I keep a list of recipe ideas on my desk. Some are for my catering business, others are for my column. When Hurricane Florence cancelled or postponed all of my events last week, I did what I do best. I trashed my kitchen. I don't get to do it often but when I do it, I do it well.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Audra and I met for lunch at a new restaurant. It was a typical girls' lunch, a glass of wine, a salad, lots of chit-chat, a bit of catching up and some giggling. We had fun. The food was good. All the normal stuff.

Judy Payette is my sister from another mister. I'm the bratty little sister that she never wanted and somehow got stuck with. Judy's mom, Marie Payette-Peatross-Andrews was my other mother. When I was the secretary at First Presbyterian Church, Marie helped me count the Sunday offering every Monday morning. For years. For years and years and years. Our working relationship developed into a loving friendship that lasted until Marie's passing in 2013. In the meantime, Marie's real daughter, Judy, was living and teaching school on an Air Force Base in England.