Neither of us wanted to leave Portland. What a beautiful place! The morning of our departure, I was on the local morning television show (a link to this as soon as I'm no longer posting from my cellphone) talking about the book before we sped off to the airport to catch a flight to San Francisco.

But that flight was delayed by cloud cover, which made the rest of the day a game of catch-up as we hustled from appointment to appointment. I arrived at the reading at Book Passage in the Ferry Building a few minutes late and totally frazzled, only to see, in the group awaiting the reading, so many familiar faces from all the different parts of my life that I almost burst into tears. (You will be glad to know that I kept it together. Wouldn't that have been awkward otherwise? Ha!)

The next day, I drove out to beautiful Danville, San Francisco a faraway glittering jewel, to a lunch and get-together at the totally inspiring Rakestraw Books. I'm telling you, this book tour is making me want to open a bookstore or something. After a ride back to the city and a quick cone at Bi-Rite (malted vanilla, ho!), we drove down to Santa Cruz where I found myself contemplating getting a job at Bookshop Santa Cruz if only so I could be friends with the charming booksellers there. (Do you think it could work?) They had prepared meatballs, Pflaumenkuchen and Christmas cookies from the book for the crowd, who were amazing, full of great questions and tips on Quark-making machines (I know! More on this when I'm back at a computer).

When we had to leave the West Coast the next day, I was beset with melancholy. I'd loved every minute of the tour thus far. Los Angeles already felt so long ago. I didn't want the tour to end (still don't) and flying east meant one thing: only a few days were left.

***A note to my New York readers! The event tonight starts at 7:00 pm at Powerhouse Arena in Brooklyn Heights. I can't wait to see you there. Oh, and wine and cheese will be served!***

From Los Angeles, we went south first, to San Diego and more sunshine, a cozy afternoon tea organized by the intrepid reader behind Adventures By The Book, then transcendent sushi at Sushi Hane, where the beer was icy, the peppers spicy and the sushi like velvet.

Just a day later, we flew up the coast to Seattle. Seattle! I met Molly's baby girl June, ate Delancey's pizza and tomatoes so good I'd happily take them and nothing else to a desert island. Tara from Tea & Cookies did a bang-up job of hosting the book event at Seattle's University Bookstore, asking great questions and being her delightful, twinkly self.

Then on to Portland, in a terrifyingly tiny airplane that flew into the clouds and past Mount St Helens (!) for just one short evening. (Too short, since we fell in love with the city right away.) I read at Powell's to an incredible crowd and debated pitching camp in the cavernous bookstore for the rest of my life. What an incredible place! What I didn't know is that it would soon get competition.

The past week has been the thrill of a lifetime. Flying over Los Angeles. Waking up to palm trees. Seeing the wide expanse of the Pacific. Even a jetlagged baby awake for the day at 2:38 am couldn't dampen our spirits. And meeting the first readers at the fantastic Vroman's in Pasadena was beyond amazing. When that first event was over and I hummed with adrenaline and happiness, I could already tell I wouldn't want this tour to ever end.

This is my friend Gemma. Isn't she pretty? I love that smile. She's been a loyal reader since the very beginning, always demanding new posts, eating my leftovers (we lived two floors apart from each other for a few years in Queens) and bugging me about when I'd ever get around to writing a book. Oh pshaw, I'd reply and get back to baking cookies or making pizza or whatever I had to do that evening for dinner. I'd feel flattered and a little embarrassed too, but mostly I didn't think I had it in me at all. So consider me the most surprised of anyone that I did do it in the end. I did it! I wrote a book!

It has been, no joke, one of the biggest thrills of my life to hear and see, via Twitter and Facebook and emails and Instagram (I'm @wednesdaychef there), the book landing on all your front steps this week. I can't stop pinching myself. I have loved hearing your first impressions and seeing the recipes appear as finished dishes in your kitchens. Actually, even more than loving it, it has been blowing my mind. How is this my life?

And tomorrow we start the first leg of our crazy journey, baby in tow, across the pond. (Pleasegodlethimsleep.)

This is where I'll be reading over the next two weeks:

Friday, September 21st, 7:00 pm:
LOS ANGELES, CA - Vroman's Bookstore

Saturday, September 22nd, 2:30 pm:
SAN DIEGO, CA - Adventures by the Book, Westgate Hotel

Monday, September 24, 7:00 pm:
SEATTLE, WA - University Bookstore. Bonus: Tara Austen Weaver will be hosting this!

Tuesday, September 25th, 7:30 pm:
PORTLAND, OR - Powell's Books

Wednesday, September 26th, 6:00 pm:
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Book Passage

Thursday, September 27, 12:00 pm
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Rakestraw Books

Thursday, September 27, 7:00 pm:
SANTA CRUZ, CA - Bookshop Santa Cruz

Sunday, September 30, 5:00 pm:
WASHINGTON, DC - Politics & Prose

Monday, October 1, 7:00 pm:
NEW YORK, NY - Powerhouse Arena

Tuesday, October 2, 7:00 pm:
BOSTON, MA - Harvard Book Store

Can't wait to see you there. And to give my friend up there with the shiny eyes a big old hug. Living up to someone else's hopes for you is a pretty spectacular feeling. Living up to something you never in a million years thought you could do is stratospheric.

Folks! If you pre-ordered your copy of My Berlin Kitchen on Amazon.com, it'll be released and sent out on Thursday. This Thursday! If you preferred to wait and give your hard-earned dollars to bricks-and-mortars bookstores, they'll be selling the book as of next Monday. That's 8 days from now! Haa-haa-hooo-heee!!

Now for a bit of shameless self-promotion:

O Magazine's October issue says My Berlin Kitchen is one of 10 Titles To Pick Up Now! It's also gotten wonderful mentions in Elle, Marie Claire, Culinate, Publisher's Weekly, Library Journal and Booklist.

The first blogger reviews are coming in and they have me practically in tears. In a good way!

Food Loves Writing says: "I went into the book eager to hear how Luisa and her husband met, what made her move to Berlin, more details about her life in New York publishing. What I didn’t expect was to find so much that resonated with me, like the way she wrestled with decisions or the security that cooking could provide when she lacked it..."

Lit Laugh Love says: "I can guarantee every single one of you that this will be the most tattered book on my shelves as the years go on. This is a book I’m going to turn to—for strength, for memories, for someone to share heartache with, for recipes, for solace, and most importantly for the reminder that life goes on. We need to follow our guts. We need to 'be brave'."

BrodartVibe says: "Her journey finding herself within these separate lives is a great adventure with lots of great recipes along the way. This book in many ways reminded of the journey of Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat Pray Love."

If you'd like more reader reviews, click on over to My Berlin Kitchen's page on Goodreads.

Also, the book's adapted first serial is running in this weekend's Wall Street Journal. Remember that disastrous cake I posted about a few years ago? The full story's in the book, but to tide you over until then and to whet your appetite for gooseberry cream cake, check out the article and recipe here.

Finally, a huge thank you, dearest readers, for your pre-orders and enthusiasm. I can't believe the book will be in stores and in your hands so soon. What a crazy, crazy ride this whole book-writing experience has been. (More on that soon, I promise!) I so, so hope you like it.

Last fall, I was thrilled to record a piece for NPR's Berlin Stories series. Berlin Stories are "short, personal pieces" about Berlin that are broadcast on NPR's Berlin station. (By the way, did you know that Berlin is the only city outside the US with an NPR station?) For my piece, I adapted a chapter from My Berlin Kitchen, telling the story of how my mother, when she first moved to Berlin in the 1970's, got a German tradition involving doughnuts, mustard and New Year's Eve very, very wrong indeed.

At the time of the recording, Berlin Stories didn't have a recording studio yet, so we met at my friend Anna Winger's house to record the piece in her basement! (It's really, really quiet down there.) I had originally planned to simply read the chapter into the microphone, but it turns out that radio writing is quite different from book writing. So the producers and I sat around the kitchen table for a while working on the piece and eating salad until we were all happy with it. (The hideous nausea from the beginning of my pregnancy had just subsided and I was able to expand my diet beyond pretzels and potato chips. Lettuce never tasted so good!)

To get a little sneak preview of the book, you can listen to the piece here. I hope you like it.

(P.S. We buy our New Year's Eve doughnuts at this legendary bakery in Berlin. They're glorious.)

I was informed last night by my agent, via this hastily snapped cellphone photo, that the first actual copies of My Berlin Kitchen have arrived in New York. (!) Which means that it's only a matter of time now before I get to hold a copy myself. (!!) I imagine it will be a little different than when I first held Hugo, a little less soft and deliciously scented, probably. But in its own way, no less monumental. (!!!) Right? If you had told me four years ago that one far-off summer, I would have two babies, one flesh, one paper, to my name, I would not have believed you. Oh, life. You can be so good sometimes.

(!!!!!!!)

And to make things even better, we're going on tour. Yes, folks, me and the baby and Max are getting on an airplane in late September and heading to the States to see you all and I am so stinking excited I can hardly stand it. I can't believe how lucky I am that I get to do this. (Also, terrified. Will anyone show up? Furthermore, are we out of our minds to attempt this thing with a three-month old baby?)

The tour schedule is as follows (I'll have more precise details, like addresses or other salient information posted in a soon-to-be-formatted link in the sidebar):

Friday, September 21st, 7:00 pm:
LOS ANGELES, CA - Vroman's Bookstore

Saturday, September 22nd, 2:30 pm:
SAN DIEGO, CA - Adventures by the Book, Westgate Hotel

Monday, September 24, 7:00 pm:
SEATTLE, WA - University Bookstore

Tuesday, September 25th, 7:30 pm:
PORTLAND, OR - Powell's Books

Wednesday, September 26th, 6:00 pm:
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Book Passage

Thursday, September 27, 12:00 pm
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Rakestraw Books

Thursday, September 27, 7:00 pm:
SANTA CRUZ, CA - Bookshop Santa Cruz

Sunday, September 30, 5:00 pm:
WASHINGTON, DC - Politics & Prose

Monday, October 1, 7:00 pm:
NEW YORK, NY - Powerhouse Arena

Tuesday, October 2, 7:00 pm:
BOSTON, MA - Harvard Book Store

Will you come, will you be there? I cannot wait to see your faces, my dream come true.