On Amazon recently, I stumbled across a review for The Blooming Platter Cookbook written by one Terri Lynn Merritts.

It read like something my mother would have written(!) only Terri and I don’t know each other…or we didn’t until I sought her out on FB after reading her high praise.

Her words are music to my ears:

“I am seriously impressed with the recipes in Betsy DiJulio’s new book THE BLOOMING PLATTER COOKBOOK”…These are some of the most elegant and impressive recipes I have ever seen collected between two covers yet each one is easy doable by any cook. Betsy DiJulio has done an incredible job of sharing recipes you cannot find in any other cookbook. This is a truly unique, must-have cookbook.”

Thank you, Terri.

A huge shout-out and thank you to Rekaya Gibson is in order for her review of The Blooming Platter (Vegan) Cookbook for “The Culinary Scoop,” a feature of Cuisine Noir Magazine.

When you check out the magazine, notable for its beautiful photography, I think you’ll be gratified by how many vegan articles you’ll find.

My talented designer friend, Cae Hyrskanich, designed these custom Blooming Platter Cookbook bookplates at my request. 

Especially for folks who have purchased a book but live outside the local area, these allow me to still be able to sign and personalize the ir book s by mailing them a self-adhesive plate to adhere in the front cover or title page of their book.

Cae designed them so that I can easily print them from my inkjet printer using acid- and lignen-free adhesive-backed paper that I special ordered.

I love that each one features large flowers reminiscent of “blooming platters” along with small versions of all four of the seasonal icons used throughout the book.

Thanks, Cae, for allowing me to offer this custom feature!

…Brenda Lacasse!

Sometimes 13 IS a lucky number!  I will be mailing Brenda a copy of The Blooming Platter Cookbook as soon as she emails me her address.

The way my truly random selection worked is that I assigned a number 1-19 to each of the comments, first received to most recently received.  Then, thanks to the wonders of www.random.org, I just plugged in the starting and ending numbers, clicked “generate,” and voila!  Brenda’s number came up.  It’s a really cool simple tool should you ever need a random selection.

As for the rest of you contest entrants, thank you so much for throwing your number in the hat and for “liking” the book.  I look forward to responding to each of your yummy comments individually, and I hope you will be able to snag a copy some other way.

Happy Summer Solstice!  Today is the longest day of the year…more time for cooking and eating…compassionately!