After a years of being in-house in the broad trade publishing business, I took a job focusing exclusively on cookbooks — after which then wrote / co-wrote a few of my own.

Which is why it was so fun to see two of my cookbook, cocktail and all-around heroes — Stanley Tucci and Stephen Colbert discussing how they found the task of writing and traditionally publishing a cookbook — 

"Exhausting" "The process is so meticulous" "Brutal three years" "You have to be obsessive"

(Note - cookbook segment ends at 3:00 minutes).

Props to those not present for this convo respective co-authors / spouses — Felicity Blunt and the wonderful Evie McGee Colbert — as well as the extended families of recipe progenitors (I need to know more about "Bunky"). 

Note - I've had my copy of the Colberts' Does this Taste Funny in house for some weeks now — Lowcountry and other recipes for every night cooking and easy entertaining. Both the text and the photo program (a technical term, folks) of the cookbook is as warm and lovely as the couple appears to be on TV. The recipes all sound delicious (OMG hard to wait for those soft-shell crabs until they're in season again, but I'll console myself with the Spicy Honey-Lemon Chicken Thighs, which are on my home menu for next week ... )

And Stanley Tucci's food memoir of self-discovery, What I Ate in One Year, is on my list ... 

Of course, my cookbook-loving heart will always beat for Stanley Tucci's portrayal of Paul Child — Julia Child's beloved husband — in Nora Ephron's foodie ode to marriage, Julie and Julia. 

[Full disclosure: Early in my publishing career I worked with the octogenarian but still energetic "French Chef" and then later on one of her biographies. She didn't disappoint on any level and I've got some Julia insider info, wisdom, and how-to insights on my general consulting website: Publishing a First Book: Julia Child's Long Road and Mastering the Art of Book Marketing [inspired] by Julia Child.]

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