Cooking Book
“Culinary Preliminaries – 16 men à la carte”
Available in German language only - but here is information what it is all about.
The lecturer of a publishing course at the Centre of Continuing Education in Christchurch called my book a winner. However, publishers in New Zealand were either afraid of touching a manuscript that could somehow be mistaken as a handbook for sex practices, or found it too expensive to produce. So we are still waiting for a publisher brave enough to give this project a go.
“Culinary Preliminaries – 16 men à la carte” is a humorous cook book, aiming at women who are dreaming of finding the way to a man’s heart by inviting him to dinner. Or better: to the hearts of 16 different types of men, as every man is unique but not perfect…
The history of the book
The book has been published in Germany several years ago by the company GZD (Graphisches Zentrum Drucktechnik) in Ditzingen-Heimerdingen which is specialised in printing books, magazines and catalogues.
Although not having a lot of publishing experience the directors liked the idea very much and decided to publish the book. Unfortunately the marketing strategy of selling the book by direct sale via phone and fax order did not work, so not all of the 10 000 copies could be sold. The book had many good reviews in newspapers and magazines but still the people went to the book shops to have a look and buy it there, but as it had no ISBN number it could not even be ordered there.
I have written the book together with my friend Gisela Rentsch. Interestingly we both met our husbands after having published the book and studied the different kinds of men… ;-)
So that is the history of the book.
And now let's have a look into it.
The secrets of seduction
Why should you wear crease-resistant clothes if you invite a guy who arrives notoriously late?
How do you polish off an unrepentant snob in an elegant way?
Why does a touchy-feely guy want to search for prawns in a salad bed?
You find answers to all those questions in this humorous cook-book, as well how to handle a romantic guy, a sports enthusiast, a casanova and 13 more types of men. It delivers not only the cooking recipes but also the strategies how to impress those varied types. It is far from being juicy, it is no handbook for sex adventurers and so does not include a Viagra dish or instructions how to prepare aphrodisiac food like oysters and celery.
It is a book with a flirtatious factor for people who are able to laugh together about themselves, and about their little weaknesses.
The idea behind the book is that a dinner with a man who makes a woman’s heart beat is the best opportunity to find out if this person could be the real deal and interesting enough to start a relationship.
Custom-made three-course meals
The three-course meals are custom-made for every type of man. The dishes are well thought-out, with the intention that the woman does not have to spend many hours in the kitchen, as the success of a dinner for two does not only depend on the order of the menu but also on the atmosphere and a lot of imagination. And if the host finally finds out that she has chosen the wrong guest every chapter ends with a tip how to get rid of the guy…
The chapters in the book are:
Conversation with a Casanova
Séance with a Mystic
Quickie with the Fast-food Freak
Caresses for the Best Friend
Hide-and-Seek with a Secret Squirrel
Eyeballing a Hungry Lion
Composition for the Classic Lover
Counting Kernels with an Ecologist
Love Meal with Mother’s Little Darling
Taming the Touchy-Feely
Rendezvous with a Romantic
Posh Bites for a Snob
Athletic Evening with a Jock
Spontaneous Assault on a Willing Victim
Exotic Journey with a Globetrotter
For Latecomers: Stew not Sulk
Every chapter extends over six pages / three double pages.
We had fantastic support by so many people who were passionate about the project. Our models were all amateurs - friends, people we just knew and thought they would be perfect for a certain role, and even guys we did not know before we did not ask them if they were willing to model for our book for free ;-)
The romantic sportsman you see on the book cover was a semi-professional Jamaican-born turned American boxer living in Germany and boxing for the Esslingen Bundesliga club. His name: Tyson... Well, Tyson was his first name, his last name: Gray.
The super model in the chapter on how to catch the heart of a romantic guy - pictured further down - was also a top athlete: Marc Ziegler, the goalkeeper of football Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart.
Also have a close look at the golden vase filled with red roses on the third double page pictured at the bottom of this page. It is the original DFB-Pokal, the cup passed on to the winner of the German Football Cup every year.
There are a lot of such stories which made the planning of the project so much fun - a lot more fun than the final production itself, as there was not really a good chemistry between the photographer and us, despite him being technically great, not to speak of other people involved... But it was an experience, that's for sure.
If you are interested in purchasing the book, please contact me. I do not have a lot of copies left but my friend in Germany still does. The book costs 20 Euro plus postage and packing.
On the first double page is a black and white photo of the man, the headline and a description of this kind of man, and sometimes also why he gets exactly the tactically perfect dinner that will be served.
On the second double page the food photos and the cooking recipes are displayed. There is also a column with drink (normally wine) recommendations and a countdown. The countdown is very sophisticated. The cooking process can be interrupted and always gives the cook the possibility to take a shower one hour before the guest arrives as smelling like a restaurant kitchen is not very erotic or romantic.
The woman plays the main role, not the cook.
The third double page is titled “Tips & Tricks” and is more or less a manual about what to do and what not to do. This includes a wide range of tips: Which things should be hidden in the house, which should be displayed at the best spots, how to decorate the table, which perfume to use, which room fragrance could calm him down or turn him on, which music to play, what to wear, what to talk about etc. If all this does not work there is First Aid. And if SHE thinks he should better leave soon there are tips how to get rid of him…