A Pinch of Salt Release Celebration!

I’m so excited that release day for A Pinch of Salt has finally arrived! For those keeping count, which I expect is no one other than me, this is my tenth book!

I’m going to share another excerpt with you–you can find others here and here–but first I wanted to tell you just a little about the new characters who pop up, chiefly the judges and producer. There are other new people our lovely band of contestants meet along the way, but Cherry, Maggie, Gregor, Emma, and Ginny are the main people they deal with.

When I first wrote A Pinch of Salt, I was really looking for something fun (though there are some very serious moments in the story), and I had this idea of naming the new characters after my cats; the three sweet little guinea pigs we adopted after my daughter asked also make an appearance. I took not only their names, but also to greater or lesser extent, character. So let me introduce you to, our host, Cherry, who is elegant and beautiful, as I’m sure you will agree my darling Cherry is. (Cherry turns 15 next month!)

Next, we have Maggie. My wonderful Maggie was a very bright girl, and she was always in charge. I adopted her when I was in grad school, and she was an only kitten for two years before Emma joined the family. She was still living when we adopted Cherry many years later, and Maggie was Mama Cat, Big Sister, and Boss of all Felines for both of her sisters. This is a photo of Maggie (grey and white) and Emma from about twenty years ago.

My darling Emma, a.k.a. Emmy Lemmy (inspiring the name Emma Lemon in APoS). Emma was the sweetest girl, but not the brightest. In the novel, Emma is well-intentioned, loves sweets, and is not the smartest person in the room.

All of the cats I’ve had in the last 25+ years have been female, so I did have to reach quite far back to find a male. I knew there had to be at least one, and I chose Gregor. (His twin brother, Darwin, makes an appearance in the book too.) Gregor was the sort of cat who tried to make friends with a mechanical dog toy we had–the kind that walks and barks–and enjoyed being vacuumed.

And finally, the youngest of them all, Ginny; she turns 13 next month. Ginny is…spirited. She is long and lean and still full of energy. If she doesn’t like what you are doing, you will know it. I definitely put some of kitten-Ginny into APoS-Ginny.

There is part of your cast of characters. Now, the excerpt, in which we meet some of them. (Ginny makes an appearance in the previous chapter.)

Chapter 7

The host and three judges entered together and took their positions, remaining silent for a moment to allow the camera to record their presence.

The host was a tall, slim woman with skin the color of milk chocolate and shiny black hair. Cherry Baptiste was beautiful enough to be a model, but she wasn’t. She had embarked on a career in journalism and had gravitated towards food writing. Several television appearances had resulted in her current position, and she had been the host and unofficial judge since the show’s first season.

Maggie Orsini had likewise been on the show all along. She was a multi-award-winning chef known for Mediterranean cuisine. The other regular judge was Gregor Kysely. A big bear of a man—tall, barrel-chested, with wiry salt-and-pepper hair and pale skin—he was also a celebrated chef, despite being more than a decade younger than Maggie. The third judge was new. Emma Lemon, whose fair skin and red hair suggested her family had originally come from Ireland or Scotland, was touted as a possible replacement for Maggie when she retired—if she decided to ever let go of the reins of a show she had helped create.

“Welcome to the seventh season of Last Chef Standing! One of you ten will be the next winner and will leave the show a whole lot richer, and with a new world of opportunity opened before you. Standing in your way are not just each other, but the judges. You all know these two.” Cherry gestured to Maggie and Gregor and introduced them. “We’re happy to have Chef Emma join us this year, and you will face a host of guest judges in the coming weeks as well. Of course, you first have to make it past today, and one of you won’t. Are you ready to get started?”

There was a chorus of yeses from the contestants. Elizabeth’s palms became sweaty, and she gripped her knife bag tightly.

“Then let’s get started,” Cherry said. “For your first starter challenge, you have thirty minutes to make a breakfast dish that represents you. It must be something you can eat on the go. No plates or flatware allowed.”

At this point, filming stopped, Cherry and the judges left, and the contestants were shown which stations they would work at. They spoke to Ginny in the lounge, signed the required statements, and finally went back to the studio to jump into cooking—but only after they made a big deal of rushing around the kitchen and grabbing what they wanted from the fridges and pantry shelves, which apparently was an essential part of the process, as incomprehensible as that was to Elizabeth. They bumped into each other and jockeyed for space at the stovetops. Elizabeth almost ran into Will at one point, and when she said, “Excuse me,” he just looked down at her, remaining motionless and silent until she moved away. She heard Sterling tell Caroline to get her “overdressed butt out of the way” at one point.

Elizabeth had decided what she would make as soon as the challenge was announced, and thus was ready to start cooking immediately. That was not necessarily so for some of her colleagues. At the start of the thirty minutes, Caroline’s bench was covered with various ingredients, but she was staring at it rather than doing any actual work. Colin asked each of them what they were making, sometimes more than once, and spoke aloud about his confusion regarding what he should make. His non-stop chatter was distracting and annoying.

In the end, all ten of them completed the challenge, Caroline just managing to toss her creation onto a plate when time was called. The dish looked like a mess to Elizabeth, and she felt terrible for Caroline.

As the judges tried each dish, Elizabeth listened carefully to their feedback; it was her chance to get to know what types of cooks her co-competitors were.

Caroline was first. She had made a lettuce wrap stuffed with sautéed onions, peppers, and scrambled egg whites. “Healthy and light. Eating healthy is very important to me.” She smiled broadly.

“I like to eat healthily too, but this is…” Cherry gestured uncertainly.

“But it’s really cute!” Emma said. She was petite and perky, and wore a bright pink chef’s coat, which contrasted with the white of Maggie’s and Gregor’s.

“It lacks seasoning and needs some herbs and a bit of acid to liven it up,” Maggie said.

Chef Gregor was blunter. “Boring. And your station is a mess. Work cleaner.”

Charles fared better with his pancakes on a stick. They were stuffed with a maple-sweetened fruit compote and bacon. “I thought it was fun. Food should be fun, as well as tasty.”

The judges agreed that it was good, if perhaps not the most imaginative.

“I really like it,” Emma said in a not-quite-whisper as the judges moved on to Charlotte, who had made a take on a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, and Tom, with his version of a breakfast falafel in a pita. Both were deemed palatable, but again, not imaginative.

More impressive was Sterling’s omelet and prosciutto sandwich made with savory French toast.

The judges were not fond of the next two dishes, which were created by George and Colin. Again, their dishes lacked originality, and they cited problems with the cookery. The comments were similar for Anne’s offering, but Maggie also pegged it as being, “pretentious. It’s breakfast on the go, not a state dinner at the Governor General’s house.”

When the quartet of judges walked up to Elizabeth, she surreptitiously gripped the edge of the bench, feeling suddenly faint.

“What have you made for us?” Cherry asked.

Gregor was already poking around the dish Elizabeth had artfully arranged, and Maggie and Emma had taken bites.

“Breakfast pierogis. My grandmother used to make pierogis for the family, and I took inspiration from that. There are two types. One is savory with potato, onion, and sausage, and the other is sweet with dried plums and berries.”

“These are really good!” Emma said before going on to eat another piece.

“Are you pleased with how they turned out?” Gregor asked Elizabeth.

She tilted her head this way and that. “Overall, yes, but they could have been fried a little longer to give them more color and a crispier exterior.”

“I agree,” he said.

“But the flavor is wonderful, and the dough well-made and rolled to the perfect thickness,” Maggie added.

A broad grin erupted onto Elizabeth’s face; it made it difficult to thank them for their kind words.

I’m so happy for Elizabeth that she did well, especially after hearing Will say–Oops! I wouldn’t want to give anything away. Haha. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

A Pinch of Salt is now available via Amazon in paperback, e-book, and on Kindle Unlimited.