Cooking and food-themed mysteries are some of the most popular among mystery readers. It’s safe to say that these novels have led to the creation of a min-subgenre within the subgenre of traditional and cozy mysteries. However, you probably won’t see me writing a book like this because I can’t cook—I mean I can’t cook at all.
To give you an idea of what a horrible cook I am once I attempted to hard boil an egg and it blew up. Thankfully, most of the mess was contained in the pot of boiling water, but the experience scared me off of cooking forever. That was seven year ago, and I haven’t attempted to hard boil anything since.
Over the years when I would tell others of this culinary disaster, they immediately started to question me.
“Did you salt the water?” Yes.
“Was the egg completely emerged in the water?” I guess so.
As I gave all the right answers, more or less, the questioner would leave perplexed by the egg explosion. The only explanation I have to offer is I was the one behind the stove.
These are the directions I followed to the letter. They came straight from my mother, who is devastated at my complete lack of culinary talents.
1. Fill a pot of with cold water and add salt.
2. Put egg in pot and make sure the water just covers the entire egg.
3. Bring the water to a boil.
4. When the water is at the boiling point, set a timer for ten minutes.
5. When the timer goes off, take the pot off of the stove and run cold water over it to cool it down.
6. Peel and enjoy!
Success! This time, I was actually able to hard boil an egg. It was a big moment for me. Despite the hardboiled victory, this doesn’t mean I suddenly have aspirations to be a gourmet cook. No, I will tuck this culinary win away like a feather in my cap and return to my comfortable world of cereal and Lean Cuisine.
Happily, I know if the author thing doesn’t work out I can always apply for Food Network’s Worst Cooks in America. It’s always good to have a back up plan.
Amanda Flower started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. Like her main character, Amanda is an academic librarian for a small college near Cleveland. Maid of Murder is her debut novel and the first in a series featuring amateur sleuth India Hayes. Her mystery Murder In a Basket will be published by Five Star/Gale in January 2012. To learn more about Amanda visit her site and blogs at http://amandaflower.com/ . You can also follow Amanda on Facebook at http://tiny.cc/ejquq or Twitter at http://twitter.com/aflowerwriter
1 comment:
Prune whip....? Whatever does it mean?
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