Cooking Through Fiction: The Wyrm King — Star Wars Pizza

Some items just go together. They’re soul mates. For example, peanut butter and jelly; chocolate and peanut butter; rainbows and unicorns; and cookie dough and slumber parties are all matches made in heaven. 

Today I’d like to add: Star Wars and pizza. Both are certifiably awesome. Who doesn’t love pizza? Who doesn’t love Star Wars? I’m sure those people exist who do not love either, but not in my house!

Cooking Through Fiction: A Giant Problem — Hobgoblin Doughnuts

I like to think I’m a rebel, that I’ve bent the rules, swam against the stream, bucked conformity. I had a college professor tell me once that I was a square peg trying to pretend I could fit in a round hole. He didn’t mean this as a compliment. That screams rebel, right? Right?! Bueller?

My sister would likely say that I am about as far from a rebel as a person can get. But I object! I’ve lived dangerously (I once ate escargot). I’ve tempted fate (I underage bungee jumped). I told an English professor that I found her judgment questionable (She gave me a C for sass.). I’ve eaten doughnuts after midnight (Unlike my Gremlin friends, it’s okay to feed me after hours.).

Cooking Through Fiction: The Nixie's Song — Nick's Buffalo Chicken Pizza

I don’t like change (unless it involves the seasons). I’m a creature of habit. I’ll even admit that I don’t like change even when it’s for the better. I eventually adapt to the new situation or habit, but at first, I resist. I grumble. I whine.

“Nothing endures but change.” Heraclitis

Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, created by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, follows a new set of characters as they find out the faerie world is closer than they imagine. The story opens with Nick reluctantly giving up his room to his new stepsister. Nick, like me, does not like change. He likes his room. He likes being alone to build his model ships, and he likes his life. Now he’ll have to share a room with his older brother, he’ll have to accept his new stepsister and her weird affinity for faeries and unicorns, and he’ll have to accept that his life will never be the same.

Cooking Through Fiction: The Wrath of Mulgarath Crackerjacks

 

Remember when cereal boxes had awesome prizes inside? Decoder rings, those weird red viewfinder sheets, secret codes, masks you could cut out and wear, and mazes on the back of the box. Remember when you could disassemble the whole cereal box and make a board game or even a house? I remember one cereal box had a “ghost finder” inside. Zoinks! Did I ever test it out? Heck yes! Was it a success? What do you think?

When I think of hidden prizes, I also think of crackerjacks. Although I wasn’t a fan of crackerjacks, I was a fan of the prizes. I guess I’m just in it for the free gifts. Or maybe I just like the suspense of wondering what’s inside. Most of the time I gave away the box of crackerjacks with the deal made that I’d get the free prize in exchange for the sticky popcorn.

Cooking Through Fiction: The Ironwood Tree — Soft Pretzels

When I think of sporting events, I immediately think of the food I’ll want to eat when I get there even before I think of the game. I love going to live sports, and I’m excited when I have good seats (close enough to see the game without looking at the giant screens). But if I’m honest, I’m more interested in the food because some foods I eat only when I’m at sporting events.

Cooking Through Fiction: Lucinda's Secret — Sugar Cookies

Remember that moment when you judged someone too harshly and you realized that person had just experienced the worst day of his or her life, and you suddenly became a Class-A jerk for not “taking a walk in those shoes”? Or the time you complained that your waitress didn’t refill your tea glass often enough, and then she had a breakdown moment when she told you that her fiancé just left her? How about the afternoon when you cursed someone who was driving well below the speed limit, and when you raced passed that car a second later, you saw the driver was bawling her eyes out?

Unfortunately, I’ve experienced moments like these. And so do the Grace children.

Cooking Through Fiction: The Seeing Stone — Simon's Butterscotch Toffee Skillet Cookie

When I was a kid, I would describe myself as having been mischievous (which I used to pronounce miss-chee-vee-us; is this because I am southern or are others led astray by the pronunciation?). And being mischievous led me to make a few—okay, a lot of righteously stupid decisions.

A few of my less-than-stellar ideas:  Eating Play-Doh. Because Play-Doh has a peculiar, yet tantalizing smell, it had to taste good. It doesn’t. Eating soap. If bath soap smells so good (again with the smells), surely it tastes good, too. It doesn’t. Finger stapling. If you put your finger beneath a stapler and press it, it will—I repeat, it will—staple through your index finger. And it hurts like the dickens.

Cooking Through Fiction: The Field Guide — Spiderwick Macaroni & Cheese

Years ago, Ma bought me The Spiderwick Chronicles series from a children’s store in my hometown because she said, “They were pretty.” And they are. The illustrations are fantastic, and the book covers alone make you want to rub your fingers over the embossed artwork, the gothic font, and the shiny high-gloss finish. During one of my bouts of insomnia, I sat up all night (and morning) and read the entire series. Now, I’ve decided to reread them on my “Cooking Through Fiction” journey.

In The Spiderwick Chronicles series, the Grace children are in for an adventure. After her divorce, Helen Grace moves her children into a dilapidated Victorian home owned by their Aunt Lucinda (who is supposedly crazy). The children—Mallory and twins Jared and Simon—cope in different ways. Simon collects animals like a zookeeper, Jared gets into fights at school, and Mallory parries imaginary opponents with her fencing sword.