Category Archives: Writing

So You Want To Write a Cookbook

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: February 21, 2012

A collection of cookbooks. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

So so so many people tell me they have a cookbook to write, asking for advice, and I almost always do my best to discourage them, with Asian delicacy and Germanic firmness, I hope. Because I believe that there are too many cookbooks out there already and the ones so often published add nothing new. So when writer and educator Dianne Jacob asked me what does define a successful cookbook, it got me thinking. She’s written an excellent post collating many, many responses from people in the industry. The responses are surprising in their diversity. The first and obvious answer is, a book is successful if it makes money for the publisher and author. And there are many ways this can happen, meaning that a book that sells ...

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Also posted in Books, Business, Food Writing, Guest Post, Tips | Tagged Dianne Jacobs, Will Write for Food, writing a cookbook | Comments closed

A New Read

By Emilia | Published: February 6, 2012

Food Mayhem is a blog that covers a little bit of everything in the culinary world from recipes to travel, via Food Mayhem.

Also posted in Article | Tagged blog, Food Blog, Food Mayhem | Comments closed

Waiting For Donna

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: January 23, 2012

All photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman

Race week in Key West is a massive boondoggle for me. I wake, look out at the water, drink coffee, write until noon, personal writing, then head to the house where I cook for 12 to 16 people every night.

I straighten the kitchen, throw away a few forgotten red plastic cups with limes floating in them, make a list, do some shopping, prep what can be done ahead (make some sauces, or a stock, pick and blanch green veg). Then I go back to my room at The Galleon, condos right on the docks, and have some coffee and write and re-write some more.

The boys return from being on the water and I put ...

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Also posted in Food Adventure, Food Culture, Food Writing, Travel | Tagged key west, photos, refection, writing | Comments closed

French Chef

By Emilia | Published: January 16, 2012

Video: The amazing Julia Child bringing cooking home to all and Julia Powell sharing what she learned, via Good Morning America.

Also posted in Article, Books, chefs, New Media, Recipes, Video | Tagged Good Morning America, Julia Child, Julie Powell, video | Comments closed

Literary Interlude: Ann Patchett’s Getaway Car
A Review

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: January 6, 2012

My desk this morning, photo by iPhone

Looking to check out a new media format, the Kindle Single, I came across Ann Patchett's long essay The Getaway Car. I bought it for $3 and was reading away on my sleak Kindle Fire moments later. (Impulse purchasing = Danger!) In this case, the purchase was well worth it. The highly regarded novelist tells her story—every writer has a different one. Patchett, in easy, conversational prose (it kind of reads like a long email to an acquaintance), traces her course from a girl who knew she wanted to be a writer pretty much since she became conscious of being conscious, through college, the Iowa writing program, skipping over a brief marriage, work as a waitress at TGIFridays where she made up stories in her head, to teaching ...

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Category Archives: Writing

So You Want To Write a Cookbook

A New Read

Waiting For Donna

French Chef

Literary Interlude: Ann Patchett’s Getaway Car
A Review

ruhlmanphotography.com

Info on Donna's Ratio Chart and Photography

Kitchen Tools

Recipes