Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 30, 1993 TAG: 9306300031
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Whatever the reason, Diane Pfeifer - ex-chemist, songwriter, performer, Atlanta-based book publisher, phone-company wrong-number voice, and one-time Roanoke Times & World-News radio-jingle singer - keeps coming up with the strangest ideas. And making a living selling them.
Her first self-published cookbook, "For Popcorn Lovers Only," has sold nearly 40,000 copies at $9.95 a, uh, pop. Who can turn down Kentucky Fried Kernels (add 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning)?
Her second, "Gone With the Grits," has sold 25,000 copies in just over a year. We Southerners love sending the book - with Rhett and Scarlett on the cover embracing a bowl of grits along with each other - to our friends Up North. And the book's been been selling like, well, Grit-tle Cakes (serves 6) at roadside restaurant/gift shops.
Now Pfeiffer is ready to target another niche of nouvelle novelty cuisine. She's just published another book, "Quick Bytes: Computer Lover's Cookbook," which includes such favorites as Guaca-Modem Dip, Nut Cheese Log-On, Low Density Biskettes and Kurd Perfect.
The early indications are good: There was a big computer convention in her hometown of Atlanta a couple weeks ago, and the books sold like crazy. "At least I know the nerds have a sense of humor," Pfeiffer says.
Just where does she get her ideas? More specifically: What about this grits thing?
Well, that brings us back to Gregg Allman and the sushi chef.
In the fall of 1991, Pfeiffer was in a sushi bar in Hollywood.
The chef was schmoozing with the customers. He asked Pfeiffer where she was from. Georgia, she said.
He asked how they liked their sushi in Georgia.
"With Grits!" she joked. Her friends laughed, but she thought: Why not? And why not grits in burritos? Or cookies? Or Thanksgiving stuffing?
Dawn the next day: Pfeifer was up early, as usual. She was sitting in a hotel coffee shop jotting down ideas for grits recipes. Suddenly, she was shocked to hear somebody order grits. The waitress said they didn't have them. The customer was upset.
Pfeifer stuck up a conversation about grits and other things Southern. Turns out the guy was none other than Gregg Allman, the Southern rock-bluesman of Allman Brothers Fame.
There was no turning back after that.
Pfeiffer came up with all kinds of recipes: Grits Pate (accent mark over the e), Herb Grits-Stuffed Mushrooms, Egg Fried Grits, Chinese Sweet 'N' Sour Grits, Hansel & Grit-El German Rye Bread.
She swears she made and ate them all, and that the only recipe that bombed was her grits drop cookies. "You took a bite of these things - it was like eating Daytona Beach. It was disgusting."
The combination of her wacky culinary feats and her self-publishing acumen has landed her notice in Vegetarian Times, U.S. News & World-Report and the Wall Street Journal. She's been on the "Regis and Kathy Lee" show. She teaches courses at Emory University and Georgia State on self-publishing.
"It's turned out to be a whole career for me," Pfeiffer says. "I think everybody has a book in 'em. It's just a matter of determining that that book is the right one to self-publish."
She and her stand-up comedian husband, Jeff Justice, also have published three of his joke books (including "The Pregnant Husband's Handbook") under their Strawberry Patch label. He usually finds a way to work her cookbooks into his stand-up routine.
Pfeiffer never planned it this way. She grew up in St. Louis, earned a two-year degree as a pharmaceutical chemist and then started working for a drug company.
Chemicals bored her, however (though her knowledge of them would help her later during her invention of cookbook recipes). In the early 1970s, she started writing songs.
Neil Sedaka and Debbie Boone recorded some of her efforts. Two of her songs, "Perfect Fool" and "Free to be Lonely Again," ended up on Boone's greatest hits album. She also recorded commercials - including that jingle for the Roanoke Times & World-News a decade or so ago - and wrong-number answers for phone companies.
She toured as a backup singer for Tammy Wynette for a while and, in 1981, recorded her own country-pop album, "Diane Pfeiffer," for Capitol Records.
It wasn't a best-seller, but royalties from her songs performed by others kept her above water for several years. It was a great life, but she knew she needed to find something else when the royalties slowed to a dribble.
She came up with the idea for the popcorn book on a first date. She had no intention of going out with the guy again, but when he bragged about his "Mexican Popcorn," a light bulb went off. Her publishing career was launched.
Now, with 10,000 copies of "Quik Bytes" in print, she's ready to keep on going.
Pfeiffer hasn't had a steady paycheck in 20 years, and she loves both the booms and busts of self-employment. "I've always been the type who likes jackpots."
by CNB