travel: field and stream… (2018)

– Some of my happiest moments in 2018 were spent waist-high in cold water.  On especially good days, the sun glinted off the rushing stream, and glistened at the seams of the slow-moving eddies and pools into which my mind swirled.  In those peaceful afternoons, tiny flies hung in the air like a thousand points […]

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travel: field and stream… (2018)

– Some of my happiest moments in 2018 were spent waist-high in cold water.  On especially good days, the sun glinted off the rushing stream, and glistened at the seams of the slow-moving eddies and pools into which my mind swirled.  In those peaceful afternoons, tiny flies hung in the air like a thousand points […]

Continue

12 days: on the sixth day of christmas: brock… (2017)

– By now, Sean Brock’s great contributions to the current wave of revivalism rippling through our American South is widely known. While organizations like the Southern Foodways Alliance have been crucial to the documentation and preservation of that region’s rich, culinary heritage, Brock’s ability to communicate and apply his obsession with Southern history and culture in his […]

Continue

12 days: on the sixth day of christmas: brock… (2017)

– By now, Sean Brock’s great contributions to the current wave of revivalism rippling through our American South is widely known. While organizations like the Southern Foodways Alliance have been crucial to the documentation and preservation of that region’s rich, culinary heritage, Brock’s ability to communicate and apply his obsession with Southern history and culture in his […]

Continue

best dishes of 2012…

~ Seven years ago, I surveyed all of the dishes I had eaten in that year and compiled a list of my favorites, more for my own record than for posterity.  Since, it has become an annual tradition. 2012 marked another spectacular year of eating for me.  Once again, I traveled the world, visiting restaurants […]

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best dishes of 2012…

~ Seven years ago, I surveyed all of the dishes I had eaten in that year and compiled a list of my favorites, more for my own record than for posterity.  Since, it has become an annual tradition. 2012 marked another spectacular year of eating for me.  Once again, I traveled the world, visiting restaurants […]

Continue

travel: between bike rides and barbecues…

~ Does the sun set more colorfully in South Carolina?  Do flavors speak more honestly the closer you get to Mississippi?  Does time slow as you approach Georgia?  Is this love? In an exchange I had with a Southern chef recently, I wrote: “Even though I have spent my entire life outside of the South, […]

Continue

travel: between bike rides and barbecues…

~ Does the sun set more colorfully in South Carolina?  Do flavors speak more honestly the closer you get to Mississippi?  Does time slow as you approach Georgia?  Is this love? In an exchange I had with a Southern chef recently, I wrote: “Even though I have spent my entire life outside of the South, […]

Continue

best of 2011: the restaurant edition…

Mood and mind, place and time: once recorded, they cannot be erased. Neither can company nor cast, nor the events that happened at table. To do so would be a pity anyway, for dining is theatre; every part a prop, everyone a role.  And, as with life, in its unscripted scenes are often its finest […]

Continue

best of 2011: the restaurant edition…

Mood and mind, place and time: once recorded, they cannot be erased. Neither can company nor cast, nor the events that happened at table. To do so would be a pity anyway, for dining is theatre; every part a prop, everyone a role.  And, as with life, in its unscripted scenes are often its finest […]

Continue

best dishes of 2011…

(Crispy Pig Ears; Husk) * * * Another December, another set of listicles. Every year for the the past six, I’ve rounded up the best edibles of each and posted them here for posterity. They’ve included a list of my twenty-five favorite dishes, the best dozen desserts, and the top ten restaurant meals of each […]

Continue

best dishes of 2011…

(Crispy Pig Ears; Husk) * * * Another December, another set of listicles. Every year for the the past six, I’ve rounded up the best edibles of each and posted them here for posterity. They’ve included a list of my twenty-five favorite dishes, the best dozen desserts, and the top ten restaurant meals of each […]

Continue