Diet Killers: Recipes for Readers and Writers – Flaming Bananas Foster from Molly MacRae

 

Image by Janja from Pixabay

Welcome back to Diet Killers, my series that’s become a bit sporadic and doesn’t always (as I’d originally intended) spotlight a chocolate dessert. Not because my family has gone off chocolate, but because we don’t eat that many desserts. I’ve been relying on pictures of desserts I’ve made in the past (and remembered to take pictures of) and am running low. Don’t worry, though, I’ve saved some to sprinkle throughout rest of the year. In October, for instance, you can look forward to Graveyard Fudge.

You’re bound to read more and better reports on this year’s Malice Domestic conference, but here are some of my highlights. First, it was a big weekend for Writers Who Kill. With twelve members in attendance, the blog was well-represented. With three members as finalists for Agatha Awards, we were exceptionally well-represented. I’m proud to be associated with Marilyn Levinson, a finalist for Rufus and the Dark Side of Magic (Best Children’s/YA Mystery), Connie Berry for Grave Deception (Best Contemporary Mystery), and Annette Dashofy for Devil Comes Calling (Best Contemporary Mystery).

Best of all, Annette was the Malice Domestic Guest of Honor. That is incredibly cool and well-deserved. Hank Phillippi Ryan interviewed Annette in front of a packed auditorium, and I enjoyed getting to know more about her. Well done, Annette!

Hank also interviewed Lifetime Achievement Award winner Jaqueline Winspear. Winspear told us about the “moment of creative grace” that gave her the inspiration for her long-running Maisy Dobbs series. She’s a lovely, talented storyteller and author.

Malice-Go-Round, a yearly event subtitled “speed dating with authors,” is a marathon of trying to tell a table of eight readers about your latest book(s) in an interesting, concise, cogent, entertaining way in two minutes or less—twenty times in a row while nineteen other authors at nineteen other tables in the room are doing the same thing. Hoo boy. But! You get to go around with a partner and breathe while they do their two minutes before you both move on to the next table. The person to team up with for this crazy dash is Writers Who Kill member Sarah E. Burr. Sarah has enough bright energy to power both of you through to the finish. Thank you for carrying me along, Sarah.

There are so many moments that make Malice worthwhile to attend. I’ll leave you with one more. Ellen Byron, the weekend’s Toastmaster, opened the conference with the story of the warm welcome she received at her first Malice. She’d arrived knowing no one, feeling like an interloper and an imposter, and she left knowing she’d found friends. At the end of her story, Ellen asked first-time attendees to raise their hands. Then she asked if any of them had come alone and knew no one. One of those people sat directly in front of me. I quickly consulted with my conference buddies and then invited the newcomer to have dinner with us. She accepted with delight. We had a wonderful evening and in one of those odd Malice quirks we kept running into each other for the rest of the weekend. On Sunday we said goodbye knowing we’d found a new friend. For me, that’s a lot of what Malice is about.

Here’s the recipe for Flaming Bananas Foster that one of my sisters gave my husband and me as a wedding present 48 years ago (along with other recipes for more sedate and nutritious dishes). Why is this recipe appropriate for a post-Malice post? Because after a full and exciting Malice weekend, some people might feel bananas, some might need the rum and crème de banana liqueur, and some are on fire to get back to the keyboard and write. Which kind of Malice attendee are you?

 

Bananas Foster

Combine over medium low heat, stirring:

              1/4 cup margarine (or butter)

              1/4 cup brown sugar

              2 bananas, sliced

Cook until bubbly

Raise temperature to medium high and add:

              1 tablespoon rum

              1 tablespoon crème de banana liqueur

Have ready two bowls of vanilla ice cream (Or chocolate? That’s worth trying!)

When mixture gets hot enough it will burst into flame. Keep stirring until the flames stop, then pour the mixture over the ice cream and enjoy! 

 

Molly MacRae writes the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries, the Highland Bookshop Mysteries, and the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest, connect with her on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky.