Tag Archives: food writing

In Which I Bring Two Entirely Unrelated Topics Into One Blog Post

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You know how you open up the newspaper every morning (you do open up a newspaper every morning, don’t you???) and read it and then shake your head and complain, “There’s never any good news. Why don’t they print any good news?”  You know news people say that this happens because “good” news isn’t news since good things happen all the time and we’re only startled by “bad” news that’s outside of the norm. But we all know that “good” news can be as rare as … well, say, a coffee shop owner remembering that he overcharged a customer on her previous business and so without asking gives her her favorite drink for free on her next visit. That just happened! To me. And I wrote about it in my weekly newspaper column. Just, you know, to sneak a little good news in.

Spring’s arrival means several things: 1) Horror as we peel off our wool socks and take a look at our feet for the first time in months — emergency pedicure! 2) All basketball all the time as March Madness takes over — although my bracket is sinking so low that it’s fallen off the listing at the online bracket-game I play. And 3) we start inexplicably hungering for such treats as fresh tender asparagus and juicy sweet strawberries. In my weekly newspaper food story, I found out when spring arrives at local farmers’ markets and previewed what to look for — and when — although we’re lucky here in northwest Alabama since we’ve got Jack O’Lantern Farms, a hydroponic farm which grows lovely fresh veggies year-round. I’ll bet there’s someplace close to you where you can get a taste of spring soon.

New Orleans and Mardi Gras

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Beignets for Mardi GrasAs Fat Tuesday rolls around — it’s tomorrow — everybody has a little New Orleans in them. And if you didn’t make it to Mardi Gras this year, you can celebrate at home (and a little quieter) with your Books about New Orleansown personal tribute — and you don’t even have to wear purple beads. For instance, you can find Cafe Du Monde Beignet Mix and ground coffee in almost any grocery store. And it’s pretty good, too. Not the same of course of sitting at a Cafe Du Monde outside table and brushing powdered sugar off your clothes while you make fun of other tourists people-watch, but it’ll do until you can get there yourself. Check out http://www.cafedumonde.com/ for details. And for some delicious New Orleans Mardi Grasreading while you’re sipping your chicory cafe au lait, pick up a copy of “Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table.” Sara Roahen was a professional cook when she moved to the Crescent City while her husband attended medical school. She soon got a job as a food writer, and this book chronicles her joyous exploration of New Orleans’ food and people. She falls in love with her adopted city, and she’ll make you want to book the next flight there. Go to http://www.sararoahen.com to learn more. And for another New Orleans fix, don’t forget about “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” If you haven’t seen it in the theater, put it on your must-rent list when it comes out on DVD. This intelligent and cinematic film is so thoughtful and artistic — and the city of New Orleans should have gotten a supporting-actor award for its part in it. I thought that such a mystical and magical and slightly other-worldly film could have been shot only in New Orleans, despite the Baltimore locale of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s original story. Visit http://www.benjaminbutton.com/ to find out more. Need more NOLA? Go to http://www.nola.com/mardigras/ for Mardi Gras parade webcams and up-to-the-minute details on what’s happening. Best viewed with a Sazerac in hand.