Some very nice friends of ours invited us over for dinner on Sunday night. It was an unbelievably good meal. For dessert we each had a slice of one of the best pies I’ve ever tasted. They were kind enough to share the recipe with us. Here it is:

Lemon-Blueberry Cream Pie
Southern Living Cookbook: Our Reader’s Top Rated Recipes

1 2/3 graham cracker crumbs
¼ granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
¼ cup powdered sugar
3.4 oz lemon instant pudding mix
2 tsp. fresh lemon zest
½ cup fresh lemon juice
1 pint fresh blueberries (and/or fresh raspberries)
2 TBSP blueberry preserves
1 Cup whipping cream
Lemon slices and extra blueberries for garnish

Stir together first three ingredients; press evenly in bottom and up sides of 9-inch pie plate.
Bake pie crust at 350 for 8-12 minutes. Cool completely.

Beat cheese, milk, and powdered sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add pudding mix, zest, and juice. Beat until blended.

Spread half of lemon mixture evenly into prepared crust. Stir together blueberries and preserves. Spread evenly over lemon mixture. Spread remaining lemon mixture over blueberries. Cover and chill 2 hours or until set.

Decorate with whipped cream and garnishes. Refrigerate.

Recently I went out to dinner with some old friends and in the process was introduced to a dish I had never eaten before. It is a Spanish food called paella.

It’s a rice dish loaded with cooked clams, mussels (still in the shell), shrimp and scallops - then to top it off - half a lobster. It came to the table all in the same large bowl. We had three people and two orders of paella, which we shared between us.

Definitely one of the most delicious meals I ever have eaten.

Yesterday we went to Sylvia’s to enjoy some soul food. We ate fried chicken, BBQ ribs, string beans, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and candied yams. We also brought home some sweet potato pie.

Besides the great food, one of the nice surprises of the experience was that we had a table for two right in front of a trio (saxophonist, keyboards and drums) that played gospel music. The saxophonist, a man named Lonnie Youngblood, also sang some of the songs as well and even invited restaurant-goers to come up and take the microphone. At least three took up the offer and they did a very good job of singing along. I was impressed by Lonnie Youngblood because of the passion he put into playing his sax and that he was unabashedly Christian in his approach. He was selling a compact disc for those who enjoy “saxophone in the Lord.” We felt that we fit into that category and made the purchase. Songs on the cd include:The Lord’s Prayer / In the Garden / What a Friend / Pass Me Not / Go Tell It on the Mountain / Amazing Grace / Battle Hymn / Closer Walk / Old Rugged Cross / How Great Thou Art / Near the Cross / Oh Happy Day / One Day At A Time / When the Saints (Medley) / Precious Lord / Rock of Ages / Peace In the Valley / I Won’t Complain / Sanctified Horn / I’ll Fly Away

I just googled “Lonnie Youngblood” and suddenly realized that I was listening to a man who had played saxophone alongside Jimi Hendrix and Chuck Berry. Egads …