Straight Up at Traci's

For those faithful readers who follow along with my reading group....Bookclub report!

Traci chose the book, Straight Up by Lisa Samson for the February read/March meal.  In the middle of the book, somewhere, one of the characters starts going to a little Southern restaurant and eating glorious food. There were other parts to the book, too, like alcoholism, misspent lives, redemption, re-connection, and all that stuff that we had to talk about, but the real focal point for some of us, was the food! (I know. You find that hard to believe, since we are all such deep, philosophical people and generally disdain anything that detracts from the dissection of the story....)

So here's our menu:
Southern fried chicken (recipe by Paula Deen....yes, it was glorious)
Mashed potatos and gravy from the little crunchy bits left in the bottom of the frying pan.
Green beans
Biscuits
Apple-sweet potato bake that's hard to describe...sort of like an apple pie without the crust.
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir or Moscato wine
Peach cobbler with ice cream
Kafe Utza coffee and cream
Pepsi (it was in the story, too)
No appetizers because that bookclub member was absent, but we managed to make it to the main meal without fainting....but barely. 

At one point around the table (after we had eaten all we possibly could) there were 4 conversations going, loudly, to where I could hardly hear the person I was trying to talk to....it was glorious! We're all so happy to see one another and we have a lot of life to catch up on: What are the baby's milestones? Are you done calving your heifers? Can I get this recipe? How's the new house coming? Where's Thelma tonight? Would you please pass that fried chicken back this way? And the cobbler?

The actual discussion of the story was lively and interesting, with points and insights that I had completely missed, having been so focused on the Southern cooking.  We almost always go away from bookclub thinking a little differently about some things and I usually end up revisiting the book, thinking "HOW did she get THAT parallel? I thought he was just the eccentric uncle, not the foil for her percieved helplessness. What's a foil?" (I know what a foil is.  But you get the idea.)

I'm not sure but what we'd still be sitting there around the table, candles burned down to big blue puddles, if Scott and crew hadn't shown back up.  No one was inclined to move.  No one COULD move. 

Next bookclub selection is Anne's and we are reading The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup, by Susan
Orlean.

*I did take pictures, and will add them to the post this evening.  Today is Maggie's first field trip, and I'm chaperoning, so instead of posting pics this morning, I'll be showering.  Yeah, I thought it was a good idea, too.