless nights, picky eaters – all of it. I’ve been brought to tears by many of the pages, overwhelmed by the love and dedication that shines through these many stories…I’m buying this book for every wedding/baby shower I have to attend from now on.”

From Tim, via twitter: “Expect @Dinner: A Love Story to be as valuable as Bittman.”

Bittman! I’ll take it.

From Hannah: “Your beautiful, beautiful book arrived today. The moment my kids were in bed I sat down with it, and now two hours later, I think I have read most of it. I love it! Your website has long been one of my favorites, mostly for your down-to-earth approach and your honesty. Your recipes are always given context on the site and I think many of us have pieced things together, but now with DALS the Book, there is a single continuous narrative and I love it!”

Another shot of the signing at Book Expo America. To the nice people in this photo: I hope you don’t mind that I included you in my round-up. I didn’t know how to get in touch but I couldn’t resist posting it. Please contact me if you are one of the people who were nice enough to hold up your books and I will send you something!

Lastly, I think the review of DALS on Food52 (“The Family Cookbook Problem“) has been my most favorite one so far. This Nicholas Day character who wrote it seems to be un-Googlable and unFacebookable and so I am forced to thank him publicly. Particularly for this line: “[My second childs’s] arrival coincides with the publication of Dinner: A Love Story, the cookbook version of Jenny Rosenstrach’s blog. Her book and blog are something very rare in the genre of family dinner: They inspire neither homicidal nor suicidal impulses.” That might just be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.

Back to dinner (and KenKen) on Monday! Have a great weekend.

Insanely beautiful photo of flour-splashed cookbook by James Ransom for Food52.

Reminder: Tell me your favorite part of the book (not on this page, but through the official contest survey) and be eligible to win some pretty awesome prizes. You have until July 9 to enter so get reading!