Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Mama Mia! Cookin' with the Petaluma Craft Mafia


It's no secret the crafty chicks in Petaluma love cooking, which is a good thing, 'cause we also love eating. Though we've posted tantalizing hints at our cookbook on the PCM web site almost two months ago, our famiglia has decided to change our cookbook a bit and include the entire community of Petaluma.

We figured that since so many of us have been touched by cancer in some way, (I lost my 62-year old mother to cancer late last February), that so many people in our community might want to donate recipes and stories about their family. And they are pouring in, along with some awesome photos!
Our only concern is that the book is gonna be G-normous, so we might have to get selective and pare it down, and perhaps do our own craft famiglia book separately.

If you're just itchin' to add to your cookbook collection, this is gonna be one big spicy meatball of a cookbook - but don't fret- there are plenty of vegetarian recipes too!

Our goal is to raise awareness about the cancer that "whispers" - Ovarian Cancer. Never did I think somebody so close to me could fall to cancer let alone ovarian cancer. And ladies, ovarian cancer does not run in my family nor does it's gene related cousin breast cancer, it is one of the deadliest cancers and spreads very quickly with barely a symptom until it's at the later stages.

If you check out the symptoms at ocrf.org and find yourself experiencing them, and your doctor casually dismisses them - please get a second opinion or insist on an ultrasound and CA-125 test. It could save your life. Unfortunately, my adorable mother is a cattle rancher's daughter, and is unusually stoic and stubborn. Couple my mother's stoic stubborness with her internist's casualness = disaster. She was finally diagnosed a year later at stage 3. By this time her symptoms couldn't be ignored and she was in such deep pain.

Okay, I'm down from my soap box. I feel very passionate about this. Heck of a way to start my first Craft Mafia blog, isn't it?

We're donating our profits from our cookbook to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, ocrf.org, and Hospice of Petaluma. The cookbook should be ready by early next year.

Happy October, and happy birthday all you Librans. Hope you've all been better at staying out of the Halloween candy than I have! :)

Ciao Bellas

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