Actress Jessica Harper Writes ' Crabby Cook Cookbook'

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) - Actress Jessica Harper has written "The Crabby Cook Cookbook" because she's not always such a happy camper in the kitchen throwing together meals for her family of very picky eaters.

Her cookbook is filled with easy recipes that everybody will love, she says.

Harper has been in about twenty movies including Woody Allen's "Pennies From Heaven" and "Stardust Memories," as well as "My Favorite Year" and "Minority Report," plus plenty of TV appearances.

WCBS 880's Pat Farnack with Jesssica Harper

How did Harper come to write the cookbook?

"One day, I had girlfriends for lunch and, of course, I served them takeout food, but whatever," said Harper to WCBS 880 midday anchor Pat Farnack. "One by one, they kind of outed themselves as crabby cooks. They all had issues. For example, my friend Lynne, she's got a son who's a vegan, a daughter who will only eat fish, and then she's got a little one who only eats white toast. So, once I started asking people and asking around, it turns out almost everybody I knew had some issue, and I realized there's a whole crabby nation out there."

How did Harper get crabby in the kitchen?

"I used to be a happy cook," Harper says. "Way back in the years BC, which is what I call the 'before children' years, I actually am kind of a foodie. I love to cook creatively and I love to cook whenever I want to cook. As everybody knows, that's not really how a family feeding agenda works. So, my attitude changed when I started having to cook everyday, several times a day for very picky people."

Check out more videos here thecrabbycook.com.

What about anxiety?

"I have terrible, what I call hostess anxiety syndrome," says Harper. "I just get in a tizzy when I'm trying to entertain people... I love the section with cocktails. I've found if you give people a nice little cocktail at a dinner party, they don't really care too much what they're eating after that."