Category: General

I have had my eye on this book for a while.  Though the subject matter of a funeral seems odd for a Book Club Monday Choice, the recipes and southern traditions featured in this book are really fun and it turned out to be a great read. That is why I choose Being Dead Is No Excuse:The Official Southern Ladies Guide To Hosting The Perfect Funeral for this week.  Here is the summary:


In this deliciously entertaining slice of Southern life (and death), inveterate hostess Gayden Metcalfe explains everything you need to know to host an authentic Southern funeral. Can you be properly buried without tomato aspic? Who prepares tastier funeral fare, the Episcopal ladies or the Methodist ladies? And what does one do when a family gets three sheets to the wind and eats the entire feast the night before a funeral?

Each chapter includes a delicious, tried-and-true Southern recipe, critical if you plan to die tastefully any time soon. Pickled Shrimp, Aunt Hebe’s Coconut Cake, and the ubiquitous Bing Cherry Salad with Coca-Cola are among the many dishes guaranteed to make the next funeral the most satisfying one yet. -Amazon.com


For more information, or to purchase this book, click HERE.

I could not let this beautiful weekend end without show you a spatular NYC Sutton Place apartment on East 57th st.  This unit is completely breathless…the decor is impeccable..every single room has my heart…see it for you self!!!  How’s That for City Living?

Pastis  is back!!!!!! Keith McNally’s beloved french bistro has returned to the Meatpacking district and re-opened after it’s 5 year hiatus.  He has partnered with another James Beard Awarding winning chef, Stephen Starr, of Le Cou Cou fame.  The menu remains the same classic french bistro flare.  It is as delicious as ever. I could not resist the artichoke hearts and the mussels in white wine.  Both were incredible.  But if the incredible menu does not get you there..the scene definitely will.  I met my childhood friend Leeann, yes the one who deserted me for Maine, in NYC on Tuesday night. PS The last time she was there in the old location she was with Justin Timberlake!!!!!!  Back to our night…We arrived at Pastis 1 hour before our reservation and we were just so happy to chill on the bench by the door, honestly the best seat in the house, until our table was ready  The hostesses were so accommodating.  They kept coming over telling us they were working on the table.  They genuinely cared about us waiting and made it a priority to accommodate us, even though we were the early ones. And this is the “it” new restaurant.  Everyone is dying to be seated and they were worried about US!!!!  Amazing customer service. The restaurant was crawling with celebrities.  Sweet Zac Posen was checking in with us.  Keith McNally was in the back with his posse and literally right behind our table was John Legend.   Pastis is the hot place of the moment.  RUN!!!!!!!!! 

This weeks book is a fabulous moving novel, Ask Again, Yes: A Novel by Mary Beth Keane.  Here is the story:

How much can a family forgive?

A profoundly moving novel about two neighboring families in a suburban town, the friendship between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades, the daily intimacies of marriage, and the power of forgiveness.

Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, rookie cops in the NYPD, live next door to each other outside the city. What happens behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne, sets the stage for the explosive events to come.

Ask Again, Yes is a deeply affecting exploration of the lifelong friendship and love that blossoms between Kate Gleeson and Peter Stanhope, born six months apart. One shocking night their loyalties are divided, and their bond will be tested again and again over the next 40 years. Luminous, heartbreaking, and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes reveals the way childhood memories change when viewed from the distance of adulthood—villains lose their menace and those who appeared innocent seem less so. Kate and Peter’s love story, while haunted by echoes from the past, is marked by tenderness, generosity, and grace.



For more information, or to purchase this book, click HERE.