Category Archives: Uncategorized

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 excitementContinue reading “Christmas Morning 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 ofContinue reading “A Fruitful Day Off”

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow At a book signing on the Mississippi Gulf Coast last week, I was hit with a blinding jolt of reality. I have been a victim of out-of-sight out-of-mind Katrina apathy. My hometown of Hattiesburg was hit hard. Yet we bounced back quickly. At Pass Christian Books— a small, independentContinue reading “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow”

Bizarre Foods Exactly one year ago today I was contacted by a producer of the Travel Channel television program “Bizarre Foods.” He said that they were going to be in the area and asked if I knew of anywhere in, or around, my hometown that served bizarre food. I told him that my restaurants wereContinue reading “Bizarre Foods”

The Morning Beverage Minority I do not drink coffee. I wish that I drank coffee. I would love to be referred to as a coffee drinker. “There goes Robert,” they would say. “He’s a coffee drinker.” I think it would be cool to sit in a coffee shop and sip some type of mocha concoctionContinue reading “The Morning Beverage Minority”

Food Fight! In the cafeteria scene of the 1978 movie Animal House, John Belushi pops up from behind a table and yells, “Food fight!” Chaos ensues. That was my first exposure to the phenomenon of thrown food. There is a cafe near an outlet mall in Alabama where the employees of the restaurant throw yeastContinue reading “Food Fight!”

Under the Wire and Off of the Press Today is the fifth anniversary of the release of a cookbook that almost wasn’t. Watercolor artist, Wyatt Waters, and I combined forces five years ago and published a coffee-table cookbook entitled A Southern Palate. The cookbook’s printer was located in Portland, Oregon, but the book was toContinue reading “Under the Wire and Off of the Press”

Food Quirks Everyone has food quirks. We all prefer certain foods over others. There are plenty of foods that I eat that some folks would never touch, and vice versa. My daughter has a very versatile palate. She’ll try anything once. My son— though not a soldier in the adolescent chicken-tender army— would live onContinue reading “Food Quirks”

A Fall Break Diary WATERCOLOR, Fla.— It’s fall break at my children’s school. I don’t remember having a Fall Break when I was in school. We were set free the day before Thanksgiving and a week or so at Christmas and that was it. No fall break, no spring break, no teacher’s meeting break, IContinue reading “A Fall Break Diary”