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SEVILLE— Nine days into this Spanish deep-dive, I find myself sitting in the front jump seat of a tour bus typing on a borrowed laptop because my laptop is in the possession of a sneaky thief who swept my backpack up in a hotel lobby in Valencia. I have preached over and over to myContinue reading “Nine Days of Spain in 1,182 Words”

MADRID— I spent the final month of 2011 in Spain. I was nearing the end of a six-month sojourn with my wife, 14-year-old daughter, and 10-year-old son. We covered a large part of the country— Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, and Malaga. There were several other stops such as Segovia for the meats and Bilbao forContinue reading “Yonderlust: Spain Week One”

For the past couple of months, we have hosted a special guest in our home. Feline Been is the daughter of our good friend Marina Mengleberg. Marina, Feline, and her brother Alec all live in the small Tuscan village of Barberino-Tavarnelle. In addition to being friends with Marina we work together hosting tours in TuscanyContinue reading “Feline”

December is considered the month for giving in these parts, but something is going on in February. Last week I was gifted an organized binder filled with many of my original handwritten recipes from the early days at my first restaurant. This week through the love, care, and concern of one of my longest-standing friendships,Continue reading “Sweet Roll Swan Song”

It doesn’t take much to make me happy these days. My wife might argue with that statement, but it’s true. It’s not that I have reached some state of self-actualization and have rocketed up to the summit of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs or anything like that. It’s just that— surprisingly— monetary and material things haveContinue reading “The Notebook”

So, there’s this thing called a “Mississippi Pot Roast.” I’ve seen it pop up on my social media over the last several years and I have seen other people comment on it and offer their thoughts online after preparing and eating it. Mississippi Pot Roast became a viral internet sensation after a woman in NorthContinue reading “The Great Pot Roast Cookoff of 2022”

I really don’t know when it started, or who came up with the idea. It could have been me. Or it may have been one of our chefs. All I know is that when we roll out King Cake Bread Pudding around this time of year, it’s all we can do to keep up withContinue reading “King Cake Bread Pudding”

For the 22-plus years I have written this weekly column I have focused mainly on food and travel. Occasionally I have ventured into family stories, especially when my kids were young and there was a lot of material to mine. I have written often about something I call the Five Fs. The Five Fs areContinue reading “The Class Reunion”

Recipe inspiration comes from many places. In the early days of our first restaurant, I ended up in the kitchen after our opening chef was fired on the first night. The extent of my cooking ability at that time was that I had asked for, and received, and Easy Bake Oven for Christmas. After firingContinue reading “Recipe Inspiration”