WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT. IF YOU DISLIKE GUSHINESS, STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER NOW! ALSO, LET IT BE KNOWN THAT I WILL NOT BE THIS NICE AGAIN!
It’s no secret that I love twitter. Now there are many reasons for this, but a huge part of the love fest is the fact that I’ve made so many wonderful friends there. One of these twitter friends, who has become a real-life friend, is Jane Travers (@janetravers).
Eighteen months ago, Jane had an idea, which she immediately tweeted to a few of us who were lurking in the twitterverse. Her idea was to put together a book of recipes. But it wasn’t to be any old book of recipes. Oh no it wasn’t! It was going to be a book of recipes that people tweeted in 140 characters. It was going to become Tweet Treats.
“What a wonderful idea,” we all cheered. “How brilliant!” came the responses. “You go for it,” we cried. Then we sat back and thought; that will never work! How on earth would we get full recipes, including measurements, oven temperatures, etc, into 140 characters? But Jane proved us all wrong. Coming up with an initial few recipes herself, she spurred us on and we all rose to the challenge. A team of us went to work to help her collect these recipes from tweeters. Then we took it a step further. We decided to chase (not literally, of course!) celebrities and get recipes from them too.
This was my sort of challenge. I loved it. I loved trying to think of a way to be funny or different so that a celebrity with hundreds of thousands of followers would notice me. I first dipped my toe into the Irish waters and was thrilled to get recipes from Miriam O’Callaghan (@MiriamOCal) and The Script (@thescript) amongst others. Then I thought I’d take my tweets across the water and try some celebs over there. I found the best way to get their attention was to be funny (okay, before you say it, I’m not saying I was funny, I’m just saying I was trying to be funny! Sheesh!). So anyway, back to my funniness. I managed to get recipes from Amanda Holden (@amanda_holden), Heather Mills (@heatherofficial) and even the very lovely Paula Abdul (@PaulaAbdul). I was only one of many, who were chasing up recipes but I may have fallen a teeny weeny bit in love with the process!
The first amazing thing about all of this is that Jane Travers worked tirelessly on the project until she’d defied all the odds by actually managing to compile such a brilliant book and get herself a publisher. The second amazing thing is that, despite giving a year and a half of her life to Tweet Treats, Jane is donating all the royalties to a fantastic charity, Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders).
Tweet Treats is a fabulous little book – one everyone should have in their kitchen. It’s not only choc-a-bloc with easy to follow recipes, it’s also a great read for those of us of a nosy disposition! I mean, how does Bobby Ball like his eggs cooked? What does Ryan Tubridy favour for dessert? What does Anthony Cotton like on his steak? Does Philip Scholfield really eat that on bread? Which famous comedian still likes to have toast soldiers with his runny egg and which one has a microwave as a best friend?
Want to know? Buy Tweet Treats. Simples!
Oh and I almost forgot – the lovely (yes, I’m still in gushy mode!) Jane has given me a signed copy of Tweet Treats to give away here. I was going to ask you to predict, to the nearest millimetre, the rainfall in Tasmania for the month of December, but since I’m in a good mood, all you have to do is leave a comment! The winner will be picked at random on Friday.
Maria x
Great post, Maria! Just wanted to say that but don’t worry about entering me in the draw, I already bought my copy.
I remember way back at the start, seeing you RT the request for recipes. It’s so good to see it’s made it all the way to the book. Well done to all involved. x
Terrific idea! Hope it is a great success! x
Another great post!! Book looks like a fantastic read. I want one!!
Lovely post 🙂 Book sounds great as well, really enjoy following both you and Jane on Twitter
Hey Maria, great piece book sounds brilliant. Well done Jane
Wonderful post, Maria, but then it’s not hard to get gushy over Jane and what a brilliant thing she has done. I’m very happy to have you both as friends. 🙂
After you wonderfully gushing post it’s impossible to resist the lure of this book. So, yes please, enter me in the draw and make my day.
What a lovely thing to do and it sounds fun. Can’t wait to get a copy to see the recipies in 140 characters!
It really is amazing how you guys managed to pull it off! So many brill celebs. Well done to Jane, you and all the others for all their efforts.
140 character recipes? Perfect for twitter addicts with kids who need feeding. Love it!
Whether it’s veggies, or meat, or a sweet,
A TweetTreat will make every menu complete!
Excellent idea.Well done Jane! I have Tweet Treats all ready but am not adverse to winning another copy to ensure my copy doesn’t get grubby. Receipes in 140 characters…surely a 7 and 8 year old will be able to cook dinner if only 140 times 😉
Lovely post Maria and well done again Jane! My son already made the Crispy Mars Bar Slices and there were no calories in them at all!! 🙂 x
Sounds like an ingenious idea Maria. Looking forward to trying out some of the receipes 🙂
Hi Maria,
I love following you on Twitter, you are witting and funny, so there is no need in just thinking you are funny – you actually are.
I have heard so much about this book that I am going to get a copy for christmas for my sister, every kitchen should have one.
I love how you salked the celeb untill you got their attention, go girl!!
Onwards
Michelle
Great post – and I agree – you are funny, so a bit of gushiness is perfectly fine (as an occasional treat…)
To be honest this is the first time I’ve heard of this book, but then I am fairly new to Twitter. Love the sound of it though – not only for its peek into the culinary habits and fondnesses of celebs – but also because any recipe that can be summed up in 140 characters – IS MY KIND OF RECIPE!
(Please forgive the shouting there – got a bit carried away…)
Great post – great idea and great book to fill the gap in my cookery book shelf!! 😀
Really looking forward to this, good on you Jane for seeing it to fruition V best of luck with it – Maura Donohoe
Sounds really cool will put it on my Xmas wish list!
Great post about a great book, and I’ll have a guess at the Tasmanian rainfall anyway… err… 4cm?
Looking forward to getting hold of a copy very soon!
Love the sound of this book, well done to all involved in putting it together.
Would LOVE to win this book 🙂 have been dying to read it!
Juls
Wow – the book sounds amazing. And what a wonderful and inspiring thing to do with the royalties! I shall hope to be your random winner, but even if I’m not, I shall get a copy of this book!