Parchment Baked Grouper
I’ve been craving fish for a while, so I decided to pick up some grouper. We had some zucchini and roma tomatoes that were getting a little ripe, so I wanted to incorporate them into the dish as well. As part of our attempt to eat healthier, I decided to bake everything. I ran across a recipe from Steamy Kitchen that included a helpful YouTube tutorial on how to steam fish and vegetables in parchment paper, so I thought I’d give it a try. It was a huge success. I strayed from the original recipe a little. Here’s everything you need: Parchment Baked Grouper 1 pound...
Read More2010 US Cycling Championships
The 25th annual US Cycling Championship was held in Greenville this weekend. It was the sixth year the race was held in town and we got word that it’ll stay remain for another two years (but take place over Memorial Day weekend). The 112 mile course (map) involves several circuits through downtown and four trips over Paris mountain. We watched the first trip down the mountain at a tight curve from Piney Mountain Road onto North Pleasantburg Drive. After that lap, we watched the remaining circuits from Cleveland Park downtown. The first (or last, depending on your browser) picture...
Read MoreOn Opinions & Obstinacy In The ‘Slow Food’ Movement
I ran across a great essay titled “In Praise of Fast Food” that poked a few holes in one of the driving tenets of the slow food movement – the belief that taking ripe, organic, locally grown ingredients and preparing them in traditional ethnic and cultural fashion is a more natural, time-honored process. Here’s a sample: My culinary style, like so many people’s, was created by those who scorned industrialized food; culinary Luddites, we could call them, after the 19th-century English workers who abhorred the machines that were destroying their way of life. I learned to cook...
Read MoreA Blue Ridge Mountain Drive
Last weekend, the wife and I spent a day in the mountains. Unlike most people, we both love driving in the car, especially when we have an audiobook to pass the time. We’re like the people who, at the advent of the automobile, marveled at the access and convenience it afforded. Back then, road trips were more about the journey than the destination. On a recent trip from Florida to South Carolina, we traveled almost exclusively on small highways. It took an extra few hours, but we got to see all sorts of Americana. On this trip, we drove to Silva, NC and worked our way back on scenic...
Read MoreRich & Creamy Cheese Grits
I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never really cared for the typical Southern version of cheese grits. The grits are tasteless, the cheese is lumpy, and the eggs dry everything out. When the casserole cools down, you have to cut a cube out of the solid yellow mass and smash it down with the back of your spoon. That’s about as unappetizing as it gets. My version makes a rich and creamy dish that actually tastes like cheesy grits instead of a corn-based custard. This recipe is based on a dish in the Soby’s New South Cookbook. Here’s everything you need. Rich...
Read MoreOn The Silliness Of The ‘Foodie’ Ethos. Again.
In the latest Bon Appétit advice column, a reader described a scene where her dining companions flummoxed the wait staff by wanting to divide the check six ways for different amounts. She asked for advice on the best way to split a check among a group. This was the answer she got: Unless you’re with only one other person (okay, maybe two–I’m feeling generous) or you’re 17 years old and out with a group of friends at a local chain, splitting a check is lame. […] So the next time you go out with a group of friends who want to divide the check every which way, be a...
Read MoreThe Wife’s Handiwork
The wife’s sewing supplies have dominated the dining room table for a while now. Her brother brought back some fabric from Africa, and she made a retro-looking dress out of it. She also made a tiny dress for a friend’s baby. I’m impressed with how quickly she can turn these things around these days. Click here to check them...
Read MoreSoby’s Cookbook
I mentioned a while back how much I enjoyed reading Frank Stitt’s cookbook. I actually lugged the giant tome to and from the beach over a few days. For my recent birthday, the wife bought me Soby’s New South Cuisine Cookbook so I could keep learning. Who could blame her? She eats the food. Soby’s is an anchor in downtown Greenville and has been a leading force in making the city the culinary destination it is today. The book provides a glimpse into the history of the restaurant, the evolution of the menu, and valuable tips about ingredients and preparation. The wife...
Read MoreHomemade Roasted Garlic Spaghetti
After my successful experiment with homemade linguine noodles over the weekend, I decided to make some spaghetti. Over the years, I’ve learned to experiment incrementally to see what my flavor limitations are. Like with bread, pasta is 95% flour. That means that you’d have to add a lot of another ingredient to be able to taste it. I thought I’d roast some garlic and mix it with some olive oil in lieu of an egg in the basic dough recipe. I figured even if we couldn’t taste the garlic, the noodles would be healthier. Here’s everything you need: Roasted...
Read MoreOn Psychics & Spiritual Mediums
Over the weekend, the wife and I watched the HBO documentary, No One Dies In Lily Dale. It’s about a small town in upstate New York. The way Orlando is all about theme parks, Lily Dale is all about psychics and spiritual mediums. There are rows of houses that offer palm readings, psychic body scans, séances, and spiritual readings. The town has become a tourist destination for all sorts of people, but mostly for those overcome with grief. I would have been disappointed if anyone still believed in this stuff 75 years ago when Harry Houdini exposed “mediums” for the frauds...
Read MoreHomemade Linguine Noodles
I’ve been wanting to make pasta noodles from scratch for a while. When we got a stand mixer for a wedding gift, we also got a ravioli attachment. I’ve always wanted to use it, but it seems pretty useless without a pasta roller. Since the pasta press attachment costs a cool $150, I thought I’d better buy a cheaper version first and make sure I’m using it often enough to justify the cost of going electric, so to speak. I picked up a manual pasta press for about $35 and decided to get down to business. After my long and frustrating experiment in homemade bread...
Read MoreAn Interview With My Italian Grandfather In 1968
Prior to a family reunion a couple of years ago, a relative of mine ran across an interview with my maternal grandfather, Claude Smeraglia, from July of 1968. At the time, he lived and worked in an Italian-American enclave adjacent to the airport in Birmingham, Alabama. The interview was conducted by a Samford University student at the East Side Drug Company, a pharmacy he owned and operated. I’m guessing the student’s thesis was a comparison of past cultural discrimination with the racial discrimination and unrest that dominated the headlines at the time. To put his remarks...
Read MoreA Better Version of Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Volume 3
Most people who discover Bob Dylan’s music these days run across a song of his (or a cover of a song of his) in a film or on Pandora. If their interest is piqued, they’ll likely buy one of his greatest hits albums on a whim. The first Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits album was released in 1967 and was by all accounts a great compilation album. Despite the fact that only four years had passed, the folks at Columbia decided to ride the success of the first Hits album by pressing another one in 1971 that included songs from many of the same albums. Although the second Greatest...
Read More
As an experienced marketer and an avid social media user, I keep a hobby blog. It mostly exists as a public scrapbook for my out-of-state family. Feel free to take a look around and see what you like.
recent comments