Enid Cloyed

May 6, 2003

Post #1638 – 20030506

I love food as I imagine, do you. My real passion however is cooking. I’ve found it to be most relaxing and rewarding, to just hang out in the kitchen and concoct some new comestible. I had to ask, what is/are your favorite food/s? Surely one who writes about food as eloquently as you do, must have a healthy respect for it. I myself can think of nothing better than mashed potatoes. They are my comfort food.

Perhaps you could tell me about the things you cook? A writer shouldn’t have to talk about their books all the time…

Daniel replies:

I used to do a little bit of cooking many years ago. I had maybe a half-dozen set pieces I could do when I wanted to entertain. These included ratatouille, a sort of chicken cacciatore, chicken curry, super-duper hamburgers, a killer salad...you get the idea. I learned them by heart, and did them mechanically with reasonable success. Then I married this woman who didn't cook but took it up, and soon turned into a BRILLIANT cook, I mean a GENIUS, I mean I have NEVER had a single meal ANYWHERE that surpassed what Jill just knocks out seemingly effortlessly. She doesn't want anyone, meaning me, mucking around in her kitchen, so I stayed out, and gradually lost what little skill I had. When Jill has been sick, or when she's crashing for a deadline, I can take over, and do canned soups, toast, sliced deli turkey sandwiches, and so on.