In this blasé memoir, Seattle author Mathews (Ambassador to the Penguins
) recounts her journey from kitchen amateur to winner of the million-dollar 1998 Pillsbury Bake-Off. Mathews, a married graphic designer, had been halfheartedly entering and winning recipe contests since 1980, such as one for REI recreational equipment, in which she had to combine packets of freeze-dried food into a semblance of a meal, or the state Beef Cook-Off, where she placed second for Siberian Beef. However, the Pillsbury Bake-Off is the mother of all recipe competitions, and Mathews cannily reworked a tried-and-true halibut recipe using the company's Old El Paso salsa and some chicken thighs and came up with the reliable Salsa Couscous Chicken. Summoned to Orlando, Fla., where the finalists are royally and publicly pampered, Mathews dutifully re-created her “30-Minute Main Dish” and was stunned to be singled out by host Alex Trebek as the winner of $1 million. Her memoir has a curiously unimpassioned quality, padded with details about visiting Disney World with the other contestants, choosing presentable outfits and becoming a grandmother. (Mar.)
