Food & Drink

What's in a Cajun?

Having spent a large portion of my life in South Louisiana, I have eaten some of the best food on Earth, particularly red beans and rice. I have already had the best red beans and rice ever, but that hasn't stopped me from searching for the second-best. I've been on this search for decades with very little success, until now.

Restaurants and Relaxation

She's taken care of you all your life, made sure you were clean, fed, clothed and loved. She's your mother. Even if you frequently tell her thanks, that you love her more and more with each passing day, and take her out to eat now and then, you'd best make sure your celebration this Sunday is even more special. Traditionally the busiest day for restaurants, Mother's Day in Jackson is no exception. To help you make your plans, here's some information about dining out in the metro area on her special day.

Making The Nasty Good

I've been trying to ignore the pitiful looks and all-out begging from my 7th-grade Open Doors students (most of whom I taught last year as 6th-graders) all school year. I thought that eventually they would forget about it, but the pleas started up again last week.

‘I Am Not Drinking Merlot!'

I don't know if it's residual hype in the wake of the movie "Sideways," or if it's because the medical world has declared that red wine, especially from thin-skinned grapes like Pinot Noir, is good for your heart … but people are really drinking the heck out of some Pinot Noirs these days.

Not One But Many

Onion. It's almost a palindrome, a word that's spelled the same backwards and forwards, like did, dad, peep, mom. And we who enjoy sweet onions realize there's nothing oxymoronic there, as in combining two contradictory terms. These members of the lily family, whose names derives from the Latin for "one," lend their taste and smell to dishes the world round.

Under The Southern Sun

A hands-on cooking class titled "Under the Tuscan Sun"—me? Sure, why not? I'd be fine. I wouldn't make a fool out of myself. Would I? Not if I could get my hands to loosen their tight grip on the steering wheel, thereby allowing me to get out of the Buick.

BeerTalk: The Belgians Are Coming!

Belgian beers are renowned around the world for their excellent quality, complexity and taste, as well as their rich history and the sheer variety of brands and styles available. While there are two major brewery conglomerates in Belgium, InBev and Alken Maes, there are also 115 independent breweries located throughout the country.

Let Me Eat Cake

My Mammaw, my Momma's momma, is not a cook. She never enjoyed it, so when she was in her mid-70s, she figured she had better things to do with her time. Her kitchen was officially closed. After that, she didn't fool with anything that took more than three minutes in the microwave or a call to Lil' Ray's for take-out. Now that she's in her late 80s and living in a retirement community, she's had to retire her microwave, too.

Petite Sirah Is No Wimp

There has been a long debate about the origin of Petite Sirah, a somewhat obscure grape varietal. It was once said to be related to the great Rhone varietal, Syrah. Later the belief was that it was, in fact, Durif, a nearly extinct varietal, also from the Rhone. Or it could have been Peloursin, a really obscure French varietal. By the 1990s, however, DNA fingerprinting confirmed that it was indeed a very distant relative of Syrah. I guess they should have stuck with their first conclusion, huh?

BoozeTalk: Amber Vanilla

In the 1840s, "Bourbon" was just a riverside county in Kentucky. Something set the place apart, though: the spirit it sent out of port. So distinct was this amber-hued hooch that downriver drinkers simply called it by the county's name, which was stamped on the side of each oak barrel.

March Out To Eat

Metro area restaurants wait to wait upon you, at indoor and outdoor tables as spring approaches. Since you might like to try something new as you take your mind off the workplace and the yard or garden, here's what I've managed to find out.

The River Runs Through It

Most everyone is familiar with the names of the big wine regions in California: Napa, Sonoma, Central Coast, etc., but what about the smaller AVAs (Approved Viticultural Areas)? Within Sonoma lies a little AVA called Russian River Valley, which is known for producing some of the finest Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs in California.

High On The Hog

I've eaten bar-b-que all over the world, and with the exception of some I had in Utah, none of it tasted bad. Bar-b-que starts at good no matter what and goes up to best, whether you spell it barbecue like Merriam and Webster does or bar-b-que like I do. And none of it, not in North Carolina, Kansas City or Texas, beats "Southern style" bar-b-que.

What Brown Did for Me

My mother recently apologized to me for a portion of my childhood—her cooking. When I think of a 1970s kitchen, I don't recall the gold and avocado green appliances; I remember all of the brown food that mother cooked. For the most part everything that my normally creative mother cooked ended up being varying shades of sepia and burnt umber. Not to knock brown food items; I live off potatoes and have developed a newfound love of almond butter. My mother's cooking, however, caused me to equate most earth-toned foods with one particular word—bland.

Body/Soul: God's Green Acre

The first time I saw it, I thought it was too ugly to eat. Really. A bundle stood tall on the back of the Rainbow Whole Foods produce counter—huge dark green/blue/gray leaves with purple veins and fleshy bulges all over them. Ick. And they looked chewy, too. I wasn't into chewy green things at the time, so I passed them by.

Ellington