I smiled at the familiar aroma...

of Maggie Lawrence's barbecue sauce wafting behind them. "The tradition continues,” I said as I sidled up to Johanna who'd set it to simmering.

Lilly Covington, The Chick Palace

What's a summer at Lake Allamuchy without Maggie Lawrence's barbecue sauce?

Unfortunately it's up to Johanna Lawrence Wheeler to make it & she is trying mightily to rise to the occasion. We've lost Maggie before the story begins & it's triggers like the aromas in a summer kitchen or even a glimpse of familiar handwriting that call up the bittersweet.

As Johanna will tell you~~

Sunlight filtered through the treetops, soon to burn off the mist, wispy as tulle, hovering over the water. ... I kept a steady pace and pulled the bag of ashes from my shorts followed by a battered index card. Best Barbecue Sauce lay across the card in my mother’s distinct script. The Palmer Method, wasn’t it?

Tears welled over my lashes as I rounded the first bend, past a cottage cluster. Her handwriting raised a bruise on my heart, as Lilly would say. Where did these unbidden memories lurk that they sprang up like geese off the beach?

At the moment The Chick Palace is simmering like Maggie's sauce, due for its December 26th launch. In the meantime, no one combines recipes & reverie like my Austin buddy Lee Stokes Hilton, so I'm sharing her tribute, her barbecue sauce & her blog. Enjoy!