I spent the past weekend at the Southern Foodways Alliance 2018 Winter Symposium here in Birmingham. I joined more than 150 people from all over the country to talk about what it means to produce, grow, cook, eat and love food in the South. Attendees included James Beard Foundation Award-winning restaurateurs and chefs as well as [...]
My neighbor makes cheese straws for Christmas each year, and they always take me right back to my childhood. Cameron's classic Southern recipe--crisp-crunchy, mouthwateringly savory and just spicy enough--calls for a cookie press and a star tip and some real skill. The result is perfect, wavy strips pretty enough for gift-giving and so good I [...]
So far this flu season I've braved three buffet dinners, two track meets and one gala, armed with I don't know how many little bottles of hand sanitizer and the new habit of eating finger foods with my left hand. I also happen to have a not-so-secret weapon: Medicine Soup. Think chicken soup ... and [...]
I ran the recent 2018 Mercedes Half Marathon in Birmingham. This was not my first time to do this, but I was extremely nervous about it. I knew this would not be a PR day. I had some perfectly good excuses: It was rainy. It was hot. I had some on-and-off pain in my hip. [...]
Restaurateurs and friends Reginald “Reggie” Washington and Duane Nutter serve “globally inspired Southern food” at their highly anticipated new restaurant, Southern National, in Mobile. Go ahead and plan your visit now. That city has embraced them, and, with a James Beard Foundation 2018 nomination for Best New Restaurant (Southern National is a semifinalist, and it was announced [...]
Lucky you, Cahaba Heights! You have your own Crestline Bagel Co. now. The beloved breakfast and lunch spot in Mountain Brook's Crestline Village specializes in New York-style bagels and sees lines out the door every weekend (and some weekdays, too). Delayed school start? Crestline Bagel stop. This second location is in a new development on Crosshaven [...]
Here are the books I brought to WBRC Fox 6 on February 6. Memoir and mystery and lots of entertainment! Darkroom: A Memoir in Black & White (University of Alabama Press) There’s so much to love about this young adult book by Alabama writer Lila Quintero Weaver! First of all, it’s a beautifully drawn, visually powerful graphic [...]
Few foods draw as many different opinions as chili. Maybe pizza might with its toppings and crust and sauce back and forth. But maybe not. With chili, you can do chicken, turkey, pork, beef or a combination of those. You can go with ground meats or nice, bite-size, browned morsels. You can skip the meat [...]