In August of 2003, Debbie M and Jeanne hosted our book club with a bang - or I guess I should say a buzz- with The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Tables were covered with brown paper , and bees were stenciled around each plate (by our own Martha Stewart- Debbie M). The centerpieces were glass bee catchers. Debbie's grandfather also loaned her 2 of his beehives, and Jeanne donned the beekeeper protective outfit and demonstrated how to care for the bees!! Glad it was not me as co hostess this month, cause I am ALLERGIC to bees!! Jars of Black Madonna honey were also at each place setting for favors.
"The bees came the summer of 1964, the summer I turned fourteen and my life went spinning off into a whole new orbit, and I mean whole new orbit. Looking back on it now, I want to say the bees were sent to me. I want to say they showed up like the angel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin Mary, setting events in motion I could never have guessed." So begins the story of Lily Melissa Owens, a plucky girl, rich in humor despite heart wrenching circumstances. Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her harsh, unyielding father, her entire life has been shaped around one devastating, though blurred, memory- the afternoon her mother was killed. Four at the time, she remembers innocently picking up the gun. And, she has her father's eyewitness account of the gun firing. People remind her it was an accident, yet she's inhabited by a torturous guilt. Lily's only real companion is Rosaleen, a tender, but fierce-hearted black woman who cooks, cleans and acts as her "stand-in mother."
South Carolina in 1964 is a place and time of seething racial divides. When violence explodes one summer afternoon, and Rosaleen is arrested and beaten, Lily is desperate, not only to save Rosaleen, but to flee a life she can no longer endure. Calling upon her colorful wits and uncommon daring, she breaks Rosaleen out of jail and the two of them take off, runaway-fugitives conjoined in an escape that quickly turns into Lily's quest for the truth about her mother's life.
Following a trail left ten years earlier, Lily and Rosaleen end up in the home of three bee-keeping sisters. No ordinary women, the sisters revere a Black Madonna and tend a unique brand of female spirituality that reaches back to the time of slavery. As Lily's life becomes deeply entwined with theirs, she is irrevocably altered. In a mesmerizing world of bees and honey, amid the strength and power of wise women, Lily journeys through painful secrets and shattering betrayals, finding her way to the single thing her heart longs for most. (Barnes and Noble)
The menu was grilled honey-marinated pork tenderloin, Lisa's fried okra, fresh sliced tomatoes, olive and tomato bread, and honey cakes for dessert. Fabulous summer meal!
Debbie's Honey Marinated Pork Tenderloin
2 (3/4 pound) pork tenderloins
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 Tbsp brown sugar
3 Tbsp honey
2 tsp dark sesame oil
Make a lengthwise cut down center of each tenderloin to within 1/4 inch of opposite side- press to open.
Combine soy sauce, garlic and ginger in a shallow dish- add tenderloins. Cover and chill 3 hours, turning occasionally.
Stir together brown sugar, honey and sesame oil.
Grill tenderloins, covered with grill lid, over medium high heat 20 minutes until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees in thickest part of meat. While cooking, turn occasionally and baste with honey mixture.
The door prize was assorted Burt's Bees products, of course...
Just looking at this picture makes my skin crawl, but I do love honey...
Look for The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez next, and no- it isn't the other name for our Book Club...
"The bees came the summer of 1964, the summer I turned fourteen and my life went spinning off into a whole new orbit, and I mean whole new orbit. Looking back on it now, I want to say the bees were sent to me. I want to say they showed up like the angel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin Mary, setting events in motion I could never have guessed." So begins the story of Lily Melissa Owens, a plucky girl, rich in humor despite heart wrenching circumstances. Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her harsh, unyielding father, her entire life has been shaped around one devastating, though blurred, memory- the afternoon her mother was killed. Four at the time, she remembers innocently picking up the gun. And, she has her father's eyewitness account of the gun firing. People remind her it was an accident, yet she's inhabited by a torturous guilt. Lily's only real companion is Rosaleen, a tender, but fierce-hearted black woman who cooks, cleans and acts as her "stand-in mother."
South Carolina in 1964 is a place and time of seething racial divides. When violence explodes one summer afternoon, and Rosaleen is arrested and beaten, Lily is desperate, not only to save Rosaleen, but to flee a life she can no longer endure. Calling upon her colorful wits and uncommon daring, she breaks Rosaleen out of jail and the two of them take off, runaway-fugitives conjoined in an escape that quickly turns into Lily's quest for the truth about her mother's life.
Following a trail left ten years earlier, Lily and Rosaleen end up in the home of three bee-keeping sisters. No ordinary women, the sisters revere a Black Madonna and tend a unique brand of female spirituality that reaches back to the time of slavery. As Lily's life becomes deeply entwined with theirs, she is irrevocably altered. In a mesmerizing world of bees and honey, amid the strength and power of wise women, Lily journeys through painful secrets and shattering betrayals, finding her way to the single thing her heart longs for most. (Barnes and Noble)
The menu was grilled honey-marinated pork tenderloin, Lisa's fried okra, fresh sliced tomatoes, olive and tomato bread, and honey cakes for dessert. Fabulous summer meal!
Debbie's Honey Marinated Pork Tenderloin
2 (3/4 pound) pork tenderloins
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 Tbsp brown sugar
3 Tbsp honey
2 tsp dark sesame oil
Make a lengthwise cut down center of each tenderloin to within 1/4 inch of opposite side- press to open.
Combine soy sauce, garlic and ginger in a shallow dish- add tenderloins. Cover and chill 3 hours, turning occasionally.
Stir together brown sugar, honey and sesame oil.
Grill tenderloins, covered with grill lid, over medium high heat 20 minutes until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees in thickest part of meat. While cooking, turn occasionally and baste with honey mixture.
The door prize was assorted Burt's Bees products, of course...
Just looking at this picture makes my skin crawl, but I do love honey...
Look for The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez next, and no- it isn't the other name for our Book Club...
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