Throughout the Sweet Magnolias booksâten of them to dateâfood plays an important role. Southern food. Grits and gravy. Fried chicken. Red velvet cake. Peach cobbler. Bread pudding. Oh, my! I can gain ten pounds just writing about these things. As for eating them, it's best I not go there, at least on a regular basis. Moderation, that's the key. I try to remember that in real life, if not in my fictional world of Serenity, South Carolina.

The talk of food is particularly prominent in
A Slice of Heaven
, Dana Sue's story centered around Sullivan'sâher regional success story, a restaurant known for putting a new spin on traditional Southern dishes. But foodâand drinkâalso come into play at the infamous margarita nights held by the group of old friends who call themselves the Sweet Magnolias, at the cafÃ© in The Corner Spa where less caloric offerings are available and in the many backyard get-togethers of the Sweet Magnolias and their families. These Southern gals are, you seeâlike the friends you have in your community or neighborhoodâalways ready to share a meal and have some fun.

As for myself, I have an interesting relationship with food: I love to eat! A little too much, perhaps. I also love to write about food. I guess I must be good at inventing things because the funny thing is, I've never really considered myself much of a cook.

While growing up, I didn't show much interest in learning to cook (I was too busy reading!), but by the time I was in my early teens, I was the default cook in my family. My working mother hated to cook. My dad enjoyed it, but he also worked. If I expected dinner at a reasonable hour, I figured out that I had to make it, so I set out to learn a few basics. I managed to get food on the table most of the time. At least until the night my parents arrived home to find me standing in the yard in tears and cradling my hand, which I'd managed to sear with hot grease, probably while attempting to fry chicken. That gave my mother pause. In the end, though, I kept cooking. Nothing fancy, mind you. No baking pies or cakes. No exotic, complicated dishes. Just get-it-over-with meals that were edible.

Once I was out and on my own, my repertoire expanded. I was, after all, trying to impress a date from time to time. I recall the first Thanksgiving dinner I made for friends. I had to call my dad, the grand master of the Thanksgiving meal in our household, to figure out what on earth I was supposed to do with the turkey. He also coached me through our family's traditional dressing and how to perfect our favorite sweet potatoes with marshmallows.

These days I do more writing about cooking than actual cooking, but I still like to get into the kitchen and try to impress some of my friends. It seems that a lot of them have taken cooking classes or belong to some gourmet club that hosts fancy monthly dinner parties. I'm traumatized every time I invite them to dinner, wondering how they're going to react to my dishes. My proudest moment came a few days after I'd grilled grouper and served it with a mango-papaya chutney I'd made from scratch. A friend reported having a similar dish at a fancy restaurant we all love and said, “Yours was better!” So, apparently I do have my moments of culinary triumph.

Then one day I was busy writing awayâno doubt creating dishes on the page but not in the kitchenâwhen my publisher suggested that it might be nice to have a cookbook reflecting all the many occasions on which food plays a comforting or celebratory role for the Sweet Magnolias. While I was still trying to wrap my mind around the thought (how would I ever write a cookbook?), along came an out-of-the-blue e-mail from a reader named Teddi Wohlford.

Teddi said she loved the Sweet Magnolias books, then added that she identified particularly with Dana Sue because she, too, is a Southern chef. She was also, as it turned out, the answer to my prayers. Teddi cooks! She caters! She's published a couple of Southern cookbooks of her own! Well, you can see how this might be a match made in publishing heaven.

Since the Sweet Magnolias series began, many of you have asked about recipes for some of the dishes mentioned. Here they are, along with many, many more created by Teddi, who (like Dana Sue) has put a new spin on many traditional Southern dishes and kicked 'em up a notch. I have worked my way through these incredible recipes and developed a whole new relationship with my treadmill along the way. But trust me, it's been worth it. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Helen's Lethal Margaritas

C'mon, Baby, Light My Fire Chicken Wings

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