RHYS: This has been a fun week for me with various friends as guests while my vision finally gets into focus after cataract surgery on Tuesday. Today it's another of my favorite people, Penny Warmer. Penny and I have toured together and had adventures over the years. I've loved everything she's written and her wicked sense of humor.
So I'm delighted to help celebrate the launch of her new series today under her new name PENNY PIKE. So Welcome Penny and tell us all about Crabby Cooks!
PENNY PIKE (AKA PENNY WARNER:
I have heartburn.
It’s from all the research I’ve been doing for the first
book in my new series, DEATH OF A CRABBY COOK, featuring food trucks and food
festivals. But if eating a lot of different foods is the price I must pay to
make sure my story is authentic, then so be it. Could be worse. I could be
writing a book about insects and have to do research on the larvae cycle of the
tse-tse fly. Luckily I chose food.
I had my first food truck experience a couple of years ago
before the “meals on wheels” phenomenon swept the country. I was in Napa, CA,
doing research for another book (AKA drinking a lot of wine), and spotted a
circle of colorful trucks offering intriguing specialties. I decided to try
some plein air dining.
Now, I’m not the adventurous type when it comes to trying
new foods. When I go out to dinner, I order the same foods at the same
restaurants—rigatoni Bolognese at the Italian place, cheese enchilada at the Mexican place, and
teriyaki at the Japanese place. So I was a little hesitant to sample the wares
from trucks named Kung Fu Tacos, Happy Dumplings, The Boneyard, Fins on the
Hoof, Me So Hungry, and Naked Chorizo.
Turned out I liked just about everything!
Now that food trucks have finally
come to my hometown, I can please my inner glutton every weekend—and combine it
with research for my new series. I head over planning to have just “one bite”
of everything, and end up stuffed to the gills.
Here’s my typical game plan: I start my research at Cluck it
Up, ordered garlic parmesan wings, and called that the appetizer. Next stop:
the Grilled Cheese Bandit, where the sandwiches are named after folk legends
like Jesse James and Butch Cassidy. I had the Giuliani (a folk legend?), a
grilled mozzarella, parmesan, tomato and pesto sandwich, and called it lunch.
After that it was a blur. A Peruvian pork sandwich from
Sanguchon. A burrito cone from Twister. A Coca Cola braised pork sandwich from
the Chairman. And I’d only made it half way through the trucks. Luckily I had
just enough room for dessert. I managed to down two cream puffs from the
Pacific Puffs truck—chocolate and salted caramel—before I spotted the Frozen
Kuhsterd truck and had to have the ice-creamy sundae with caramel, chocolate
and salted almonds. I knew, with a hospital located right across the street, I
could seek medical attention after this food orgy if needed.
These visits to the local food trucks were my
inspiration to write a series set among the food truck community. I created
Darcy Burnett, a total foodie who loves to eat, but barely knows how to
heat a frozen dinner in the microwave. To complicate things, I made her a
restaurant reviewer for the San Francisco
Chronicle, suddenly downsized, and desperately in need of a job. While
eating a therapeutic Caramel Espresso Cream Puff whipped up by Jake Miller from
the Dream Puff Truck—and recognizing a hot food trend when she sees one—she’s
inspired to write a cookbook full of food truck recipes.
Her first source is the upcoming San Francisco Seafood Fest.
Darcy plans to use her journalistic skills to gather recipes for everything
from Crab Mac and Cheese from her aunt’s Big Yellow School Bus food truck, to
Hangtown Oyster Omelets from the Bacon is the New Black truck. Combined with
the local food festivals—The Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival, Gilroy Garlic
Festival, Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival—she’s sure the book will be a
best-seller, filled with recipes for such tasty treats as “Red Velvet Whoopee
Pies,” “Garlic Ice Cream,” Key Lime Cream Puffs,” “Cronut Dossaints”
(croissants crossed with donuts) and so on.
(Recipes included in the book!)
Writing DEATH OF A CRABBY COOK was such an inspiration, I’m
thinking of opening my own food truck. I
plan to serve Vanilla Zantac, Chocolate Prilosec, Curry Maalox, Grilled Pepto,
and Tums-on-a-Stick. I think it will be a hit.
RHYS: And we’re sure THIS book will be a best-seller, Penny. Now I’m
ready to drive around the Bay Area trying your favorite food trucks.
So how about it Reds—do you have a favorite food truck? I have to
confess to liking the sinfully cholesterol-laden Navajo flatbread that shows up
at Arizona art festivals.
