Category Archives: Uncategorized

I stirred up a lot of trouble when I was a kid. Possessing an overactive imagination and a hyperactive disposition, I was responsible for a fair share of the havoc created in and around my school and neighborhood. Most of the parents in the neighborhood had, on at least one occasion, found the need toContinue reading “I Am Not On Al Gore’s Christmas Card List”

Yesterday I ordered a pizza online. I didn’t get in my car, I didn’t pick up the phone, I never even spoke to anyone. I just logged onto my laptop and 30 minutes later, I was shaking crushed red pepper flakes over my thin-crust pepperoni. The ordering of the pizza and the ingredient selection wasContinue reading “Pizza”

WATERCOLOR, FL— The older I become the more I appreciate substantive dinner party conversation. I am on the second leg of a Spring Break sandwich that started in the rapidly melting Spring snow of Colorado and has ended on the sugar white sands of the Florida Panhandle. I am here with my family on aContinue reading “Dinner Party Conversation”

Salads The weather is warming and salad sales in the restaurant are booming. I like salads, but I am not an entrée-salad eater. I like a salad as a small course or as a component or accompaniment to a main course. When I am entertaining friends at home, I rarely serve a salad. Sometimes atContinue reading “Salads”

St. Patrick’s Day is a paradox. It’s an annual feast day set in the middle of a season in which people are supposed to be fasting. During my childhood in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, St. Patrick’s Day was nothing more than a small mention in my elementary school classroom and the opportunity to pinch someone if theyContinue reading “St. Patrick’s Day”

ASPEN— The question of the day is: How far will a man travel for a Quiche Muffin from Paradise Bakery? The answer: 1,362 miles. Well, actually, I was out her on Spring Break with my family, but we’re staying in Snowmass, 12 miles away. I had a craving for a Quiche Muffin from the ParadiseContinue reading “Quiche Muffins”

The Lenten Season has begun. In most Christian denominations, Lent is the 40-day period of fasting and prayer before Easter. Growing up, I attended church, religiously. If the doors were unlocked at Main Street United Methodist Church in my hometown of Hattiesburg, I was usually there— Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, Wednesday evenings, Thursday night youthContinue reading “Lent”

Cocktail Sauce Yesterday, I was watching my 11-year old daughter eat Chargrilled Oysters at Drago’s in New Orleans while my seven year-old son ate fried shrimp. Oysters and shrimp are the foods from my youth which still lease a substantial plot of real estate in my heart. While we were sitting at the counter inContinue reading “Cocktail Sauce”

Four Diamonds I am currently in my 10th year of writing this weekly column. For the last decade I have written approximately 750 words every week, 52 weeks a year, without ever missing a column. Over the course of those 520 columns, 352 recipes, and roughly 390,000 words, I have written about strange foodstuffs, quirkyContinue reading “Four Diamonds”