Forget Red State vs. Blue State. Okra divides this country as surely as any October college football rivalry. You either "get" okra, or you don't. And if you live outside of the South, you probably just don't get it. I know.…
With the opening this weekend of Baz Luhrmann's 'Great Gatsby' remake, it seems appropriate to serve up a Prohibition-era cocktail that is visually dazzling - The Aviation Cocktail. This jewel-toned cocktail is made of gin, fresh lemon juice, maraschino liqueur…
One of my favorite local bakeries, Alon's, makes one of my all-time favorite sandwiches - the Tunisian Spicy Tuna. It is a combination of quality canned tuna, potato, hard-boiled egg, capers, harissa sauce and, an unusual ingredient, preserved lemon. If you…
It's only the first week in May but already my garden is overrun with spearmint. It's not to the point where it's choking out my carrots or strawberry plants yet, but give it couple of weeks with some steady rain…
Here in Decatur, we are a social bunch. My girlfriends and I often get together to share a cocktail or two. Like me, they are pretty adventurous with food and drink so they’re usually up for trying any new cocktail…
When I finished my lard rendering project, I was left with about 4 cups of cracklins. Cracklins (or cracklings) are crispy bits of fried pork fat. They are pretty much just like the crispy ends of a bacon strip. Not…
I love gin. It’s probably my favorite spirit to use in a cocktail. Tom Collins. Aviations. French 75's. Martinis. I love the perfume of botanicals that transforms a neutral distillation of malt, rye, wheat and/or corn. Juniper berries give gin…
Do people in other parts of the country make chess pie? Even though I'm not from the Deep South, I've eaten chess pie my whole life. It's hard to imagine someone not knowing about it. Brought over from England, the…
Entertaining friends for the season premiere of "Mad Men" sent me looking for retro cocktails of the 1950's and 1960's to serve. Looking through cocktail guides from that time, one drink that kept popping up was The Moscow Mule. A snappy…
