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Last spring my Cooking Club was looking for a new cookbook. One of our members brought her copy of My Beverly Hills Kitchen: Classic Southern Cooking with a French Twist by Alex Hitz as a suggestion. I perused its beautiful pictures and delicious sounding recipes and began to read the introduction. Details of the author's childhood sounded familiar, so I glanced back at his name on the cover and was startled to realize, "I know this guy! He and I sang in children's choir at church many years ago!"
Shortly before my Cooking Club's September gathering where we would be using My Beverly Hills Kitchen for the first time, I looked up Alex on Facebook. I sent him a message and told him about our Cooking Club and that we had chosen his book for our current selection. I included a link to the Dallas Morning News article about our Cooking Club that ran in last summer's paper:
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Dallas friends gather once a month for cookbook club
I was delighted to receive a prompt enthusiastic response from Alex:
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He even posted about our correspondence on his Facebook page:
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Our lunch featuring Alex's recipes was a smashing success. The dishes were delicious and flavorful and the instructions easy to follow.
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Appetizer: Bacon-wrapped dates
Soup: Tomato Soup with Parmesan croutons
Salad: Poppyseed salad with bibb lettuce
Entrée: Chicken curry
Vegetable: Carrot purée
Bread: Sally Lunn Bread (I made this. It was even better the next day toasted with some butter for breakfast)
Dessert: Dorothy's coconut cake (this was the star of the show!)
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My Cooking Club is looking forward to a great year with My Beverly Hills Kitchen!