LuLu’s Kitchen – A Taste of the Gulf Coast Good Life 

Author: Lucy Buffett

Yes, Lucy Buffett is Jimmy Buffett’s sister, and as good an entrepreneur as Jimmy!  “Above all, have a good time!” – Julia Child.  This is the first page of LuLu Buffett’s Cookbook, and the rest of the book adheres to just that – joy in the kitchen, in feeding, in entertaining, in recipes, in the good life!

LuLu Buffett’s life story is one adventure to another and starts with her having the courage to open up a tiny restaurant in Alabama named LuLu’s Sunset Grill.  She painted it in a palette of colors to boost everyone’s spirits and her “waterfront dive bar” became a hit and passed into a high class dive.  It was a huge hit and it was fun.  Regulars came, romances flourished, friends made … LuLu’s vibrancy ran throughout her little waterfront bar/restaurant.  By 2003 the place was so crowded LuLu knew she had to move and she moved from Weeks Bay to the Intracoastal Waterway – down to Mobile Bay.  And it became a gigantic enterprise and a true phenomenon.

In that same raucous fun spirit, LuLu has filled her cookbook with family stories and anecdotes and some amazing recipes for all types of Coastal foods and then some.  Beautifully and amply illustrated this cookbook reads like a memoir/fictional novel/Julia Child with a Southern Biscuit/and Attitude!  I adore cookbooks that bring me into the writer’s home and LuLu is now one of my best friends.  Sure I have gained pounds as she sits from every page and laughs at me and says “hey girlie life is to live” but I would not trade these 10 pounds for anything!  Grab a copy of LuLu’s Kitchen and begin to rock out – both in your life and in your kitchen!

A favorite?  LuLu’s List of the Ten Things She Absolutely Knows

1. If you don’t love to cook don’t
2. Easy does it – casual entertaining is the best fun
3. Recipes are not original- talent is knowing what to cook and how to put a dish together
4. Fresh fresh fresh ingredients
5. While cooking listen to your favorite music
6. Improvise use what you have
7. Never cook shrimp for more than three minutes. Period.
8. Feel the food! It is life force
9. Keep it clean – no more fat or chemical than possible use fresh natural food
10. Your energy goes to the food – season your food with love and mediate on its quality as you prepare it – food is love

Are you getting the drift?  This book is everything!  How to live, how to love, how to give yourself over to everything you do and find joy in it!

One Heart marinade

(LuLu uses this marinade for everything.  Chicken, steak, shrimp and cold water fish like salmon and tuna or grill)

• ½ cup teriyaki sauce
• 2 tablespoons crushed garlic
• ¼ cup mirin or sake (or white wine or vermouth instead of mirin, a Japanese rice wine, or if serving wine, a red wine)
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 dashes LuLu’s Perfect Hot Sauce (or tabasco)
• Whisk all ingredients together
• Add whatever you are cooking, coat food well, and let it marinate 20 to 30 minutes on each side

This book is so energizing, the pictures are so generous and the reading is so succulent that you almost forget to use the recipes – but don’t!  They thrive and clutter every page and scream out to be used on all your friends and family!  Planning a trip to the Gulf Coast – don’t bother!  Grab a copy of LuLu’s Kitchen cause I am NOT giving mine up!

Ratings are based on a 5-star scale 

Overall: 5+

Review by Broad “A” 

We received a product to facilitate our review. All opinions are our own

DETAILS

• You can pick up this book on Amazon.com here: LuLu’s Kitchen: A Taste of the Gulf Coast Good Life or at a bookseller near you.