Brand New Blog with Recipes

Hi there!
Olivia Paras here. But you can call me Ollie. If you've read any of the White House Chef Mysteries, written by Julie Hyzy, then you know I'm the (fictional) first female Executive Chef in the White House. We have a *real* female Executive Chef in the White House right now. Her name is Cristeta Comerford and, from all reports, she's doing marvelously. Any similarities between Cristeta and me are purely coincidental. I'm proud of my fictional adventures, just as I'm sure she's proud of the incredible role she plays in the First Family's life.

So far there are two books chronicling my story. The first is State of the Onion where I whack a White House intruder in the head with a frying pan and get myself involved in an international crisis. The second, Hail to the Chef, came out in December 2008. In that book, I'm in trouble, yet again. This time with bombs ;-)

The third book is due out in January, 2010, and I'll talk more about that one as we get closer to publication date.

For now, I want to introduce ... RECIPES!

Lots of readers have asked to have the recipes from the books available online. This way they can be printed out and taken to the grocery store, or placed on the counter as the food is being prepared. So here they are! (Or... will be. Soon.)

I like the fact that the recipes I've included in the books are simple ones. Quick and easy recipes are the ones that usually become family favorites.

Stay tuned. The next post will be a recipe from State of the Onion. In the meantime, please feel free to comment and let me know if there are any suggestions or ideas you have to make this site better!

Thanks!
Happy cooking,
Ollie