So here we are! It’s finally officially open! I’ve been waiting for a long time to make the announcement and share the site with people and today all the bio’s finally went up and I updated the “books” page. So we’re in business! There are still a lot of little things to add (links, etc) but we’re well on our way to bookery cookery as of today. I want to thank Gina for coming up with this idea and Jeanine for the awesome name, as well as Brianne for catching on to posting so quickly. She’s a first-time blogger, guys, and she’s already posting pictures and stuff!

I’d do an introduction but there are so many places on the web that can tell you all you need to know about me, including our “about” page, which you can find by clicking “about” at the top of the page or by clicking right here. I also own/run Cupcake Rehab, so you may know me from there, but if not… check out my little bio and the bio’s of these other three lovely ladies and get to know us a little better. The navigation around here is pretty easy: the about page, the contact page, and the books page (where all the books we “cook” will be listed, along with a summary and information about where to purchase them). If you need to get back to the main page, just click the books at the very top of the page and they’ll bring you home. Easy, right? Each post will also have a photo near the date/subject at the top, and that photo is of the author of that particular post. Makes it easy to see who wrote which post. If you’d like to contact any of us, please feel free to find us on the “contact” page and drop us a line.

Okay, so as Brianne said yesterday, our first book is I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Giulia Melucci. I love this book- it’s really a good, fun, light read. It’s kind of like Sex & The City with food. I first heard about it when I discovered that the author was signing copies of it at the Lord & Taylor fundraiser in April ’09. The fundraiser was for a few different charities, but I was there for the Adelphi NY Statewide Breast Cancer Hotline & Support Program. My mom is a breast cancer survivor who works with the Adelphi program, and they were very helpful and supportive to her when she was undergoing treatment, but there are a few different groups and charities (and some churches) that use the Lord & Taylor Special Event day to raise money. Basically, you bought a ticket through your charity group or church, and then recieved a coupon for 20% or 25% off all your purchases that day (even cosmetics and perfume, which is never on sale), and I believe that then 20% of each purchase goes towards that charity. It was really nice of Giulia to devote her time to signing so many free copies of her book that day, and I’m very glad she did because it’s become one of my favorite books with recipes in it. I’ve made a few of her recipes so far, but I’m eager to make more.

I suggested it as our first book choice because not only is it a fun read, like I said, but it’s relatively short so during this busy holiday time when we all have so much to do and so many places to go, it’s a good choice for shoving into a purse to take on a train, or to bring to family events to sneak in a chapter during downtime.  We encourage you, our readers, to read along with us and “cook the books” yourself!

I hope the other girls enjoy the book as much as I did, and I’m looking forward to reading many more!