Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Alli Wesson: Guest Blogger and Caterer from "Dinner is Served"

Sharon: Hello, Readers. Today I have Alli Wesson with me. Alli is a caterer for “Dinner is Served” and an amateur detective in Pastabilities. Welcome, Alli, to Write Away.

Alli: Hello, Sharon. A big shout-out to all my blog followers who are finding your site today.

Sharon: Alli, I know you are experiencing some success with your catering business now that you got out from under that police investigation. What happened there?

Alli: Well, when Gina, my business partner, when Gina’s boss was poisoned, we were the prime suspects since we cooked for her family. I had to clear our names with the police, or our business would have been cooked before it was even put in the oven. The theft of a jade dragon just added in complications we didn’t need!

Sharon: (laughs) You and Gina are pretty different. How does that work when you are planning your menus for your catering business?

Alli: We’re a good counterbalance. Oh, sure, I’m not a measurer, but Gina is, and if I tell her my recipe ideas and we taste it together, we’re pretty able to come up with a recipe we can replicate. It just takes longer than I like to spend on the dreary part of cooking. Inventing, creating, experimenting, that’s the fun part. And sometimes it even tastes great!

Sharon: I know you are a busy girl, so I won’t keep you long, but what’s up next for the “Dinner is Served” culinary mystery series?

Alli: Our second book is Cooks in the Can. Gina and I cook for the county sheriff’s jail when his regular cooking crew are out. We clear some family friends of wrongful accusations and have to solve a murder at the jail. You know, just another day in the life of Alli and Gina!

Sharon: And that book will be filled with good recipes, too, I’ll bet. Before you go, any cooking tips for our readers? Or a quick recipe maybe?

Alli: Sure. In Pastabilities, I described a really easy appetizer. You can whip this one up in five minutes with a couple of minutes leftover. The sweet-sour of the chutney is a nice counterpoint to the sour-creamy of the cream cheese.

Alli's Super-Easy-but-Elegant,

Never-Fails-to-Impress Cream Cheese Cracker Spread

8 oz. cream cheese

4 T best-quality chutney

Carr’s Water Crackers or other expensive cracker

Unwrap the block of cream cheese and place on an elegant plate with a silver butter spreader to the side. Place the chutney in tablespoons equidistant from one another down the middle of the cream cheese. With the spoon, arrange the chutney so it artistically drips down the sides of the cheese.

Serve with a small basket of crackers.

Sharon: Thanks to Alli Wesson, visiting from Pastabilities in the “Dinner is Served” culinary mystery series by Sharon Arthur Moore.

No comments:

Post a Comment