Sandie Bricker is the kind of girl that can make you laugh when she shoots you a three-word email. I'll never know how she does it, but she's got it down to a science.
Known for writing laugh-out-loud Inspirational fiction, she's ventured out into cookbooks. Not just any cookbooks, but ones that come from her heart. She's just released the first two in a three-book series.
I had a chance to talk with her and here's what she had to say:
1. What made you
decide to write the cookbooks?
When
my mom passed away, she and I were working on compiling her recipes for a
family cookbook, which had been her dream for many years. Unfortunately, I lost
her before it was all put together, and it was a little too painful to continue
so I loaded it all into a box and closed the lid until I could manage to look
at it again.
2. What is your
favorite dish?
Really?!
Just one?! How about if I narrow it down to a few? My mom was sort of a genius
when it came to baking and cooking. She used to make these unbelievable cookies
made from chocolate and coffee, and they were half-dipped in chocolate.
Ahhh-mazing! And then there were the comfort foods like beef stew, dumplings,
and stuffed peppers. I could never narrow it down to just one, Julie. I can’t
believe you asked me to!
3. What are some of
your favorite cooking memories with your Mom?
To
tell you the truth, I didn’t learn a lot about cooking from her. Certainly not
for lack of trying on her part either! I just don’t have the gift that she had.
In fact, there probably isn’t a single dish on earth that I couldn’t ruin with
very little effort. But baking! That was our thing. I have such wonderful
memories of sitting on a high stool in the kitchen, rolling out dough, using
the mixer (and licking the beaters afterward, of course), prepping the pans.
I’ll never forget when she taught me how to use the cookie gun. We laughed so
hard that day that she had to run out of the kitchen before she peed her pants!
4. Tell us about the
wonderful way you came across these recipes. What does it mean to you?
A
few weeks after Mom’s funeral, I was going through her things and came across a
cookbook she’d made for me. It was red-and-white checkered and held together
with a bright red plastic spiral, and inside she’d written down her very
favorite recipes in her shaky little handwriting. The note on it said that she
didn’t have much to leave me, but she considered her recipes the legacy she had
to give. I’ve intended for a long time to do something with them, and for a
while we’d discussed doing a cookbook related to the Another Emma Rae Creation series of novels I
did for Abingdon Fiction. When they decided against it, I started thinking
about how I might pay homage to my mom, and eventually the idea for these
e-cookbooks was born.
5. Tell us about the
"Hostess with the Mostest," and what you learned from her.
Mom
and I were a tag team when it came to hosting the parties and brunches that she
loved so much. I would design the tables with flowers and china and
centerpieces, and she was the master chef. In my mom’s world, food equaled
love. So you can see just by looking at me that I was deeply loved!
6. It sounds like
your Mom had parties down to a science. What were some of your favorites?
My
mom was the queen of the impromptu neighborhood barbecue because she could put
together the most amazing gatherings in no time at all! And she loved to create
brunches and cocktail parties where every morsel, every beverage, and every
fine detail coordinated the theme or tone she wanted to present. I have such
wonderful memories of helping her get ready for them, too. She’d show me her
dress and shoes, and then let me dig through her jewelry boxes to choose what
she would wear.
7. You
are well-known for writing Christian fiction. What recipes do you think some of
your characters would like to cook?
Nearly all of the recipes
that I used in the Another Emma Rae Creation series
came from my mom’s files, so I think those characters would have as hard a time
as I do narrowing it down to favorites.
8. What
projects are you working on now?
I’m just finishing up the
third and final cookbook in the Legacy
Recipes series before I complete my book for Abingdon Fiction’s Quilts of Love series. It’s called Raw Edges, and it’s based on the
creation of an ovarian cancer memory quilt. Since I’m a survivor, it’s a
project very close to my heart. After that, I’ll get started on my second Contemporary Classics novel for River North Fiction. Those
books are contemporary takes on fairy tales. The first one was based on Cinderella, and the second will be a new
spin on Sleeping Beauty.
9.
Where can readers find you on the Web?
Thanks so much for joining us on the blog! I for one look forward to trying out some of these recipes!
