Tag Archive for: Comfort Food

Clicking Our Heels – Our Last Supper – Mystery Writer Style

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Our Last
Supper – Mystery Writer Style

Most of the Stiletto Gang enjoys food and murder,
so it seemed natural to find out what some of us would want to eat for our Last
Supper:

Marilyn Meredith – Crab cakes, lobster tail,
garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus

Jennae M. Phillippe – A series of small plates of
delicious dishes, like the hangar steak I had at a French-Vietnamese restaurant
the other day, each paired perfectly with wine, and finishing with at least
three kinds of dessert, most of which included chocolate.  I would aim for as much flavor variety as
possible.  And, no mushrooms!

Paffi Flood – A filet mignon, cooked medium well,
with a Caesars salad and a vodka tonic

Sparkle Abbey – That’s so hard, we like all types
of food.  Italian, Mediterranean
inspired.  We do better with the
drink.  For us that would be a margarita!

Bethany Maines – I would order something with a
lot of courses that took a lot of time cook and eat.  Let’s just see how long we can make this
last. J

Juliana Aragon Fatula – Tamales, arroz, frijoles,
cheese, quacamole, sopapillas.  My mom
was the greatest cook in my hometown. She sold tamales to make money for Christmas gifts.  She was very popular with the community because of her cooking. Tamales always remind
me of the tamalera in my mom’s kitchen once or twice a year with all the Viejas,
tias, cousins, comadres.  It was beer and
chisme and I learned a lot about life from those parties.

Kay Kendall – Cold shrimp with cocktail
sauce.  Hot French bread with lots of
garlic butter. Hagen

Daz coffee ice cream.

Dru Ann Love – I would have collard greens, rice,
fried chicken, baked macaroni & cheese and for dessert, chocolate frosted
yellow cake.  This is the holiday meal I
grew up with and its comfort food and makes me think of years past with the
family.

Debra H. Goldstein – I’d keep it simple and in
line with my usual cooking style: a cheese pizza followed by coffee, chocolate
mint, or German chocolate cake ice cream.

Paula Benson – For my last supper, I would ask to go back in time to a place no longer existing called “The Captain’s Kitchen.” They served wonderful fried seafood in paper bowls and would bring all you could eat of shrimp, scallops, oysters, and perch (with delicious cocktail and tartar sauce) as well as hush puppies and cole slaw. Just when the servers thought my father had no room for more, he would ask for one last bowl of shrimp, “for dessert.”

Comfort Food

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In times of stress, my stomach tends to rebel. No Chinese take-out, thank you. No spicy hot wings. No dark chocolate — which is the biggest surprise of all.

For me, when under stress, I turn to the foods of my childhood. Simple, plain, no fancy condiments, perhaps a touch of mayo to sweeten the chicken sandwich, on whole wheat, with a slice of tomato. Yum.

Anolther safe choice? Chicken soup, with or without a matzoh ball, but noodles are a nice touch.

Potatoes in almost any form, although probably not fried as too much grease just lingers.

I find comfort in the memories of meals eaten with those I love. My mother, the original Evelyn, was, no offense Mom, a miserable cook. But I cherish the scenes in my mind of us sitting at the holiday table, with a bountiful selection of the favorites of my father, my sister, and me. Of course, she had ordered it all in from a local catering hall, but the choices were made with deliberate attention to what each of us would enjoy.

We all know that material things aren’t what make us happy or fulfilled. Don’t get me wrong. I love a new pair of shoes more than most. But lately, with a variety of problems popping up, I find comfort in eating that chicken sandwich and remembering the comfort I got from those who made it with love.

What foods give you comfort?

Evelyn David

Taking Comfort (Food) Where I Can Get It

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Finishing a book is like the 25th mile of a marathon…except I’m not looking for water to get me through that last chapter. I’m looking for rice pudding with raisins.

I don’t think I realized just how fattening writing a book could be. Personally I think I ought to get caloric credit for all the running that Rachel Brenner, my protagonist, does. I mean I’m the one who cracks the whip and keeps Rachel in such good shape. Here’s a woman who can whip up a pasta dinner for eight without breaking a sweat, keeps home-baked oatmeal cookies in her pantry, loves a good sauvignon blanc – and never seems to gain an ounce. So far she has no clear workout routine, although she does walk to work. Now I like to cook, I don’t have a regular workout routine, and I too walk to work, although admittedly that’s approximately ten feet, the distance from my bed to my computer. So how come I’m getting fat and Rachel isn’t?

And the answer is: I’m a writer; Rachel is the makeup artist in a funeral home, apparently an aerobic profession. When not creating fictional murder and mayhem with the Southern half of Evelyn David, I write nonfiction books on everything from veteran’s benefits to playgroups for toddlers. Apparently there aren’t nearly as many calories as I thought moving your fingers over the keyboard.

But it’s not only the sedentary life of a writer (and is that what attracted me to the career in the first place?) that packs on the pounds. Writers block, which can strike without warning at least twice a day, can only be cured by chocolate or rice pudding with raisins or in a pinch, Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies.

According to Wikipedia, “comfort food is typically inexpensive, uncomplicated, and easy to prepare…Small children often seem to latch on to a specific food or drink (in a way similar to a security blanket) and will repeatedly request it in high stress situations.” I confess that it’s been quite a few years since anyone considered me a small child, but I think trying to find fresh ways to create murder and mayhem definitely qualifies as a high stress situation.

Maybe that’s why I’ve always liked the Nero Wolfe mysteries. Wolfe weighed one-seventh of a ton, which is just a Thin Mint away from 300 pounds. He understood that cerebral detecting requires a lot of calories. His dinners, prepared lovingly by Fritz the chef, always had at least four courses, including some divine dessert. I would be more than happy to chow down with Nero and sidekick Archie Goodwin. I’ll pay for my meal by challenging them to figure out the killer in Murder Off the Books.

I’ve never known anyone, other than my mother-in-law, who considered carrot sticks a comfort food. Macaroni and cheese qualifies. So does tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Pudding of almost any flavor would also make the list.

Those are some of the foods that sustain me as I struggle to create memorable characters, laugh out loud humor, and a believable fictional world where the good guys always win. How about you? What are your comfort foods?

Evelyn David