For those of you who know Jennie Perillo, you know what this post is about.
For those of you who don’t; here’s an explanation from Shauna Ahern, and a video from White on Rice.

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This post is part of an auction to raise money for Jennie and her daughters after the recent death of her husband. My good friends and colleagues at Cooking Light and Oxmoor House have donated eight best-selling cookbooks toward A Fund For Jennie.

Now, about Jennie…
You know that feeling of dread of being a fourth-grader and finding out that you need to change schools mid-year? To a new school, with new kids, all all sorts of intimidating newness? That’s sort of how I felt when I entered the food blog world. Turns out it was an unnecessary fear, as food bloggers are a relaxed and friendly bunch; but I didn’t know that at the time. All I knew was that I felt like an outsider.

Jennie was one of the first people I met online. And it was a pure meeting; no introduction. We just started following each other. And then I found out that she was the food editor of Working Mother magazine — a magazine I admire. And I’ll admit it; I thought — what’s this cool chick doing trolling Twitter for newbies like me? People who have real media jobs don’t usually have the time to encourage the little web ducklings along. Jennie Perillo had me smitten.

Within a relatively short amount of time, we decided to meet in person. At Donut Plant. Which was an odd choice, considering I had just come out with You Can Trust A Skinny Cook, but Jennie and I cut to the chase rather quick and it became clear that delicious foods like donuts is more our way of eating than celery sticks and low-fat dressing. We moderate; we don’t deny.

No there’s no shortage of content about Jennie’s generosity, kindness and warmth, but let me tell you my favorite thing about  Jennie: her straight-up-Brooklyn, no-B.S. style.

Sure, those blue eyes, warm smile and kitchen talk might make you think she’s all sweet, but inside all that sweetness is a tremendous amount of strength; of power, and really, what is more feminine and graceful than that? As soon as we met we started talking parenting — I’d just become a stepmother to a 9-year old, and was clearly nervous about it — she told me all about her childhood, her kids, and her parenting philosophy.

She’s my favorite kind of mom: one who loves her kids like mad, and believes the real love is in making the more unpopular decisions — the kind of parent who realizes that often “no” is a more loving word than “yes”. Now that’s some old school Brooklyn mothering going on right there. And I love it.

When we met, we didn’t talk about food at all. Or blogging. Or cookbooks. We just talked about what was on our mind at the time like two college roommates catching up after a while. It seemed strangely normal to enjoy such ease and comfort with a person I’d just met.

My friends and colleagues at Cooking Light and Oxmoor House would like to auction the following SEVEN best-selling books from Cooking Light, and Southern Living’s 1001 Ways To Cook Southern, which is not light in the least, but is a lot of fun.

Because Jennie is the kind of girl who says ‘yes’ when her skinny new friend invites her to the donut shop; because she’s a mom who is not afraid to say ‘no’, and because she’s straight up Brooklyn. And most importantly, because Jennie is exactly the kind of mom I want to be.

The bidding for these collection of books, a retail value of over $200, will start at $100. Bidding closes Thursday at midnight, EST. Thank you so much for your participation!

Cooking Light Gluten-Free Cookbook
Cooking Lighty Cooking Through the Seasons
Cooking Light Way to Cook
Cooking Light Way to Cook Vegetarian
Fresh Food Fast
Fresh Food Fast Weeknight Meals
Fresh Food Superfast
Southern Living 1001 Ways to Cook Southern

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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