You’ve Already Won
So you didn’t win a billion dollars. Well here’s a news flash: Money is no guarantee of happiness. I know because I’ve won the lottery and it’s so much more than money. Every time my wife kisses me, when she whispers in my ear and makes the hair on the back of my neck stand […]
Preparing Your Restaurant for Florence.
Are you prepared for a week without power? Here’s my tips to help your restaurant survive Hurricane Florence. Tonight. Cook and serve whatever you can. Offer to-go meals, half price specials, whatever it takes to move your food. When you’re preparing to close, freeze what you can, clean out all garbage, make certain you’ve […]
Jonah and The Whale
It’s inaccurate. As in it never happened. In the first place, who could’ve survived such an experience? Can you imagine how inhospitable the belly of a whale actually is? A large whale such as a humpback, must have gallons and gallons of bile floating around its insides and even spending a few minutes inside its […]
Thank you, Madeleine
“Chef Malik, would you like to come to California and cook with me this summer?” Her French voice crackled with sincerety and authenticity and I can remember thinking this could only be one particular woman on the other end of the line. Madeleine Kamman. Several months later I was flying to California’s Napa Valley to […]
A Side of Hospitality
The go to model in today’s restaurant business typically features counter service, no matter how grand their culinary aspirations. The restaurant industry has never been static and in the last five to ten years it’s really had an overhaul. I’d guess it’s because so many young cooks watched employers close their doors during the years […]
The Things You do For Love
“Too many broken hearts have fallen in the river Too many lonely souls have drifted out to sea You lay your bets and then you pay the price The things we do for love, the things we do for love” 10 CC from their hit, The Things We do For Love, 1977 She wanted […]
Racing Butterflies
The sweat is stinging my eyes, rolling across my lips, drenching the back of my neck, and clouding my glasses. My heart is thumping along at 175 beats per minute, a few beats over my recommended maximum, and I’m fighting for every pedal stroke while gulping air like nobody’s business. I’m gripping the bars and […]
Life, and Death, on Tin Roof Farm
When we lived in the suburbs, I really enjoyed cutting the grass and maintaining the landscaping. Our previous homes in Greenville had traditional lawns. One big square of grass in the front, and one big rectangle in the back, each bordered by bushes or shrubs with the occasional tree poking up in the middle of […]
Mexico for Two
After four days of wonderful authentic cuisine and beverage in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, the most telling plate of food of our entire visit came after spending three hours in Cancun’s airport. We were hungry, we still had another hour and a half of waiting followed by a three-hour flight back to the states. So we […]
Ghosts of Parents
Quiet and cold from November’s chill This house now waits for warmth and voices to fill Its once boisterous halls where grandkids held court And aromas of bacon and coffee mingled with tales of youth and sports “It’s never easy” the agent said Packing, sorting, and selling the things once held precious by the dead […]