Category Archives: Uncategorized

Sometimes the simplest things give me the most satisfaction. That probably seems like an obvious statement to most. I have only recently come to that realization in my personal life. For the first 30 years of my career, I was a hardcore devotee of fine dining. My early goal was to open a fine diningContinue reading “Perfect Simplicity”

TAVARNELLE, TUSCANY— My love of bakeries goes back as far as my episodic memory will allow. The earliest bakery recollection I can drum up comes from the Blue Ribbon Bakery in my hometown of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In a kid’s eyes a bakery is a wonderland of shapes, sizes, colors, and all things sweet. In 1968Continue reading “A Lifetime Love Affair”

SEVILLE— Travel is situational. I could almost end this column with that first sentence. That sums up everything I am about to cover in the next 1,000 words or so. But let’s have some fun and flesh out that three-word opening. I’ve written countless times over the past 12 years about the long, six-month tripContinue reading “Porcine Paradise”

MADRID—Irish pubs have always intrigued me. The attraction doesn’t come from the typical things one expects from a pub. I’m not interested in Guinness on tap, or Irish whiskey, or any alcohol for that matter. I’m not a prude, and I’m certainly not against responsible alcohol consumption (it put both of my kids through college),Continue reading “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling in Spain”

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” –Henry David Thoreau, Walden Of all the great debates I have held with friends over the years, most have been about music. Beatles or the Stones? Bonham or Moon? VanContinue reading “Seasons in Mississippi”

Cartoon credit: Marshall Ramsey   It’s February in the Pine Belt of South Mississippi. It’s 82 degrees outside, the azaleas are blooming, and the crawfish are in season. I’m not stupid enough to think that spring is already here, but it sure feels like it today. This is what I call Mississippi fake spring. ItContinue reading “Endure”

The year was 1968. It was my 7th Christmas. Also, the first Christmas after my father died. The only thing I asked for that year was an Easy Bake Oven. When my mom took my brother and me to visit Santa Claus at the Maison Blanche department store in New Orleans (because that’s where theContinue reading “Easy Bake Memories”

It looks like 2023 will go down as the year of the king cake— at least in my book. I have bought more king cakes, eaten more king cakes, and sold more king cakes this year than all my previous years put together, and probably by a factor of 20. For the past six yearsContinue reading “Neck Deep In King Cake Development”

BLACKBERRY FARM— A portion of Newton’s Law of Motion states, “An object in motion remains in motion at a constant speed, and in a straight line, unless acted on by an unbalanced force.” I am not sure if Blackberry Farm has ever been described as an unbalanced force, but for the past 25 years, thatContinue reading “An Unbalanced Force in the Foothills”