Thursday, June 09, 2005

Being Dead is No Excuse

A new book that is taking Nashville by storm--#2 bestseller after McCullough's 1776--is Being Dead is No Excuse; The official Southern Ladies' Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays. Although focused on the Mississippi Delta, universal Southern applications can be made.

Not only is the commentary side-splitting funny, but the recipes are delicious-looking too. Some of the chapter titles include Dying Tastefully in the Mississippi Delta (with salient comments on cemeteries) The Methodist Ladies vs the Episcopal Ladies ( Methodists--casseroles; Episcopalians--everything from scratch) Comfort Foods: There is a Balm in Campbell's Soup (Nothing is much good without mushroom or tomato soup), and The Restorative Cocktail ("Delta funerals don't end the minute the last Amen is uttered. We stand around in the cemetery visiting so long that somebody once threatened to put up a margarita stand.")

Fun reading and eating.

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