Ready, set. . . . preparing to leave for Ghana and Nigeria

You'll note that there were few posts in April. Things have been heating up here with preparations to travel to Ghana and Nigeria for the summer. Last week I also gave a presentation at Penn State on Ghanaian cookbooks, and served Ghanaian snacks (if you're interested in viewing the powerpoint, my slides are up at google doc http://bit.ly/cFZTUX )

A week earlier, I hosted a Ghanaian dinner for a visiting Korean distinguished professor and his Vietnamese student. Lots of cooking: this week I'll prepare a catered (African) luncheon for a symposium on May 6. Plus I've been hustling funds for an undergraduate assistant to travel with me to Ghana for 2 weeks, and generally dealing with a long list of things to do: ordering equipment, arranging immunizations, contacting people and setting up meetings in Ghana, etc.

It's likely that I'll be pretty quiet this summer as far as posting on betumiblog. My main goal is to meet with Barbara Baeta and work as hard as possible in getting the Ghanaian cookbook into shape for publication--while my writing and credentials are respected, we've yet to locate a publisher willing to publish a lavishly illustrated African cookbook on a single country ("no U.S. market" is the common explanation). If any of you have suggestions, please let me know. Self-publication is a last, last resort.

Incidentally, Katie Cochrane, who will accompany me for part of the time in Ghana, noted in the blog she's just begun for this project a recent positive New York Times restaurant review of a new Ghanaian restaurant,  Papaye, in New York City.