And I feel that her editors were on break when this one slipped by. But Bon Appetit, Y’All   by Virginia Willis has to be one of my favorite cookbooks so far this fall. 

Virginia Willis is Southern by birth and trained with Anne Willan at La Varenne and her food reflects this. You hop from Cheese Straws to Gougeres, Country Captain Chicken to Coq Au Vin, Chess Pie to Crème Brulee au Vanille. The pictures are glorious and her personality shines through with hilarious anecdotes and touching personal stories (you must check out the story accompanying the recipe for Fingerling Potato Salad. We were laughing so hard we started to cry). It is an awful lot like spending time on a friend’s front porch. Provided that friend can make a  mean Corn Spoon Bread. 

I was a lucky girl growing up. I had a French Grandmother and a Southern Grandmother. This book reminds me of lovely by-gone dinners at two very different tables. But they both had wonderful food lovingly prepared in common. Cook something good this weekend!