What a treat! I was recently the guest of honor at the Bluestockings Book Club. For their May meeting, members prepared salad and dessert recipes from The Pat Conroy Cookbook and from my cookbook, Celebrate Beaufort.  Nine recipes were featured – and I tasted them all. Everything was delicious! Look how beautiful the presentations were. So impressive!

Back in December 1971, for my birthday, the only thing I really and truly wanted was a Voice of the Mummy game. I'd seen the spooky pharaoh's tomb commercials on television where the ominous voice of the mummy actually spoke from the sarcophagus at the top of the board game pyramid. (Keep in mind that I'm from the “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” era, when we'd close the drapes and build a fort out of blankets and pillows to watch our favorite “scary” Saturday morning cartoon. Sort of the same thing.)

'Tis the season! The season for outdoor gatherings, that is. Spring in Beaufort is the most wonderful time of year to invite friends over for cocktails on the deck while you're grilling vegetables to go with dinner. Of course, the no-seeums will run you back into the house when it's actually time to eat supper, but that's part of Beaufort's charm. Vince and I recently hosted a dinner party for some of our Lowcountry Weekly friends.