So, in case you haven't heard, today is the day Dinner: A Love Story is officially on sale. When you pick up your copy, the first thing I'd like you to do is turn to The Acknowledgments on page 299. There are a lot of people mentioned in those pages -- as my editor said when she received my first draft of the section, "This should be it's own book!" -- because there were a lot of people who helped make this happen in both small ways (picking up my kids at school when I was in the middle of shooting a pork chop: Annie!) and huge (producing a masterful Dinner: A Love Story Book Trailer: Ed!) But you will see that the very first thank-you goes out to you guys, my loyal dinner-making, book-reading, thoughtful-comment-writing Dinner: A Love Story readers. It's hard to overstate how much your support these past few years has meant to me and how much I appreciate all those heartfelt emails I receive on a daily basis -- the ones that Andy mentioned last week and which, half the time, come with the subject head "Thank you."
Well, now it's time for me to say thank you. Over the last few months I've been collecting gifts that fit with the general philosophy of this blog -- pots and pans and cooking classes and a week of free dinners and kids' books and crazy cool lunchboxes and some of the most delicious chocolates you will ever eat. So it's only fair that today, the day Dinner: A Love Story is published, you guys get the chance to win them. All you have to do is click here to check out the prizes, answer one simple question (what part of the book resonated with you the most?), and follow the instructions on that page for how to proceed. (Please do not leave your "resonant moment" in this comment field. Again, go here!)
You have until July 6 to enter. Good luck!
And: Thank you.
Jenny, Andy, Phoebe & Abby
Split-personality pizzas: Everyone goes home happy. Pizza recipes begin on page 266.
My Dinner Diary in early 2005, when the girls were 2 and 1. Notice all the freezer and takeout dinners.
All photos above by Jennifer Causey for Dinner: A Love Story. Cover design by Allison Saltzman.