Books:

Hello foodies,

I thought I'd take a break from relating restaurant experiences and talk about books.

In addition to restaurants, cooking, and of course, eating.  I also like food-themed books.  There is the obvious: cookbooks; however, I also read memoirs by chefs, and fiction books where cooking and/or food play a role.

I have always enjoyed mystery novels, so, a number of years ago, I was delighted to find a series of books by Diane Mott Davidson where the protagonist is a caterer.

The first book, Catering to Nobody, opens with the main character, Goldy Bear (a little cutesy, I know), as a single mother getting her new catering business off the ground.  Recently divorced, she lives in the small Colorado (fictional) town of Aspen Meadows, where she has to deal with her abusive and vindictive ex-husband, The Jerk, with the help of her best friend, Marla (The Jerk's second ex-wife).  At a event she is catering, her former father-in-law mysteriously drops dead, and as the person in charge of the food (and ex-daughter-in-law), Goldy is the prime suspect.  Rather than just sitting by and watching her fledgling business go down the tubes, Goldy gets to work on finding the murderer herself.

As the series progresses, she somehow keeps stumbling across other murders.  She grows in confidence, and her business slowly becomes successful.  Some romance even comes into her life.

Cooking, and food, are interwoven throughout the story.  For Goldy, cooking is her therapy.  When she is upset, needs to think, wants to comfort someone, or needs something to lull a potential suspect into slipping up, she cooks.  And, for many of the things Goldy is featured cooking, the recipes find their way into the book.  Favourites of mine include Tomato Brie Pie (a tasty quiche), and Turkey Curry with Raisin Rice (I omitted the raisins, of course, and over time made other adaptations to the recipe to suit my changing tastes).  In later books, a major character has a health scare, so Goldy starts adapting some recipes to make them healthier, and when she takes on aspiring teenage chef who is also a vegetarian, as an assistant, vegetarian recipes start popping up as well.

These aren't hard-boiled detective novels, but they have a certain charm.  The reader ends up rooting for Goldy even through some of the more contrived bits (how many murders can one small town have?  There are 16 of these books.)  So for a little bit of murder and a lot of cooking, consider checking Diane Mott Davidson out.

For updates, follow me on twitter:  @culinarykira