With Three You Get Egg Roll

 

HANK:  Do you know Julie Hyzy? If you don't, I am delighted to introduce you to one of the most charming, intelligent, witty and hard-working rising stars in mystery world. Julie and Karen Olson and I toured the hot spots of North Carolina together a few weeks ago--we were the Triple Threat Mystery Tour under the watchful eye and wise shepherding of the amazing Molly Weston. And someday really, I'll post pictures of the hilarity: books, barbeque, sweet tea, some wonderful bookstores and libraries and non-stop fun--but the photos are still in my camera, so you'll have to imagine.  Oh, wait! here's one, courtesy of Karen Kiley (xoxo) at the Cary Library. (Notice Julie and me, listening, enraptured, to Karen, while Molly Weston prepares her next tough question.)

 

 

So you see--just like any good writing ,the weekend has a theme! The Triple Threat reunion.

Yesterday, the fabulous Karen shared her tattoo secrets. Today, we're eggcited to welcome Julie. Yes, I can spell.  But that's eggzactly what I meant to say.

 

 

 

Julie Hyzy: Today is Easter Sunday, and whether you celebrate the day because of its religious significance, or just because you enjoy Marshmallow Peeps, you have to admit one thing: Eggs are everywhere. There are plastic eggs filled with treats, hard-boiled eggs colored in bright pastels, cream-filled eggs, and those superbly smooth Dove truffle eggs. Ooh… I could go for one of those right now.

Hank generously invited me to guest blog today because my latest book—the third in my White House Chef Mystery series, Eggsecutive Orders, is set just before the Easter Egg Roll. These books feature Olivia (Ollie) Paras as Executive White House chef who feeds the First Family and saves the world in her spare time. Although we truly do have our first-ever female Executive Chef in the real White House, my books are fiction, and my President Campbell and his wife bear no resemblance to our current leader and his family. (Buffalo West Wing comes out next year and…cough, cough…that may change…)

 

Tomorrow, in the real world, in a tradition that dates back to 1878, President and Mrs. Obama will open the White House lawn for the annual Egg Roll. The event is for kids and their families—provided, of course, those families were lucky enough to snag tickets. As I’m sure you know, books take a long time to get published.

 

 
   Back when I turned in Eggsecutive Orders, the only way to get a ticket was to stand outside the White House on the prescribed date, cross your fingers, and hope for the best. The Obamas have since updated the process so that Egg Roll lottery tickets are awarded online. Now hopeful families sit at their computers with fingers crossed and hope for the best. So, even though it just came out, Eggsecutive Orders is already a little bit dated.

This year’s Egg Roll theme “Ready, Set, Go!” is designed to dovetail with Mrs. Obama’s mission of promoting kids’ health. And just for the record, the Egg Roll is no small event. There will be live music, cooking stations, storytelling, kids’ activities, and of course there will be eggs. Lots of eggs.

 

And hey… even the Oval Office is in on the fun. It’s in the shape of an egg, isn’t it?

 

 

When I was researching Eggsecutive Orders I discovered that the White House provides over fifteen thousand hard-boiled eggs for the event. Think about that. Fifteen thousand eggs. That’s one thousand two hundred and fifty dozen. When my kids were little and we colored eggs the Friday before Easter, it sometimes felt as though we went through at least that many. Nowadays we color just enough to make a pretty platter at dinner. But it’s still a lot of work.

 

When I envisioned what it might be like for my characters to produce fifteen thousand eggs, I had a hard time wrapping my head around that number. But I also realized that the White House kitchen staff does this every year as a matter of course. No big deal. Just one more “herculinary” project on their platter. So I decided to make things a little tougher—to give Ollie’s group an extra challenge this time around.

 

 

When Eggsecutive Orders opens, it’s eggsactly (sorry, couldn’t resist!) one week before the annual Egg Roll and Ollie, Bucky, and Cyan are hauled in for questioning, eventually finding themselves banished from the kitchen. Seems one of the president’s guests didn’t make it to dessert. What’s the worst kind of dinner guest a chef has to deal with? You got it—a dead one. Carl Minkus, head of the NSA, keeled over at the table, a victim of poisoning. And except for the kitchen staff, no one had access to his meal.

 

 

Fun stuff. Along with the dead guest and the team’s subsequent banishment from the White House, there’s espionage, Ollie’s mom and nana visiting from Chicago, Ollie’s frustrated Secret Service boyfriend, a couple of celebrity guest chefs with a possible motive, and an over-the-top newspaper reporter looking for scoop… all in a day’s work for Ollie. Heh heh heh. Why is it so much fun for writers to put characters in conflict?

I think that’s another blog.

 

Today—this Easter—I have far fewer worries than Ollie does. I’m carrying on a tradition set up years ago by hosting the extended family for dinner. I’ve owned Easter as my holiday for a number of years now, and although I can probably run dinner in my sleep I still worry about everything being hot at serving time and remembering to turn the coffee on before we sit down. Small concerns really. Even if I burned the entire meal, they’d all still love me…and probably even come back next year for another round.

 

 

But tomorrow—Egg Roll Day—just as Ollie puts all the pieces together to figure out who killed Carl Minkus, just as

she scrambles to make sure all of those fifteen thousand eggs are where they need to be, just as she brings the guilty person to justice while protecting innocent bystanders from getting killed, I’ll be here in my quiet house, enjoying the best part of hosting holidays: leftovers. Ham, potatoes, sausage, sauerkraut, lamb cake, jelly beans, and chocolate..

 

 

 For the record, I can skip on Marshmallow Peeps. But hand over those truffle eggs and no one will get hurt.

 

HANK: Thanks, Julie!  We used to make Easter Eggs by--writing on them with crayon? And  then dipping them into..something?  Am I remembering this correctly? Any Easter egg-making secrets out there?

 

 

***********************

Julie Hyzy’s first book in the White House Chef Mystery series, State of the Onion, won the Lovey Award for Best Traditional Mystery and the Barry, and Anthony Awards for Best Paperback Original in 2009. The series includes Hail to the Chef, Eggsecutive Orders, and (coming in January) Buffalo West Wing. Julie is also excited to announce the debut of her new Manor of Murder Mysteries. The first book in that series, Grace Under Pressure, comes out June 1^st.

Comments

[Laraine]

Julie, I'm so glad you guested today--I had heard of your WH Chef series but now I know actual titles to look for!
Hank, vinegar and the right dyes, and YES, crayon! I remember semi-burnt fingertips from trying to juggle hot eggs and wax crayon back when. Usually, I feel the strongest urge to make some colored eggs for little ones, but the past few years, the family I shared Easter with weren't really into it, so I've somewhat gotten away from that 'must. color. eggs.' impulse.
Wish I could be a fly in the White House garden to see the Egg Roll fun!

[Kathy Sweeney]

Happy Easter and thanks for a wonderful blog, Julie (and Hank too).

Another great author to order from Mystery Lovers Bookshop. Here is a link to make it easier.

http://www.mysterylovers.com/index.php?target=products&mode=search&subcats=Y&type=extended&avail=Y&pshort=Y&pfull=Y&pname=Y&pauthor=Y&pean=Y&match=all&cid=0&q=Julie+Hyzy&x=11&y=10

And now, to decide whether to go to my first Sunrise Easter Service with our friend and Pastor Mike!

[nancy martin]

Julie, I really like your books! I didn't realize Eggsecutive Order was out yet.--Thanks for the tip.

I stood for a long time looking at peeps in a drugstore yesterday, wondering if it's possible to put them on top of a sweet potato pie/casserole. I left without buying, but I'm still wondering.

[Julie]

Laraine and Hank - we colored eggs Friday and one of my daughters used the clear crayon to put the cat's name on one of them. It was the only "named" egg this year. But I hear you, Laraine... we've gotten away from creatively coloring eggs. It's kinda nice, actually. Egg-coloring is more relaxing (and quick!).

Hi Kathy - Thanks so much for posting that link! I love Mystery Lovers Bookshop!

Nancy - LOL!! I'll bet those peeps would make a beautiful casserole. Can you imagine the bright yellow against the burnt orange of a sweet potato? Lovely! I say, go for it! Pink might be pretty too. But I'm not so sure about using blue... *grin*

[kellee]

Julie, thank you so much for the post. I love to her from visiting authors. It gives me more books to add to my TBR list. I am far from culinary - if it doesn't come from a box or a can, I am out of luck, so I am looking forward to learning some new tricks. Happy Easter all.

[Karen in Ohio]

How fun! Another new author to check out. My IRA will suffer again, but c'est la vie. Life is short, right? :-)

The mind boggles at the idea of hard cooking 15,000 eggs. When I was a senior in high school I worked at a diner and one of my tasks was to make the hard-boiled eggs for the salads, but I only had to make 100 or so. And it didn't matter if they got cracked, since they were just going to get peeled and halved. And then to color that many. Wow. The White House staff is amazing, on so many levels.

Two years ago I colored eggs for my grandson with beets (pink), red cabbage(robin's egg blue), and onion skins (yellow). They were so pretty, all delicate pastels. This year I made a dozen hard-boiled eggs, but they are all brown from my favorite farm, and I have not yet decided how to decorate them for the centerpiece today. Maybe just nestle some of those luridly colored Peeps bunnies and Dove eggs in the bowl with them and call it a day. I'm sure getting lazy in my old age.

But gack, Peeps on sweet potato casserole? That would remind me of nuked food, and I mean nuked, as in exposed to nuclear waste. Yikes.

[William]

Based on Julie's last blog here on TLC, I immediately ordered all three of her books and now cannot wait for "Buffalo West Wing". Loved all three! Although, I do wonder about the sudden upswing in murders on the White House grounds.... bet the Secret Service guys are not sleeping too well....:)

[Julie]

Hey Kellee -- I hear you! My favorite thing to make for dinner is reservations. I can hold my own in the kitchen, but fortunately for my readers I have a "ghost chef" who comes up with Ollie's recipes. I've tried quite a few of them and am serving a couple for dinner this afternoon. So far most aren't too difficult, I promise!

Karen - your centerpiece sounds lovely! Dove eggs are my absolute favorite, and two of my daughters have boyfriends who really love Peeps, so we've stocked up. I imagine that the White House has an egg steamer - my middle daughter mentioned having one at her food-service job at school - but for purposes of angst, I made Ollie and the gang boil bunches of them on the stove top. I can't imagine dealing with 15,000 and still having other projects to juggle. The White House truly *is* amazing.

Hi William - thanks so much for reading my books! I'm so happy you enjoyed them. Re: all the murders in the White House, I have this to say... maybe next time Ollie will have a different crime to solve... *grin*

[Diana in STL]

My mom was President of the American War Mothers (members had to have a child who served in the military) and every year she and several of the ladies would color a hundred dozen or so eggs to take to the Veterans Hospitals in St. Louis. They did this until the ladies got too old to make the trip. They would fix small baskets and deliver them to the veterans.

I also have fond memories of helping mom color eggs for the grandchildren and yes we would use a wax crayon to write names on the eggs.

[Karen Olson]

Hi Julie! I just finished Eggsecutive Orders this week and loved it. I can't wait for Buffalo West Wing.

As for decorating eggs, I remember using rubber cement to draw designs on the eggs and then dipping them in the dyes. The rubber cement was easy to just rub off.

We didn't do Easter eggs this year, but the Easter Bunny made us some lovely spice muffins for breakfast!

[Maryann Mercer]

Hi Julie! Happy Easter! You know I love your books...and anyone who hasn't read them yet needs to. Ollie is one of the best amateur sleuths to come out in a long time (and her mom and grandma are wonderful in the third books as well). We used to visit the grandparents on Easter (after sunrise service and breakfast at the church of course) and get all sorts of goodies, eggs included, for our baskets. We had egg salad for weeks! And developed a love-hate relationship with Peeps :o)Since Catherine is an adult now, the only thing I send her is Cadbury Creme Eggs. Have a wonderful day everyone, egg rolling or not. Peace.

[marie]

Happy Easter, Julie and Hank and all friends here!
What a beautiful blog! I love the pictures of the eggs..stunning.
When my girls were small we would color eggs with the commercial kits that were available.
My husband would hide the eggs in the backyard and the kids would have great fun looking for them.
I am really looking forward to reading your novels. They sound really intriguing.
Thanks for being here today.

[Karen in Ohio]

By the way, major props to Holly G for her as-usual seasonally awesome decor on TLC!

[storyteller Mary]

Love the banner!
I've colored eggs with onion skins and cabbage . . . and even tried a little trick with fresh leaves and flowers (dandelions, violets) held to the egg with cheesecloth to make a natural pattern. They can't compare to those colorful egg photos!!

More books . . . I'll never be bored!

[marie]

Julie, my husband and I have a constant debate on how to boil an egg.
I counter his ideas with at least after all this time I CAN boil an egg.
BTW, you haven't seen anything until you see a grown man kneel and pet up the dogs and yell out to obedient wife "Get me some dog treats will ya". It's enough to make a grown woman turn to mush.

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

Oh, yes, how to boil an egg is highly controversial.

CoOld water, put in eggs, bring to a boil, lower heat and cook?

Boil water, put in eggs, bring back to a boil and keep boiling?

Julie, does Ollie have any tips?

And then we'll talk about how to keep the whites from tearing apart.

And today in the BOston Globe, an article about devilled egss says to cut them in half across, not the long way! Ahhh!!

[Rita Scott]

If you're hard boiling eggs to eat & not to color;
place eggs in a pan, cover with cold water.
bring to a boil, cover, take off heat.
Let set for 12 to 15 minutes, depending on size.
Drain, shake eggs around in the pan to crack shells, Run cold water in pan to cool it down then add some ice cubes till eggs are cool.
This way you don't get that green ring around the yolk. Also, start peeling at the large end of the egg.
WARNING! Count the eggs before you hide them, especially in the house! Otherwise you might be wondering wth that smell is in a couple weeks! LOL

[Jon Clinch]

Cold water. Bring just to a boil, and then cover and let stand for seventeen minutes. No more, no less. Then into a bowl of ice water. Julia Child does not lie.

[Al_S]

The boiling egg controversy in our house is a battle between the mothers (although they have no idea it is taking place.) My mother is of the boil first school, my mother-in-law is of the cook from cold water school. Since I can't remember how long to boil my mother-in-law wins because that is the only answer my wife gives when I ask how long I should cook them.

I'll have to admit, this post has got me eggscited about adding some new books to my TBR list I'm eggstremely happy to report. I'll have to devote eggstra time to my TBR list and allow no eggsxuces to stop my reading them.

I too am in awe of Holly's work.

Happy Easter everyone.

[marie]

John, I believe that there may be a soul mate connection between Julia and my husband.
Whew! I was worried that Martha Stewart and my husband could be connected. I have a love/hate relationship with Martha.
She has beautiful chickens AND beautiful eggs.

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

Rita--the green ring. Yeah. That's disgusting. And when we got one, as kids, we wouldnt eat it.

Jon--thank you. Eggsactly where I should have checked. Interesting, though, the 17 minutes. Wonder how often she tried it? Well, thinking about that, I bet she tried it 18 times. At most.

Al S. NO self-restraint whatsoever, I see...xoxoo

[Laraine]

Egg steamers? Wow. Egg steamers. Huh. Visions of giant trays of eggs flowing through industrial steamers like the assembly-line industrial dishwashing machines . . . . Egad.

Mr. Typepad was being cranky with me. Apparently several others posted while I was writing and thinking, and Mr. T decided to block my comment. I beat him out, though--cut my comments, refreshed the site, pasted my comments back again, et voila!

[Laraine]

Put eggs into cold water, bring slowly to a boil, after 2 minutes lift an egg out with a spoon: if the egg dries immediately, it is boiled all the way through. If it doesn't dry at all, it is not at all firm. In between, the yolk will be a little soft.

If you're going to color them, slowly drain the boiling water and add first warm, then room temp, then cold water and then ice cubes to the water--this allows the egg to shrink to firm and the shell to remain intact without cracking. Come to think of it, this is best for making eggs that you intend to peel, also. According to my family, that is.

[Harley]

Welcome, Julie!

And I'm so glad to be in on this eggstreme controversy. I'd heard the "boil water, add eggs, turn off heat, cover, let stand for 18 minutes" but that method has failed me. I'm game for a new one.

[Julie]

Ollie and I always use the "Zipper Shell Egg" method and it hasn't failed us yet. Eggs in cold water. Bring to a boil and keep it boiling for 10 minutes (sometimes I go 12 but then I risk the green ring around the yolk). Rinse and let sit in cold water. Then the eggs are perfectly cooked and the shells "zip" right off!

Julie

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

Laraine, if the egg DRIES? Oh, I really have to try that.

Don't you wonder how people figured all this out? Fascinating.

Harley, that's new one: boil, add, turn off,cover, 18. Hmm. You go off and fight with Jon Clinch and Julia. (Which should be interesting!)

[Michelle in Texas]

This reminds me of the beginning of "Steel Magnolias," when Truvy (Dolly Parton) had her trunk full of eggs and Ouiser (Shirley Maclaine) slams the lid down! It was hilarious!

[Laraine]

Hank--for my money, if the egg dries quickly, it's done, works great--no one ever mentioned the 16, 17, 18-minute methods to me before, so I've been quite happy with the spoon/air test for many a year. Of course, I'm usually not doing more than 6 eggs at once, usually less, so I don't have to answer to a crowd of people!

[Marie]

Earthquake 6.9 or higher here..whole lotta shaking going on.
Easter Sunday in California!!

[Julie]

Thank you everyone for stopping by today -- and hey (waving hello) to Karen!! I could only stop by briefly earlier because the house was full with Easter guests. Thanks so much, Hank, for inviting me to guest blog today. And thanks everybody, for sharing your egg-boiling secrets! Love them!

Best always,
Julie

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

Hope everyone had a great day..!Marie, hope you are okay...checking the news now!

Thanks Julie..love love love

[Marie]

We are fine here, Hank!
Thanks for the great blog and have a wonderful evening!

[beachfla]

Just discovered your books recently and have enjoyed them. I go with the cold water and cold eggs, bring to a boil, turn off and let sit method - got no cracked eggs this year!