I'm thrilled to announce that the second stop of our Bay Area book tour will be with The Green Arcade Bookstore, one of my all-time favorite SF bookstores, at the stunning McRoskey Event Space on Market Street (just across from Zuni Cafe, which is highly convenient as you can convene there for a lovely drink before or after.) I'm also thrilled to announce that the inimitable Rebecca Solnit will be introducing us at this event! (Be still, my literary/activist heart.)

My superstar sisters Blake Spalding and Jen Castle of Hell's Backbone Grill and I will be signing cookbooks and doing readings, and Blake will give a brief talk on her work to save the threatened Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which surrounds the restaurant. We'll have bites from the book, a festive cocktail punch, and lots of hugs to give away.

We'll be signing This Immeasurable Place, our newest narrative cookbook, and With a Measure of Grace, our first book, which has been freshly redesigned and updated! Both are filled with delicious recipes, stunning photos, and stories about the land and some of the fascinating people who make up the community. The books also tell the full story of how Blake and Jen, two-time James Beard Award semi-finalists, came to own their incredible Buddhist-based, farm-to-table restaurant in a tiny, remote town in southern Utah.

If you haven't seen it yet, Blake and Jen and their mission to save the Grand Staircase were the subject of this twelve-page feature in The New Yorker last month! (My name is in there, too. You'll find it around paragraph 33. It was a big moment for me.)

We hope to see you at the event!

By the way, these books, signed and personalized, make exceptionally terrific holiday gifts. I'll bet you didn't see that one coming. But don't just take it from me. Here's what some very awesome people are saying:

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"Blake Spalding and Jen Castle are alchemists, truly changing the world through their hands, their hearts, their farm, their food. In community, everything is possible. Theirs is a leadership of love." -- Terry Tempest Williams, author of The Hour of Land.

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"... Filled with remarkable recipes and essays, it breathed life back into my radical, sometimes flagging hope for humanity, and is as inspiring as it is mouthwatering. We need this book now more than ever." -- Elissa Altman, author of Poor Man's Feast

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"The wisdom found in the pages of this beautiful and surprising book is immeasurable. It's wisdom from the edge, from one of the most glorious hidden kitchens there is. The story of Blake and Jen, true kitchen sisters -- their cooking, friendship, and farming--is expansive and illuminating. Land, food, family, stewardship, and spirit all course through these tempting, gorgeous pages. A book that feeds us on so many levels." -- Davia Nelson, NPR's Kitchen Sisters

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"As this book shows, horizon and history can't be separated from the majesty of what we grow and prepare. Among hallowed lands, creators Jen Castle and Blake Spalding channel a culinary spirituality, and through these beautiful pages, the warmth and love abiding at Hell's Backbone Grill." --Jacki Lyden, author of Daughter of The Queen of Sheba and former NPR host