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The Future of Publishing – Part 1

Friday, February 21st, 2014

Many people can’t figure out how to dress appropriately for the upcoming day’s weather, yet when it comes to publishing, everyone’s a soothsayer. When I told family and friends that I intended to intern and get started in the business, the most common reactions were:

“…Why?”

“Are you sure?”

and “Don’t do it! Don’t you know it’s a dying industry?”

These concerns are valid. Ever since televisions came into existence, readers have been lured away from their books. Now more than ever, people are being bombarded with newer, faster, more engaging entertainment options. As both a former literature teacher and ex-youth myself, I can confirm that there has been a significant decline in the appeal of reading. Today’s culture is one of instant gratification. People want everything to be fast and simple, including their content. Why take the time and effort to read when one can mainline digital images? Reading historical fiction about the 1920s takes effort—accessing every episode of Boardwalk Empire immediately on Netflix does not. Searching a book for information requires work—googling does not. Where children once read about Roman phalanxes or Orcish hordes, they now relive those battles in interactive digital environments that let them become generals, thieves, knights, archers, snipers, wizards, and monsters—in a visually stunning format. Giant IMAX theaters are a supersensory barrage from all angles. Asia even has new “4-D” theaters, where interactive seats vibrate and add tactile sensations during pivotal moments in films. As with any pleasure, such a limitless inundation of thrills has the effect of over-saturating dopamine receptors in the brain, numbing people to the effects of slower and less intensive mediums like books, and forcing them to need BIGGER, faster, and *flashier* content for their next fix.

Source: http://www.advancedtechnologykorea.com/7931/

Source: http://www.advancedtechnologykorea.com/7931/

An idealist might argue that no simulation can ever surpass the infinite power of the imagination, and that books serve as an essential conduit for tapping into this potential. Yet there is no valid argument that digital content cannot also be an avenue to the imagination, or that it cannot also inspire creativity in those viewing it. And the entertainment industry has no plans of slowing down their efforts to seduce the public away from reading.

Against this general shift away from books, publishing is admittedly relatively powerless. But publishing’s doomsday prophets are forgetting one key fact: there are still more readers today than ever before. When people think back to the glory days of books, when printed texts were the primary form of content and entertainment available, there were also significantly less people reading! Part of this can be explained by a simple census: given the exponential growth of the human population, there are now billions more potential book customers on the planet. But perhaps even more significant is the fact that literacy and education rates have skyrocketed across the globe. 500 years ago, simply being literate was rare enough to ensure stable employment and a constant source of income. 150 years ago, higher education was limited to a select class of people, while the majority of the world was either illiterate or educated to a very minimal level. Every decade has drastically improved on not only the quantity of educated students worldwide, but also the quality of schools and classes. While today’s changing entertainment landscape might mean that a smaller percentage of school children will grow up to be regular readers, that won’t change the fact that a readership will always be present. As long as school curriculums continue to mandate literature classes, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, and Salinger will continue to inspire students and create life-long readers, much like symphonies continue to exist and prosper despite the invention of electric guitars and synthesizers.

–Beauchamp Bagenal

This is the first section of a three-part entry. My next post will address e-readers and how they have affected the present and future of the publishing industry.

Reality Bites

Wednesday, February 19th, 2014

I have recently had my mind on the public’s fascination with reality. Whether it’s reality television, the news, or the latest celebrity scandal, people seem to be more involved in the personal lives of others now more than ever.  As Beaufort Books is a publisher mainly of non-fiction, this appears to be working in our favor. Yet, there seems to be a line that those in the world of book publishing try to draw when it comes to the integrity and tastefulness of a story, a line that those in other media outlets often cross without a care. Certainly there are exceptions to this and tastefulness is not definitive. However, who else should uphold a standard when glossy gossip magazines are reporting that Khloe Kardashian might have a different father than Kim and Kourtney? Reality has become mediated and dramatized. I have for so long carried the notion that literary fiction was the ultimate art form, and yet I too occasionally find myself captivated by the latest scandal in the news. Not to say that there is anything wrong with this. The drama of other peoples’ lives has become the public’s new preferred form of escaping their own reality. People seem to be less interested in fiction, as the lines between public and private are increasingly blurred. So I ask myself, what is the role of non-fiction such as memoirs and biographies in all of this? They are not purely informative, nor are they pure entertainment. In reading them, we trust that they will reveal the truth. Perhaps it is the unreliability of fiction, of a fabricated story that can seem completely real as easily as it can seem completely false, that is turning us towards accounts of reality. Of course, it seems increasingly important to question the reliability of many sources of information and accounts of reality which claim to be true. Memoirs and biographies will never reveal a whole truth either, as they are written from the limited perspective of a subject. Nonetheless, I hope that people will continue to turn to these works of non-fiction to seek comfort and insight in an account of real life, when they are haunted by their mistrust of Selena Gomez’s publicist or the creators of the Jersey Shore.

-Violet Beauregarde

Je suis arrivee!

Thursday, January 30th, 2014

Well, hello!

My name is Rio, and I am one of the new interns at Beaufort Books this spring!  My nom de plume this year will be Beausenberry Pie, because I love pie: I love making it, eating it, and learning new recipes for it.  (My personal new favorite, which I made for the holidays, is a winter fruit fig-cranberry-apple-pear pie; it’s perfect for cold weather!)

As someone who is, clearly, obsessed with food, I have a special place in my heart for cookbooks and food books.  During the holidays, I received and gave myself two books having to do with food: the first, a yellow tome entitled The Gourmet Cookbook, and the second a collection of food essays collected by the New Yorker, called Secret Ingredients.  I’ve always found cookbooks to be far more than receptacles for ingredient lists and food stains, and the one I received was no exception.  Before each section, the author wrote stories about her family and their traditions, how she used the recipes, and different tips on how to prepare difficult meat or pastry dishes.  I’ve already started adding notes of my own, adding to the emotional weight of the book and making it just as important to me as my battered copies of the Harry Potter series and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Secret Ingredients captures the often strange world of food writing.  It contains words from everyone who’s anyone, from Woody Allen to Dorothy Parker to A.J. Liebling.  Together, they tap into the heart of what makes food so special: it relates us to other humans, keeps us sane, happy, and connected, and, in my opinion, can bring understanding of foreign culture and history closer than a textbook alone.  The people writing in this book clearly love food, and want to show their passion to the world.  Food and food writing is, at heart, a cultural exchange; by explaining food and our reactions to it, we explain ourselves.

I’m really looking forward to working at Beaufort Books this spring and getting to know everyone, through face-to-face interaction or through the blog.  I can already tell it’s going to be a fantastic spring!

With much gustatory love,

Beausenberry Pie

N.B.: As a way to make my mark on the blog this season, I’ve decided to include a relevant pie or dessert recipe for every post I make.  Since this is an introduction, I will give you the pie recipe I mentioned above.  If you’re gluten-free or don’t want to make your own pie crust, you can easily make a gluten-free one or use a store-bought crust and it will still taste delicious.

Winter Fruit Pie, from Epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Deep-Dish-Winter-Fruit-Pie-with-Walnut-Crumb-354977

Pastry

  • 1 3/4 cups (8 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 12 tablespoons (6 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 3 tablespoons ice water
  • 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Walnut Crumb Topping (optional)

  • 3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup packed (5 3/4 ounces) brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup (3 ounces) raw walnuts, coarsely chopped
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter, melted

Fruit Filling

  • 1 cup (5 1/2 ounces) dried figs
  • 4 small apples, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/2 inch thick (12 ounces prepped)
  • 4 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/2 inch thick (1 1/4 pounds prepped)
  • 1 cup (4 ounces) cranberries, fresh or frozen
  • 1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch

preparation

To make the pie pastry, put the flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl, stir to combine, then put the bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Add the butter to the flour mixture and toss to evenly coat. Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry blender, a food processor, an electric mixer, or your hands, just until the mixture becomes coarse and crumbly and the butter is the size of peas. Stir the water and lemon juice together, then pour over the dry ingredients and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured work surface and press it into a 6-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Roll the chilled dough into a 14-inch disk, then line a 9 or 10 by 3-inch springform pan with the rolled-out dough. Patch any holes and trim off any dough that hangs over the edges of the pan. Chill for an additional 30 minutes while you prepare the crumb topping and the fruit filling.

To make the walnut crumb topping, mix the flour, brown sugar, walnuts, cinnamon, and salt together in a bowl. Stir in the butter, then work it in with your hands until the texture of crumbs. Put the topping in the refrigerator while you make the fruit filling.

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F.

To make the fruit filling, remove the stem from each fig, then boil the figs in 1 cup of water for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside until cool enough to handle.

Slice each fig into 4 to 5 pieces, put them in a large bowl, and add the apples, pears, and cranberries. Separately, rub the sugar and cornstarch together, then add to the fruit and gently toss until evenly coated.

Transfer the filling to the pie shell and top with the walnut crumb. Bake in the lower third of the oven for 60 to 75 minutes, or until the crumb is golden, the fruit juices are bubbling thickly around the edges, and the fruit is tender when pierced with a wooden skewer. If the crumb is getting too dark, cover it with foil.

Today’s the Day

Thursday, January 23rd, 2014

With a heavy heart and a stomach full of Chinese food, I write this last blog post for my internship with Beaufort. My time at Beaufort has been so great and I honestly cannot believe that today is my last day here. Coming into this office with no publishing experience and no idea what to expect, I was so afraid of what would happen. Would they be monsters? Would they hate me? Would I have to make coffee runs five times a day for people in the office? The answer: NO. Except they might be monsters with really good disguises, just like that episode of Rugrats when Chuckie’s dad was really an alien. Instead of treating me like an intern, they treated me like a human and answered all of my questions. Yes, I did have to do filing and mailing and sometimes I did get coffee (but only when I was already going to Starbucks for myself). But I was also able to work on a ton of different projects and I always felt like my opinion was valued and heard. I loved writing my blogs and I feel like they have really kept my writing skills sharp, which is great for a recent college graduate who isn’t forced to write anything anymore and only writes texts (which turns your brains to mush).

I’m going to miss this internship, mainly because I’m going to miss the people that I’ve worked with here. Megan, Michael, and Felicia have been so amazing to work with and I’ve loved getting to know them over the past few months. The amount of enjoyment that I’ve gotten from my internship has just made me more confident in my career choice, which is awesome. To all current and future interns of Beaufort, heed these words: take advantage of every job or task you are assigned here. Everything that you are asked to do will help you in the future. Ask questions. Jump at opportunities to help out, even if it is just doing inventory of the book closet. The small, fun, inviting atmosphere of the office is something that you aren’t going to find anywhere else.  Also, if you can learn or already have a basic knowledge of magic and Arrested Development, that’s a plus.

-There’s Always Money in the Beaunana Stand

The Golden Ticket

Friday, January 17th, 2014

January 17, 2014

Hello there! I’m Frankie, a new editorial intern at Beaufort Books, or as I shall be known here, Violet Beauregarde, not because I resemble a giant blueberry, but simply because Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was one of my favorite books as a child (and secretly still is). Despite the fact that I am, of course, also a fan of more mature works of literature, I have recently reread some of the books that captivated me as a child in order to ease up from some of the more serious works that I have been required to read, and to examine the elements which caused these books to leave such an impression. The fantastical descriptions of candy have obvious appeal to a child; however, I think the dark aspects of the story are what made it stand out from some of the more wholesome children’s classics. Some of my other favorite books as a child were James and the Giant Peach, also by Roald Dahl, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll. Clearly, I have had a bit of an off-beat imagination from an early age. My mother passed on her love of books to me, as she reads at least one a week, never leaves the house without her Kindle, and has written a few books of her own. When I was first learning to read, we would read these books together, and only after finishing the books would I be allowed to watch the film versions. I now find myself a Comparative Literature major and a publishing intern, so upon reflection, I’m grateful for this ritual that my mother shared with me, as it has clearly had an influence. Not to mention, I still have a soft spot for English literature with somewhat macabre content (A Tale of Two Cities makes me cry hysterically every time). That being said, I’m eager to explore new books and learn more about the twists and turns of publishing as an intern. Hopefully my time at Beaufort will end more positively than the original Violet’s did at the Wonka Factory. We’ll see.

-Violet Beauregardetumblr_lqwf1z3ekV1qi2mrio1_500                                                                (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Paramount Pictures)

A New Challenger Appears

Tuesday, January 14th, 2014

Hello! I’m one of the new interns at Beaufort Books, Dmitriy, or Beauchamp Bagenal as I will hereafter forever insist on being known in and outside the office. I chose this name because the historical Beauchamp Bagenal was a rake and a rapscallion who was known as the handsomest man in Ireland during the 18th century. He was a consummate evildoer known for his prowess in politics, dueling, and womanizing (your choice on the greatest of the three vices, innocent reader), and tales of his exploits put even Lord Byron’s excesses to shame. It was a natural choice, given that a publishing intern’s duties really span the gamut from blogging and editing to unbridled lechery and sanctioned murder.

In my first post, I’d like to address an old adage: don’t judge a book by its cover. I believe it is no longer accurate in today’s world of book publishing, and that it should now be reserved primarily for metaphors about meatheads who contain multitudes.

Today’s book covers should instead be celebrated for the guidance they offer. They are specially designed to appeal to their primary target audience. Publishers invest a lot of time and effort into making this happen (as I’ve already witnessed during my first few days at Beaufort), so it would be downright rude to ignore their suggestions! If taken literally, the advice to not judge books by their covers was much more relevant to 19th century school children, who primarily dealt with nondescript leather bindings of assorted varieties. “Don’t discount this tome just because the binding has torn, Billy, and bring this draught of laudanum up to Sister Wetherby before that consumptive cough of hers wakes everyone again.”

Today’s covers are designed to be judged. And that’s a good thing. You can pretty much immediately tell that the giant book in the glossy red cover is a spy thriller your Uncle Larry will bring on the airplane, or that your spinster Aunt Sheila or 13-year-old Cousin Sherry will both secretly adore the book with the shirtless male model with flowing hair and smoldering eyes. A cover will tell you if you’re picking up a book of contemporary poetry to read ostentatiously in a pretentious coffee shop, or if you’re finding a life-advice manual to make you a better businessman/chef/public speaker/thief. Of course, there will be exceptions, and surprise! You’ll never be able to form a full opinion of a book until you actually read it (womp womp), but a cover is absolutely an excellent place to pass a first judgment.

ludlumlolz

taolinyuck

 

 

 

vs.

 

 

 

 

 

(Source 1: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/eric-van-lustbader/robert-ludlums-tm-the-bourne-deception/9781455519439/ Source 2: http://www.amazon.com/you-are-little-happier-than/dp/097656923X)

Both readers and publishers seem to have tacitly acknowledged this fact. In recent years, editions of Pride and Prejudice saw a sales boom because they were redesigned with a cover resembling a Twilight novel. Moreso than seeing this as a ploy to inveigle tween girls into reading the classics, one should instead realize it was a brilliant deduction that readers are actively expecting covers to catch their interest. Why shouldn’t Elizabeth Bennet’s love life be considered at least as enthralling as Bella Swan’s? If anything, it’s a disservice to the book to publish it with a dry English landscape on the cover: how many tweens want to read something that so blatantly screams REQUIRED FOR SCHOOL?
pridetwilight

Source: (http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/young-adult-novels-2013-10/index4.html)

And while we’re happily affirming that it’s okay to be judgmental, why not also add that a cover is a decent place to assess publishers themselves? There’s something sexy about a book with pleasing aesthetics and tactility (sorry, e-readers, but you just can’t compete here). A cover that doesn’t get smudged or greasy after I handle it? Be still my beating heart. And if a book completely defies one’s expectations about its content based on the cover, maybe that’s a reason to become wary of that publisher in the future. Covers shouldn’t cover anything up.

– Beauchamp Bagenal

A fond farewell!

Friday, December 20th, 2013

 

Friends, Romans, countrymen, it’s time for me to leave Beaufort.

 

Today is the last day of my internship! It’s very bittersweet. I’ve had a lot of fun here, but I’m hoping that this will lead to something great in the future. I can certainly say now that I know a lot more about publishing than I did when I started my internship in August. I had no idea how a book was made before, and now I know the basic planning process pretty well. I learned about CIP tagging, how to edit a book’s content in Adobe Indesign, what problems to look for in the design of a book’s cover and interior, and what kind of things work well in jacket copy. And I have to say, I am a master of mailings. I also feel like I made a mark on the office, albeit a small one. I introduced a few fun traditions, like breaks to play Jeopardy and to puzzle out riddles.

 

As far as my quest to read the lost and lonely books languishing on my bookshelf? Well, I made a good start. I read quite a few things that have sat for an undeterminable amount of time. Today I am reading Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card, which I can’t even remember buying. However, my habits still need some work. The thought of starting the various Dickens novels on my shelf is still daunting. I also got distracted by a donation of books from a friend, and have lately been itching to make a Barnes and Noble run. (But hey, that’s not my fault, I have a gift card!)

So goodbye, my friends. It’s been fun.

-A Little Beau Told Me

 

As an aside

Thursday, December 19th, 2013

This blog is really more of a personal rant or digression. I have encountered this literary problem before, but I have never had an outlet on which to complain about this stigmatized issue. And there can be no solution. So I figured that while I am writing a blog about books, I can share my irreparable discontent with the world!

Recently I’ve found that the film industry has been grasping for ideas for new and exciting movies, and a lot of popular films have been inspired by popular books. Some of these movies are great (The Hunger Games movies haven’t disappointed me or my mother yet), while others have kind of missed the mark (yes, I’m talking about you, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Julie Taymor’s version of The Tempest). I’m not going to complain about these book-to-film movies though. What has been annoying me lately is the fact that I seem to be getting into books right before they are made into films and my interest in the books makes it seem as if I am jumping on the movie bandwagon. Clearly this is a personal, neurotic issue, but I wanted to write about it for anyone that might be encountering this same problem. So I’m not writing this to expunge my records of reading books right before the movie adaptation show up in theaters, this is for you readers to feel better about yourselves and know that you are not alone.

Last week, as I was browsing Amazon, I came across The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, a book that Amazon recommended for me. My friends told me to read it years ago, and I always said I would get around to it. I had no idea what it was about, but it was only $4 dollars for my Kindle and it had amazing reviews on Amazon, so I figured “why not?”. I finished the Song of Ice and Fire book I was reading (after only two months!!) and decided that this would be an easy read to fall asleep to. I have written about the emotional torture that George R. R. Martin has put me through over the past few years, and I assumed that this Young Adult novel couldn’t possibly create the same amount of emotional destruction to which I have become accustomed. Imagine my surprise when I started reading and the first page paints the picture of young Hazel Grace, a sixteen-year-old girl with terminal cancer. That was definitely not what I was expecting. I was also not expecting her sarcastic, witty personality that permeates through the novel. This book, which took me two days to read, put me on an emotional rollercoaster, and had me both laughing out loud and hysterically crying.

I woke up this morning and was checking my Twitter feed, which is an integral part of my morning routine. As I scrolled through the retweets and complaints from people about having to go to work or school, I was startled to see a news story about a controversial movie poster for the upcoming film, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS. I couldn’t believe it. I like to think of myself as a movie buff and I am usually pretty aware of the films that are coming out in the next year (especially literary-inspired books), but this movie flew completely under my radar. I told people at work that I had read this book last week, and now they are going to think that I was just reading this book because it was being made into a movie. The embarrassment! To be honest, sometimes I do read books when I hear they are going to be made into movies (either to refresh my memory so I can compare the film adaptation to the original book or to read what all the hype is about), but this was not one of those instances. Therefore, I believe that henceforth all film producers who are going to make a film based on a book must inform me personally so that I can avoid this issue. Sound good? Great, thanks.

-There’s Always Money in the Beaunana Stand

Great Food Jobs 2 Featured on News-Sentinel.com

Monday, December 2nd, 2013

Here’s a fitting gift for a foodie in need of work

Friday, November 29, 2013 – 12:01 am
Just in time for the holidays and all the related excesses of food and celebrations of family traditions around the table – culinary author Irena Chalmers has come out with an informative and highly entertaining book on careers in the food industry: “Great Food Jobs 2: Ideas and Inspiration for Your Job Hunt” (Beaufort Books, 2013, $17.95 – also available as an e-book).Written as what Chalmers calls an expansion and companion to an earlier title (“Food Jobs: 150 Great Jobs for Culinary Students, Career Changers and Food Lovers,” 2008, $19.95), “Great Food Jobs 2” divides this massive industry into 10 areas of work: restaurants, retail, art, media, science, publicity, history, farming, education and relief work. In her introduction, she also makes this distinction: The people in these roles all share a passion for food, but not necessarily for cooking. Indeed, only a fraction of the jobs described in this book involve the actual preparation of food.

Each chapter includes a short list of three to 20 relevant job titles and descriptions of the work, as well as book recommendations, anecdotes and quirky trivia such as the menu for the last meal on the Titanic. Chalmers ends the book with short sections on job hunting and future trends in the food industry, both of which feel sufficient given the related information embedded in the earlier chapters.

What sets this book apart is the combination of delightful writing and the surprising applicability of Chalmers’ advice to people pursuing careers in almost any field. I honestly believe an electrical engineer could have as much fun reading this book as a pastry chef would. And both would walk away with career tips to apply in their respective fields.

This article was originally featured on news-sentinel.com. Read the rest of the article here.

Get Your Kids Hiking Featured in The Columbus Dispatch

Monday, December 2nd, 2013

This is a selection of an article that originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch’s website. View the entire article here.

Printed words related to the outdoors encompass so much territory that categories such as hunting, fishing, hiking and wildlife watching wrap around the topic in only the most vague and general sense.

Niches galore exist. It’s the niches where the details and lore — and much of the enjoyment — are to be found through the telling.

Ohio writers have explored a fair share of the genre, some as famously as Zane Grey and Lowell Thomas. Depending on what an inquiring mind might want to know, contemporary books by the not-so-famous eclipse much of those earlier works.

Given that Christmas is coming, and guessing some family member of the outdoors persuasion deems reading to be more pleasure than chore, here’s a list of books by Ohio authors that might make worthy gifts:

Get Your Kids Hiking: How To Start Them Young and Keep It Fun. Jeff Alt. 240 pages. Beaufort Books. Exploration comes naturally to youngsters, but learning to enjoy walking distances can take guidance. Alt, a Cincinnati resident who has chronicled his 2,160-mile walk on the Appalachian Trail, knows the stuff parents and other adults need to convey to the kids in their care. What’s more, Alt’s book tells readers how to do what must be done, making them more proficient and prepared hikers to boot.

I Shouldn’t Blog When I’m Hungry

Tuesday, November 19th, 2013

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I’ve found myself getting hungrier and hungrier. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it is an excuse to hang out with your family all day and just eat without any expectations or pressures of gifts. There are always great conversations to be had around my family’s Thanksgiving table and I always leave my aunt’s house happy and full. In preparation for the feast to come, I have been thinking more and more about food, which led me to think about the descriptions and accounts of food in some of my favorite books. Even in fantasy lands, where the characters are eating something that does not exist in the real world, I always find my mouth watering when reading the description of a feast. I have decided to compile a small list of authors that, in my opinion, make the meals into focus points of their books rather than just an activity.

George R. R. Martin: In the Song of Ice and Fire series, Martin shows the true decadence of food through various (and numerous) feasts and weddings that the characters attend. The first couple of books were filled with detailed descriptions of food and the delicious confections that were given to the high-class families. From the feasts at King’s Landing to the bread baked by Hot Pie as a gift for Arya, Martin truly has a gift for making his readers hungry. In the later books, however, there is a definite turn from the lavish luxury of the well-to-do to the harsh realities of war and Martin creates eerie scenes of starvation and famine throughout Westeros. The amount of food (whether high or low) sets the tone of Martin’s novels and shows the circumstances of the world that Martin has created.

J. K. Rowling: When Harry Potter is first introduced in Rowling’s series, he is shown as a malnourished child who has never had enough to eat at his aunt and uncle’s house. His cousin, on the other hand, is described as a portly boy who is double the size of young Harry. When Harry finally gets to Hogwarts and sees the amount of food available to him, it is such a beautiful scene. Everything that Harry knew about his life has completely changed, including the amount of food that is presented to him. I’m surprised there weren’t more morbidly obese characters in the Harry Potter series, considering the food in the Hogwarts great hall was never-ending and would simply appear on the plates. I guess Rowling was trying to instill values of self-control in her young readers (or she didn’t think that part through all the way). But you know a food is well-written when it is recreated in the real world. In college, before the creation of “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” at Universal Studios, one of the girls I knew blew my mind by telling me about how she was brewing her own butterbeer. I thought that was the best thing I’d ever heard. AND THEN I heard that the new Universal Studios attraction would feature a bunch of different foods from the series. I need to go there.

(And now for a bit of nostalgia from my childhood) C. S. Lewis: When I was in the fourth grade, my class read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. One of the big activities that we did when we were reading this book was we had one day where, instead of doing any reading, our teacher was going to bring in Turkish Delight, the candy confection that the White Witch uses to tempt Edmund into joining her evil team. I thought that the candy sounded kind of gross, but I was about 10 years old and thought that it would be a cool thing to do instead of doing work. I remember all of the build up to that special day and how excited I was to be getting a snack during class (I was a chubby kid and loved a good snack). Looking back, I remember I didn’t really like the candy that much (it was too sweet for me), but that iconic food will always remind me of C. S. Lewis’ series, as it was such an integral part of the plot.

Also, I have just realized that, in order to be an important author in my mind, your pen name MUST contain at least one of your initials.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

-There’s Always Money in the Beaunana Stand

Thanksgiving Recipes? Fitzgerald Is Here To Help!

Monday, November 11th, 2013

ThanksgivingFeastHappy Thanksgiving, readers! Well, happy early Thanksgiving, anyway. We hope that you will be spending Thanksgiving with the friends, family, and food of your choice. I will be spending the day dreading a shift at the mall on Black Friday.

You’re probably inundated with articles and tweets about Thanksgiving recipe suggestions for the day of, but how about suggestions for what to do with your turkey afterwards? Fortunately, F. Scott Fitzgerald has some tips for you! Of his suggestions, which can be viewed in their entirety here, here are a few of my favorites.

Turkey and Water
Take one turkey and one pan of water. Heat the latter to the boiling point and then put in the refrigerator. When it has jelled drown the turkey in it. Eat. In preparing this recipe it is best to have a few ham sandwiches around in case things go wrong.

Great advice! It’s always good to have a backup plan when you are trying out a new, unfamiliar recipe.

Turkey Mongole
Take three butts of salami and a large turkey skeleton from which the feathers and natural stuffing have been removed. Lay them out on the table and call up some Mongole in the neighborhood to tell you how to proceed from there.

It’s always best to take advice from your neighbors when you’re stuck!

Turkey Mousee
Seed a large prone turkey, being careful to remove the bones, flesh, fins, gravy, etc. Blow up with a bicycle pump. Mount in becoming style and hang in the front hall.

A helpful tip for some festive Thanksgiving day decorations.

And finally, if you’re still trying to get rid of those pesky turkey leftovers, Fitzgerald has got you covered.

For Weddings or Funerals. Obtain a gross of small white boxes such as are used for bride’s cake. Cut the turkey into small squares, roast, stuff, kill, boil, bake and allow to skewer. Now we are ready to begin. Fill each box with a quantity of soup stock and pile in a handy place. As the liquid elapses, the prepared turkey is added until the guests arrive. The boxes delicately tied with white ribbons are then placed in the handbags of the ladies, or in the men’s side pockets.

We wish you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving from all of us at Beaufort! Alternately, if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, we wish you a happy Thursday.

-A Little Beau Told Me

Jobs for food lovers

Monday, November 11th, 2013

This article was originally featured on www.monicabhide.com. To see the original article, click here.

I think I get at least 10 letters a week if not more from people who say they love food. The letters are usually long and detail their love of food, their childhood dreams of cooking, of traveling to see the food culture of the world. Some letters are emotional, some are business-like, some letters make me cry, some make me smile. They all have one thing in common: all these  and would like to do “something in the food industry.” The question is WHAT.. how do you combine your love of food with a job that actually pays the mortgage?

Well, now there is a book that answers that very question Great Food Jobs 2 by Irena Chalmers. This wonderful book actually focuses on various food jobs for people who love food. Irena, an author of over 50 books that have sold 18 million copies, knows a thing or two about this industry and shares terrific insights in the book. The jobs span the spectrum from a line cook to a tour guide to a writer to a store owner to a literary agent. What I loved most about the book, other than the descriptions of each job and what it entails, is Irena’s colorful and insightful commentary that runs throughout the book.

I am going to make this mandatory reading for my writing classes.Such a useful book!

What to Give a Veteran for Veteran’s Day- Blog post by Irena Chalmers

Friday, November 8th, 2013

This article was originally posted on Irena’s website, foodbookjobs.com. Click here to see the original post.

Posted on  by admin

FoodJobs-jan25-3altA job would be nice.

A food job would be even nicer.

Many men and women who have served in the military have already worked in restaurants and have determined that an in-depth education from a cooking school will advance their careers.

What all aspiring food enthusiasts share is a passion for food, (though not necessarily for cooking).

Veterans may have valuable work experience already. But to succeed in today’s rapidly changing foodservice industry, they need the “complete package”—proven knowledge, skills, experience, and the all-important degree credential.

Note to Vets

If you have 2.5 or more years of post-high school, full-time back-of-the-house foodservice experience, you may qualify for the CIA’s Associate in Occupational Studies (AOS) in Culinary Arts degree program created specifically for students with advanced career experience. Tuition grants are available for U.S. citizens.

Apply Now

Other professional culinary schools also offer a wide range of courses designed specifically for those who have served in the military.

Chef David Robinson has been a caterer to a former United States President and to senators, movie stars, hedge fund financiers and the biggest shots in the military–including General Colin Powell. He pioneered a successful campaign totake the military into the kitchen.

After creating a 10-video series: How to Cook (And Eat Your Mistakes), he concentrated his efforts on a new program called Culinary Command Training, an intensive culinary training program for returning U.S. veterans, as well as active military.

Last year and again this year, I spent a day at Chef David’s school in Chatham, New York. I talked, (of course), about the extraordinary range of food jobs that are available to all of us who love food, but may not want to actually cook, or work in a restaurant.

It was an immensely stimulating and inspiring experience for me, as I had not previously met a single person who had served in the military.

One of the students, a former marine told me the greatest, most memorable meal he had ever had, was served in a desert outpost in Afghanistan.

“It was a barbecue.

A whole pig was roasted in a pit in his God-forsaken hell, and triumphantly devoured by the soldiers (along with baked beans, mac and cheese and a barrel of beer).

It’s hard to imagine anything would ever again taste as good as that pork!”

It is much easier to find a pathway to a new career in the hospitality industry.

Cornell University has chosen LIVE from Mongolia as one of its Top 5 Books for this quarter!

Monday, November 4th, 2013

This article was originally published by Cornell Alumni Magazine. To view the original article, click here.

LIVE From Mongolia by Patricia Sexton ’97 (Beaufort). After nearly a decade as a Wall Street banker, Sexton had gotten caught up in the money, the lifestyle, and the need to stay for just one more bonus. But she decided to stop simply dreaming of becoming a foreign correspondent, quit her job, and landed an internship at Mongolia’s state-owned TV and radio station. Soon she was anchoring the English news, traveling to the remote steppe, and meeting others in pursuit of their dreams: a German brewmaster, a French horse tracker, and Mongolia’s top hip-hop artist.