Food, Glorious Food by Lucy Burdette

Clinical psychologist Lucy Burdette (aka Roberta Isleib) is the author of eleven mysteries, including TOPPED CHEF, the third Key West food critic mystery--coming May 7. Her books and stories have been short-listed for Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. She's a past president of Sisters in Crime. You can find her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lucyburdette), Twitter (www.twitter.com/lucyburdette), Mystery Lovers Kitchen (www.mysteryloverskitchen.com), and Jungle Red Writers (www.jungleredwriters.com).


Food, Glorious Food by Lucy Burdette

When I grew up in the suburbs of New Jersey and Detroit in the fifties and sixties, haute cuisine consisted of adding a can of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup to the dish in question. Spinach, green beans, chicken-they all got the same treatment.

Red meat selections, on the other hand, were married to Lipton's onion soup (pot roast) or Campbell's alphabet soup (meatloaf.) Just add a crisp, pale wedge of iceberg lettuce dressed with a glob of other-worldly-orange bottled French dressing and voila-fancy company fare.

Oh, we had ethnic dining options too: heat up a can of slimy lo mein noodles and flaccid vegetables and sprinkle with crunchy faux-noodle topping.

With that background, you might wonder about my qualifications to write about a food critic character. Basically, I love to eat. And I love to eat good food--not fussy, just delicious. My husband teases that "Isleib" (my family name) means "is stomach" in German. His other fictionalized translation for my name is "large lunch followed by a restful nap."

I don't think I'd enjoy being a food critic in real life--when I go out to eat, I like to choose what I feel like eating, not what I think other folks want to hear about. And I draw lines where my character Hayley Snow, cannot. For instance, tentacles. Raw fish and meat. Slimy things. Like that:).

In TOPPED CHEF, the third book in the Key West food critic series, Hayley Snow gets roped into being a judge for a reality TV contest. During the contest, three contestants cook their way through a variety of challenges, beginning with presenting their "signature dish."  I had lots of fun imagining how the three chefs would think about food and what they'd prepare. One of them leans toward home-style Southern food (a carping judge calls him "Paula Deen squared"); a second cooks from the tradition of molecular gastronomy; and the third, now that I think about it, is a little lost. Although she did produce some killer key lime cupcakes for the wedding challenge. (Recipes for the cupcakes and the shrimp and grits dish made by the fictional chefs will be posted on www.mysteryloverskitchen.com on May 2 and 9 to celebrate the launch of TOPPED CHEF.

My husband says the shrimp and grits could be the best thing I've ever made.) As usual, I've gone on too long about food and not told you much about the book. Here's the tiniest little snippet to whet your whistle: "Four little judges, judging for TV. One swinging from the mast, and then there were three. Three little judges, tasting wine and roux. One couldn't swim, and then there were two".

Hayley Snow, Topped Chef TOPPED CHEF will be in stores on May 7, but you can pre-order here: http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780451239709,00.html?Topped_Chef_Lucy_Burdette And you are invited to "like" Lucy on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lucyburdette) or follow her on Twitter (www.twitter.com/lucyburdette) If you had been persuaded to enter a cooking contest, what would your signature dish be?

I'm So Excited!

Hank Phillippi Ryan sent this little email out today - - -

"BREAKING NEWS: Welcome to our very own Kaye Barley--who's joining Jungle Red as our resident commentator, reader, visionary, mystery maven, arbiter, pundit and prognosticator. Kind of like Andy Rooney, but nicer (much nicer), and with a darling husband, a perfect dog, a massive library and cute shoes. Watch for Oh, Kaye! Every first Sunday on Jungle Red!"

Am I excited?  Let's just say I've been struck kinda dumb by it all.  The most intelligent thing I've said today is "Squeeee!"

Most of you are familiar with the Jungle Red Writers. but for those of you who aren't, allow me to introduce them - - -

Jungle Red Writers

Eight smart and sassy crime fiction writers dish on writing and life. It's The View. With bodies.

 

Julia Spencer Fleming


Jan Brogan


Lucy Burdette


Hallie Ephron


Rhys Bowen


Deborah Crombie


Hank Phillippi Ryan


Rosemary Harris


So, yes.  I am excited. 

I'm trying to be cool, calm and collected about it all (can you tell?)







I am excited, and I am happy.  But mostly, I'm honored to be able to hang out with these remarkably talented women once a month. 

And I look forward to seeing you all there!


wow, huh?


just - - -


wow

Only in Key West by Roberta Isleib aka Lucy Burdette

 

Only in Key West 

by Roberta Isleib, 
aka Lucy Burdette

 
When my husband and I visited Florida six years ago, we never imagined we'd end up spending so much time in Key West. It has a lot going for it, but for an animal lover, the place is irresistible.

Roosters are protected by law. That means no matter what hour the banty next door wakes up crowing (think five am), you'll find yourself in the clinker if you wring his neck. And if you eat in an outdoor restaurant--like the well-known Blue Heaven--the chickens may be pecking around your feet in the dust from appetizer to dessert.

Cats are popular in the city too. The Cat Man of Key West is probably the biggest draw at the Sunset Celebration on  Mallory Square.

 

Most nights he arrives at the harbor with eight or ten cages of cats, and sets up his show. Once the crowd gathers, he puts the cats through their paces: walking on tightropes, jumping through hoops of fire, hopscotching over each other--all while keeping up a loony travelogue in a French accent. (The man, not the cats.) Ernest Hemingway was probably the most famous writer to live on the island and he also was very fond of cats--big furry specimens with an above-average number of toes. Fifty or sixty descendants of the original denizens still lounge on the antique furniture as tourists troop through Hemingway's former home.

Key West may be fond of roosters and cats, but the city really loves dogs. Dogs are invited for meals, welcome in any outdoor seating area.

Of course there is the standard dog run, with separate spaces for the bigs and the littles, and there's Dog Beach, and the dog bar, but it's also a matter of pride for stores and restaurants to provide doggie rest stops outside their front door. 

Where else in the world would you be towed past a bed-and-breakfast by your sometimes unruly Australian shepherd and have the owner call out: "We're dog friendly!" So on our second visit, I persuaded my husband to include Tonka (our Aussie) on the permanent travel team.

Every morning we're in Key West, we walk to a local deli for our Cuban coffees--an indoor space where dogs are certainly illegal. But they wave him in anyway and whoever's working the lunch counter is instructed to get him a treat. No dry dog biscuits here--he gets big wads of Boars Head roast beef.

Lots of people pour into Key West from cruise ships, missing their pets and dying for a furry fix. We take Tonka out to enjoy the Sunset Celebration most evenings and we get stopped every 10 or 20 feet.  "What kind of dog is that? He's beautiful. Look at those eyes! Can we pat him?" Tonka, of course, thrives on this, especially if treats are involved. I suppose that could happen anywhere. But when a group of co-eds dressed in St. Patrick's day duds stops us, cooing and ahhing over the dog, asking "Can we have our picture taken with him?" That can only be Key West.

 
The first book in Lucy Burdette's Key West food critic mystery series will be published by NAL/Obsidian in January 2012. You can follow Lucy on twitter: @lucyburdette, or read more about AN APPETITE FOR MURDER on her website (www.lucyburdette.com) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/lucyburdette.) Lucy aka Roberta also blogs with the Jungle Red Writers: www.jungleredwriters.com. (Thanks to my Key West pal Sandra Bartlett for the dog bowl photos, and to Jerry Touger for the picture of Tonka with his girlfriends.)