If you follow us on facebook, then you’ve already heard the news. For those of you who have not heard the great news, Hippocrene Books will be publishing the “Muy Bueno” cookbook. For year’s mom, Veronica, and I have labored over recipes, stories, and most recently which recipes would make the final cut for our cookbook. Our initial goal when we started this venture was to self-publish our cookbook. I’m a graphic designer and I figured, “I can do it”. But, as you can imagine I had NO idea what I was thinking. There is way more to a cookbook than making it pretty. There’s writing, editing, photography, design, publishing, marketing, promotion, and not to mention all the cooking, testing of the recipes, and food styling.

Luckily we have a great team that has made all this possible. My sister and I have been busy writing the blog and the recipes for the cookbook. And of course you’ve seen the incredible work of Jeanine (our photographer), but you haven’t heard much from our quiet mama. Mom hates to take any credit, but she has worked very hard on this too. She has even taken computer classes and bought herself a laptop and is now typing some of the recipes herself (que chula).

In the early stages, we (my sister and I) would call mom, handwrite all the recipes and then type them, and then send (by snail mail) to mom to review, re-test, and edit. NOW, she is typing and emailing them. And not to mention all the cooking she has done — WOW!!! She has visited me numerous times in Colorado to make several of the dishes that will be featured in the cookbook. We have also spent hours at antique shops and garage sales shopping for props and dumpster diving for rustic backdrops for photo shoots (it’s true, I’ve done it). I could go on and on about how much work this has been, but doing something one loves never really feels like work. The more recipes and memories we write, the more motivated I get. This entire process excites me and it’s what gets me going in the morning. We are truly passionate about documenting our stories and recipes for our children, family, and friends.

One morning, as I sat here drinking my coffee, I scanned my long list of emails and immediately noticed an email from Hippocrene Books. I knew who they were but nothing prepared me for what came next. Holding my breath I fumbled around with my mouse nervously trying to open the email. I quickly read the email and was thrilled to read that they were interested in chatting about the possibility of publishing our cookbook. Several months later after that initial phone call we finally signed on the dotted line.

The hard work is not over yet, and we have more recipes to type, edit, and test, as well as more photo shoots to plan. And of course we have this blog to maintain. But for now we are happy to be teamed with Hippocrene Books, a traditional publishing company that specializes in ethnic cookbooks and has over thirty-five years of publishing experience with an international focus. We know our baby will be in the best of hands.

For those of you who have been asking when our cookbook will be available to order we can now finally say that “Muy Bueno” will be available fall 2012.

Muy Bueno: Three Generations of Authentic Mexican Flavor offers Mexican recipes from the hearts of three generations. Muy Bueno takes readers through a journey of old-world northern Mexican cuisine, traditional south of the border home-style dishes, and Latin fusion recipes and treasured stories.

Thank you amigos for following us and sharing in our joy and goodwill. We look forward to seeing you all at our book launch and book signing next year, fall 2012.

Photography by Jeanine Thurston