November 2022 Newsletter

Hello everyone! This is Justin and Ashley and we are here to present to you, this month's newsletter!

Current Events

Creating a brand or company from scratch is one of the most difficult things you can do—you're a small fish in a large sea of monopolies, conglomerates, and a never-ending fountain of social media "influencers". We've been trying to think outside the box for advertising and it's produced some interesting results.

We had our 2008 Tesla Roadster reviewed by Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD, on his new Auto Focus YouTube channel! It was quite the pleasure to work with him, if only for a few days. Of course I had to get a picture with the tech reviewer legend.

We used the opportunity to include some branding so if you're watching the video, you'll see our Write Free or Die bookmark hanging from the rearview mirror. Along with that is a Hot Wheels version of the Tesla Roadster in space.

I also got the opportunity as a guest speaker for Rx Healthy Habits, which is a health and wellness coaching company founded by my friend and mentor, Joe Montemorano and his wife Elizabeth—both pharmacists.

Writing Updates

Since Ashley and I have both started new jobs, progress has slowed on our current projects. Now that my schedule is opening up after completing onboarding/training, my focus will switch back to working on Shades of Resilience.

With the holidays approaching, we've been prioritizing Manju's Kerala Christmas, a children's book based on how we celebrate Christmas in India. Ashley wrote this story for a graduate school course in 2014. I'll never forget putting together the original book using stock photos, printing them out, and glueing them to the pages. Ashley's professor gave her a 100 on the project was so impressed that she encouraged Ashley to publish it. The book traveled with us for years—from various apartments to our current house.

Even as a baby, Elliot was always into books—especially Dr. Seuss. One day in looking for more material to read to this young scholar, we found Manju's Indian Christmas (the original title) and Elliot absolutely loved it! Ashley and I pared down the wording from the original project and streamlined it into a manuscript. We sent it out to several publishers that accepted submissions, but never received a reply. A few months later the world shutdown during the first wave of COVID-19 and the project was put on the back burner.

2021 was a crazy year, between Twyla being born, Elliot's second heart surgery, and both of us quitting our jobs. Before we embarked on our massive East Coast roadtrip in December, Ashley decided that we should pursue self-publishing Manju's and finding an illustrator. We started working with Hayley Moore through Reedsy, which is an online service that connects authors, illustrators, designers, and other literary professionals.

The book was completed by the end of March 2022 and published a month later. It may seem odd releasing a Christmas book in the spring, but the logic behind it was to get as many reviews and sales as we could. Now our focus is on finding innovative ways to market the book and sharing our culture in the process. So share the book and love for our culture with friends and family! 😁

Writing Inspiration

In line with sharing our culture, this month's Writing Inspiration section will be a food recipe! Our Instagram has many reels showcasing Kerala cuisine and today's feature will be Kerala Beef Cutlets.

Ashley and I have a giant binder of the recipes we've loved over the years, but when it comes to Indian cooking, nothing is written down. There aren't defined measurements, just general guidelines relying on the "feel" and the ratio of spices. Don't let that scare you, cooking is more fun that way! If you have kids like ours that insist on being involved in the kitchen, this takes the pressure off perfectionists like us. I'll turn it over to Ashley!

Ashley's Kerala Beef Cutlets

The first step is the take 1 lb of ground beef (use 80/20 or 85/15 mix) and brown that in a large sauce pan. Use a meat masher to break up the large chunks to ensure it all cooks evenly. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Remember to drain the beef. Set aside.

In another pot, boil creamy baby potatoes in water. I usually add more potatoes than beef because potatoes are a great binder allowing for better frying. Drain and set aside.

In a pan, sauté (using 2 tbsps of vegetable oil) curry leaves, black mustard seeds, salt, black pepper, chicken masala (1 tbsp), garam masala (0.5 tbsp), cumin (0.25 tbsp), onion powder, garlic powder, and minced garlic. Then add in diced onion, diced carrots (even diced celery if you want to sneak in some veggies for yourself and your little minions- go wild!), cook until everything has a nice caramelization.

Add the saute pan mixture to the soft/ boiled baby potatoes. Mash everything together well with a masher. Add in the ground beef and mash together. Taste and add more salt if you wish. Form oval shaped patties with your hands. Not too small or they will fall apart when you fry.

Set up two bowls and a tray for breading the cutlets. Separate 2 egg whites from yolks (you can save the yolks in a container as an egg wash for pies or crusts). In the second bowl pour out bread crumbs of your choice (we used 4C breading). Take the formed cutlets, dip into the egg whites, then coat evenly in the bread crumbs and set on the tray for frying.

We used our cast iron for heating up the oil on a medium-high heat. Watch the temperatures closely and be careful! Fry till brown, place in a paper-towel lined tray, and enjoy!

Please remember to follow us on social media and visit www.ellitwy.com

Happy Writing & Cooking!

Elli Twy Publishing