Lucy Buffett - LuLus Kitchen

Above all, have a good time.

~Julia Child

I m all about second chances and new beginnings! Every day is an opportunity to reinvent or update our selves so that we can find peace in an ever-changing world. Embracing change instead of resisting it is a life lesson that has given me great comfort, inspiration, and the courage to dream big.

It is hard to believe that it has been almost a decade since I wrote and published Crazy Sista Cooking: Cuisine & Conversation. What started as a secret little childhood dream of mine to be a published author mushroomed into a rocking dream come true with the sale of over seventy thousand books.

In that first edition, I declared in the opening pages that the book was not going to be a how to cookbook as much as an irreverent-yet-honest take on my life according to food and my rather crazy Southern culture and upbringing. Which brings me to my favorite joke of all time: If you want to hear God laugh, tell him (her) your plans!

Ironically, and much to my delighted surprise, a go-to guide for Gulf Coast cooking is exactly what Crazy Sista Cooking has become for thousands of patrons of my LuLus restaurants and other folks who have shared their experiences of cooking my treasured family recipes and taking a little LuLus home with them. They refer to the book over and over again when cooking for their friends and family. And I will fill you in on a little secret: I often pull out my worn and food-stained copy myselfespecially when I am in a hurry and dont have time to experiment or pull something together in my head.

I had always assumed that we would just let the book go out of print, since Im a firm believer in changing with the times. I had my sights set on writing a new book when I could find the time. So much has changed since those humble beginning days of my restaurant LuLus in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Lots of the players have come and gone. The color of my hair has changed with my equally vacillating moods and temperature. Relationships have shifted and fallen away. Some have come back for second and third chances. We are regularly given opportunities to update our inner lives, to keep up with our changing stories. As my beloved daughter Melanie summed it up one day, Mom, just tell it like it isyou are dating your third ex-husband for the fourth time.

The mystery of life is that as much as it changes, it also stays the same. Such is the case with the LuLus experience and Crazy Sista Cooking, now the lovely LuLus Kitchen: A Taste of the Gulf Coast Good Life. LuLus has grown and expanded beyond my wildest dreams, yet the concept remains the same: fun Gulf Coast food for families. The stories shared here are true memories of my family and a life lived upon my beloved Gulf Coast that remain frozen and timeless in my heart. Also timeless are the classic Southern coastal recipes that have remained staples for generations, and with that realization I felt they deserved to keep on keeping on in this updated edition. This book may have a different title, a new look, and some updated text and photos, but it contains the same recipes and stories that have made countless people tell me, I sat down and read it from cover to cover! So I am humbled and honored to invite you to enjoy these crazy fun tales and recipes from my little piece of Gulf Coast paradise. And one thing is for damn sure: it is still my story and I am, and forever will be, a proud Crazy Sista from the land of Gumbo Love.

Lucy Anne Buffett

April 2016