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Kandy Sheperd | Heroines Who Cook -- or Not
August 12, 2010
Cooking disasters¯they’re not much fun when they’re happening to you but they
can be a lot of fun to write about. Maddy Cartwright, the heroine of my first book LOVE IS A FOUR-LEGGED
WORD, is a trained chef. Maddy is a superlative cook who specializes not
just in delicious food for humans but also gourmet treats for dogs. Not so Serena Oakley, the heroine of HOME IS WHERE THE BARK
IS. Serena is the self-confessed world’s worst cook. Hero Nick Whalen is a
big hunky PI who plays sport, works out and is always hungry.  What’s Serena to do when Nick thinks the wonderful lasagna
she serves him for lunch is all her own work? She tries to tell him it was
cooked by her best friend Maddy but Nick is so in love with her lasagna he
doesn’t want to hear about it.
I don’t want to give away any spoilers here, but suffice to say that over the
course of the novel, Serena comes to wish she’d never lied about lasagna. And
Nick comes to appreciate Serena for more than her cooking. It wasn’t hard for me to write about Serena’s cooking disasters as I’ve had so
many of them myself. I like cooking. My "day job" as a women’s magazine editor
means I’m working with fabulous food people, so I hope I’ve picked up some hints
and tips along the way. But none of the expertise I’d gained helped me with the
great cheesecake catastrophe of many years ago. I was single and had invited a group of friends around to my apartment for
dinner, including a gorgeous guy I was hoping to impress. He’d mentioned his
favorite dessert was cheesecake. I slaved all day over that dinner--and
especially the baked cheesecake. The crumb crust. The decadently rich filling.
All to be topped with cream and strawberries. It turned out perfect, with not a crack to mar its smooth, golden surface. I
gloated with glee as I reverently slid it out of the oven. Until the bottom of
the springform pan fell out and my cheesecake smashed all over the oven door. Yes, there was cursing. Yes, there were tears. And there were strawberries and
cream for dessert. Over coffee, I’d relaxed enough to confess to my guests about the cheesecake
calamity. "Did you throw it in the trash?" asked gorgeous guy when he followed
me into the kitchen. I showed him the rescued remnants hidden in the fridge and
he laughed. After the other guests went home, we snacked on that cheesecake
which looked a real mess but tasted wonderful. No, it didn’t lead to romance but
it broke the ice for a warm friendship that lasted for years. Do you have a tale of culinary disaster to share? I’d love to hear about it
Comments
21 comments posted.
Re: Kandy Sheperd | Heroines Who Cook -- or Not
I enjoy cooking so I do like it when heroines can cook also,
I do not like helpless women.
We need to be able to cook and kick butt.
(Vickie Hightower 11:30am August 12, 2010)
I am not a cook, but like to think of myself as the heroine in my
family's life.
I do wish I could cook, but as I have a small kitchen, and really don't
like the idea of cooking it's just not going to happen!
(Sandi Shilhanek 6:51pm August 12, 2010)
I'm not a very good cook at all; one day my husband had invited friends to dinner and I had it all planned. So I had peeled and cut fresh carrots and potatoes, a roast and salad:the carrots were uncooked, the potatoes overcooked and the roast burned. It was a disaster.
(Diane Sadler 7:23pm August 12, 2010)
I remember a first time for company dinner that was a disaster. Wanting to impress my mom & dad with my culinary abilities, I made twice baked potatoes. You bake the potatoes, then scoop out the insides not getting too close to the bottom of the skin. Of course, the potatoes were too dry from the double bake & a couple dropped their insides from the bottom when they were picked up. That being bad enough, I sprinkled lemon juice over the fresh broccoli as it steamed. It turned the sickest(did I coin new word?) looking color of pale yellow green..Ugh!! My face was more colorful (RED)! I do like to read that people can & do have upsets & successes just like the rest of us. I makes for a fun read!
(Jean Merriott 7:34pm August 12, 2010)
I dropped the Apricot Chicken all over the floor just as I went to serve it up to my guests. I could have wept.
(Mary Preston 7:38pm August 12, 2010)
All of my cooking results in disaster. But here's a cheesecake story. We were on a cruise, having lunch. Only hubby ate dessert, a nice big slice of cheesecake. He ate and ate while the kids and I watched. Finally, he pushed away the empty plate and said, "You know, I really don't like cheesecake." It's a byword in our family now when someone does something silly. "cheesecake" We all start laughing.
(Carly Carson 8:07pm August 12, 2010)
I have an incredible recipe for cracker-crumb topped fried fish. There have been a few times that I have made it, and when I went to flip the fish, the breading came right off!! I could just cry, because I crush all of the crackers by hand so that they're fresh, and end up with plain perch. My husband knows what I'm fixing as well, and it's embarassing.
(Peggy Roberson 9:33pm August 12, 2010)
I love it when the heroines cook or bake. It is nice to have some recipes included in the book.
As for a cooking disaster, making dumplings and not having enuf flour in them - they disintigrated when I tried to boil them.
(Pat Lieberman 9:42pm August 12, 2010)
I used to like to cook, not so much these later years. I like to read about cooking disasters because I've had enough of them to relate! It seems if you don't do it enough you lose it.
(Brenda Rupp 11:26pm August 12, 2010)
Hi Vicki--"cook and kick butt", I love
that idea!
(Kandy Shepherd 7:30am August 13, 2010)
Hi Sandi, I love the idea that you are
the heroine in your family's life, I
think we would all aspire to be that!
I love cooking--baking especially--
but sometimes it can seem a chore
when I have to do it night after night!
That's when I'm glad my husband is
happy to cook...
(Kandy Shepherd 7:33am August 13, 2010)
Diane, I so empathize with you! That
cheesecake disaster is certainly not
the only cooking disaster I've had,
and it's so embarrassing when it
happens in front of guests. But
friends come for the company and I
bet they enjoyed your meal anyway!
(Kandy Shepherd 7:41am August 13, 2010)
I agree, Jean. I torture my poor
heroine Serena in HOME IS WHERE
THE BARK IS with a disastrous evening
when she is trying to impress the
hero and things go terribly wrong... I
cringed for her even as I wrote it!
(Kandy Shepherd 7:51am August 13, 2010)
Mary, I love Apricot Chicken and I
would have wept too.
I made my mother a beautiful frosted
cake and left it on the kitchen
benchtop. Much to my horror, I went
into the kitchen to get it to find my
friend's visiting Weimaraner with his
paws up on the bench eating the
cake. I wept all right--and I won't
repeat what I said to the dog--but
my mother laughed!
(Kandy Shepherd 7:56am August 13, 2010)
Carly, I love your story it really made
me laugh!
(Kandy Shepherd 7:59am August 13, 2010)
Peggy, your recipe for cracker crumb
fish sounds wonderful. I must admit
crumbing can be hit and miss with
me, too. They say it helps if you chill
the crumbed fish before you fry it,
but I'm usually in too much of a hurry
to get the meal on to allow time!
(Kandy Shepherd 8:02am August 13, 2010)
Pat, I love it when characters cook,
too. In my first book LOVE IS A
FOUR-LEGGED WORD Maddy the
heroine is a chef and in HOME IS
WHERE THE BARK IS Nick, the hero, is
the one who can cook.
(Kandy Shepherd 8:04am August 13, 2010)
Sara, your story about hacking the
butter really made me smile. We could
have a whole new discussion on
cooking accidents (in my case usually
caused by impatience!)
(Kandy Shepherd 8:06am August 13, 2010)
Hi Brenda, I've been guilty of not
cooking a recipe for a long time and
thinking I can do it from memory--
boy is that a recipe for a cooking
disaster! You're right, I think you do
lose it if you don't do it all the time.
(Kandy Shepherd 8:14am August 13, 2010)
These dishes look soooo good and love the cover of this book. And yes, I love it if heroines or heroes for that matter cook or bake.
(Rose Guardino 7:29pm August 13, 2010)
Hi Rose, so glad you like the dishes and the cover of the book. That lasagna is so delicious, I'm testing the recipe to put on my website. My family love to help me taste test!
(Kandy Shepherd 10:17am August 14, 2010)
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