Wednesday, February 11, 2009

LIVESTRONG: A Taste of Yellow -- The Book

To those of you who found your way here from Barbara's blog, Hi! As you can see, posting here is sparse these days, as I haven't quite figured out how to fit blogging back into my life since the arrival of the Munchkin. But, I'm hoping to get back to it soon.

Barbara launched the Taste of Yellow blog event as part of LIVESTRONG day in 2007. She is a cancer survivor, who was greatly inspired by the story of Lance Armstrong, and created this blog event to raise awareness for cancer, as well as promote the great work done by the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

I came up with the idea for this book a few months ago, after losing my mother-in-law to cancer. After surviving both melanoma and breast cancer, the melanoma returned, spreading to her lungs and brain. Despite their best efforts, it was too much, and she passed away in November. My mother-in-law was an amazing woman, and I feel very fortunate to have had her in my life, even if it was for just 7 short years.

To honor her memory, my husband and his brother decided to participate in the LIVESTRONG Challenge, and will be doing a 90 mile bike ride in Austin, TX this October. I will be doing the 5K run/walk with the Munckin. In brainstorming fundraising ideas for their team, I remembered reading the Taste of Yellow round up on Barbara's blog, and an idea was born. I thought that if we could publish a cookbook of the Taste of Yellow recipes, all proceeds from the sale of the book could go directly to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. While I'm not sure that this project will be completed in time to benefit Psycling's LIVESTRONG challenge ride, it is my hope that it will continue to bring in money for the work of the Lance Armstrong Foundation well into the future.

I honestly have no idea what the timeline for this project looks like. As of now, I am compiling the recipes, blogs, and contact information of all the Taste of Yellow submissions. Once I pull everything together, I'm not sure how long it will take to get the book put together and published. But Barbara and I will keep you posted on its progress. We really appreciate everyone who has already emailed or left comments giving us permission to use your recipes and photos. I'm realy looking forward to seeing this project come to fruition, and I hope that it will bring attention to and raise money for the amazing work being done by the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Until then, LIVESTRONG!