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REAL DEAL 'MENTER CHEESE

It's a dip, it's a sandwich spread, it's great in a grilled cheese, or dolloped on top of a hamburger, and it's the social glue that binds us down here in the South. Now don't be afraid to take this to your next book club meeting—the real stuff is nothin' like that neon orange junk you buy in a tub at WallyWorld. And don't use the pre-shredded cheese for this recipe, cuz it just ain't the same as when you shred it yourself. This makes a big crock of stuff, and sealed tightly in a container in the fridge, it'll last a week or more.

INGREDIENTS:

1- 8-oz. pkg. extra sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1- 8-oz. pkg. Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded
2-4 oz. jars sliced pimentos, undrained
½ or more cup mayonnaise—Duke's preferably
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. (or more) hot sauce
2 tsp. lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS:

Let the cheese come to room temp before grating if possible. Combine grated cheese in large bowl, add pimentos with juice, and mix thoroughly with a fork. Add mayonnaise and seasonings and mix again. You can add more mayo if your mix doesn't seem smooth enough. Make into sandwiches or use as a dip with raw carrots and celery sticks, or spread on buttery Club crackers.

RENT THE BREEZE INN!

Did you know that MKA's very own fixer upper—The Breeze Inn on Tybee Islandmdash;is available for rent?! You and yours can chillax in beautiful beach cottage comfort in the very spot where MKA's most recent bestsellers have been penned, surrounded by junking treasures uncovered by the author herself. Call Diane at Mermaid Cottages and book yourself in for the full MKA experience! If your crew won't all fit at the Breeze, Diane has 30+ one-of-a-kind cottages sprinkled around the island, all just a short ride on a beach cruiser away from each other. Get yourself on "Tybee time" and discover the magic of slowing down.

Dear Friends:

If you're reading this, the chances are very good you're a member of a book club. I've been meeting with book clubs all over the map recently—including the famous Pulpwood Queens Book Club weekend in Jefferson, Texas in February, where I was one of a dozen authors sharing in the hijinks of a weekend-long party celebrating girlfriends and reading. At the Pulpwood Queens shindig, the authors acted as waiters and cooks serving dinner one night, and at two subsequent nights of parties, we dressed up as our favorite Barbie and characters from the Wizard of Oz.

Mar Kay with the book club at Dataw Island Not every book club function I attend is that elaborate—or that far-flung. In February, I met with the Outlaw book club in Decatur, only a few miles from my home, where the members played a cutthroat dice game to determine the winners of the door prize autographed books I'd provided. That same month I spoke to a slightly more sedate book club luncheon in Dataw Island, S.C. Just this week I met with two clubs here in Georgia, on Wednesday with a book club in LaGrange, and on Thursday, I met with women from The Ridgerunner book clubs in the Big Canoe community north of Atlanta.

Of course, with a June deadline looming for my next book, I'm not always able to travel to meet with clubs in person, but when that happens, I usually try to arrange a phone chat. The way this works is that the book club hostess calls me up on the night of the pre-arranged club meeting, hooks me up to a speaker-phone, and we proceed as usual—except I don't get to sample their wine or appetizers!

I'd love to do more book club appearances, so if you'd like me to join your club—either in person or on a phone chat, send a request to the book club sign-up form on my website and we'll see if we can get you scheduled.

I happen to be a member of not one, but two book clubs, one here in Atlanta, that's been going strong for 12 years, and another, in Ohio, The Goddesses, that's been in existence for nine years. Both clubs celebrate the strong bonds of friendship and our shared love of books by arranging outings and field trips. The Goddesses are particularly imaginative with themed outings. When we read SEABISCUIT, for instance, the hostess borrowed a van and ferried everybody to a nearby racetrack—even doling out $2 to each member to place their bets. When a book club selection is made into a movie, our Atlanta club tries to attend as a group, as we did recently for JULIE AND JULIA. But our favorite gatherings have been the getaway weekends to members' beach homes and mountain cabins.

It's no coincidence that my next book, tentatively titled SUMMER RENTAL is about three lifelong friends who plan a month-long summer getaway to a beach house on North Carolina's Outer Banks.

When we were undertaking the restoration of my family's beach house on Tybee Island, Georgia, we made plans for it to also be the perfect spot for a book club getaway, since it is in a rental program with the awesome Mermaid Cottage Vacation Rentals. The Breeze Inn has bookshelves brimming with beach reads, board games and a selection of chick flick DVDs to watch on the big screen TV. The kitchen is outfitted with everything you'd need to whip up breakfast for a bunch, or just appetizers, before heading out to one of Tybee's great casual restaurants. The screen porch is the perfect place to gather for aprés beach cocktails, and all the beds are made with high thread-count all-cotton linens—and good reading lamps by every bedside. We've already hosted a few book club gatherings, and hope many more will be able to experience The Breeze Inn in the months to come. Look for a feature about the Breeze, written by yours truly, with scads of mouth-watering photos in the June issue of BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS, which goes on sale in Mid-May.

This month's contest is all about you women in book clubs. See the details in the right-hand column, and make sure all your friends enter too.

In the meantime, happy spring and happy reading.

All my best,
MKA

Bookclub Corner

Do you have a book club? If your club is reading one of my books, I would love to call in and join your discussion. You never know, I may even be able to drop by in person if it works out right. E-mail us with your request and we'll see what we can do! Be sure to include a snail mail address and info about the size of your club.

IN STORES NOW!

ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

CONTEST!

I want to hear all about your book club. Tell me...What is the most fun you've had? Did you take a trip together? Have a great dinner party? A fascinating discussion that took you to some unexpected places? Or did one of your gatherings just become "one of those nights" that you'll never forget for one reason or another? Share your tales with me. As usual I'll publish some of my favorites on my blog. The winner gets a fab summer-themed basket full of goodies to share with their book club—autographed copies of The Fixer Upper, beach towels, cocktail mixes, and a stack of Fixer Upper cups to mix 'em in. The winner's next book club gathering could be the most fun yet!

BEFORE & AFTER

The Breeze Inn has come a long way! Check out this video for more about the transformation.

MKA Online

MRS. HOGAN'S CARROT CAKE

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour three 8-inch cake pans.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
4 cups grated carrots
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and sugar in medium-bowl. In large mixing bowl, beat 4 eggs til frothy, adding vegetable oil. Beat flour mixture into egg mixture. Add carrots and chopped nuts, mix. Bake 25-30 minutes, til done.

MAPLE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

INGREDIENTS:

1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 stick margarine
1 lb. box confectioner's sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. maple flavoring

INSTRUCTIONS:

Soften cream cheese and margarine to room temperature before mixing together. Beat in confectioner’s sugar, adding vanilla and maple flavoring. Ice all three layers—may need to add toothpicks to layers to stabilize.

Dear Friends:

With the holidays come such weighty (literally!) issues as these: Pumpkin or pecan? Apple or cherry? Stuffing or dressing? Ham or turkey? I say—why choose? As many of you know, I grew up as part of a large, loud family—five children. At Thanksgiving, and again at Christmas, my mother always served both ham and turkey, and she made regular stuffing, plus her own favorite, oyster dressing, every year. The list of side dishes encompassed everybody's favorites, mashed potatoes, sweet potato souffle, green beans, cole slaw, cranberry sauce, and squash casserole. She always made my personal favorite—roast parsnips. And the dessert table was a sugar overload with at least two each of pecan and pumpkin pies, plus apple, chocolate and lemon meringue. A dear family friend loved mincemeat, so Mom always made Dave his own mincemeat pie. And did I mention there was always a chocolate cake as well as carrot cake? At Mom's funeral five years ago, Dave's wife told us that when their daughter Caitlyn received the news of Mrs. Hogan's death, she tearfully asked "But now who'll make the carrot cake?" It seems the carrot cake baton has been passed to me, so I'd like to pass it to my favorite readers too.

This year, we had Thanksgiving dinner at my sister-in-law's house, but of course I had to tote along the carrot cake and a couple of pies—son Andrew's favorite is pumpkin—to our family gathering. And in between watching football, we managed to slip in a power nap and a little shopping.

As soon as the Thanksgiving leftovers were polished off, I started plotting for Christmas. This will be such a joyous holiday for us this year, with the addition of our first grandchild, Molly, who was born in July. We'll have a big family Christmas here in Atlanta, although on Christmas Day I've graciously agreed to allow Molly to visit her other grandparents in Missouri. Our little town has a tree lighting ceremony the first week of December, so that's my deadline to get my outside decorations completed. Of course, my theme doesn't vary—it's always a BLUE CHRISTMAS at our house.

This year, my very own BLUE CHRISTMAS has been released in mass market paperback for the first time. I think the $7.99 paperback makes it a nifty little item for teacher gifts, book club swaps and stocking stuffers. Or, you could just make it a gift to yourself—I know you've all been very good this year. As always, there are recipes in the back of the book, for Junior League cheese pennies, Chatham Artillery Punch, corned beef dip (yum!) and red rooster cocktails—a very yummy adult beverage, as well as my personal Cool Yule Christmas music playlist.

Once the holidays are over, it'll be back to work on my novel-in-progress, tentatively titled SUMMER RENTAL, with a story about three childhood friends from Savannah who're renting a cottage on North Carolina's Outer Banks. I'll also make time for some appearances. Sun. Feb. 22, I'll be on Hilton Head Island, SC, signing at Cooks and Books, a literacy fundraiser held at The Mall at Shelter Cove, from 12:30-2:30 pm, and on Feb. 26, I'll be the keynote luncheon speaker at the Jacksonville, FL Public Library's Much Ado About Books Festival.

Until then, here's wishing you the warmest, wonderfullest holiday season ever—from my front porch to yours.

All my best,
Mary Kay Andrews

Bookclub Corner

IN STORES NOW!

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CONTEST!

It's been quite a year for me and I am so looking forward to 2010. Some of my New Year's resolutions in the past have been doozies—some I've stuck to and some were doomed to fail from the start. So let's hear 'em. Send in your New Year's resolutions to meg@marykayandrews.com. I'll publish a few of them on my blog and select a handful of my favorites to win an autographed copy of BLUE CHRISTMAS.

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LET IT SNOW!

Last winter we were treated to some snow here in Atlanta. Here's hoping for more of the white stuff to romp around in again this year—what better excuse to read by the fire with a glass of wine!

MKA Online

MARY KAY'S PEACH CRISP

This is our son's favorite summer dessert. It's perfect with a big scoop of ice cream on top!

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups quick-cook oatmeal
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Dash salt
1 cup margarine or butter
5 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine oatmeal, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt in large bowl. Cut in flour until mixture is crumbly. Spray a 9x12 baking dish or ovenproof casserole dish with non-stick spray and layer in the cut fruit. Top fruit with oatmeal mixture and bake uncovered for about 30 minutes, or until topping is lightly browned.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Dear Friends:

Today's the day! THE FIXER UPPER goes on sale everywhere, just in time for those lazy, hazy days of beach reading. I'm hoping you'll buy oodles of copies—get me on the New York Times bestseller list and I'll buy you a pony. Okay, I lied about that last part, but seriously—buy my book!

I'll be touring all over the map promoting THE FIXER UPPER this summer—from the Jersey Shore to Savannah, all the way down to Tampa, near my hometown Gulf beaches in St. Petersburg, with lots of stops in between. I'd love to have you join me at a book signing to say hi. And buy books. Did I mention the book-buying thing?

If you're Facebook friendly, please join my FB fan group (Fans of Mary Kay Andrews) so you can stay on top of appearances, reviews, media shout-outs, cute pix, etc. You can also follow me on Twitter, where I tweet as MKayAndrews. And don't forget to check my blog, The Kudzu Telegraph at MaryKayAndrews.com, where I'll be blogging about the tour, random family moments, and my latest junking finds. There will be pix, I promise. I've got a new camera.

In between tour stops this summer, I'm hoping to get down to our beach hideaway at Tybee Island, Georgia. Did you know the new Miley Cyrus movie is being filmed down there? Maybe our Breeze Inn cottage will make a cameo appearance. We've got one last project to complete at The Breeze Inn—building an outdoor shower stall. And I'm still collecting vintage beach snapshots to hang in the staircase.

In the meantime, I want to chillax at the neighborhood swimming hole, putter in the new herb garden outside my kitchen door, and try some new recipes—just so my family doesn't forget the sweet taste of home cooking. I hope your busy schedule allows a little of the same. And I hope to see you at a bookstore near you real soon.

Until then—Happy summer

All my best,
MKA

Bookclub Corner

IN STORES NOW!

ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

COME SEE ME ON TOUR

CONTEST!

To celebrate summertime and the publication of THE FIXER UPPER, I'm having a contest on my website, MaryKayAndrews.com. Just write in and let us know about your favorite beach read of all time, and tell me what makes this book so special. My favorite entry will win an autographed copy of THE FIXER UPPER, and we'll publish a compilation of the entries on the website so you can compile your own beach reads list.

BEFORE & AFTER

The Breeze Inn has come a long way! Check out this video for more about the transformation.

MKA Online

MR. MARY KAY'S GRILLED LEG OF LAMB

I'll readily confess that my husband always cooks the lamb around our house. My mother spent the first year of her married life in England, not long after the end of WWII, and she detested the tough, greasy mutton which was regularly served there at that time, so she never served lamb when I was growing up. But my husband is of Eastern European descent—Greek by way of Croatia, and cooking lamb is in his blood. What I do know about lamb is that if you rub any piece of lamb with some good sea salt, some rosemary, and a lot of garlic, you can't go wrong. We usually don't bother with it that mint jelly thing.

So here's how Mr. Mary Kay makes his grilled leg of lamb. Sometimes. He changes the routine every time he cooks it.

INGREDIENTS:

1 butterflied leg of lamb, 4-5 lbs, fat removed.
1 cup red wine
4 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp. sea salt
2 Tbsp. snipped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mash together peeled garlic cloves with sea salt and snipped rosemary and black pepper til you have a grainy paste. With tip of sharp knife, make shallow gashes on surface of butterflied lamb. Pat the garlic herb paste all over meat, pressing some into cuts. Place lamb in large plastic bag, pour in red wine and marinate overnight in fridge. Remove lamb from fridge at least an hour before you intend to grill. Pat lamb dry, and grill on lightly oiled grill rack set 5-6 inches over glowing coals for about ten minutes on each side, or until instant-read meat thermometer reads 125 degrees f for medium rare.

Transfer lamb to cutting board and cover lightly with foil for 15 minutes. We like this served with oven-roasted potatoes cooked with kosher salt, snipped chives and rosemary and olive oil drizzled over the top.

Add steamed cold asparagus with a lemon-mayo dressing and you've got a great spring/summer dinner!

Dear Friends:

Here in Georgia the magnolias and jasmine are in full bloom—as is the pollen. I hope spring has sprung in your corner of the world too, and want to thank all my "peeps" who came out to meet me at book signings, or who bought the new paperback of DEEP DISH after its recent release.

Wow, what a tour! From Atlanta to Birmingham to Houston to Memphis and Nashville to Macon and Savannah and Greenville, NC, and even little bitty Baxley, Georgia, you came out and showed the love—and I can't thank you enough. You put the paperback of DEEP DISH on the extended New York Times bestseller list—making it my first book to make the list both in hardcover and paperback. Were the folks at HarperCollins ever impressed about that—I even got a congratulatory letter from the head honcho.

Now it's time for me to buckle down and get ready for the unveiling of the next big thing—THE FIXER UPPER goes on sale everywhere June 23! Here's a sneak peek at the gorgeous jacket. Did you ever see anything so "purty"—as my grandmother would say?

Soon, as in June—you'll meet my newest protagonist—Dempsey Killebrew. She's a thirty-something lobbyist in Washington, DC who unwittingly gets ensnared in a political scandal involving a crooked Congressman. Broke, jobless and out of options, Dempsey reluctantly accepts her father's offer to refurbish his family's homeplace in a tiny town in middle Georgia—a place she's never seen before. Despite daddy's assurances that the family mansion—named Birdsong—is a showplace, on arrival in Guthrie, Dempsey is shocked at the state of affairs. Birdsong is more like "Bird droppings"—a moldering, Pepto-Bismol pink dump inhabited by a lifetime of moldering magazines and a cranky distant relative with an equally cranky cocker spaniel, who has claimed squatter's rights—and isn't about to move out. Ever. A career girl who never learned to cook—and doesn't know which end of a hammer is up—Dempsey nevertheless plunges eagerly into the task of fixing up the family home, a journey of the heart that ultimately involves learning how to repair—and even reinvent, her own life.

Coincidentally, while I've been writing about Dempsey's journey, my family and I have been fixing up our own "dump"—a beach house on Tybee Island, Georgia. You can follow our progress—complete with before and after photos of The Breeze Inn (yes, named after the motel in SAVANNAH BREEZE) on my blog. You can also visit me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter. In addition, you can read my contributions to the new on online news journal Likethedew.com.

See? I've been a busy, busy girl. Hope to see you again this summer during my tour for THE FIXER UPPER. Stay tuned for tour details.

All my best,
MKA

Bookclub Corner

Do you have a book club? If your club is reading one of my books, I would love to call in and join your discussion. You never know, I may even be able to drop by in person if it works out right. E-mail us with your request and we’ll see what we can do! Be sure to include a snail mail address and info about the size of your club.

IN STORES
JUNE 23!

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

CONTEST!

Did you spoil Mom on Mother's Day? Better yet, did someone spoil you? E-mail us and tell us your favorite Mother's Day traditions. I'll pick my favorite and send the winner a signed personalized advance copy of The Fixer Upper. I'll post all the entries on my blog to give us all ideas for ways to pamper Mom—and ourselves—all year round.

BEFORE & AFTER

The Breeze Inn has come a long way! Check out my blog for more about the transformation of our beach house on Tybee Island, Georgia. Stay tuned for a video coming in the next newsletter.

REAL DEAL 'MENTER CHEESE

INGREDIENTS:

INSTRUCTIONS:

RENT THE BREEZE INN!

Dear Friends:

IN STORES NOW!

ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

CONTEST!

BEFORE & AFTER

MKA Online

MRS. HOGAN'S CARROT CAKE

INGREDIENTS:

INSTRUCTIONS:

MAPLE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

INGREDIENTS:

INSTRUCTIONS:

Dear Friends:

IN STORES NOW!

ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

CONTEST!

TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THE CONTEST:

LET IT SNOW!

MKA Online

MARY KAY'S PEACH CRISP

INGREDIENTS:

INSTRUCTIONS:

Dear Friends:

IN STORES NOW!

ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

CONTEST!

BEFORE & AFTER

MKA Online

MR. MARY KAY'S GRILLED LEG OF LAMB

INGREDIENTS:

INSTRUCTIONS:

Dear Friends:

IN STORES JUNE 23!

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

CONTEST!

BEFORE & AFTER

MKA Online

IN STORES
JUNE 23!