I’m into the final testing of recipes for Tupelo Honey Cafe and their upcoming cookbook. Today, I had a kitchen full of grits–McEwen and Sons stone ground grits, quick-cooking, yellow, blue…Here are some shots from today’s testing: fried green tomatoes and basil goat cheese grits. A dash of Tabasco green pepper sauce is always [...]

Fried Chicken BLT, just one of the many Southern-inspired dishes you’ll find in the cookbook.
Those of you who have been keeping up with the recipe testing I’ve been doing for the forthcoming Tupelo Honey Cafe Cookbook know that I am almost finished and in need of a major juice cleanse (and some soul-soothing, body [...]

I don’t remember growing up eating Ritz crackers, but since I’ve been testing recipes for the upcoming Tupelo Honey Cafe Cookbook, I’ve had the pleasure of buying and eating these golden rounds of buttery goodness. Chef Brian Sonoskus at Tupelo Honey Cafe in Asheville has lots of good tricks up his chef’s coat, including crumbling [...]

I spent a few days visiting Sara Foster and her husband, Peter Sellers, at their home in Lake Placid. We do what we always do when we get together–eat and drink and make up recipes.

A few of my favorite things…and some new flavors: chocolate sea salt tart and honeysuckle cream tart…
Peonies…my favorite flowers.

I just got back from a book tour in NC. First, an event at Nancy Olson’s wonderful gem of a bookstore, Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, and then an event with Sara Foster and Bill Smith (of Crook’s Corner) at Foster’s Market in Chapel Hill. Sara and Bill transformed the recipes from Trail [...]