Table of Contents: From Breakfast With Anita Diamant to Dessert With James Patterson - a Generous Helping of Recipes, Writings and Insights From Today's Bestselling Authors
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Helene Cooper
SELECTED WOEKS
The House at Sugar Beach (2008)
Inspiration I like to read, I like to travel, I like to eat, and I like to live. I guess all of that inspires my writing.
Readers Should Know Since my book, The House at Sugar Beach, came out, I've switched back to newspaper writing, the antithesis of memoir writing. I'm now the White House reporter for the New York Times.
Readers Frequently Ask The question most people ask me is how my family members are doing, particularly my sister Eunice. And to that, my answer remains the same: great.
Authors Who Have Influenced My Writing
Chinua Achebe. This Nigerian writer was the first African writer I ever read. I had a Western education which didn't include African literature, so when I discovered Achebe on my own I was thrilled. He is so evocative, and an amazing storyteller, in the classic West African sense of the word, to boot. There's a lot of imagery and spirituality in his writing. Reading his books, from Things Fall Apart to No Longer at Ease, put me right in the middle of my home continent in the best way possible. I thought about him a lot when I was working on my book.
Alexandra Fuller. I read her memoir, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, while on the plane flying back to the United States from Iraq. Her writing is lyrical and her story, while completely different from my own, felt like my story at the same time. Her book was the model for my own. I kept going back to it, again and again, while I was working on The House at Sugar Beach. I so admire her honesty, and her ability to render her family in such a stark way while at the same time leaving the reader with no question of how much she loved them, warts and all.
Jane Austen. I know. Such a cliché. But come on, who can resist a happy ending? My recipes are all family recipes, and the recipes I've included represent classic Liberian cooking. This is the food I grew up on.
I was posted to the Wall Street Journal's London bureau the year I turned thirty, where, suddenly, I was deluged with invitations to dinner parties. There were these four to five-hour affairs that came complete with dessert wines and cheese courses; far more well-thought out than the pot of chili dinners I was used to having with my friends back in Washington.
After a few months of this, I realized that at some point, I would have to reciprocate. I was terrified — my cooking skills, at that point, veered toward spaghetti and mashed potatoes.
I was on the phone long distance with my mother, trying to come up with a menu, when she suggested I go Liberian. “I'll help you,” she said. “And even if it doesn't turn out well, they won't know the difference anyway.”
So, coached by my Mom, I had my first formal sit-down dinner party, in my one-bedroom apartment in Notting Hill, with eight folding chairs crowded around the rough pine table I had bought from Ikea. I had exactly eight plates, eight wineglasses, eight forks, eight knives.
About an hour before my guests were to arrive, one of them, Danny, called me to ask if he could bring a friend, who was visiting him. “I only have eight plates!” I said.
“So I'll bring a plate,” he replied. Which he did (along with a chair, knife, fork, and wineglass).
I served: potato greens, Shrimp Creole, rice, fried plantains, and ripe mangoes (peeled and sliced). This last dish served as a perfect dessert after this heavy meal.
POTATO GREENS
Makes 4 servings
Note: Although this dish has greens, it's more of a substantial main dish with chicken and beef. I couldn't find sweet potato leaves in London, so I substituted spinach.
When cooking the chicken, be careful of splattering oil.
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium (4-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces
½ pound beef stew meat, cut into bite-size cubes
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 habañero chile, minced
4 10-ounce bags prewashed baby or regular spinach
4 small chicken bouillon cubes
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
About 20 button mushrooms, halved
White rice, for serving
1 Heat oil in a large stockpot or saucepan over medium high heat and sauté chicken pieces, in two batches if necessary, for about 10 minutes, until browned on each side. Remove chicken from pot and set aside. Add beef, and sauté until brown, about 5–10 minutes. Remove beef and set aside.
2 Add onion, bell pepper, and chile, and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the spinach, one bag at a time, until all four bags are incorporated. Add bouillon cubes and salt and pepper to taste. Return chicken and beef to the pot. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Add mushrooms and simmer for 10 more minutes.
3 Serve over white rice.
SHRIMP CREOLE
Makes 4 servings
Note: You can buy fresh shrimp, or pick up frozen shrimp and thaw them. We leave the shell on for cooking and serving shrimp because that helps retain the flavor. It's peel and eat while on your plate, but I highly recommend first licking all the lovely Creole juice off the shrimp before peeling it.
Wear plastic or rubber gloves while handling chiles to protect your skin from the oil in them. Avoid direct contact with your eyes and wash your hands thoroughly after handling.
1 pound raw large shrimp, shell on, deveined (see note)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon seasoned salt, such as Lawry's
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion
1 green bell pepper
1 habañero chile
2 cups whole okra (can use frozen)
1 cup diced carrots (can use frozen)
1 cup water or chicken broth
1 cup frozen peas
White rice, for serving
1 Season shrimp with paprika, salt, seasoned salt, and pepper, and toss to coat shrimp evenly.
2 Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, and sauté shrimp on both sides until opaque, about 5 minutes.
3 Add remaining tablespoon of olive oil, onion, bell pepper, and chile, and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Add okra, carrots, and water or broth. Simmer, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes. Add peas, adjust seasoning, and simmer another 10 minutes.
4 Serve over white rice.
FRIED PLANTAINS
Makes 6–12 servings
6 very ripe (almost black) plantains
Salt to taste
½ cup vegetable oil
1 Peel and slice plantains thinly (about 1/5-inch) lengthwise. Salt slices.
2 Heat oil in a sauté pan and fry plantain slices, about 2–3 minutes per side, until golden. Drain on paper towels and serve hot.
Barbara Delinsky
Tsar Fedorski
SELECTED WOEKS
Escape! (2011)
Not My Daughter (2010)
While My Sister Sleeps (2009)
The Secret Between Us (2008)
Family Tree (2007)
Inspiration My greatest inspiration is real life, which hit me in the face with my mother's death when I was eight. The fairy tale ended for me then, but it wasn't all bad. Without a mother, I became a more self-reliant, confident person. I had faced the worst and survived.
Not all people do, so what makes some of us survivors and some not? This is the back story of each of my books. I write about family crises, subjecting my characters to upheaval and then watching them cope. Do they make it? Most do. I absolutely believe in that silver lining.
What real life occurrences have inspired books of mine? Well, 9/11 inspired The Summer I Dared, in which three survivors of a ferry accident have to deal with why they've been spared. The death of Grace Kelly of Monaco inspired The Secret Between Us, which involves a car crash and a lie that takes on a life of its own. The idea for Not My Daughter came from news of a high school p
regnancy pact in Gloucester, Massachusetts, but my writer's mind went past the girls to their moms, and the good mother issue became the focus of my book.
Readers Should Know Readers should know three things. First, I don't write romances. Yes, my very first books were in that genre, but I haven't written a romance in nearly twenty years. I wasn't the best romance writer; my books were too realistic. I only built a following once I left the genre.
Second, I couldn't produce a book without Post-its.
And third, I keep learning. I've had the privilege to work for the last four years with an editor who truly edits. She has taught me how to keep my prose fresh and my pacing swift. Each book is stronger, better written than the last. This means the world to me. I do believe life is about growth — both in my characters and in me.
Readers Frequently Ask The one question nearly every book group asks is whether I write from personal experience. The answer is no … and yes. Though I've never based a plot on my life, I often use snippets of familiar people or events. For instance, I've never lived the dramatic arc of The Secret Between Us, but the protagonist, Deborah Monroe, has been shaped by a perfectionist father she adores. I know about fathers like that because mine was one.
Likewise, I have neither been pregnant at seventeen nor had a child who was, as in Not My Daughter. But I am an avid knitter of hand-painted yarn, just like the moms in my book.
Since my publisher wants a book a year, I typically finish one and quickly start on the next. But after completing Not My Daughter, I was mentally drained, and absolutely beat. At that moment, the only story I wanted to write was of a woman who was so tired of being so busy that, on a whim, she just walks away. Leaves everything. Vanishes.
That's my fantasy. I'd never actually do it, but to watch a character do it would be fun. What do you think?
The Lone Influence on My Writing Honestly? I was never an avid reader. Nor did I ever think to be a writer. I was kicked out of Honors English in high school because I couldn't keep up. So I remember few of the books I read back then that might have influenced my writing.
Except, that is, Laura Ingalls Wilders Little House on the Prairie series. I remember reading every one as a child and being totally immersed in another life and time. Though I don't do series work myself, I try to make my characters similarly compelling so that my readers, too, will be immersed.
CRAB AND CORN CHOWDER
Makes 6 servings
Recipe courtesy of Keith Marden of Captain Marden's Seafoods of Wellesley, Massachusetts
The protagonist in Not My Daughter, Lily Tate, is seventeen and pregnant. This has not gone over well with her mom, Susan, who, as a seventeen-year-old mom herself, wanted better for her child. After a long, hard struggle for education and respect, Susan is now principal of the local high school. With her own daughter pregnant, though, parents are questioning whether she is the best role model for their kids.
Lily hadn't anticipated that her mother's job would be at risk. In a gesture of conciliation on a day when Susan has worked late doing damage control, Lily makes dinner. She knows that her mom loves Crab and Corn Chowder, and though Lily doesn't eat seafood much during her pregnancy, she makes a pot.
Have I ever made Crab and Corn Chowder myself? Never had to, since Captain Marden's fish market is seven minutes from my house. We buy it by the quart, my husband and me, and make a dinner of it.
That said, I was thrilled when the Captain agreed to share his recipe. Sinfully smooth and savory, his Crab and Corn Chowder is one of the shop's biggest sellers. Come the time when I can't get there — perhaps a snowy day or one when I'm at the lake, three hours away — this recipe will be a nifty thing to have.
Note: A double boiler works best to avoid burning the chowder, but you may cook soup in a large soup pot or saucepan in place of a double boiler.
2 slices bacon, diced
2 tablespoons margarine
½ medium onion, diced
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2¼ tablespoons cornstarch
1 quart whole milk
2 cups light cream
1 ear corn, cooked (remove kernels and reserve cob and kernels)
1 medium potato, steamed until tender, and diced in ½-inch pieces
¼ pound fresh crab meat
½ tablespoon salt (or more to taste)
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1½ teaspoons dry parsley, or parsley flakes
1/8 cup or more chicken stock (optional)
Hot cayenne pepper sauce (such as Frank's Red Hot) (optional)
1 In a medium skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Add margarine to pan, and sauté onions in margarine and bacon fat until translucent. Remove onions with a slotted spoon and set aside.
2 Add flour and cornstarch to make a roux; stir into bacon fat and margarine slowly over low heat until mixture thickens and is bubbly.
3 If using a double boiler, fill the bottom half full of water. Bring water to a boil over medium heat. Pour milk and cream in top of the double boiler and add the corn cob. Place gently over boiling water; upper pan should not touch the water. Stir for 10 minutes over medium heat. Do not let the liquid boil.
4 Remove cob and stir in roux as needed for desired thickness. Add diced bacon, onions, corn kernels, potatoes, crab meat, salt, pepper, and parsley. Stir and heat through. Add chicken stock (to add flavor and thin chowder if desired) and/or cayenne pepper sauce for flavor.
HOT MULLED CIDER
Makes 8 servings
From Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (Meredith Corporation, 1981)
I'm a sucker for comfort food. I mean, it's not just that I like certain foods, but that they do bring comfort. When I'm feeling lousy, a fried egg on toast gives me a lift; I swear it does. On a cold, rainy night, there's nothing like Sloppy Joes to drive away the chill. And macaroni and cheese? That's comfort food any time.
What makes comfort food comfort food? In some instances, it's food from our childhood that reminds us of home. In others, it's food that is just fattening enough to be a splurge when we need to break the rules. In still others, it's food that has traditionally been associated with relaxation, celebration, or encouragement.
Hot mulled cider represents satiation and warmth. It fills us up, body and spirit, and this is exactly what the Snow family in While My Sister Sleeps needs in those final pages of the book.
This family has lived a nightmare. Its thirty-two-year-old daughter — the oldest of three children, an elite marathoner, and the star of the family — has had a massive heart attack and is on life support. Her powerhouse of a mom is paralyzed, her dad takes his usual backseat, and her brother is preoccupied with marital woes. Molly, the baby of the family at twenty-seven and, up to that point, very much a background person, is the only one who can speak for Robin. But the voice that comes out offers surprises, and, for that, comfort is needed.
Hence, hot mulled cider. I imagine it simmering in a pot on the stove in the kitchen at the end of the book. The smell fills the room. The Snow family has come a long way by now and is actually seeing the cloud's silver lining, but this ultimate comfort food will ensure an ongoing sense of hope. Enjoy!
FOR THE SPICE BAG
2 3-inch cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon whole allspice
1 teaspoon whole cloves
FOR THE CIDER
8 cups apple cider
½ cup packed brown sugar
Dash ground nutmeg
FOR THE GARNISH
8 thin orange slices
8 whole cloves
1 To make the spice bag: Place cinnamon sticks, allspice, and cloves in a piece of cheesecloth and tie tightly. Set aside.
2 To make the cider: In a large saucepan combine apple cider, brown sugar, and nutmeg. Add spice bag. Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove spice bag and discard.
3 Serve cider in large mugs with a c
love-studded orange slice in each.
SOMA STICKIES (STICKY BUNS)
Makes 20 sticky buns; 2 pull-apart loaves
Contributed by Enriqueta Villalobos, Head Baker at the Ventana Inn & Spa, Big Sur, California
I'm a lousy cook. Well, maybe lousy is too strong a word. I am a competent cook who can perform in the kitchen when necessary. But I have no history of cooking. There have been no recipes passed down through the generations, not even a favorite recipe from my childhood. There is definitely a void in my personal history when it comes to food. That's probably why my books so often include kitchen goodies. It's compensation, sweet and simple, for what I don't have in real life.
In the case of The Secret Between Us, the kitchen goodies are produced in a bakery. Here's another thing about my books: they often include little pockets of sanity to which my characters and I go when we need grounding. In The Secret Between Us, that little pocket of sanity is Sugar-On-Main, the bakery owned by the sister of the main character.
The parking outside is easy, the tables inside perfect for reading the paper or talking with a friend. And the smells? Warm, buttery, and sweet. To die for.
How to write about a bakery when I don't bake myself? Easy. All I had to do was to create a place that serves my favorite goodies. SoMa Stickies are definitely that.
SoMa stands for Sugar-On-Main, and Stickies are pecan rolls, a.k.a. sticky buns with pecans on top. I have always loved pecan rolls. Yeah, some are dry and not very sticky. But when I find a good one, I indulge. This is precisely what I do each time my husband and I vacation at the Ventana Inn in Big Sur, California. Breakfast there is strictly Continental style, but absolutely wonderful. At one end of a long table are fresh berries, hard boiled eggs, and yogurt. At the other end, along with juices, coffees, and teas, are breads, English muffins, and … sticky buns.
We regularly return to Ventana for the hiking, the fresh air and incredible flower smells, and, yes, the sticky buns. I have one for breakfast each morning I'm there. They aren't huge, but they're worth the trip!