Interesting conversation I had today...

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Okay... I had an interesting conversation with someone today. I was doing my usual visit to the Publix grocery store. For those who do not live in the area, you probably don't know that they have a section called Aprons Simple Meals, where they cook samples of their food products. The chefs that create these recipes, do an awesome job making it easy for customers to duplicate them, and they are so delicious too. Anyway... A fellow customer was explaining about how she loved to cook, and recently made some homemade beef jerkey with her dehydrator machine. I told her that I picked one up a few months ago, but have not gotten around to using mine yet. So she started giving me this great recipe, and helpful tips on how to make a delicious beef jerkey. In the process...she mentioed wanting to publish her own cookbook. I told her that I had the same dream. She told me that she had tried, but it was so hard doing it by herself. She needed to make sure people would be able to follow her recipes, so they would turn out tasting as good as when she made them. Which I totally get, because so many times recipes don't come out tasting the way the creator of those dishes intended them to... So basically...she needed testers to try to recreate her recipes. She went on to mention that her mom helped her create a video, and recipe, for one of Rachel Ray's cooking contests; and even though she did not win, she ended up creating a delicious meal from the contest that she never would have had. Anyway... As the conversation continued, she asked me if I would be interested in collaborating with her on the cookbook, and be a co-author? I asked her if she was serious, and she insisted that this was no joke. She felt that between the two of us, we could get the cookbook finished, and it would be ready for publication by this time next year. She then added my phone number to her contact list; then called my phone so I could have hers. She wants to send me the recipes that she has, so I could try a few, to see how easy I feel they would be to make, and she is going to do the same for mine. Then we will come together to tweak them, and make any changes if necessary. We plan on using Skype a lot, so we don't have to travel every week, between homes. I know some of you may think that this may be a hoax, and/or scam. I don't think so. I mean...if you saw the passion in our eyes when we spoke about cooking, you would not have to question our motives. Besides...Juiia Child had collaborators on her cookbook. She is like me. She said that she will deliberately leave something off her grocery list, so she will have a reason to go back to the grocery store the next day, to get it. LOL Publix says that they see both of us in their store everyday, and it is true. I have already learned some good tips from her, and she has never used Mrs. Dash in any of her dishes, and would like to try some of my recipes that calls for it. There is so much that we could learn from each other. Ironically...her name is Lisa, and my name is Teresa. I came up with this idea that she loved. I asked her if she saw the movie, or read the book Julie & Julia? She said that she had, and loved it. So I suggested that we name our cookbook Lisa & Teresa's cookbook (with the possiblity of adding specifics to the title once we see what recipes were are going to add.) She wants us to tell a story with our recipes. Found out that she is also a writer like I am. She asked me if I was more of a savory cook, or baked a lot of sweets? I told her that I was more of a savory cook, and so was she... We both only bake sweets for the holidays. We could not be more of a perfect match for this project. Neither one of us felt that our paths crossing today, was by accident. I have been looking for a project to do, and had a dream to publish a cookbook. This may be God's answer for me. She had a friend who self-published her cookbook, and marketed them to Costco's wholesale foods, and now they are in every store nationwide. Even if we got our cookbook sold only in the local markets, we would be thrilled. Having it go national, and making it to the bestseller list, would just be icing on the cake (so to speak). We want to get started right after the New Year. If nothing else becomes of this...I would have gained a friend who has the same passion for cooking as I do. As far as I am concerned...this would not a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all. In fact... It would be a great start, to a brand new year!