Might as well read a book!

So, what does one do with a mountain of snow in their yard, streets still treacherous two days after the snow stopped, most parking lots not yet cleared and more snow on the way?
I choose to hibernate. While hibernating, I'm cooking, playing on the computer and reading. I've read five books in eight days!!

As many of you know, I'm into reading what are known in the literary world as "culinary mysteries." Culinary mysteries, part of the genre I like to call "murder mystery lite," involve the food world in some way with the mystery (usually a murder). One of my favorite authors in this arena is Diane Mott Davidson.

Diane's culinary tales revolve around the hectic life of Goldy Baer Schulz, a caterer and personal chef. In the earlier books in this series, Goldy Baer is a newly divorced single mom struggling to get her new catering business (Goldilock's Catering - Where everything is just right!) off the ground and simultaneously struggling to establish a stable home life for her young son. Somehow, she frequently finds herself caught up in a murder investigation. (Some people just have one of those lives!) Later in the series, Goldy marries homicide detective, Tom Schulz, and against all of her spouse's advice still seems to find herself tangled up with what seems to be a fair number of murders occurring in her small Colorado mountain community. Throughout all the books, Goldy shares recipes with us. I've tried a few and they're pretty good!

This week I've read two of her books.

In The Cereal Murders, Goldy has been contracted to provide refreshments at the College Advisory Dinner for Seniors and Parents at her son's exclusive prep school. Wouldn't you just know it? The class valedictorian bites the dust, I mean, snow (It IS Colorado!) (Snow was a nice touch for me this week. How appropriate!) As usual, Goldy discovers the body, and, to complicate matters, a teen in her care, and living in her household, stands to benefit from the tragedy. Yep, the authorities find this suspicious. Of course, Goldy gets overly involved in the investigation and does help resolve the mystery in her own special way.

Among the recipes included here, I recommend the Chinese Beef Stir Fry, the Nacho Schulz and the Cereal Killer Cookies.

So, with another 12"-18" of snow set to start here tomorrow afternoon, I've got another stack of books lined up to get me through the storm!