{"id":2120,"date":"2026-07-06T17:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T00:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/?p=2120"},"modified":"2026-07-06T21:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T04:40:57","slug":"sunday-specials-an-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/?p=2120","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Specials: An Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Friends, here’s news about Sunday Specials<\/em>, the cocktail guide that you have been so generous in supporting.<\/p>\n

The manuscript for the book was completed in June 2025 (although I have continued to tinker and tweak, as my obsessiveness demands), and what ensued was about nine months of frustration as I attempted to attract the attention of publishers and agents. With zero success.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve since come to realize that, in this modern publishing world, authors must arrive with a substantial audience already in tow in the form of social media followers, a major presence in the podcast realm, or a proven track record of self-published sales\u2014which, given that I have meager online presence and am basically a first-time author, I conspicuously lack.<\/p>\n

So I’m going the self-publishing route. After more months of wheel-spinning in search of book designers who are not A.I. bots or scam artists, I decided to brush off my own page-design skills (does anyone else remember QuarkXPress?) and do the whole bloody thing myself.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m happy to report that the process is moving forward and I\u2019m pleased with the results so far. I\u2019m using Affinity Studio<\/a> as my layout program, Creative Market<\/a> for graphics, and Lulu<\/a> for publishing and sales. I\u2019ve upgraded my photo studio equipment (with a few exceptions, all of the book\u2019s photographs are taken by me), and I have begun to sketch out a marketing plan.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve set a rigorous schedule and if I manage to stick to it I\u2019ll have finished designing the book by late October. With a few more weeks for additional photos, the whole project should be ready to go to proofs by the end of 2026. Which could mean a real book that you can hold in your hands in early 2027.<\/p>\n

Here’s the back-cover blurb, which will give you an idea of what that book will contain:<\/p>\n

Your weekend is fast coming to a close. Tomorrow it\u2019s back to the grind. Don\u2019t you deserve something to smooth the transition \u2014 a delicious way to expand your mind, extend your time off, and make it a little easier to face Monday?<\/em><\/p>\n

In Sunday Specials: Classic and Contemporary Cocktails to Cap Off Every Weekend of the Year<\/strong>, author and mixologist Michael Rene Zuzel equips you with a full year\u2019s worth of drink recipes, more than 150 in all, many keyed to the season and its celebrations. From familiar standbys like the Old-Fashioned and the Daiquiri to decidedly modern concoctions like the Espresso Martini and the Lady Womp\u2014plus original cocktail creations found nowhere else\u2014Sunday Specials<\/strong> gives you everything a home bartender needs to ease you and your family and friends back into the week.<\/em><\/p>\n

Drawing on a wide range of sources, including cocktail guides dating back more than a century as well as professional bartenders from around the world, Zuzel supplements the recipes with tasting notes, information about drink origins, and a few dashes of personal anecdote. Sunday Specials is like no other cocktail guide\u2014one you\u2019ll want to keep close at hand 52 weeks a year.<\/em><\/p>\n

My enthusiasm for this project has never flagged and that’s largely thanks to your encouragement. I\u2019ll keep you posted as we move forward.<\/p>\n

Cheers,<\/p>\n

Chef Zuz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friends, here’s news about Sunday Specials, the cocktail guide that you have been so generous in supporting. The manuscript for the book was completed in June 2025 (although I have… [Continue Reading]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sunday-specials-cocktails","category-beverages"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SundaySpecialsCoverDraft.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2LarU-yc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2120"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2130,"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120\/revisions\/2130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cuisinestupide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}