Cooking With Ideas:

Ok, I am not entirely sure what I mean by the title of this entry, though I do know that a) Fonduing Fathers is the title of Hyzy's new entry (yep, used same word twice in one sentence) in her series of mysteries featuring a White House chef named Olivia Paras. And, I know a second thing. This one builds on the prior book in the series insofar as the chef has a strng relationship with the president's son. I have to admit, while fondue briefly comes into the plot, I am not entirely sure why this is the book's title, and this despite the anxious-father-wants-son-to-be-interested-in-something-other-than-cooking aspect of the plot. (And that adjectival hyphenation may be the longest this blog every sees).

Let's see. Good aspects of this particular mystery: the need to have romantic tension does not unduly drive the plot. Also, the plot is not one of those where you feel like asking how these amateurs stumble upon so much crime in one locale. (Though the setting being DC and the White House provides some cover on this issue, unlike, say, Jessica Fletcher and Cabot Cove; if you have that small a population, how can you have so much murder?) Also, I do think Hyzy does a reasonable job of showing the relationship between our formidable chef and the son of the president; in fact, the son seems quite like a little kid as I imaginen him in such a world. What else? [SPOILER ALERT -- which, by the way, is one of the phrases some have wanted to toss from the language in 2013] I liked the way the book provides back story for the main character by investigating issues regardign her father's death, his dishonourable discharge from the military, and his burial in Arlington Cemetery. Of course, it was a tad obvious from this combination of things that he was somehow under cover at the time of his death, but the details were interesting to see develop across the span of the book.

There are a few (??!?!?!) moments that stretch credibility -- though what is the point of mysteries other than allowing us to suspend our disbelief? I admit, though, I am not convinced [GIGANTIC SPOILER ALERT] that [OK TRYING TO CONTROL MYSELF SO WILL BE VAGUE] that Olivia will be able to keep the promise she makes toward the end of the book. Really?

Ok, nitpicking. I truly enjoyed this as always with Hyzy's books. One thing I did like is that there is a lot of development of Olivia's relationships with some of her professional peers -- making obvious that one need not like everyone in order to work well with them, on the one hand, and in a truly "we are in a novel way" ensuring that the truly irritating do not rise to the top. And, I think there is a tiny little endge here of politics (hence this is also characterized as sublimation nation) insofar as the bad guys are pretty darn bad.

This is her sixth of this series. I wonder where she will go next? Will Olivia get married? (Hmmm.) Will she go on a cruise? Will she make fois gras?

So, 2013. Here's what it says on this blog's "overview" the day I started writing this entry:

110299 Lifetime Pageviews

45.52 Pageviews/Day

737 Total Posts

576 Total Comments

Wow. 737 posts. And, I do not think of myself as a writer. Amazing. And, thanks to all of you readers for dropping by --and, I hope, reading. I am grateful for the comments -- I can still remember the very first one -- and how astonished I was then (and am now) that anyone reads this. Some of the comments are odd, some are fun, and some remind me of friends. So: thanks.

Looking back, here are a few of those many posts from my own past as bibliochef, with a few 2013 reflections. It is odd looking back -- remembering (or not).

The first entry ever, dated May 2006, deserves to be cited, right? Here it is, entitled Detecting Gourmandizing. It is brief, does not say much, but does point to the ways Cooking with Ideas focuses on connecting food-related murder mysteries to the rest of the food theme. While in this case I returned to something I had read prior to starting the blog, in many cases I "met" authors due to the blog. THANKS to all of you -- authors, beloved person who sent me loads of such mysteries, and , , , ,

A second historical note that I want to reflect on is the template I used at the start when I reviewed restaurants. The restaurant reviews all started much much more organized than they seem more recently -- with a focus on ambience, on wine/cocktails/dink menus, on all sorts of matters. Perhaps most unusually, and not ordinarily provided by me, were (and are) the bathroom reviews. (Admittedly, limited to the women's rooms). The anonymous bathroom reviewer was and is the main inspiration for this blog -- and for much of what else I do. I am not sure about giving up that template -- I got less "professional" as I got more experience (and perhaps busier). Hmmm. Should I go back? Here are several reviews with the template: one, two, three.( The first is to a stand by in Geneva, NY. The second is defunct. And, the the third is to an early one on Chicago!) See what you think.

A third topic: the entry on single subject books is one that I still think about. In fact, I have been reading single subject books in other areas beyond those covered in this blog. I know, I know, no book is truly about a single subject. Not really. And yet, the ways such books allow entry into multiplicity is why I like them. A book about curry. A book about salt. A book about . . . . fish. A book about. . . . Each was a way into a world -- or multiple worlds. And, as usual, the curry book, the one that started me out: the anaonymous bathroom reviewer in her guise as wonderful gift giver. Thanks again. And, of course, I did a review of such books more than once. Try here too.

Fourth: category titles. I like the ones I use on this blog. I do not use all of them all the time, and think I better get back to things like sublimation nation and queerying and related matters. But, I just wanted to say -- I liked the category names.

Fifth: cookbooks. I started out on cookbooks in some ways in college. I wrote out recipes in a skecthbook. I look at that occasionallly now and wonder why I ate some of those things. (It was the 1970s.) I was learning. I have a more recent version of a similar thing; in fact, I have several -- one written into a Levenger notebook -- which includes pictures of some memorable meals -- and one that I typed out for the ananoymous restuaurant reviewer due to some changes this year. But cookbooks -- I only think of those as cookbooks in a kind of whifty way. What I really mean by this label are those that people buy -- not even on line resources that I use like epicurious. And, I have "met" loads through this site. Partly this is because of the previously cited gift giver, who has supported and encouraged this love. Partly, though, there is a circle caused by teh blog; people send me cookbooks. I am especially indebted to Andrews McMeel, a publisher that sends me cookbooks -- often absolutely beautiful ones. This has taught me several things -- not least that there is no reason to feel guilty about reading cookbooks without cooking from them.

Sixth: and most importantly: the hidden blogger. She has been mentioned above in her guises as inspiration, anaonymous bathroom reviewer and gift giver. Thanks is all I can say.

Do you have a favorite post from Cooking With Ideas? Or are you a fan of the novel ones? Let us all know!