November 6, 2006

Dryden publisher offers Thanksgiving help

I like to get press releases like this:

Ellis Hollow-based Publishing House Releases New Book that Makes Thanksgiving Prep Easy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Thanksgiving "how-to" book saves the day for harried cooks; published in Ellis Hollow

Ithaca, NY USA (November 6, 2006) -- It's easy to find Thanksgiving recipes, but much harder to find a complete set of tested recipes that go together to help real-world cooks in real-world kitchens make a delicious Thanksgiving meal without stress or last minute problems. Help is now at hand in the new book, "Take Control of Thanksgiving Dinner," written by Joe Kissell, author of the Geeky Gourmet blog. The 104-page book may be ordered in traditional printed form ($19.99) or as an instant-gratification PDF download ($10) from http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/thanksgiving.html.

The book was published by an Eliis Hollow-based independent publishing house - TidBITS Electronic Publishing, which was founded in Ithaca in 1990 by Tonya and Adam Engst, both long-time Ithaca residents and Cornell alumni. Inspired in part by the many out-of-date computer books - including some of their own - crowding the shelves at the Friends of the Library Book Sale, in 2003 the Engsts combined the talents of a group of experienced technical writers and editors to begin publishing a successful series of technology-related electronic books, thus reducing the number of books that reach bookstores already partly obsolete. "Take Control of Thanksgiving Dinner" is a departure from their normal technical focus, but proved to be an example of how the clarity and rigor of technical writing could be applied to a complex and stressful task in the real world. To learn more, visit http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/faq.html.

Editor in chief Tonya Engst commented, "Since Adam and I both grew up in Ithaca and have lived here as adults, we have a strong appreciation for locally grown, home-cooked foods, and it was pleasing to work with an author who also appreciated that home cooks would want to use fresh ingredients and not cut too many corners with prepared foods. Our author was unsure about suggestions for vegetarians at Thanksgiving, but - even though we're not vegetarian, lots of our friends are - we were able to help with an appendix on vegetarian and vegan options, complete with a recommendation of our favorite squash-polenta recipe from the 'Moosewood Celebrates' cookbook."

The book walks readers through all the steps: planning, shopping, preparations the day before, and finally cooking the turkey and trimmings on the big day. Detailed recipes are provided for traditional Thanksgiving dishes, from turkey and stuffing to cranberry relish and pumpkin pie. Appendixes cover special cases from allergies to vegans. A downloadable "Print Me" file provides shopping lists and schedules, as well as concise versions of the recipes to tape up in the kitchen. Readers are encouraged to modify the included shopping lists, schedules, and recipes to suit their holiday traditions. The downloadable version is a carefully designed PDF file with hot links for cross-references and mentioned Web sites, making it easy to navigate quickly; the print version is professionally printed and bound with a lay-flat binding.

For each book sold during the month of November, $1 will be donated to the San Francisco Food Bank, a non-profit organization (where author Joe Kissell has volunteered) whose mission is to end hunger in San Francisco. For more information about the San Francisco Food Bank, visit http://www.sffoodbank.org/.

For review copies, interview requests, or excerpts and recipes to publish, contact Tonya Engst, tonya@tidbits.com

It seems like there's business bubbling in every corner of the Town of Dryden.

Posted by simon at November 6, 2006 8:04 PM in
Note on photos