Southern Flourish + Gena Knox + Me

For the past year, I've been fortunate to contribute to a great online magazine devoted to celebrating all things Southern.  Southern Flourish is chock full of great recipes, travel destinations, decorating ideas, and profiles of Southerners doing wonderful things to promote our distinct Southern culture.  Trust me, it's worth the $10 subscription.  Check them out ASAP.  I was happy to do an interview this issue with Travel & Food editor Olivia Rae James - as always, she did a great job making me look my best - tough to do sometimes!

I was happy to also see that the kind folks at SF decided to feature friend, chef, author, and fellow Georgia native Gena Knox in this year's Spring issue.  Gena has recently released her second book, Southern My Way.  Gena was kind enough to send me a copy last week, and it's fantastic.  In fact, I read it cover-to-cover in one sitting.  If you are looking for outstanding - classic and modern - takes on Southern cuisine, look no further.  I should also mention that she does a great job making all of her recipes accessible to readers and cooks of all skill levels.  I will confess, however, that the incredible photos of outstanding food made me want to go on a southern food binge, so be careful.  While your at it, check out her first book, Gourmet Made Simple which features her innovative use of plank cooking.  If she looks familiar, it's probably because you've seen her face in grocery stores promoting her brand Fire & Flavor.  You can find her planks, skewers, seasonings, etc. in Whole Foods, Publix, and others.  Congrats Gena!

And lastly, this guy.  I've been busy putting the finishing touches on my proposal for my next book, And for Breakfast.  I'm happy to let everyone know that I signed a deal with Stacey Glick over at Dystel and Goderich Literary Management.  I actually came about meeting Stacey by finding a random blog post of hers about my book in The NYTimes.    Of course, I'm still a huge proponent of self-publishing, however I want to explore the option of partnering with the right publisher so that I can get my work into the hands of more of you!  I appreciate all of the kind words and support, I'm confident that Stacey and I will be able to find the right "home" for the book, which will allow me to focus on doing what I do best - creating and writing.

So that's that . . . Oh, and a special shout-out to my Momma on her birthday today!  Love you Mom.

Keep peaceful,



MM