Food & Drink

[Drink] The Champagne of Whiskeys

As we turned around, the liquor-store attendant approached us from behind the counter and reached to the bottom shelf to grab a bottle of whiskey. My friends and I were in Gulf Shores, Ala., for a weekend at the beach. Naturally, we needed some booze.

The Wide World of Tea Cakes

With fall's cooler temps, my palate shifts to warmer, cozier and more comforting foods. I realize that I can once again turn on my oven without causing myself or my two dogs to suffer from heat exhaustion. I vowed not to use the oven for the remainder of the summer when the air conditioning went kaput after I baked a vegetable lasagna one hot summer night. There's nothing like sweating over a savory plate of lasagna.

[Drink] Bragging Rights

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I have just returned from what I believe to be one of the finest trips to wine country anyone has ever taken. One of the perks of having a career in wine is that you end up having some pretty good connections, and connections are what make the difference between a winery tour with a big group led by a guide and a winery tour with the winemaker, carrying a glass and a pipette for extracting wine straight from the barrels to taste. And that, my friends, is "what I'm talkin' about."

Winging It

Graphic illustration Jakob Clark

Growing up, the only experience I had with chicken wings were the ones covered with feathers belonging to the small population of egg-laying hens on our Montana farm. Raised in incubators, these chickens were more than egg producers: they were a part of our family.

[Drink] National Beer

Spicy food provides one of the only excuses for drinking domestic beer, which is generally watery with a metallic tinge. But when you're sitting outside eating spicy chicken wings on a Sunday afternoon, it almost has to be domestic, doesn't it?

Fruit or Vegetable

Do you think you know the answer to the age-old question, "Is the tomato a fruit or a vegetable?"

[Drink] Mixin' It Up

Often, it's hard to decide on just one type of wine. Sure, if you're shopping for yourself, you can go for what you like or take a chance on something unusual, but if you're choosing a wine for other folks it gets a little more tricky. John likes Chardonnay, but Jane likes Sauvignon Blanc, while Jimmy likes Riesling, and who knows what Joyce likes? The answer, of course, is get them all. Well, maybe not that particular combination, but a blended wine for sure. Red blends have always been pretty popular, but what about white blends? Let's not forget about those tasty little gems.

You Say Tomato…

Referred to as pommes d'amour, or love apples, by the French due to their supposed power as aphrodisiacs, the tomato is an irresistible summertime indulgence that I look forward to every year. As the dog days of summer come to an end, I quietly mourn the end of fresh tomato season.

Cookbook Obsessions

I have a problem. I can't quit buying cookbooks. I have a bookshelf full of them, and still I buy more. I don't care that I can find thousands of recipes on the Internet; there is something comforting about an actual book. I want to spread out all the volumes containing recipes for saag paneer and see every one of them at once so I can compare their merits. I want to be able to flip pages. I want to be able to really read each one, which would explain why Dana Jacobi's "12 Best Foods Cookbook" (Rodale Books, $21.95) is my current nightstand book.

[Drink] The Forces of Light and Darkness

Between my freshman and sophomore year of college, I lived in Harlem, owned a MetroCard, ran in Central Park everyday and found out quickly that I didn't need a fake ID to buy beer—as long as I projected enough New York ennui to convince those around me that consumption of alcohol was the least of my concerns.

The Comfort of Coast Cuisine

Before I met my husband I had no idea about the simple pleasure that comes from eating an oyster po-boy and gulping down an ice-cold Barq's root beer from a bottle. I thought Mardi Gras parades were only in New Orleans, and what the heck were you supposed to do with a crawfish?

[Wine] What Do You Wanna Drink When You Grow Up?

You know how some of those interior-design magazines frequently feature "designer v. knock-off" stories, where one photo boasts a room full of original designs worth thousands of dollars, and another photo shows virtually the same room, but with copycat stuff from Target? Wines can be like that, too. There are very reasonably priced, delicious wines available that aren't much different from their high-priced competitors. (Not that I don't covet some of those pricey monsters, but Mama's palate can't always afford what it wants.) Here are some great examples:

[Annual Manual 2006] Quick Meals

When I left the comforts of my mom's kitchen for a dorm room equipped with a sink, micro-fridge and microwave, I knew it was time to look out for myself. I also discovered I had to defend myself from the evil eating habits of my roommate.

Cornbread Connection

When I first came to Mississippi, I faced college cafeteria lines of steaming fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, fried okra and grits, and I felt very lost. Then, at the very end of the line, on a tiny sliver of a tray, something familiar caught my eye: cornbread.

[Wine] Off The Beaten Path

In most aspects of our lives, we tend to stick to what we know. When shopping for wine, most of us would much rather buy what we're familiar with rather than run the risk of getting something we may end up hating and being out the money spent on it. There's no question that there are a lot of "weird" wines out there, but most of them are quite delightful and worth a trip out of the mainstream.

Ellington