Thursday, July 30, 2009

What’s Cooking?

Lowcountry Boil It’s Thursday, so that means I’m cooking up trouble at the Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen.

On the menu today is Frogmore Stew. No, I’m not kidding—it’s a Deep South specialty. If you want to know what it is, you’ll just have to click over.

Interestingly enough, I’m writing two series with two completely different protagonists. Well, duh, you’re saying. They’d better be different, since they’re different books for different publishers.

But the biggest thing that’s so different about them is that Myrtle (the Myrtle Clover series for Midnight Ink) is a horrible cook. Her cookbook’s pages get stuck together and she blithely continues cooking—not knowledgeable enough in the kitchen to realize the ingredients couldn’t possibly work well together. She sets off the smoke detector during a dinner party.

Lulu Taylor is totally different. In fact, she owns her own barbeque restaurant in Memphis. Her son mans the pit there and cooks up the best ribs in the South. Not only does she know how to cook, she’s renowned for it.

My cooking skills are somewhere in the middle. Let’s put it this way—what I know how to cook, I cook well.

Luckily for my family, I’m learning to cook wonderful recipes at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen.

And…bonus for foodie folks: The site is currently running a contest. Visit Mystery Lovers' Kitchen to enter to win the weekly drawing. The prize is a $25 gift certificate to the Williams-Sonoma kitchenware and gourmet food store.

Good luck!

14 comments:

Owen Fiddler said...

Frogmore stew. Sounds good. Better than the traditional English dish, Spotted Dick, that's for sure!

The Old Silly's Alter Ego

Marybeth Poppins said...

LOL...when you mentioned you share most of Myrtle's flaws I kinda wondered if your cooking skills were like hers! :)

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Owen--Spotted Dick! Too funny. I remember being in the cafeteria line at Univ. London and seeing haggis every day. Sigh.

Marybeth--Oh, I've had some fire extinguisher moments, too! I guess most of her disasters were my disasters of (not very many) years ago.

Elizabeth

Alan Orloff said...

That's great, having the pages stick together and not knowing you'd switched recipes. Very funny! (Not that it ever happened to me, of course.)

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Alan--Yes, I have a great imagination! Except in this case...it happened to me. :)

Rose Pressey said...

Reminds me of the Friends episode when Rachel makes a trifle. One of the pages was missing from the cookbook, so she added a layer of beef by mistake. I'm a terrible cook, by the way.

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Rose--Oh my gosh. Beef in a trifle! I think even I would realize that was a boo-boo....

Helen Ginger said...

I love the idea that you're writing two series, both about cooking, but on opposite ends of the spectrum. I think that would be fun.

Helen
Straight From Hel

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Helen--Well, it definitely helps me keep my protags straight, anyway! :) It's fun, too.

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

I’ve been known to set off the smoke detector a time or two! The recipe sounds yummy and since it doesn’t call for frogs, I plan to try it.

Galen Kindley--Author said...

Two different WIPs. Galen shakes his head in wonderment. How do you do it? Most of us struggle with one. Great job. Now, let me go check out...what was it??? Frog Stew? Grimace. See ya over there.

Best Regards, Galen
Imagineering Fiction Blog

Patricia Stoltey said...

I'm loving Myrtle Clover, Elizabeth. Just wanted to mention that before I hop over to check out Frogmore Stew (and it better not have any frogs in it).

Alexis Grant said...

I'm with Galen. TWO WIPS?! You're amazing!

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Jane--Oh, I'm all about the smoke detector.

Galen--Some days I do it better than others! :)

Patricia--Thanks so much, Patricia!

Alexis--Thanks! You're nice. Let's hope I don't mix up my plotlines. :)