Las Vegas LAS VEGAS— I am in a suite in the Venetian Hotel high above the Las Vegas Strip. I don’t gamble, I don’t drink, and I have trouble staying up until midnight. I am not in this city for most of the reasons that people come to this over-electrified desert locale. I am here [...]

Deer Sausage I am not a deer hunter, yet I have a freezer full of deer sausage. A few weeks ago I wrote a column about the so-called Obese Bill (HB 282). In it I offered several pieces of alternative legislation to the Mississippi House of Representatives bill that proposes to ban fat people from [...]

We the (Obese) People My home state has made national headlines once again. Three legislators in the Mississippi House of Representatives proposed a bill (HB 282) that would ban restaurants from serving obese people. As a restaurateur and businessman, doing business in a state where more than 30% of the populace is obese, I am [...]

Beefamato A physician once ordered my 90-year old grandmother to drink Beefamato. Beefamato is tomato juice with beef broth in it. Well, not “real” beef broth, the label states “dried beef broth.” I am not sure why she was ordered to drink Beefamato. Maybe it contained an obscure vitamin she wasn’t receiving in her regular [...]

SNOWMASS, CO.— I am on a father-son vacation with my six-year old. My family usually travels in a pack of four. This trip, prior commitments kept my wife and daughter at home and placed the two men, on their own, in a ski resort. It is the first time that he and I have ever [...]

Breakfast Recently I realized that I can look back over the course of my life and track my age by what I was eating for breakfast. Some people associate songs with certain periods of their lives (I do that, too), but these days I tend to lean more towards food, especially breakfast food. When I [...]

All You Can Eat “Buffet Bans Fat People” was the headline I came across while surfing the Internet. O.K., I’ll bite. According to a story on Breitbart.com a man in Houma, La was charged double for making too many trips to the buffet line. Ricky Labit, a 265-pound offshore worker, said he had been frequenting [...]

New Years Hopes and Wishes 2008 In keeping with my annual tradition of not committing to anything that might make me change my eating habits, once again, I will not make New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I submit my annual list of culinary hopes and wishes for 2008. Some old, some new, all heartfelt: 1. I [...]

Christmas Morning Excitement Christmas morning excitement is an emotion unmatched by any other. Adult excitement pales in comparison to the holiday-exhilaration recipe of two-parts anticipation, mixed with one part delight, a dab of enchantment, and a pinch of joy that is experienced every Christmas Eve until our pre-teen years sweep the thrills away. The excitement [...]

A Fruitful Day Off For 46 years I have been blessed with excess energy. I seem to have been born with enough vitality and drive for two people. Though lately, I have been feeling my age. Sunday I experienced my first “true” day off in six weeks. I planned to stay in bed most of [...]