Friday, April 24, 2015

My Husband is Living With a New Woman

My Husband is Living With A New Woman by Debra H. Goldstein

My husband thinks he’s living with a new woman.  He isn’t sure who I am. Suddenly, I’m doing things and talking about subjects that are absolutely foreign to what he associates with me.

The fact is that we’ve been married long enough that he thinks he can predict what I like or dislike. Ask him and he’ll tell you that I love him, our children, books, eating out and theater (although he’s not sure what order, at any given time, those things fall in) and that sporting events, exercise, and cooking top my “forget it” list. Lately though, he thinks his wife has been replaced by a “foodie.”

Not only does he keep finding the television tuned to the Food Network, but he’s noticed that I keep coming home with cookbooks and new food gadgets. Even weirder, I’ve been turning down the option of going out to dinner to try a number of new recipes out on him. Of course, not all of them have been successful. For example, I made chicken soup from scratch for our Passover Seder, but I didn’t realize that the wide noodles I added a few minutes before the service would soak up all the soup during our short service. You can imagine my face when I peered into the pot to ladle out portions and could actually see my soup evaporating. The good thing, as we all agreed, was that the matzah balls, noodles, and chicken ended up being very well seasoned.

At least those things sans soup were edible. Recently, I made a fish dish that not only looked beautiful in the picture in the cookbook, but also on our plates. The only problem was that I got distracted when I was measuring some of the ingredients. Take it from me, 2 tablespoons of black pepper make a dish a lot spicier than ¼ of a teaspoon. Thank goodness we had plenty of water with that meal.

Last night, I dragged my husband to a new type of dinner experience - Dinner Lab. Young chefs come into town and serve a meal in a pop-up restaurant. Although the diner knows the chef and menu in advance, the location isn’t revealed until the day before dinner. The dinner itself is more like a tasting menu in that each course provides a different eating sensation. I liked the warehouse used, thought the menu novel, and enjoyed each course. My husband had the same reaction he had when he saw The Blue Men Group – “that was different.”

The reality is I haven’t changed. I still prefer to eat out. What has changed is that my newest work in progress (about 51,000 words so far) is a cozy with recipes. Writing accurately and interestingly requires research. Whether it is the voice, setting, or characterization, accuracy counts. So, I’ve become addicted to food shows, cookbooks, and cooking (okay, make that attempted cooking) for the sake of my craft. Can you possibly think of a more fun way to get the story right – even if it means my husband is living with a new woman?

14 comments:

  1. LOVE this post. You go, girl.

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  2. Hahahaha!! Awesome! It keeps the marriage interesting though! Good luck with the cooking - can't wait to read the book.

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    1. More than interesting - actually challenging. I'm looking forward to finding an ending to this book and a home for this book. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to Five Star bringing out my book, Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players Mystery in Februay 2016.

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  3. I love to cook--but I'm not good about following the directions, especially if they are too complicated.

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  4. I am such stressed in the kitchen! I admire your spunk.

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    1. Makes two of us who are stressed in the kitchen. Speaking of admire, I really admired your new book. Good luck with it....first novel nomination at Malice :).

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  5. I'm always available to try new dishes. Just let me know when to head in your direction. Congrats on the new series!

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    1. I will share all my cookbooks if you will share your culinary skill????? Head over this way anytime. Then again, we can always eat out.

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  6. Can't wait to read the book, Debra! Wish we lived closer so we could volunteer as tasters. :-)

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  7. Thank you. it's your new book that I'm looking forward to reading. You two come up with the cutest titles! See you at Malice?

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  8. Hi Debra, I love reading about your cooking adventures. I'm a non-foodie who has great appreciation for other people's culinary talents. I'm looking forward to reading your new book.
    Joanne :)

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  9. Do you need to complete the paper task? writing service can help you.

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  10. Very true and very funny. I actually love to cook but the need to learn any new subject in order to write about it is the same. Somewhat to even my own surprise, I had to learn about Brooklyn boxers (the human kind) for the forthcoming book....and I am a person who thinks a good sport is reading a long book!

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