LeseLust & LeseLiebe

Did you include the recipe for our mother’s Fruit Salad? One brother asks me. Her Baked Pheasant? Another brother chimes in. Her Strawberry Shortcake? That’s my sister. No, no, and no. Sorry, guys. Although food is at the heart of my memoir, Lost Without the River, I didn’t want it to be a cookbook. I didn’t want to tell how to prepare the food, but rather how it came to be on our table. Of how my family planted, tilled, and harvested food from the fields, and plucked berries and vegetables from the woods and our garden. With work suspended for a short time, we sat down to dine on freshly picked sweet corn, heavenly whipped cream fluffed from the top of unpasteurized, non-homogenized milk that our grass-fed cows had produced, fish we’d caught in our river only minutes before. We savored each bite, acutely aware of the effort it had taken to get it onto our plates. Each neighboring farmwife was known for her baking specialty. My mother’s? Her sweet rolls, heavily perfumed with cinnamon...

What’s in your multi-cultural plate? Louisiana Catch traverses through three distinct places—New Delhi, New York, and New Orleans—revealing the foodie nooks and crannies in each city. The female protagonist in Louisiana Catch , Ahana, is a tea-drinking, pinot-noir-sipping health nut from New Delhi who is also a feminist and a foodie. While Ahana’s favorite Indian food is kebabsand chicken biryaniwith raita, a cucumber yogurt salad garnished with crushed mint; she equally enjoys a Cajun spread of shrimp po’boys, andouille gumbo, shrimp étouffée, jambalaya, and the overall Southern hospitality.Ahana hates to cook and is a specific person. She enjoys her green juice and green smoothies and yoga and running just as much as she appreciates a good French pinot. The male protagonist in the book, Rohan Brady, is from New Orleans who loves everything food. He loves to purchase the ingredients, experiment with recipes in the kitchen, and host dinners. Cooking is Rohan’s way of showing care. On ...

As all residents of Los Angeles know, there is no shortage of good food in our busy urban city.  If you’re a foodie and want four-star dining, it’s available at a high price (along with a hefty valet parking fee).  If you’re a food truck aficionado, there are nights in Venice and daily on campuses across the city where food trucks sit and wait for those who can’t live without their fusion bowls.  If you’re a fast food junkie, just take a drive down any street and you’ll be able to get whatever fat-filled burger you want (including an actual Fatburger!). So, what does Libby, the heroine in my novel Let’s Get Lost , do in the opening scene?  As a well-paid executive in a finance company, she is taking her three best friends to The Ivy in West Hollywood, one of the toniest places in the city and a popular spot where celebrities eat and interested paparazzi station themselves as they wait for the perfect photograph. Libby selects this upscale celebrity hangout because sh...

Another year, another list of delicious reads! These fabulous authors stopped by to share their food for thought: Laurie Boris - The Call Nick Cook - Cloud Riders Richard Gazala - Blood of the Moon Dana Griffin - Coerced Connie Johnson Hambley - The Charity Karen Ann Hopkins - Embers Brooklyn James - Jolie Blonde Nancy Lynn Jarvis - The Two-Faced Triplex Beverley Jones - Where She Went Beth Kander - Original Syn David J. Kirk - Stone Signs Gwen Mayo - Strangely Funny Alan McDermott - Run and Hide Christopher Minori - Little Idiots Rose Montague - Jade Bobby Nash - 85 North Mark Noce - Between Two Fires David Pedersen - Clod Makes a Friend Katherine Roberts - Bone Music Deanna Lynn Sletten - Miss Etta Clayton Smith - Apocalypticon Karen Rose Smith - Murder with Cinnamon Scones Barbara Stark-Nemon - Hard Cider Sheryl Steines - Black Market Lori Ann Stephens - Some Act of Vision Gabi Stevens - The Wish List Jolene Stockman - The Jelly Bean Crisis Mary Strand - Livin' La Vida Bennet Ma...

This was the 25th year my wife and I have hosted Christmas dinner for family and friends. My wife does all of the cooking, I do a lot of cleaning and even more eating. Our tiny house is filled with delicious smells of her dry-aged roast and a pumpkin dessert with yellow cake topping that has been dubbed “David’s dessert.” I always get a gentle hand-slap for trying to sneak away with it. That dinner is full of great memories. Food is an incredible tool for writers that readers can relate to. If you've read any of my novels, you probably wonder if I have an obsession for cake. While I don't eat cake three times a day (life goal) it’s certainly one of my most favorite comfort foods. Not only do I love the taste and texture, cake means party since it is often served at celebrations. Even if you don't like cake, you get the significance. In Clod Makes A Friend, Clod is bullied for being the only 9-year-old in his class without magic. More than anything he just wants a friend, s...

Laissez les bons temps rouler Whew! We certainly let the good times roll these past few weeks here in New Orleans. The struggle is most definitely real! Whoever thought that Daylight Savings time should be a thing should be killed (I want my hour back!). To make matters worse, us natives are just coming down from Mardi Gras: weeks of drinking, partying, parades, debauchery, and food. Food. I admit, when I was first asked to include something about a dish or food in my post I was a bit intimidated. I write about many things but food is NOT one of them. Then I thought about where I lived and all of the food. Food. Glorious Food. New Orleans has beautiful architecture (albeit, complicated street names) and a rich (yet haunted) history…both key reasons why I chose to make home as the setting for my Inheritance series and its surrounding world. But New Orleans wouldn’t be the mecca that is without the staple of its food. Delicious Cajun and creole food. If you are a health nut, New Orleans...

The Truth Club is not the kind of book where people go to lots of expensive restaurants or spiralise zucchini, they are far more preoccupied with trying to sort out their personal lives, which is why comfort food is frequently mentioned. Sally Adams, the main character, is a journalist and likes munching a biscuit, especially if it is covered in chocolate.  Some months after a rather grand wedding she has left her husband, Diarmuid, because their views of love and marriage seem so different. ( “I love sweet things, Diarmuid prefers savories.” As I say this I realise it pretty well sums up my marriage.   she reflects in Chapter Seven.) A carpentry teacher and biology student, Diarmuid has become somewhat obsessed with some mice he's keeping as part of his studies, and often lovingly gives them mature cheddar cheese.  Diarmuid himself has a fondness for Turkish Delight confectionery, and almond biscuits which Sally stocks up on for when he 'pops round'. (They are 'keepin...