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I think it looks pretty good! I could put this on a sticker that I’d use to seal a marshmallow package, or on a business card.

The colors are taken from Feast — we’re not wedded to them, but will probably go with something along these lines. Though could be convinced otherwise, maybe.

We’ve taken design as far as we can go, so keeping these basic elements, what might we do to improve it?

(Kavi says you should be nice to her in your critique. Feel free to be mean to me, though. Right now we are debating whether it’s tilted a little to the right or not. I think it is. :-))

Kavi and I spent a while this evening working on logo design for Serendib Press. It was a collaboration, but she did most of the actual work!

• the first sketch is hers, based on me talking about what I wanted to be in the image
• the second is mine — I wanted to try filling out the scene a little, straighten the edges, etc.
• the third is where Kavi took over, and I just served as the client, giving her suggestions — I can do some of the things she can do in Procreate, but not a lot of it, and she’s much much faster
• the fourth is after we took out the outside border so we could straighten it, and added a window for balance, and gave the stars more presence, like steam rising out of the kettle
• the fifth is we started playing with color, using the colors on the cover of Feast as a jumping off point, for cohesion

I’m going to ask for critique in the next post, so we can iterate a little further, but for this post, I wanted to show the collaboration process. And also brag on my kid a bit.

I told Kavi she’s getting paid for her work on this. What do you think a 13-year-old logo designer should get — same as adult? A percentage? Inquiring minds want to know!

a) If you order any print book (paperback or hardcover) today or tomorrow, you’ll get:

– total value $15

b) LOCALS-ONLY (because it’s too expensive / complicated to deal with shipping otherwise):

– individual soaps, bath salts, or set of 3 marshmallows ($5) — comment below to order these for porch pick-up, and I’ll confirm here.

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Just comment here on which soap / salts you want, so I can track and confirm I still have enough, and then I’ll send you to the Shopify site to place the order, or arrange local payment / pickup.

Order two books, you get to pick out two bath treats, etc.

Until Sunday night, or while supplies last.

*****

Books available:

(please note if you’d like books signed and/or dedicated to someone)

Soaps:

Veggie scent: Melbourne Calling (eucalyptus, mint, avocado)

– veggie seed packets: peas (4 left)

Flower scent: Asclepius in the Garden (naiouli, eucalyptus, and mandarin)

– orange creamsicle (set of 2 small) (3 left)

Bath Salts (enough for 3 baths):

– passionfruit & rose (8 left)

Mulled Apple Cider Marshmallows, sets of 3 (30 left)

Shipped out a half-dozen books from last weekend’s sale, with bonus bath products. This is really about the pace I can manage — if I were shipping a lot more, I think I’d need to enlist help for it. Which would be fine, just to be clear! More book sales = good. But for now, sending out a half-dozen books a week does still feel like I’m wrapping up presents for people myself.

I’m think a Labor Day sale tomorrow, with a choice of bath products or some sweets? We’ll see if I get through today’s laundry first…

And this piece appeared in the Corvallis Gazette Times (Corvallis, Oregon):

Sri Lankan food offers strong flavors

Mary Anne Mohanraj missed a lot of things when she went off to college, but the thing she was most homesick for was her mother’s cooking. When her parents immigrated to Connecticut from Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1973, they brought with them their fiery curries, coconut sambols and countless rice dishes.

“Mary Anne Mohanraj missed a lot of things when she went off to college, but the thing she was most homesick for was her mother’s cooking.

When her parents immigrated to Connecticut from Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1973, they brought with them their fiery curries, coconut sambols and countless rice dishes.

Many of the recipes were adapted to accommodate American ingredients. Her mother, Jacintha, for instance, used ketchup instead of tomatoes because coconut milk was hard to find. But even adulterated, the foods offered a comforting and familiar taste of their Tamil culture.”

The flavorful, and often overlooked, foods of Sri Lanka

This Sri Lankan stir-fry is made with roti, fresh veggies and leftover beef curry. It’s a popular street food. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS) Mary Anne Mohanraj missed a lot of things when she went off to college, but the thing she was most homesick for was her mother’s cooking.

Mascot paid me! Mascot is my hybrid publisher for the cookbook — they handle book distribution through Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and Amazon. We started taking pre-orders in January or so, I think, so this is about 8 months in, and is the first real check; they have to collect the money from those places before passing it on to me.

They’ve sold 431 copies in this statement, which translates to about $6700. I’ll have to run some more numbers at the finance meeting on Thursday, but this will definitely go a long way toward paying my part-time Serendib Press staff through the end of the year, and should mean Kevin and I don’t have to loan the press money. Big relief.

We’re still planning to re-launch the cookbook post-Covid, with a book tour and all, but this goes a long way towards our goal of ‘not losing masses of money on the project.’

Let me take this moment to thank everyone who’s taken the time to review my book — I’m sure that helped! I just glanced at the page on Amazon, and there are 15 reviews — all 5-stars. I’m honored and humbled. Thank you for loving and supporting my book!

I should ask Stephanie how many copies we still have in their warehouse — I expect sales will slow down dramatically, given most of these happened pre-Covid when we had the early press for the book, though it’s hard to predict. I want to guesstimate about 1300 copies left there? Maybe?

Regardless, I might buy myself something pretty to celebrate — probably something cooking-related.

Pictured is something else pretty I bought recently, and happen to be wearing today — a Ceylon rupee from 1944, turned into a pendant. Maybe it’s good luck; money to bring the money! Although it does have King George on the flip side, which is perhaps a slightly weird choice for someone trained in post-colonial literature… I can wear it ironically, though, right?

Happiness is the second shipment of Feast cookbooks arriving at your door, because you’ve sold out of the first shipment.

(Of course, now I have to carry them down to the basement. Book boxes are heavy. That’ll take care of some of today’s exercise…)

I was a nervous wreck before yesterday morning’s live TV thingie, and as a result, even though I’d gotten 7 hours of sleep the night before, was absolutely exhausted for the rest of the day.

I didn’t even try to work — I binge-watched Private Practice and lay on the couch or in bed all day. It’s a little shocking just how tired I was from only stress.

So I guess I wanted to note it, and put it out there as a reminder — the pandemic is stressful, e-learning with kids is stressful, the upcoming November election is stressful in America, and of course, many of us have other big stressors in our personal lives, aside from what’s happening globally.

It takes a toll on your body, on your physical health and capability, as well as mental health.

Go easy on yourselves, folks. Lower expectations where you can, for yourself and for those around you. We are still in the midst of a global disaster. If the e-learning is making everyone cry, take a break; it’ll be okay.

We could all use a gentle autumn.

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(And hey, if you missed the TV thingie, I’ll link it here. It actually went pretty well, even if I did run out of time (and apparently they asked a question I couldn’t hear, so to be clear, you want unsweetened coconut for this!). I think I’d be less stressed if I get the chance to do this again — it was just a lot of firsts to cope with all at once, with new tech, etc.)