Left Philly at 5:15 yesterday morning to make it to Southern Pines, NC, in time for a 4 pm reading at the Country Book Shop. This is my week for touring NC with the paperback of Pig Candy, and I’m concentrated in the Triangle Area of Raleigh-Durham, Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill, with side trips to Pittsboro and Asheville.
The 9-hr. drive was arduous: blinding rain through DC and VA — my only salvation was an audible.com version of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and a to-go cappuccino lovingly made in the half-dark of night by John, the beloved husband.

I met with a wonderfully warm welcome at the book store (and a spread that included GS Thin Mints cookies), but then my host, Kay Grismer, took me to a local mecca of meat: the locally renown Pik-n-Pig in Carthage.

This is hickory-smoked bbq at its best (and some mighty fine hush puppies w/jalapeno butter on the side). Two sauces (best mixed together) in squirt bottles on the table: one was spicy and the other honey. Both had tomato in them — is that kosher in NC? The place is obviously a destination restaurant of the ultimate sort; it’s next to an airstrip, and people fly in just to eat there. I would.

I spotted this little jasper outside (photo above) and thought: John’s next birthday…

Tomorrow’s my 6th annual Divide & Conquer Driveway Plant Sale (9 am until the last hosta has made haste), and following the established philosophy of “No Seedling Left Behind,” I’m up to approximately 513 plants (see right). I’m sure I dug up more from my garden in previous years, but between spring hailstorms, the toad pond dig, travel, teaching, the recession, and Pig Candy’s ever-onward world domination campaign, it’s been busy around here. If I have time tonight….

Pretty much every year, I’ve made my niece Phoebe’s birthday cake. Usually, there’s a lot of pre-baking deliberation — of Talmudic scholar proportions — about themes, flavors, decorative elements, etc. For many years, the cakes had to be half-chocolate and half-vanilla to accommodate friends’ preferences.

This year, Phoebe’s decision to have a party was, shall we say, last minute, and so I had about 18 hours to determine what suited a 13-year-old audience. I consulted with my expert friend Singley, who is 11 going on 23 and who, as she said herself, has to do a monologue in school as a 13-year-old. So Singley knew. She gently dismissed my proposal of an ironic Sponge Bob and steered me in the absolute right direction. Click here to see the slideshow realization of Singley’s wisdom and my loving hands at home baking style.

BTW, the World Peace Cake is chocolate with Morello cherry buttercream frosting — both recipes from Martha Stewart. Apparently, partygoer Fazia was overheard saying, “That’s the best cake I’ve ever had in my life.”