Mexican is my favorite ethnic cuisine. more...

I paid $100 to fill my gas tank today. Actually, the pump stopped at $99.38, but I kept squeezing the handle, topping it off, and eking the last $.62 out of the pump just to see if our economy had actually reached a point where it takes a clean, crisp Benjamin Franklin to fill the tank in my vehicle. more...

My friends at Turn Row Books in Greenwood, MS spent the entire weekend cooking from New South Grilling. The following is swiped from their blog at http://www.turnrowbooks.typepad.com/: more...

CHICAGO— It's mid May and the tulips are still blooming on Michigan Avenue. I'm up here for a book signing and making full use of my spare time eating my way through the Windy City. more...

I receive requests for recipes all of the time. more...

My newest cookbook, New South Grilling (Hyperion, $29.95), had its national release last week. Since I am the newspaper’s food writer, the duty falls to me cover the book's release. Therefore I will interview myself. more...

Cooking in a professional kitchen is one of the hardest jobs out there. more...

I know a man who never has to eat leftovers. more...

“You’re too short for your weight,” said my doctor. more...

In 1987, when I opened The Purple Parrot Café in my hometown of Hattiesburg, the wine situation in Mississippi was bleak. more...

I was having lunch with my family in a very nice restaurant on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain the other day. The dining room was packed and everyone was dressed in their Easter finest. more...

I just finished the second half of a spring break sandwich that started in the South Louisiana swamps of Cajun country and ended in the French Quarter of New Orleans. more...

The conversation went something like this: “Billy and his parents are going snow skiing during spring break,” said my son. more...

I recently travelled to New York for a business meeting. I ate way too much. The following is my 48-hour food journal more...

I have a friend who is fasting during Lent. more...

LAS VEGAS— I am in a suite in the Venetian Hotel high above the Las Vegas Strip. I don’t gamble, I don’t drink, and I have trouble staying up until midnight. more...

I am not a deer hunter, yet I have a freezer full of deer sausage. more...

My home state has made national headlines once again. more...

SNOWMASS, CO.— I am on a father-son vacation with my six-year old. more...

A physician once ordered my 90-year old grandmother to drink Beefamato. more...

Recently I realized that I can look back over the course of my life and track my age by what I was eating for breakfast. more...

“Buffet Bans Fat People” was the headline I came across while surfing the Internet. O.K., I’ll bite. more...

In keeping with my annual tradition of not committing to anything that might make me change my eating habits, once again, I will not make New Year’s resolutions. more...

Christmas morning excitement is an emotion unmatched by any other.

Adult excitement pales in comparison to the holiday-exhilaration recipe of two-parts anticipation, mixed with one part delight, a dab of enchantment, and a pinch of joy that is experienced every Christmas Eve until our pre-teen years sweep the thrills away. more...