Dinner at Miss Lady's: Memories and Recipes from a Southern Childhood

by Luann Landon

Back when people spent their whole lives in one place, life was all about family and family rituals. It was about the whole clan gathering at dinnertime over meals to be remembered forever. Luann Landon's cookbook/memoir transports us to that world of formal midday dinners, closely guarded recipes, and competitive cooks.

Dinner at Miss Lady's takes us back there through the memories, meals, and recipes of one Southern family. Landon recreates the old Southern way of life in comic and tender anecdotes--from the near disaster of losing the tiny dinner bell to revenge exacted by giving the wrong recipe for a cake. This is the world of Landon's extended the glamorous and indolent Aunt Clare; the industrious, proud grandmother Murlo; the other grandmother, spoiled, indulgent Miss Lady and her good-humored husband, Judge; and most important, Henretta, the protective cook, able to mend family battles with a perfect blackberry-rhubarb cobbler.

Adding to the vividness of this memoir are menus from those memorable meals, including birthday dinners, homecoming feasts, graduation celebrations, and sumptuous spring and fall parties. Landon shares detailed recipes for over sixty heirloom Cousin Catherine's Chicken Vermouth with Walnuts and Green Grapes, Beets in Orange and Ginger Sauce, Tennessee Jam Cake, Caramel Ice Cream.

A rich portrait of a life almost lost to us, Dinner at Miss Lady's is a memoir cooked to perfection, one to savor both for its stories and for its food.

Genres: Nonfiction, Southern, Biography

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1999

Reviews

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am only a few chapters in and I am loving this book. Full of old deep southern charm and character. I love the focus on family and food. The author's writing is like a lot like southern food... too rich, too abundant, but highly enjoyable all the same.

Such a lovely read. I was drawn to the charming stories and mouthwatering recipes. it was a glimpse into SOUTHERN life at its best.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book years ago, and it still sits on my culinary memoir shelf. It’s certainly evocative of a certain time and place in the south; and in reading it I was taken back to my grandmother’s kitchen in her rambling Atlanta house and the cast of characters in my own family. (My grandmother was born in 1891.) However, I feel there was a need for a better editor on this book. I tried to note the number of times the word “indolent” appeared, but lost count.

[Thing Two · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is full of old southern recipes full of butter. I’m going to try them all.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is part memoir part recipe book. The author skillfully weaves her family's experiences with food and entertaining into an engaging narrative.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really enjoyed this and if anything wanted landon to reveal more about these characters

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Briefly, this book recalls the author's memory of being raised by her two Southern grandmothers to be (what they considered) cultured and well mannered. (Each chapter ends with recipes for a menu that relates to the events of the chapter - hence the title: Dinners at Miss Lady's.)

Having been raised by grandparents myself, I know that this can put you out of step with your contemporaries and those who should be your peers. Fascinating to see the same experience in someone else's memoir.

The book almost worships the values and behaviours that belong to another era. Some may say 'how sad we have lost this' others may say 'how strange to raise children this way'. For me, though, it seems a bit extreme to say a lady never eats bread with the crusts on. (Really?) I'm just not sure if this book is written with subtle humour, the author gently poking fun at the views she had as a child.

However, it's an interesting look into another time. I loved the glimpse into the past, when families sent the maid to the drug store to buy a pitcher of Coca Cola, because it was not yet available in bottles. And I was intrigued to read about the lives of an extremely privileged family (they get the maid to polish the family tombstones each week) from the view that it was a perfectly normal life.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had me thinking of brewing up some sweet tea, snapping beans, baking a pound cake, churning ice cream & getting the chicken to soaking in buttermilk to fry up later. A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips...damn.

This book really highlights the importance of family ties to the older South. We have lost so much of our personal histories by becoming indifferent to the old ways. Truly a tragedy. Ms Landon shows us how her family history was reinforced to her by her grandmother over & over. Her grandmother, Miss Lady, appears weak & selfish & probably is. However, I think that her intense emotionalism is a huge contributor to that perception. I think there is an underlying strength there that no one really sees. She is a REAL southern magnolia. Fun read.

[Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous little book about Greensboro, Georgia and mostly set in the 1940s and 1950s where the author spent every summer with her grandparents in a grand old Victorian house. Their names were Miss Lady and Judge. This book is full of southern tradition, gentility and the way of life of those who were financially privileged at this era in southern and Georgia history. The recipes are also old-time southern. Fun and nostalgic read. I read it many years ago and so was happy to read it again. Pre-read for teaching 8th grade Georgia history, required reading for HH.

[Emily Von pfahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of memoir narrative and recipes. I found the narrative part to be very interesting and entertaining, but the recipes aren't practical for most people. It included things like caviar tart, or directions that began with "have your butcher debone your chicken but leave it whole." Very interesting and informative from a historical south perspective, but not useful (at least to me) as a cookbook.

[Ann Otto · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this little book about two sisters growing up in the South during the mid-20th century in a town their family had lived in for 150 years. Landon writes with great care about her grandparent's influence on her and her sister. Through their stories we hear memories of the South before and soon after the Civil War. Food plays a role in the book. Many chapters describe meals and events, and the recipes for the meals are included at the end. Wonderful old Southern recipes!

[Kevin Graves · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you grew up in the South, you will find this book charming. You will recognize people from your recent or distant past. The recipes are a little over thought, but appropriate to the time. I was sorry it was so shot! Some of my Grandparents were from Georgia and this reminds me of my Dad's people.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

We started out look for cookbooks at the library and I ran across this one. Am reading it slowly. The recipes seem to be pretty good but I'm no judge since I don't cook.

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I just could not get into the Southern culture and the lives of Landon. Even the recipes did not particularly appeal to me. I think it is just me.

[Buff · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you grew up in a small town in the south, you will love this book!

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Pleasant glimpse into small town Southern life & meals.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely book. Wonderful memories of another time. What a treasure. I wish I could have lived during that slower time, but the book allowed me to at least experience a small part of it.