Good food and good friends...doesn't get any better

Have you ever been asked to plan an End of Summer bash? I was last week, and here it is in its entirety, but here's a quick teaser of what my menu would look like...

I'd opt for a backyard barbecue complete with hamburgers for the true carnivores, but I'd also throw on some marinated chicken breasts and veggie kabobs for the lighter diners. Potato Salad would be a must (Tillie Alexander's recipe, of course...my husband's grandmother, God bless her soul), and my mother's recipe for Ranch Style Beans and Hash Brown Casserole (Mom was a fabulous cook too). Add lots of fresh fruit with a side of pineapple-upside-down cake yogurt for dipping, along with a yummy warm Buttermilk Pie, chilled Fresh Coconut Cake, and Ghirardelli Brownies with chopped pecans and smothered in fudge frosting, and we're about there! 

As I made my list, I quickly realized how important food would be to that event, and how important it is to any family & friends get together (not to mention how treasured all those family recipes become over time). 

I was recently told about Glenave Curtis, a wonderful woman I know from Arkansas, who had written a cookbook. So, of course, I ran over to amazon.com and nabbed it. It arrived on Saturday and I've had such fun looking through it, reading Glenave's entries and making note of recipes I'm looking forward to making this week.

If you love "down home cookin" recipes, then this cookbook is for you. It's deliciously heavy on the bread and cakes and cookies sections too, which are my favorites!

I'm off for a week of writing. Nothing but writing. Only writing. A "never leaving the house week of writing." Do you hear a common theme...

Diving in,
Tammy

P.S. One evening last week, I "met" with some wonderful gals in Roanoke, VA who had read The Inheritance. Click for details.