Puttin' on the Grits: A Guide to Southern Entertaining

by Deborah Ford, Mary Lynn Blasutta (Illustrator)

Family and friends are the center of life in the South, and kitchens the center of Southern homes, so there is no better way to celebrate Southern traditions than a book on entertaining. From the heartfelt love in Grandma�s dumplings to the stomping good fun at a hoedown, Southern entertaining is special. This book will help everyone to be as gracious, warm, and entertaining as Deborah Ford herself. She can�t help sharing�it�s the Southern way.

Puttin� on the Grits covers all the details of hosting festivities large and small. From mint juleps to charm lessons, Deborah reveals the colorful secrets behind why Southern women are such consummate hosts and captures the famous combination of elegance and wit that has become the GRITS calling card. Puttin� on the Grits even includes a discussion of how to be the kind of guest who gets invited back. Whether popping a cork or cracking open a six-pack, every hostess can now be the belle of the ball.

Genres: Southern, Humor, Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Chick Lit

272 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2004

About the author

Deborah Ford is the founder of Grits, Inc., a merchandising company specializing in women's apparel.

In 1995, Ford--then a high school volleyball coach in Alabama--began printing T-shirts emblazoned with "Girls Raised in the South" to inspire her players. The response she received was so overwhelming that she quit her teaching job and took her products to an apparel trade show. Her multimillion-dollar business sells GRITS books and merchandise world-wide to Southerners and wannabe Southerners.

Her first book, "The GRITS Guide to Life," was a "New York Times" Bestseller and SEBA Award winner, and spurred the series of lifestyle books that include "GRITS Friends Are Forevah" and "Puttin' on the GRITS."

Reviews

[Bernadette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, satirical read of southern hospitality. Not the best in this genre of Southern life as told by the Belles who live it, yet still fun. Decent recipes, not vegan but easily veganized.

[Savannah M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every Southern girl needs this cute Grits handbook! It gives good tips for being the best Southern host along with fun stories throughout!

[raccoon reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

A party planning book for the "southern gal" that would have been a lot better if the author didn't read it herself. She has one of those old southern women accents, if you can call it that, where they seem to constantly have saliva in the pockets of their mouth and you can hear it swishing with each syllable. On top of that they like to not touch their tongue to the top of the roof of their mouth, thereby limiting the sounds actual culmination, at least the ones that actually require these parts of your mouth to touch like "L" and "t" sounds. There's a lot. Just pay attention to yourself talking and you'll see what I mean. Then try and do it without moving your tongue up and put a lot of spit in the sides of your mouth and you've got this freaking audiobook. It also makes one think that possibly their dentures are lose. This kind of talking annoys me to no end. Especially after years of trying to teach proper speech and language to illiterate adults. Literate adults should be ashamed. Speak properly. You're doing a disservice to your fellow less educated man. Since I have only ever heard southern women in their 60s and 70s speak this way imagine my shock when she confessed her age in the book. It was in the early 50 range. Shock!

Lastly, this unfortunate lingering spit pocket on the sides of her mouth lead you to hear things incorrectly. That or she doesn't know what she's saying, tiring and fatigue in reading is common in poor narrators. Their pronunciation becomes sloppy. At one time she said "goods yet" and it sounded for all the world like "good shit" WHAT? There were several of this type of problem. She kept saying "Out Blinded" I realized she meant "Out Blonded" but she wanted to make the O sound an I. I wrote a few down until I realized there were too many examples. I stopped. It was depressing me.

This book is also poorly delivered. Jokes fall flat. Then she kicks them for good measure ensuring you wince instead of laugh. A well trained narrator would have been able to pull off this book with a sense of elegance and charm that is necessary for this type of nonfic to come across acceptably as an audiobook. Worse she does that horrible thing that poor readers of audios do. You know that. Period. In the middle of. A sentence. Where there should. n't. be one and you think what. In the world where they thinking reading reading it as if there were periods where everyone. knows there aren't any. This is a common mistake of authors who should not be reading their own books, but insist on doing so.

So now that we've critiqued the bad reading, the bad spitty talking, the bad pronunciation of common words lets move onto the content- DONT get this as an audiobook. Look you can flip through this trite junk easily enough. I think there were a few good recipes in there. A few good pieces of advice too, but honestly most of it was for an antiquated way of living that most women in the south don't live in. Unless you're from Mountain Brook or over the mountain somewhere had have lots of money or are a debutant or are aspiring to be one just get a Paula Dean, or Southern Living entertaining book and skip this one. She was condescending about men (their idiots and just want to drink beer eat pizza and be stupid), her mother in laws, and behaved and talked in a way that I just couldn't relate to. If you want a shallow book with a few good recipes then this one is for you! Just don't get the audio book mkay?

[Kristen Lester · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book Cover: I thought the book cover was both cute and appropriate for this book. *STAR*

Author: I enjoyed how Deborah Ford incorporated different little stories and tips throughout the book but I found her to write from her experience of being hurt from men and felt that she wrote about men as being incapable and helpless. NO STAR

Story: The story line if you will of this book was to me the old school way of how things were done in the south back when you were white gloves and had midday teas. I am from TN and we really don't use any of the techniques except at weddings or maybe at a political dinner or something of that nature. NO STAR

Characters/Relationships: This book is promoting being a Southern Belle of the ball with teas, formal dances, parties etc. and I can see where she is trying to hang on to that old southern charm and there are some things that I agree are required at certain events but she teaches a very formal style of doing things and anymore in the south we just aren't that formal. Most definitely in the days of Pride & Prejudice time period but where I'm from we just aren't. NO STAR

Cleanliness: There was nothing bad in this book *STAR*

Overall Review: I was so glad to finally finish this book. I had a hard time getting through this book as I found it dry in some spots and it was just a boring read to me. It was about extremely formal ways and styles to do things that use to be done several years ago but just aren't so today. Weather I keep it on my shelf I'm unsure because I more than likely wont read it again but there were some really good tips and recipes in there.

[Lori Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book wasn't quite as entertaining as the rest by Ford. But I think it may be the most useful in terms of helping me plan parties in the future. I enjoyed seeing the recipes in the book and I can't wait to try some of them. I would recommend this book for anyone looking for advice on planning parties of all kinds--large to small, formal to informal.

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I saw "Southern Entertaining," I expected more casual- or at least intimate- gatherings. This is basically...have a fancy party that requires lots of lists and then put on some pearls while serving Southern food and being really polite. I'll keep this one on the bookshelves just for the recipes, but there is no reason to read "A Pearl Girl knows..." 5,000 times. It's a "skim" book.

[Jennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit it - I'm a wannabe Southerner. This book made me want to be one of the GRITS (girls raised in the South) so bad I could taste the fried chicken and biscuits.
I'll be reading her other book - GRITS guide to life - soon.

[Genie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A combination of Miss Manners and Martha Stewart, Deborah Ford gives the dos and don'ts of entertaining southern style.

Lots of stoies, good advice, great ideas and some down home recipes make this book both fun and informative.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked that the Southern Entertaining etiquette is spelled out here. We're tempted to be more relaxed nowadays but it's nice to stand on some "high falutin'"traditions.

If your serious about formal/semiformal entertaining this book is moderately helpful but mostly amusing.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only thing worthwhile was a recipe for squash soup that you can keep ready in the freezer for unexpected guests. The rest was worthless! The humor was even really limp.

[Susie · Rating 3 out of 5]

no index, too precious

[Beth]

Boring! and preachy

[Erin Caldwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

gift from Andrea!

[Victoria · Rating 1 out of 5]

I purchased this book just because I always have something in the car to read when I'm stuck in drive-thrus and such. It was about worth what I paid for it, which was $1 at the dollar store.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summer fun.

[Linda Strawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love it! Great for southern girls who like to entertain!

[Becky Webster · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this book on CD in my car. I have never been to the South, but I plan on going in my future. It's a sweet book with a touch of humor.

[Sarah K. Sawyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is turning out to be a fun little read. have sweet tea handy....

[D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing.

[Cathy Houston · Rating 3 out of 5]

funny tips on entertaining Southern style

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being from the.south, every cliche and hasty generalization was represented. We don't all have an uncle who chews tobacco at a party or a mother in law that is a thorn in our side (my word choice), or wear pears every day (except for one lady I knew years ago). By the way, I adored my mother in law! I felt a lot of the different party descriptions were redundant and not my cuppa tea ..bless her heart. I did enjoy the historical references throughout the book! It has some recipes. history. and traditions. It's the kind of book you can easily skim and flip through, which is what I did. Keeping it on the shelf to skim again when I need a light read. Now to find the northern counterpart.

[Mercedes Schultz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very silly book!!!!

[Leslie Graff · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cute book design but that's about all I can say that's positive about this. The stories aren't all that cute, the recipes as limited, and the overall tone is that people are only nice in the South. There's no sense of context for this book or historical awareness. The sexism is pretty overwhelming. Just nothing much to offer here.

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

The biggest thing this book shows is that Southerners are way too full of themselves. There are parts where the author talks about the most basic of etiquette, and then says “oh, but it’s just a southern thing.”

[Darinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and entertaining.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this so much.

[Julie N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book!

[Courtney]

Reading this book currently

[Drusilla]

Gift.