DPI, Book Proof, Farmer's Market Produce, Cake, Basil and Pics Rant!

Well, I received the email I have been waiting for saying "my book proof was ready". I met the editing requirements. To rephrase "my pictures were at 219 DPI" the "best practice" for photos is to get them with @ 300 DPI, tried and tried to increase the DPI in my "food" photographs. While I am doing better than the original pictures count of 72 DPI, I am still not at 300 DPI. Therefore, my cookbook paperback will be at 219 DPI with black and white photos. I shall continue to strive to make the hardback book with color pictures as close to 300 DPI as I can. I hope that my picture taking skills improve, and that I have learned how to take "better pictures" or can do whatever it takes to get a "REALLY" good picture from this point forward.

That said I am awaiting proof number 2! I hope that my proof will arrive within the next few days and I can get the "marking aspect of selling this book: on the road this week and start offering my black and white paperback copy of Exploring Mexican Cuisine on my website and Amazon.com.

As for pics, I have tried to take pictures of tools I am using and have decided I will include a little more info and full color pictures in the full color hard back of my book, which will come out a few weeks later than the paperback copy of the cookbook.

I went to the local farmers market in Capitan this past weekend and got some gorgeous gigantic zucchini, fresh mountain grown huge tomatoes and some sprouted wheat bread. Today I went by my sister-in-laws place and grabbed a handful of fresh basil. To make the vegetable sauté I got out my sauté pan and I added:

1 T olive oil
1 quartered, sliced zucchini
2 roughly chopped slices of purple onion
1 large diced tomato
1 clove garlic
1/2 t each of fresh black pepper and sea salt

I let the onions wilt, added the fresh torn basil leaves, and let it all cook down until the basil had wilted. I served fresh cabbage with a CIDER VINEGAR Vinaigrette from my cookbook "Exploring Mexican Cuisine: Abuelita's Kitchen" along with smoked Cornish game hens which my husband had prepared. YUMMY. Then I made my carrot cake but substituted 1/2 of a fresh shredded zucchini to the "carrot cake" recipe and added 1 cup of pineapple cut in small chunks and made 1/2 recipe of Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 oz softened butter
4 oz softened cream cheese
2 cups of powdered sugar

Mix Cream cheese and butter well, add powdered sugar and mix well. It will cover the top of a whole cake 13" x 9". My husband loves the cake and it leaves allot for leftovers and I will freeze 1/2 the cake in individual servings so he can grab it/defrost it whenever he wants it.

Now, to start on the article pertaining to fall in the Mountains, which my NM Writers Club is writing. I still need to put up that carrot, zucchini, and pineapple cake with cream cheese frosting, which is sitting in my kitchen right now.

Um, maybe time for a VERY SMALL late night snack and a glass of milk!