Pot by Pot/Laura Lippman
Pot by Pot
I have two more-or-less annual traditions: I write a book and I throw a 4th of July party.
This past 4th of July, I went into the kitchen just before 11 p.m. and wanted to cry at the mess I had to tackle. I had been up since 6 a.m. I had made chocolate chip cookies and Coca Cola fudge cake and pickled eggs and then another 18 hardboiled eggs for deviled eggs. I had made a salad (kale, of course), heated queso in a crockpot and warmed pulled pork made the day before. My husband, stepson, stepson's girlfriend, young cousin and his girlfriend had all shouldered significant chores, so no Cinderella story here. Still, it was daunting to face that mess at the end of what was already a 17-hour day.
But I was done in an hour. I loaded the dishwasher, then began hand-washing and drying. I put things away. Pot by pot, knife by knife. With each step, the task was less formidable. And I was sustained by a lovely memory -- the fireworks over Baltimore, of which we have an almost 360-degree view from our rooftop deck. I had watched them with my 7-year-old daughter perched on my lap, a baby-ish indignity she accepted only because all the 20-something female guests were on their boyfriends' laps. Baltimore's fireworks are lovely and the harbor ones are perfectly framed in a square of sky due east of our house. That's why we feel obligated to have a party.
I don't know why I feel obligated to write a book annually, but I do. A week earlier, I had confronted the disarray that is my current work-in-progress. Something was wrong. I needed to rearrange it, rethink it. It meant more work. But I saw where the work would take the book and I was happy to do it. I wrote a new chapter one. I dragged bits of chapter three into chapter two. Chapter two became chapter three. So on and so forth.
So many people think mystery writing is formulaic. I wish. But you know what is formulaic? Recipes. Here are three links to recipes from the Internet and two family favorites. The Coca-Cola fudge cake recipe appears as I described it in an email to a writer friend. The queso recipe can be found on any can of Ro-tel Tomatoes, but it is included here with an important note.
Kale salad with apple and cheddar
Serious Eats Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ro-tel Queso Dip: Add one can of undrained Ro-tel tomatoes to a pound of Velveeta. Heat in a crockpot, double boiler or a microwave until melted. Later, you will be tempted to use fancy cheese. You will use fancy cheese. It won't be as good. You will return to Velveeta. It's a rite of passage.
Coca Cola Fudge Cake: Put 2 cups flour, 2 cups sugar and 1 teaspoon baking soda in a mixing bowl. In a saucepan, put two sticks margarine, 2 heaping tablespoons of cocoa and 1 cup Coca-Cola. Bring to a boil. Pour over dry ingredients, mix thoroughly. Add 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 cup buttermilk and 2 cups miniature marshmallows. Bake in two eight-inch aluminum pans at 350 degrees, for 40-45 minutes.
While the cake is still hot, make the icing by bringing 2 heaping tablespoons cocoa, 1 stick of margarine and 2 ounces of Coca-Cola to a boil. Add 1 16-ounce box of confectioner's sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla; spread over cake. If it hardens too quickly, add a few drops of Coca-Cola. If it's runny, add more confectioner's sugar or even cornstarch.
The cake freezes beautifully, which is why I recommend using disposable aluminum squares.
Just Read: BLAME by Jeff Abbott, out July 18, and a book that will remain nameless because I didn't like it.
Reading: Can't tell you, it's for a review.
Re-Reading: THE LOVE MACHINE, by Jacqueline Susann and LOVELY ME, Susann's biography. Part of my attempt to immerse myself in all things mid-1960s.
Me, Me, Me: I won the eDunnit in the UK for the best digital book of 2016, for WILDE LAKE and was nominated for a Macavity. WILDE LAKE is up for three prizes at Bouchercon in Toronto this October and I'm going to predict here with utter confidence that I will be the only writer at Bouchercon to go 0-for-3. That's not self-deprecation. To lose three times, you have to be nominated three times and only a few other writers are up for three awards at Bouchercon.
Laura Lippman
July 2017