RECIPE WORKERS

FINDING JOY AND THEN SOME

By Janis D. Froelich

Peg Ditchen (left) and writer Janis D. Froelich enjoy a Reuben lunch at Side Door Deli in St. Petersburg, FL. 

My Florida neighbor Peg Ditchen recalls her 20s when she was front and center with famous people and their devotion to glorious food. Back in Ohio in the late 1960s-early 1970s, Peg is in a new marriage after her earlier one broke up. She can’t type very well and cook – not good either. Yet she lands a job with the heirs of “Joy of Cooking,” the world’s best selling cookbook.

Based on Peg’s recollections, this historical fiction book is set at the home of John and Marion Becker. The place is Cockaigne, a French-named estate in Cincinnati. Marion is the daughter of the original Joy author, Irma S. Rombauer of St. Louis. In 1936, the cookbook gained fame and sales for its boxy format recipes and chatty remarks. This helped many perplexed housewives! (Now the cookbook is a mainstay for chefs and cooks everywhere!)

Marion continues her mother’s cookbook. To do so, she and architect husband John build an eight-acre country retreat and entertain in a manner not seen in Cincinnati’s farmland. Starting in the morning with homemade pastries and coffee by the fireside and continuing with formal sit-down lunches. Working class-raised Peg breaks bread with Bob Hope, answers fan mail from Julie Andrews, goes on cookbook autograph missions with Marion as the star. All this time, Peg is also the “dumb bunny” in Marion’s Joy kitchen, learning to cook and bake, testing recipes and offering honest opinions.

With oodles of royalties pouring in, the Cockaigne lifestyle is tethered to duty and many traditional complications. Before Peg’s time at Joy ends, will she transform herself enough to put behind youthful failures? All this to ponder while enjoying lots of food adventures in this fictional behind-the-scenes gourmet tale.

Release April 24, 2012

This is a baseball story of a different kind. The only thing I can promise is no ball park metaphors. I will not strike out nor will I hit a home run. This is my story of the 2011 Major League Baseball season, inspired by real events.

     It's my experience, a laid-off older career woman reinventing herself as a Tampa Bay Rays team shop girl. I will follow the season in my own athletic wear shoes. 

     As hard as it was to free-fall from a decades-long career as a journalist to a shopkeeper, taking arbitrary orders from condescending supervisors, I found surprising fulfillment working in the ball park. I waited on mostly happy customers, bagged lots of cotton T-shirts and dragged myself home at night - often with memories of funny, touching moments.

     And when very often push came to shove, I usually responded in a manner that surprised and delighted me. But it wasn't all me. It helped that I made a friend. 

     Then too, my pursuit of a Rays job is pure of heart. In the beginning, I simply asked my unemployed self, "What bright idea do I follow next?"

     And when I encountered late in my "sales clerk career," a personal hurdle that made layoff and job searching seem like just a ripple in the smooth pool of life, I discovered my "menial" job had powers I never expected. 

     If you take a retail job, working at a Major League Baseball stadium has perks. Who doesn't love an action-packed day at the ballpark? Pass down the foamy beer to seat 12. You simply spot the cutest player in the whole wide world and follow his exploits all season. Or you actually look for ability in a player and see if that skill is going to soar or dip. 

     When the Rays win, the excitement stimuli showers down from the catwalks at Tropicana Field like leaping under a rainforest waterfall.   

     This craziness in the stands will translate to a team shop that isn't dull. Doesn't sports merchandising have a rhythm worlds away from the blues of mundane shopping? And behind-the-scenes peeks of big scale recreation are always so amusing. 

     The best approach to this story is just to let it unfold.