Author Archives: Robert

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 frequentingContinue reading “All You Can Eat”

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. IContinue reading “New Years Hopes and Wishes 2008”

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”