Extra Extra Read All About It!

It's your favorite foodie newsy here — Tesha sending you the latest update on all things Uncommonly Good.  It has been another amazing year in the Good Commons kitchen.  Pots and pans are flying and pens are running out of ink as we inch our way through the ambitious goal of testing over 150 recipes for our cookbook... and often we test multiple times! Most authors of cookbooks do not test the majority of their recipes.  They say that they just 'know it works'.  While we don't doubt that this could be true on our end as well, we don't want to leave room for so much error.  I mean, we will have to face you in the GC kitchen when you come to the next retreat and tell us that the kale salad just didn't turn out right.  Who wants that nonsense?  We want you happy and well fed whether you are in the home of Good Commons or having Good Commons in your home.

There is a delicate balance between the science of throwing a mixture of sugars and vinegars together, adding just enough cayenne, or maybe trying maple syrup instead of agave and just letting your foodie instincts rip. There is no doubt that Matthew can open up the cabinets and go with his gut to make a spectacular roasted squash or a rockin' vinaigrette, but can he recreate that brilliance?  That is where the painstaking part comes in... finding the perfect measurement and then writing everything down!  Doing this on a Monday afternoon sipping cuvee this might be a relaxing and ease-filled process.  Matthew is usually doing this while feeding 18 hungry yogis who just asked for dinner to be bumped up a half hour and oh, by the way, someone forgot to tell me they were gluten-free.  But the answer to the question is, hell yes... it's just taking longer than we thought to do this more than 150 times.

This led little Tesha to wonder, how can we make this process more fun for us and YOU.  So, I came up with an idea.  I wanted a fun, throwback to Chef Matthew's and my Midwestern upbringing, sort of event to showcase and include you in our progress towards this great accumulation of recipes.  And we are doing it potluck style (but without the JELL-O salad).  A select few of you will get to test a recipe and bring your dish to our Cookbook Cook-Off on February 12th at NY Vintners in New York City.  You will have the pleasure of enjoying your tested recipe alongside the other testers while ALL of us drink wine chosen by our sommelier, Kristen Siebecker.  Don't want to test and just taste?  No worries, simply join the testers and the Good Commons crew as tasters. It will for sure be a creative, fun filled, loopy Sunday afternoon in the city.  We want your taste buds on critical fire.  We want your palette to pair a wine with your favorite dish.  We want you to sip and dip and let your feedback rip!

Check out the menu, prepared by you guest-testers out there:

Yummy, yum, yum.  Are you ready?  We know you are! You have been waiting long enough for this event.  If you are in NYC or going to be visiting NYC on February 12, we hope you can join us and deliver your cute tushie to our hipster potluck.  
CLICK HERE for full event details. 

Hello cookbook supporters!

After this summer's hype and excitement, you may be wondering... "Well, now what?"

Tesha, Matthew and the Good Commons crew had an action-packed fall, with floods and weddings and yoga retreats galore. Yes, it's all true—and many of the juicy details will be in the book.

The beginning stages of this kind of project aren't all buttercream and brownies, though. It's taken the past couple of months to officially establish our business with an operating agreement and business ID number, checking account, blah blah blah. But finally it's official! Uncommonly Good Books, LLC has been born!

We want to let you know that we are thankful for your continued support. We've already chatted with a publishing house and have had dialogue with a literary agent or two—now is the time to hunker down in the kitchen, test some recipes and write our story.

Matthew will be heading to Richmond, VA this February to start recipe-testing, courtesy of one of our very own cookbook supporters. And if you're in the NYC area, don't be surprised if you get called upon this spring to taste-test the results!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all ~ be Good!

Good Commons is in full stride as we hit the home stretch of our Kickstarter campaign while simultaneously hosting our Farm to Table Green Mountain Getaway. We spent the day at Huckleberry Hill Farm, where we literally picked our dinner from the ground. We got our hands dirty because that’s sometimes what life calls for.

Your belief in our book has been humbling as well as incredibly compelling, as we recognize and embrace the strength of the community around us. We have one short day to continue surpassing our goal and build an even stronger foundation for the work ahead. And what good “work” that will be!

With gratitude~
Tesha, Matthew, Chuck and the Good Commons crew

photo: 2009 Labor Day Food, Wine & Rejuvenation Retreat (Carly Caryn)