Happy Martin Luther King Day, everyone. I hope you’re getting a much needed respite from work, and a chance to contemplate the meaning of today’s holiday. Here at Lucid Food headquarters, we’re just recovering from last Thursday night’s launch party blow-out, a wonderful night of celebration for a good cause.

In the cozy back room of Jimmy’s No 43 in the East Village, we somehow managed to fit close to 100 people, a beautiful spread of homemade food, and a few tables and chairs for signing copies of the cookbook.

Here is the menu from Thursday night:

Sundried Tomato Pure with Arugula on Crostini

Inarizushi (Tofu Pockets) Stuffed with Brown Rice, Vegetables, and Kimchi

Black Bean and Butternut Squash Chili

Bittersweet Chocolate Cake with Prune Puree and Black Walnuts, Whipped Cream

All of the food we served at the launch was from the cookbook, except for the chili. We also served the Bittersweet Chocolate Cake, but with a twist: instead of making it with hazelnuts, we made it with a combination of black walnuts and regular English walnuts. Topped with fresh whipped cream from the local dairy Battenkill Creamery, I can safely say it was “to die for.”

For the cost of their ticket, guests received a copy of the Lucid Food cookbook along with the above nibbles, and the proceeds went to the New York non-profit Just Food. I’m very proud to report that we raised over $700 for Just Food! Just Food is doing vital work to bring fresh, healthy food to all New Yorkers. They’ve even managed to make backyard chicken coops and beekeeping sexy, getting featured coverage for their initiatives in these once lowly realms in the New York Times and elsewhere.To learn more about JF’s initiatives, go to their website: http://www.justfood.org/.

I didn’t sign all 100 of the books that were handed out on Thursday, but I signed a lot of them, and now I know why seasoned authors tend to keep their inscriptions short. When there is a long line of people waiting to have their books signed, and a few people asking you questions at once, it’s best to keep it short and sweet, and perhaps most importantly, make sure you spell everyone’s name right.

I’m grateful to everyone who came out on Thursday night, for supporting the book, for supporting Just Food, and for putting some time aside in your very busy New York lives to show up for something you care about. There’s no question that Thursday ranks among the best nights of my life, and each and every one of you who introduced yourselves and let me get to know you a bit helped to make it that way. You also gave me the opportunity to announce my engagement to James Rotondi to all of you in person at once!

If you didn’t get a chance to attend on Thursday, please come and say hi at one of the many events I’ll be doing over the next few months. I’ll be at the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan this Saturday 23, I hope to see you there!

All photos taken by Rhoda Boone.