Tough Cookie

The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance of the following people: Jim, J.Z., Joe Davidson; Jeff and Rosa Davidson; Kate Miciak, a brilliant editor; Sandra Dijkstra, the most energetic agent in the business; Susan Corcoran, a phenomenal publicist, and Jessica Bellucci, also fabulous in that department; Lee Karr and the group that assembles at her home; my sister Lucy Mott Faison, for testing and retesting the recipes at low altitude; John William Schenk, JKS, and Karen Johnson, Ravens Catering, for their unceasing willingness to answer questions; Monica Koziol, the Front Range Chef, for her help, guidance, and support in teaching the author how a personal chef operates; the extraordinarily knowledgeable and helpful Wayne Belding and Jeff Mathews of the Boulder Wine Merchant, for sharing their expertise; Katherine Goodwin Saideman, for her close readings of the manuscript; Emyl Jenkins; Commander Debra Grainger, Arvada Police Department; Richard Staller, D.O.; Triena Harper, chief deputy coroner, and Jon Cline, coroner’s investigator, Jefferson County; John Lauck, Criminal Investigator, District Attorney’s Office, First Judicial District of Colorado; Linda Gustafson, Vail; Greg Morrison, Chief of Police, Vail; Allan Stanley, member, Colorado State Parole Board; Carol Devine Rusley; Julie Wallin Kaewert; Kevin Devine, Lake Tahoe Ski Patrol Avalanche Control; Nicole Mains, personal trainer, Boulder Country Club; Jim Gray and Shirley Carnahan, Boulder Renaissance Consort; Elaine Mongeau, King Soopers Pharmacy, Evergreen; Janine Jones, Chris Wyant, and Mark Kimball, The Alpenglow Stube, Keystone Resort; Nate Klatt and Tiffany Tyson, public relations, and Sally Reed, floor director, KRMA-TV, Denver; Jim Buchanan; Keith Abbott; Bob Egizi, security manager, Vail Associates; Suzanne Jarvis, Village Security, Beaver Creek Resort; Tim Batdorff, Toscanini, Beaver Creek; Alan Henceroth, mountain manager, and Jim Gentling, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area; Meg Kendal, Denver-Evergreen Ob-Gyn; Russell Wiltse, Department of Film Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder; and as always, for his knowledge, patience, and suggestions, Sergeant Richard Millsapps of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, Golden, Colorado.

Greedily she ingorg’d without restraint, And knew not eating Death.—JOHN MILTON, PARADISE LOST,

BOOK IX, 791–792

NATE BULLOCK MEMORIAL FUND-RAISER

FRONT RANGE PUBLIC BROADCASTING SYSTEM“Cooking at the Top!”

FILMING FROM

THE SUMMIT BISTRO

Killdeer Ski Resort, Killdeer, Colorado

December the Seventeenth

Mexican Egg Rolls with Spicy Guacomole Dipping Sauce/

1996 Cline Ancient Vine Zinfandel

♦Chèvre, Teardrop Tomatoes, and Poached Asparagus on

a bed of Frisée; Shallot Vinaigrette Sancerre

♦Chesapeake Crab Cakes with Sauce Gribiche/

1997 Les Monts Damnés Sancerre Sauvignon Blanc—Chavignol

♦Crisp Italian Breadsticks

♦Ice-Capped Gingersnaps/

1983 Château Suduiraut Sauternes

CHAPTER 1

Show business and death don’t mix. Unfortunately, I discovered this while hosting a TV cooking show.

Up to then, I’d enjoyed being a TV chef. The job didn’t pay well, but this was PBS. Arthur Wakefield, the floor director, had crisply informed me that most chefs made nothing for guest visits, much less five thousand clams for six shows. He could have added: And what’s more, those chefs’ kitchens haven’t been closed by the county health inspector! But Arthur said nothing along those lines. Like most folks, he was unaware that my in-home commercial catering kitchen had been red-tagged, that is, closed until further notice.

So: Bad pay notwithstanding, I was lucky to have the TV job. Actually, I was lucky to have any food work at all. And I certainly didn’t want more than our family and a few friends to know why.

I could not tell my upscale clients—those who’d made Goldilocks’ Catering, Where Everything Is Just Right! the premier food-service business of Aspen Meadow, Colorado—that our plumbing wasn’t up to code. And of course, I could never let it be known that my dear husband Tom was ransacking the house for valuables to sell off, so we could buy fancy drains and thereby get my business reopened. No plumbing? No drains? It sounded nasty. Sordid, even.