Book Launch Party for The Canning Kitchen

Image: Lillie Louise Photography

What an incredible June it has been for me with the launch of my first cookbook The Canning Kitchen. So much has happened and it has taken me quite a while to get around to sharing the stories. But wonderful stories are always worth sharing, whenever they're finally told, so I'm sharing the party that kicked things off. This is a long post, so I'm starting with a few words followed by lots of photos, which tell the story best anyway.

The adventure began with a book launch party on publishing day, June 9th, at The London Chef. I am a guest instructor at this beautiful cooking school and caterer in downtown Victoria, so it was a natural choice for the launch party. I knew they'd do a lovely job with my preserves, but when I arrived I can honestly say they had exceeded my expectations. The food and drinks were gorgeously displayed with a rustic charm using burlap, tin buckets, crates and mini potted cacti, which just so happened to match the dress I was wearing. It was meant to be!

Friends and family arrived and things quickly became a whirlwind of smiles, sips, nibbles and conversation. I enjoyed a glass of spiked lavender lemonade while signing special notes to my guests in the copies they had purchased from Bolen Books on site.

After a while, everyone gathered around while Mr. Feedbag gave a lovely speech about what it was like to live through the writing of the book. He said such sweet and funny things about the months of canning, writing and photo shoots in our small kitchen. I said a few words too, then everyone dug into the strawberry sundae bar, which was a complete hit using the strawberry sundae sauce from The Canning Kitchen.

The whole event was so much fun and felt like the perfect send off for the rest of the book tour, which continued the very next morning with a 6 a.m. flight to Toronto. That was a whirlwind adventure, but for now here are more photos from the launch. Thank you to everyone who helped me celebrate!