Love List

Stuff I’m loving these days: Honey Crisp apples. Yum. I was sold on Granny Smith apples for years, but then my daughter Katie turned me on to these beauties. They are delish–crisp, sweet, tart with definite honey undertones. They sell them at my Kroger here in Atlanta, and yes, they’re a little more expensive than the grannies, but boy are they good.

Junking. When do I not love to junk? But I’ve had two good weekends in a row. This past weekend I went over to my neighborhood annual attic sale, not expecting to find much. Isn’t that the way? The first booth I stopped at, a woman was selling some antique linens for a friend. I bought five beautiful Victorian damask fringed towels–for a buck apiece. Also a Victorian nightgown–two bucks, and an adorable homespun apron. At another booth I got a boxed set of blue-handled flatware, six forks, five knives. I’m hoping it’s Bakelite, but will have to test it to be sure. Also scored a vintage kitchen towel rack. At another booth, I got a blue painted cask and a great painted white shabby chic stool. Those will go to my booth at Seaside Sisters on Tybee Island. Then, yesterday, something about my neighborhood Salvation Army was calling me. I rarely find anything there–they mostly seem to have furniture that looks like rejects from That Seventies Show, but every once in a while I snag a treasure. Yesterday’s score was a miniature rattan what-not shelf. Perfect for a beach house.

Soup. But not just any soup. For years I’d been hearing about a tiny cafe in Buckhead called Souper Jenny’s. On Friday, after a brief junking sortie, posse member Susie steered us to Souper Jenny’s. And I am now a total convert. They serve gorgeous made-from-scratch soups, at least six kinds each day. The three of us sampled her chicken tortilla, mushroom-artichoke and Dad’s Turkey Chili. Each soup was better than than the next. The line is always out the door, but service was friendly, fast and efficient. Our soups all had Weight Watchers points posted on the menu, and there are always at least one vegetarian or vegan offering. Big, generous servings, with homemade rolls from The Breadgarden. So much soup, in fact, we each took home leftovers to savor later.

Reads. When I’m racing to the finish-line on a new book, I rarely read fiction, mostly because I need to keep my head in the book I’m writing. This time around though, the girls at Shaver’s Books in Savannah sold me a wonderful new novel called THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY.
If you love books and books about people who love books, you’ll devour this charming little novel. I can’t sum up the appeal of this novel any better than the author of Eat, Pray, Love who said this:

“I can’t remember the last time I discovered a novel as smart and delightful as this one, a world so vivid that I kept forgetting this was a work of fiction populated with characters so utterly wonderful that I kept forgetting they weren’t my actual friends and neighbors. Treat yourself to this book please—I can’t recommend it highly enough.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love.