Side Dishes

The Orange Bee presents “HONEY CAN COOK” I am finally ready to schedule cooking classes, right in the comfort of your own kitchen. This is a project I have been working on for quite a while. The tech part of it is what stumped me. Now that seems to be in order, I’m open for […]

The credit for this Tomato Tart goes to Jose Andres. I’ve been following Andres, founder of World Central Kitchen, for quite some time now. He is not paying me to write this or share his recipe. But – hey, “Jose…..wanna collaborate?” In 2019 he published his latest cookbook titled “Vegetables Unleashed”. This recipe is from […]

Last year I attended Community Table 2018, Triad Local First’s fund-raiser, as a behind the scenes blogger. This year I am co-charing the event. Without a doubt last year was a fantastic time with local chefs, breweries, farms, distilleries and foodies buzzing about like hungry bees. This year will be an over the top event […]

A challenge I notice through my involvement with “food” is the mispronunciations of food words. Working in the spice shop I hear customers doing their best to pronounce food words they aren’t familiar with. Many times they preface their mispronunciation with a comment like,” I’m not sure I’m saying this right”. I’ve been checking to […]

Recently I had the privilege of meeting Amie, owner of Francesca’s Dawn Farm in Halifax, Va. Let me tell you if you live in the Triad of North Carolina and aren’t ordering your meat, poultry, etc from Amie you are missing out. Engaging in ethical, transparent and local beliefs Amie and her family are excited […]

A pleasant early fall evening set the stage for Triad Local First’s Community Table, a gathering of local businesses, chef’s, distillers, breweries and community members. Community Table is a yearly fundraiser for the promotion and support of local businesses. I had the privilege of documenting what goes on behind the scenes as a select group of […]

My man Dan and I celebrated our anniversary last night at home with a scrumptious home cooked meal for a fraction of the cost of a restaurant dinner. We’ve never had more fun nor a more delicious meal. Originally my wonderful husband made reservations at a fancy restaurant where we’ve celebrated in years past. After […]

Here is yet another zucchini recipe – Zucchini Fritters. I have not finished using all the zucchini we brought home from the coast. I think if the zucchinis were normal size I might’ve finished cooking with them but they are so big that one makes enough for two recipes! Seriously y’all some of them are […]

Grilled zucchini salad is now on my favorites list for ways to use the abundance of zucchini we brought back from the coast a couple weekends ago. I grill our dinners most evenings and love it when I can throw everything on the grill and not heat up my kitchen. I admit I really don’t […]

This stuffed zucchini recipe is simple and delicious – do you have zucchini coming out your ears this summer? Over July 4th my man Dan and I spent the weekend on a 100 acre farm that was close to the Outer Banks in our beautiful state of North Carolina. Coast and agriculture all within an […]

The Yountville Food Tour took me to an establishment I’ve fancied going to for quite some time. Ever been to the French Laundry? I have a great story about the wine from Thomas Keller’s 3*** Michelin restaurant in Yountville, California. It’s about that time when someone stole 76 bottles of wine – valued at around 3-5 […]

Fresh and dried herbs are swell additions to many foods, recipes and dishes. How to use herbs is something many of us are familiar with. Some of you may use herbs everyday and many of you may be uncertain how to incorporate them into your meals. If you grow herbs you are more than likely […]

Oil & Honey Edition – My soft diet was wearing thin until I decided to make a pot of stewed apples. Soft – yes, but with a bit of texture and delicious flavors. If you didn’t read about my recent diagnosis of “diverticulitis” you may not get where I’m coming from. Read it here. If you […]

Coctel de Camarones -this is without a doubt one of my absolute favorite dishes. As the weather is heating up here in North Carolina I’m dreaming of digging into one of these. When I take a bite and close my eyes I am transformed to a gorgeous ocean view with sea breezes blowing through my […]

First of all I want to say this is NOT a paid post nor a review about the film Forks Over Knives! It isn’t even a current flick but my man, Dan and I recently watched it for the first time. Have you seen it? If so you’ll understand what this post is about – if not – […]

Tomorrow I leave for Atlanta and the biggest produce conference I will have ever attended, honestly it’s the only produce gathering I’ve attended. PMA or Produce Marketing Association is the host of this event. PMA’s Fresh Summit hosts companies from every segment of the produce industry, from produce growers to packagers to fresh flower vendors […]

In mid-July I traveled to New York City for the BlogHer15 conference. The conference schedule is non-stop but I found that I had a few free hours midweek to explore the city. Having lived in NYC for a couple of years, back in the day, I wasn’t interested in merely pounding the pavement and hitting all […]

Recently I had the pleasure of attending a walking food tour in Charlotte, N.C. My daughter was visiting from Napa, where we had taken a food tour back in January. She suggested a local tour in North Carolina and since I thoroughly enjoy these kinds of “tours” I hooked us up with Tour de Food – […]

I’m so excited today to share a fresh, healthy and savory seafood recipe with you. What I am even more psyched about is my partnership with the Sustainable Seafood Blog Project! Participating in a conversation about sustainability, especially when it comes to our seafood, justifies my struggle with seeking out and purchasing sustainable seafood. Most of us don’t think of fish […]

Food words are often mispronounced. I attribute this to the fact that so many of the foods we enjoy are not “American”. We love foods from so many countries here in America that we need lessons in how to correctly pronounce some of these words! How about “Ancho” or “Anise“, “Croissant” or “Boudin” (one of my […]