Category Archives: Uncategorized

When I look over the past two decades in my life as a parent of a daughter and son, there are many moments that make me want to swell with pride. I remember the time my elementary school-aged daughter befriended a girl in her Sunday School who announced to the class that she had noContinue reading “Parenting”

For the past 20 years, this column has covered hundreds of topics, some obscure, some newsworthy. It’s mostly a food column, but I write a lot about travel and family. Like many other paths I have taken in my professional career, I became a newspaper columnist by accident. One day I was a restaurateur withContinue reading “Column Notes”

It’s amazing to me how some parents have it figured out automatically and from the start. Some just get it. I don’t know if parenting was an intuitive thing for me or not. I feel like I was pretty good at it. If I wasn’t it wasn’t for lack of trying. I think I focusedContinue reading “The Best Kind of Date”

Several years ago, country music legend, and noted Mississippian, Marty Stuart, and I were on the dais of a radio show. While we were each waiting our turn to go on the air, we struck up a conversation about one of my favorite subjects— and most certainly one of his— our home state, Mississippi. Stuart,Continue reading “The American Dream”

Just a little over 32 years ago, I was a few weeks into the honeymoon phase of my first restaurant opening. There have been 17 other openings since then. They have all been stressful and hectic, but there is something about the first one that holds such a special place in my heart. Yesterday, IContinue reading “The Early Days”

Last week a Facebook ad crossed my timeline in search of recent college graduates who might be interested in driving a hot dog on wheels all over the country for a year. Most people would be shocked reading such a solicitation. I, however, didn’t give it a second glance. I am an expert in ridingContinue reading “A Fateful Ride”

There is a game I play with a few of my foodie friends. It’s based on the question: “If you could only eat one food item for the rest of your life, what would it be?” It’s a harder question to answer than one might think. I love steak, but would I want to eatContinue reading “Croissants”

In the 1960s and early 1970s of my youth there wasn’t a lot of dining out in my family. Most special occasions were hosted by my grandmother in her dining room. On the rare instance our family dined out my favorite restaurant was a place called Captain John’s. Captain John’s was located on Howling Wolf’sContinue reading “Shrimp, Smoke, & Shirley”

There are many ways to sum up a person’s personality and character. Attaching labels to them is a shortcut, but probably the most frequently used. I am called a restaurateur, columnist, author, tour leader, and a few other choice— and sometimes unsavory— things. But of all of the titles or labels that might be assignedContinue reading “Orange Memories”