What I read in April 2012

The Pact by Jodi Picoult (April 27)

The Best of Times by Penny Vincenzi (April 19, NOOK)

Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich (read April 8)

My Reading Life* by Pat Conroy (read April 8, NOOK)

The Night Circus* by Erin Morgenstern (April 6)

Home Front by Kristen Hannah (April 4)

Kill Alex Cross by James Patterson (April 1)

* I'll be reviewing these 2 books in upcoming posts!!!

Food For Thought- South of Broad

South of Broad by is a wonderfully written southern tale by Pat Conroy. I think this is one of the best books I've read in a long time- I'd give it five stars.

I've already posted my review of this book earlier this month, but I didn't get my cook on until this last week. I've been wanting to participate in a fellow blogger's concept "Food for Thought."

Throughout the entire novel, Leo King, our protagonist, cooks for his friends and family. All sorts of "low country" food is sprinkled throughout this amazing book. I said in my original review that it was a novel you could sink your teeth into, and it's true about the text as well as the food in the story. All sorts of food is casually mentioned in this story, and Leo and his father at the cooks in the King household, and Leo gets his love of cooking from his father.

This story is told starting at Leo's senior year in high school and then flashes forward to adulthood. And when all his friends gather together, they all want Leo to cook for them. The story is also told with some flashback, to round out high school and then again to present day as the band of friends try to save the twins: Trevor and Sheba. The rich and the poor, and the black and the white folks all become friends for life in this rich tale.

As I got back and re-read my own review, I realize how often I used food terms to describe this novel, which I find ironic now. So I decided to dive into some lowcontry cookin'.

Lowcountry cooking is generally associated with cooking in South Carolina and Georgia, especially Savannah and and Charleston, which is where the story took place. I made she-crab soup (which is served to guests in the novel), and crab cakes stuffed back in the shell. I also made corn bread, which is just a flat out southern dish (both of these were made in the book!). And I made a nice salad, to just round it all out.

I did cheat a bit with my cornbread. I used a Jiffy mix. I just can't seem to make a good cornbread from scratch, no matter how hard I try, and the mix was great! I also doubled it up and made it in a pan, rather than as muffins.

And I think the pretty yellow just rounds out a meal nicely! And like my junior high teacher told us, presentation is everything, so it looks lovely with a nice salad (my son loves his salad with croutons and Cesar dressing, as pictured here!)!

Here's a bowl of the she-crab soup. She-crab soup is a cream based soup that gets thicker the longer you cook it, almost like gravy, and it's delicious. My son is used to it being called Crab Bisque, but in truth, it's she-crab soup. Rather than running my egg yolk through a sieve like the recipe called for, I just chopped them up really fine. I also made a goof- where I live booze isn't sold on Sundays, including cooking sherry, so I substituted apple juice for the liquor and it came out just fine. This was a rich, thick hearty soup and everyone seemed to love it, even my father who isn't one to eat any sort of fish, shellfish or otherwise, at all!


I think next time I make this, I'm going to use white pepper instead of black. I also used twice as much crab as the recipe called for since we love crab meat. I also used a traditional recipe so this was a classic soup made from a roux. Probably the only time I can make a roux work since I'm a gravy failure. I took one other liberty and used chicken broth instead of fish stock.


Here are the crab cakes stuffed back in the shells. I got the idea from a display at Wal-Mart, believe it or not. The only person who liked this was me. And I think rather than bake these, they would be better fried, so I know for next time!

So that's my foray into low country cooking and my personal experience with Food For Thought! Please go visit the web site and see other participants. And our hostess "Once in a Blue Moon" has the most beautiful book/ food postings!

Happy eatin' and readin',
Maggie Mae

Book 12- South of Broad

This is one of the best books I've ever read in my life. This is the best book I've read since Chris Moore's Fool. South of Broad is lush, almost tangible, wonderful, and a novel readers can sink their teeth into.

Told by Leo King, aka Toad, he oscillates the telling of this story which is between his the summer of his senior year of high school and that school year, and his adult life. It's the story of Toad the reporter in heart of the South, in Charleston, South Carolina. It's the story of him, his friends, their ghosts and demons, and the strength of the bonds of friendship that no one nor nothing can destroy.

I've read on other Pat Conroy novel, Prince of Tides, and I was not impressed at all, and didn't not enjoy the book, nor the film. I've tried to read other books by him to no avail. I gulped large when Bragger suggested this because I wasn't sure. I've had so many other recommend it so I dove in, and I cannot say how happy I am to have read one of the best books ever written.

Conroy so obviously loves words and I feel like my reading of this was a love affair that lasted a month long. I usually blow though a novel in a few days, and I started this with the same intent and slowed myself down to read at the same leisurely pace that the story unfolded... read at the slow moving pace that seems part of the way of life in the South I had a love affair with the words, the lush descriptions, the stringing of phrases, the vividness that paints the South, the City of Charleston (and San Fransisco) and the rich lives of these characters who became people to me for the last 28 days. The words and his writing could wrap around me like a blanket and it was warm and delicious. His story was so real, I could almost touch it, he used such perfect words.

These characters jumped up off the page and made me laugh and cry and smile. My heart broke for Leo and Trevor and Sheba. I wanted to despise Chad and hug Niles. I cheered for Ike and Betty and wanted to smack Molly and Lindsay. I didn't want it to end. This was a full, delectable tale, told at a languid pace with the perfect rich language that I associate both with the South. I moved at a slow pace along this journey that was a story telling.

This book makes me wish I was a Southerner born and bred, rather than in my heart. I might not have lived south of Broad, a very social distinction among those who are the haves and have nots of Charleston, bit I certainly could have tried.

Thank you Bragger for having me read this, and many thanks to Pat Conroy for spinning a tale that touched me. And I'm sorry for those of you who didn't read it.