Back in April I interviewed for a summer internship at Workman. My anxieties about the process were slightly quelled by the fact that I’d already been on a couple of interviews—and I was thrilled to hear that I had gotten the  job. But on my first day I realized that though this wasn’t my first internship, the office experience was brand-new to me—and overwhelming. I have interned at an organic farm and creamery in upstate New York and at an art gallery in downtown Manhattan, and I’ve worked in almost every type of food service imaginable. But dealing with a boss (or stubborn cows and art collectors) is one thing; a whole office of supervisors is entirely another.

One of my first tasks involved some research for the promotion of Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview? by Ellen Gordon Reeves. Seeing as the interview was behind me, I hadn’t thought of Ellen’s book as being applicable to me until I noticed the subtitle: “Finding, Landing and Keeping Your First Real Job.” Keeping was the key. The last chapter, “You’ve Got the Job,” has all the office etiquette your mother would nag you about—but when it comes from a professional, you actually listen! On every topic—from what to do for lunch to communicating with your boss—she tells you the stuff you need to know but that other people won’t necessarily tell you straight out. (My colleagues were nice enough to look out for me my first day and show me the ropes for lunchtime, but not everyone is so lucky.)

I think the most valuable thing Ellen tries to convey to us office newbies is wrapped up in the following piece of advice: “Don’t forget that you are a beginner.”  No matter what, every job you start is new and different. Part of being prepared for the job is realizing that there will probably be some things you won’t be prepared for—copier jams, meetings you didn’t know about, trying to check your messages without a code. (I figured that last one out, but I’m told it takes years of practice to truly become one with the copier.)

—Olivia Murphy, Editorial Intern

Food enthusiasts gathered on Tuesday, June 16th to join Thomas Keller in Las Vegas at his restaurant Bouchon, to celebrate his latest cookbook “UNDER PRESSURE: Cooking Sous Vide”

The exciting evening attracted more than 160 guests, including current Miss America 2009 Katie Stam.

Complete with a Question and Answer portion, attendees were offered a unique opportunity to interact with Chef Keller and participate in an insightful discussion on modern culinary techniques.  Guests were then invited to individually speak with Chef Keller, at which time he signed copies of the book and participated in photos.

Amy Corley, Executive Director of Publicity, Artisan Books

What: Behind the scenes at the photo shoot for Megan Nicolay’s newest book, Generation T: Beyond Fashion

Who: A super crew including photographer Rafael Fuchs, fashion stylist Basia Zamorska, and our team of models, which spanned 11 adults, 5 children, 2 babies, 4 dogs, and a cat named Noodle.

Where: Everywhere! From Brooklyn, where we shot in a restaurant named Bubby’s (if you’re in the area, check out the awesome photo booth), Brooklyn Bridge Park, and a retro bowling alley; to a loft in Tribeca; to the streets of Chinatown.

When: Four days in November. We shot during the first really cold week of fall, and it felt more like winter—but our models were troopers. They somehow managed to scamper around outside in skimpy T-wear without looking totally frozen. Piping hot Grimaldi’s pizza in the location van helped to warm them up some. (Yum.) We also kept the tunes blasting, which is why many of the photos look like the models were dancing—because they really were. A great way to get the blood flowing AND nail a rocking shot.
-Danielle Hark

Makeshift studio set up in Bubby's

Hair and Makeup artist Dina and Megan styling Isabella

Behind the velvet rope

Megan driving the Mini Cooper

Ready for a road trip

All right, bonus edition might be overstating it. But we all love this book (I can’t wait to give it to my nieces), and so we were thrilled when author Jessica Hopper gifted several of us with custom-made, rocking-girl CDs. (Full disclosure: I did not work on the book and hence did not receive a CD–I’m just a nosy fan!)

Without further ado, here is the Unofficial, Totally Uncensored Girls’ Guide to Rocking Playlist.

1. “Les Petits Chevaux” by Brigitte Fontaine (click to listen)
2. “Meadowlands” by Nancy Jacobs and Her Sisters
3. “Holiday Song” by Marine Girls (click to listen)
4. “I Won’t Tell” by Tracy Dey
5. “Poor Little City Boy” by Nedelle (click to listen)
6. “I’ve Got A Feelin’” by Big Maybelle (click to listen)
7. “I’ve Just Begun (Having My Fun)” by Brittany Spears (click to listen)
8. “I Drive My Friend” by Frida Hyvonen (click to listen)
9. “What Can I Do For You?” by Labelle (click to listen)
10. “Cherry Bomb” by The Runaways (click to listen)
11. “52 Girl’s” by The B-52’s (click to listen)
12. “Have You Got Someone Else On the String” by Texas Ruby
13. “Victim of Rock and Roll” by Care Bears on Fire
14. “Thank God for a Mother Like Mine” by Kitty Wells
15. “Go Tell It On the Mountain” by Mahalia Jackson (click to listen)
16. “Pink Bedroom” by Lou Ann Barton
17. “Are You Going to Leave Me?” by Shirley & Dolly Collins (click to listen)
18. “Hose & I” by Bat for Lashes (click to listen)
19. “Shadow of a Doubt” by Sonic Youth (click to listen)
20. “I Found a Reason” by Cat Power (click to listen)
21. “You’re No Good” by ESG (click to listen)
22. “A_OL” by Sister Rosetta Tharpe
23. “Break In the Road” by Betty Harris (click to listen)
24. “Il Macquillage Lady” by Sister Sledge (click to listen)
25. “The Wait” [Single Version] by The Pretenders (click to listen)

An exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Sandra Boynton’s filmmaking debut: One Shoe Blues, starring B.B. King. It’s a song, a book, and a movie all about the search for a missing shoe.

To buy One Shoe Blues, click here.

Don’t worry that children never listen to you;
worry that they are always watching you.
~Robert Fulghum

Everyone with an instrument has had the inspiration at least once-let’s start a band! But things often fall apart when it becomes apparent that mere possession of an old guitar isn’t enough to push you to stardom. Luckily, today’s youth has Jessica Hopper’s The Girls’ Guide to Rocking-a guide to starting a band, writing songs, becoming a rock legend, and all of the roadblocks along the way.

Click here to read an excerpt

The Girls’ Guide to Rocking // Adventure from Alan Del Rio Ortiz on Vimeo.

What happens when a chef, restaurateur, and food-lover is diagnosed with diabetes? In Tom Valenti’s case, he went right back into the kitchen! You Don’t Have to Be Diabetic To Love This Cookbook takes delicious fine-dining cooking and tweaks them, making dishes delicious and diabetic-friendly.

Tom shares recipes for diabetics, and all food-lovers, on The Early Show.

An author guest post from Judy Bart Kancigor, author of Cooking Jewish.

My husband Barry’s contributions to “Cooking Jewish” were recipes for his Black & White Malted and his beloved Egg Cream, the New York concoction from his misspent youth, working during the fifties in his father’s candy store on Utica and Church in Brooklyn.

There’s neither egg nor cream in the classic Egg Cream, which gets its name from its head of foam said to resemble beaten egg whites, although one school of thought holds that the original 1890’s version may indeed have used eggs and cream.

My husband, the soda jerk, couldn’t be pinned down to measurements, but in the privacy of our home (and in the interests of science) I held out the old measuring spoon as he displayed his rare talents. He did have strict rules, however, for the preparation of this Big Apple legend. First, the milk must be ice cold, the chocolate syrup must be Fox’s U-Bet (no substitutions) and you’ve got to spritz with seltzer.

When I was growing up, there was always a glass squirt bottle of seltzer on our table, which the seltzer man would deliver in wooden crates. Because the bottles were sealed, it never went flat, unlike the club soda available today.

In the 1967 film The Graduate Mr. Robinson offers one word of advice to Benjamin, revealing a vista of opportunity to the young lad: “Plastics.” The same word sounded the death knell to the glass seltzer bottle. So much so that Molly O’Neill, in discussing seltzer in her New York Cookbook, refers to the years before and after plastic as B.P. and A.P. Enter the screw-top plastic bottle, exit the seltzer man.

My father-in-law’s Brooklyn candy store had a pull-down seltzer dispenser, ideal for making egg creams, as well as other libations – “two pushes” was Barry’s measurement for one serving – or just a Two Cents Plain, a glass of straight cold seltzer.

“The seltzer came out at high pressure when you pushed the lever forward, creating a lot of foam,” my husband, Barry, recalled. “Club soda has nowhere near the fizz. You can use club soda to make an Egg Cream, but it won’t be quite as good.”

Such a simple recipe – so much controversy! Is this the drink you remember?

BARRY KANCIGOR’S NEW YORK EGG CREAM
From Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family (Workman Publishing) by Judy Bart Kancigor

2 tablespoons cold whole milk
About 1 cup seltzer
2 generous tablespoons Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup

1.    Pour the milk into a 12-ounce glass.
2.    Spritz with seltzer almost to the top.
3.    Add the syrup, wait a moment for it to fall to the bottom, and then stir with a long spoon. If you get at least an inch of foam, you did it right. Snappy comebacks to know-it-all customers: optional.

Serves 1

Note: Barry’s dad also served a vanilla egg cream made with Fox’s U-Bet vanilla syrup.

BookExpo America, (BEA) an annual booksellers and publishers convention, is a great time to see what everyone else is up to while showing off what we’ve got lined up for the new year. Our booth always attracts a lot of traffic, and this year was no exception.

We brought in authors Anne Byrn, Rufus Butler Seder and Amy Saxton to greet eager fans and sign books. Our booth served cake from The Cake Mix Doctor Returns along with copies of Don’t Forget to Sing in Lifeboats—an optimistic book full of “Uncommon wisdom.” We presented the hottest new idea for children—Indestructibles books, and announced BananaGrams!, a book version of the popular game.

But the BEA fun didn’t stop at the convention center—we held a 400-person cocktail party at the Workman offices!

Even though many predicted a smaller-than-usual show this year with scaled-down booths and events, this BEA had a few twists, but with all of the excitement of years past.

A proud moment and a successful show!