Poet Nikki Giovanni remembers her friend Maya Angelou as warm and great cook

ROANOKE, Va., May 29 (UPI) -- Poet Nikki Giovanni says the only disagreements she had with her friend Maya Angelou were about food.

Giovanni remembered Angelou, who died Wednesday at her home in Winston-Salem, N.C., at 86, in an essay posted on CNN. Giovanni, who teaches at Virginia Tech, said she saw a lot more of Angelou, nicknamed Doc by her friends, after her move to North Carolina.

"Everyone came to Doc's place, which was great fun," Giovanni said. "You'd wake up in the morning not knowing who would be down to breakfast -- The superstars; the wonderfully funny; old friends from another country; a congressman. And Doc treated them all the same."

Giovanni described Angelou as a "great cook" -- and herself as only good -- and said she would try to get to Winston-Salem whenever her friend made fried chicken. On one occasion, she said, they got into an argument with Angelou about rack of lamb and recruited another friend, Joanne Gabbin, a professor of English at James Madison University, to cook a lamb dinner for Angelou.

After the meal, Angelou praised Gabbin's cooking, Giovanni said, while telling her the lamb was "a bit overdone."

"We both laughed," Giovanni said. "I know if the lamb was not done properly, she would have eaten it and not said a word. I wanted to fry chicken for her, too, but time just ran out."

Angelou was a poet, author and civil rights activist who received numerous awards.