Mairead Case is a working writer in Colorado. She is a PhD student at the University of Denver, a poetry teacher at the women’s jail, and a freelance editor. Her first book, See You in The Morning, comes out from featherproof in September, and she thinks cilantro tastes like soap.
We talked about pizza all day, rogue sandwich eating, and living the dream.
On her favorite meal of the day:
I love quiet mornings with strong coffee and fruit at my kitchen table, and a book and my cat and maybe some music and nobody else, for at least a little while. As coffee and fruit is not really a meal, when company wakes up we eat more together.
On snacking while writing:
Eating while writing means one-person-meals so, lots of eggs and things I can slurp from a cup. Sometimes I live the dream and drink a whole pot of coffee.
On her all-time favorite meal:
My mother’s pizza. Four meals a day.
On her go-to late-night snack:
I get kind of obsessive-compulsive about it, like I’ll eat a lot a lot a lot of salt caramels, or graham crackers and peanut butter, or apricots and cashews, and eat some every night until I turn into apricots and cashews and need to move on.
On meat:
I wish my body and brain agreed about eating meat. My body absolutely needs it to keep from getting bony and weepy, and while this makes my brain work better I worry about sustainability and humanity.
On her food quirks:
I eat sandwiches in layers, top slice of bread first, and I really really love cold leftover macaroni and cheese.
On her final meal request:
Tonight? A meatloaf sandwich, zombie dust, and orange dreamsicle pie.