I am the (Sweet Potato) Queen Bee tonight

It is my turn to host my quilt bee tonight! I have belonged to this group of quilters for about ten years, although the membership has turned over quite a bit in that time. We are a very informal group called The Whacky Ladies. Our skills range from beginner to professional. We have such a good time, even if only three members can attend. All we have to do as hostess is have a room available and fix a snack of some sort. Being the overachievers that many quilters are, it often goes way beyond that with seasonally decorated homes and to-die-for desserts. If you remember, I hosted a big outdoor party here in October, the client pig-picking. So, I still have my outdoor decorations and Halloween lights. Unfortunately, my painting projects upstairs have taken WAY longer than anticipated. My downstairs is OK, but the upstairs will be off limits unless I can somehow manage to work on putting it back together today. So, notice, I am blogging instead of moving furniture and scraping windows!

Anyway, I am a big fan of the Sweet Potato Queen books by Jill Conner Browne. She is a hoot! The last one that I purchased was The Sweet Potato Queens' Big-Ass Cookbook. I am not a big foodie or much of a cook, so you know that when I am entertained by a cookbook, it is something special! I think Jill must be a fabulous Southern hostess despite all her self-deprecating humor. So, I have bought ingredients for three of her recipes, and may just make all three because I can't decide.

The first is Linda's Killer Cake with No Apples. It reminds Jill of an apple cake, but the secret ingredient is a full can of Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Coconut Pecan Frosting- which actually goes into the cake batter before baking.

The next one sounded just right for an autumn get-together: That Pumpkin Stuff That Dorothy Makes. Sort of like the Better Than Sex dessert that everyone was wild about ten years ago.

For a hearty appetizer, I will try Armadillo Dip, even though we don't serve alcohol at bee meetings, and this one is recommended to go with Knock You Naked margaritas.

If you are thinking that this does not sound like your usual cookbook, you are right!

Let me tell you how I originally learned about her first book, The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love. Charlie and I had boarded the plane for a wonderful business trip to Palm Beach, Florida. We did not have seats together. I sat next to a boring sort, and he was in a row behind me that was populated all the way across with women bound for a girl-getaway on a friend's yacht in Palm Beach. Man, they were revved for this trip. They all had handfuls of dollar bills when they sat down, which I did not understand until the beverage service began. Every one of them ordered a straight vodka. Then, their head Queen reached into her carry-on and pulled out a jug of Bloody Mary mix! Of course, this was pre-airline restrictions for carrying on liquids and gels. So, here was my husband on the aisle seat of this row of party girls who were getting blasted on their trip to get blasted. I was reading my boring Book Club assignment for the month, which was Galileo's Daughter. Now, I enjoy all kinds of books, but this one just dragged and bogged down, in my opinion. Guess what the party girls were reading aloud behind me- to my Own Personal Husband? The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love! They were dying laughing, and passing the book back and forth to read a certain page, containing the now-infamous Promise. Can't tell you what it is, you have to read it! Charlie was passing out business cards and getting invited to Happy Hour on the yacht, which as I recall was named Amazing Grace, or something like that. When we got to Florida, I headed straight for the airport bookstore and purchased-you guessed it- The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love. No, I don't dress up in tiara, green sequined body suit, and majorette boots, but these books are a lot of fun. I'll let you know how the recipes work out.