We are excited to welcome author Mary Martha Greene -- aka "The Cheese Biscuit Queen"-- to the bookshop for an evening of cooking, storytelling, and biscuit-tasting on Thursday, January 27th at 6pm! The author's recently-published book, The Cheese Biscuit Queen Tells All, is subtitled "Southern Recipes, Sweet Remembrances, and a Little Rambunctious Behavior," and all three of those things will be in store at this event!
In addition to telling stories from the book, Mary will offer a taste of her famous cheese biscuits and a cooking demonstration for one of the recipes in the book. The shop will also be raffling off a tin of biscuits, with each book purchase earning attendees one entry in the raffle. Register today to save your spot!
by Mary Martha Greene
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Some Southern cooks keep their prized family recipes under lock and key, but not Mary Martha Greene. Why? She says few things can truly be kept secret in the South, and recipes, like cheese biscuits, are meant to be shared. That's why she's the "Cheese Biscuit Queen."
In The Cheese Biscuit Queen Tells All, Greene, a South Carolinian and lobbyist, pairs more than one hundred tried-and-true recipes for dishes like country ham scones, Frogmore stew dip, shrimp and corn pie, and lemon pound cake with stories from her corner of the South. The book opens with the famous cheese biscuit recipe (complete with family secrets), and the pages that follow brim with fabulous characters, antic-filled anecdotes, and recipes so good they might just call for a change in State House rules (true story).
With new ideas for the consummate entertainer, helpful tips for less experienced cooks, and stories to make even the grumpiest legislator laugh, The Cheese Biscuit Queen Tells All has a place in every kitchen. Great food leads to great memories, and with Mary Martha Greene by your side, even everyday meals can become memorable occasions.
Mary M. Greene is an award-winning cook. (Ok, so the award was in 9th grade for baking Napoleons for State Foreign Language Day, but it was first place and she still has the trophy!) After this stunning victory, she dreamed of a culinary, or at least creative career. Her dream of following in the footsteps of a family friend and running the National Chicken Cooking Contest was waylaid by her Family Court Judge Father her freshman year of college when she came home for Christmas break and he informed her she’d be reporting for duty as a page at the State House in January. That led to a 40-year career in government relations and politics, including serving on the Governor staff of Governor Richard W. Riley, lobbying, political action, business development and consulting. She regrouped and shared her love of cooking, baking and entertaining to aid her in making friends and influencing people in the legislative, political, and fundraising arenas. She’s also used her skills to help her clients with business development, including running hospitality suites at conferences, sporting events, and a skybox on the 18th green for the PGA-Heritage Golf Tournament on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Mary also teaches baking skills every week at the MIRCI (Mental Illness Recovery Center, Inc.) Youth Drop-In Center in Columbia, South Carolina, with 17- to 25-year-old homeless and at-risk youth. One of her pupils told her one day she was like a “culinary Mary Poppins”, in that she always pops in to bake with them, and she carries a large bag from which she pulls all the ingredients and tools necessary to make whatever they are creating that week. While teaching baking skills, she also helps them learn that sometimes the most important thing you can do for someone is to show up when you say you will and to give them your undivided attention.
She is a born and reared, die-hard Gamecock fan, who does watch and care about the game, in addition to understanding the importance of preparing a fabulous tailgate. She loves cooking, entertaining, history, “junk-tiquing”, and traveling. She was care giver to her Grandmother, Mother, Aunts and other family members for much of her adult life and learned the best way to get through caregiving is to find the humor in it. She is “Aunt Mae-Mae” to about 20 children she loves as her own, none of which she has birthed, must discipline or send to college. She excels in spoiling them and returning them to their parents. She currently serves as house staff to her cat Queenie, who chose Mary by following the smell of barbeque to her kitchen door. She divides her time between Beaufort, South Carolina and Columbia, the State Capitol.