Handmade Doughnuts for Nat’l Doughnut Day

Friday June 1st is National Doughnut Day so why not celebrate this quirky event by making your own doughnuts from scratch?  It’s not that hard but you will have to stand over a half gallon of 325 degree oil.  If you can exercise a little caution with the oil and promise not to fry these […]

It’s Just a Peach

It’s just a peach. I lift one up; allow my thumb to gently fondle its skin.  I spin it in my hand and admire the warmth of its color, the soft creamy yellow that fades into sunny orange, dappled with crimson blotches.  It’s His own summer fireworks show, right here in my hand.  This delicate […]

Social Media that’s actually Social

Another solo lunch; I poked at my plate, mixing the green beans into the risotto and wished for my wife’s company.  For seven years we shared lunch at our tiny, dinner-only restaurant.    I always cooked extra because even in a small restaurant, there were plenty of visitors: wine reps, food brokers, friends or other chefs […]

Vegan Doughnuts and Artisan Dogs

Laura Huff of Carolina Epicurean is the sweetheart of the Carolinas!  Here’s her lead story for this week…by none other than your humble servant.  Enjoy!    

Puffball Tacos

Let’s make this perfectly clear.  Eating the wrong wild mushroom can KILL you.  Not quickly like Clint Eastwood’s creepy Union soldier character in The Beguiled but over the course of a few painful weeks by destroying your liver.  So DO NOT read this then strut into your neighbor’s artificially bright Chem-Lawn yard, pluck ANYTHING out of the […]

Hand cut Fries for Amy

My wife loves French fries (OK we all do) but we rarely eat them.  When we do, they’re usually homemade.  Ever had soggy fries from a burger joint that makes their own?  Yeah, they can be pretty worthless if done improperly.  Making fries at home isn’t hard but it can be a bit time consuming […]

Pellegrino, the Vampire Sous-Chef

For my friends Jacquelyn and Julia.  “OK kids, 4:30, time for line up, let’s make it quick, it’s gonna be a busy night!” Chef Jacks snapped her fingers repeatedly as if to put some additional energy into her crew’s shuffling feet.  Every afternoon she held a thirty minute meeting with the staff of her restaurant, Cafe Morte, to discuss the evening’s […]

I won a Date with Tony Bourdain

From the Fall of 2006 It’s 7:00 a.m. on a Friday morning and I’m lying in bed watching the ceiling fan as it slowly induces in me some well-deserved motion sickness. At least I am in a very nice bed and the bathroom is only a short crawl away. I’m 44 years old and I haven’t […]

Doughnuts for Chapel Hill

Months ago I convinced Marilyn Markel, the director of the cooking school at A Southern Season to host me for a demonstration class.  Amy and I decided to celebrate our 25th at the same time so we turned it into a long weekend, sans kids.  I surprised her by trading favors with a friend and he […]