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. … Continue reading A Good Race
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 … Continue reading Southern National in Mobile is Destination Dining
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 … Continue reading Crestline Bagel in Cahaba Heights
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 … Continue reading Fox 6 Books: February
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 … Continue reading Dinner at My House: Chili Your Way
The other day, I took a cue from my smart, stylish neighbor and found a new home for the dish soap at my kitchen sink. It's an incredibly tiny tweak to this constantly used space, but it makes me really, really happy. My problem: I just didn't like seeing the dish soap on a counter … Continue reading The Kitchen Sink
I am no baker. My grandmother, one of the most intuitive and clever cooks I've known, was no baker. She did make great biscuits, but those were biscuits. That's different. In fact, whenever Grandmother needed a cake made, she would call Aunt Mayretta and have her do it. Aunt Mayretta was known for her cakes, … Continue reading Pound Cake: It’s Good Enough, and It Tastes Great
Nick's Original Filet House (aka Nick's in the Sticks) is one of Alabama's oldest restaurants, serving great steaks at fantastic prices for more than 75 years. Photojournalist Brittany Faush and I went there for dinner recently, and we share our experience on Alabama NewsCenter. You can read our entire story here. My biggest takeaway (other … Continue reading Alabama Eats: Nicks in the Sticks
I had the opportunity to sit down with Birmingham design expert Lisa Caldwell Flake for a story in Portico Mountain Brook. Lisa has a stunning sense of style, and she comes by it honestly. Her mother, Mary Ruth Caldwell, is a designer, too. The mother-daughter team at Caldwell Flake Interiors works to uncover the character of a … Continue reading Update Your Space in One Afternoon
Gabriel and Maria Isabel Marrero whetted Birmingham's appetite for Caribbean foods with some highly popular pop-up shops. Now their Puerto Rican kitchen, Tropicaleo, has a permanent home at 4426 4th Ave. S. in Avondale. This is a bright, cozy space serving authentic Puerto Rican cuisine made with fresh, Alabama ingredients. It's a perfect fusion of … Continue reading Local Bites: Tropicaleo
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