Pimento Cheese is often called the paté of the South.  Country classic and city chic. We serve it out of a tub on saltines, or incorporated into elegant hors d’ouevres.   Meat-and-threes and mom-and-pops sell it between slices of white bread, and upmarket restaurants serve it on platters with house made charcuterie.  It is ubiquitous, and [...]

Field peas are one of my favorite summer time treats.  Though to be honest, I spend enough time in  summer portioning little bags and stashing them in the freezer that I can enjoy them all year round now.  And I’ll be honest; I don’t veer too much off my standard method of cooking them.  Peas, [...]

The combination of peaches and ginger is a favorite of mine, and in these muffins, it really shines.  These muffins are not too sweet, but burst with flavor and texture.  Fresh, in-season peaches are such a summer treat, make the most of the season. Use real ginger ale for this – the kind you find [...]

I don’t really know what else I can say about this recipe.  It’s a rich, Southern version of butterscotch sauce with fresh peaches cooked right in, and a nice little kick of bourbon.  Of course, this is great over a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.  But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that [...]

Summer in the South, the heat, the humidity, is best dealt with by a cool slice of fresh watermelon.  The thwack of a big knife slicing into the thick rind and the slurp as it cuts through the flesh is up there on the list of summer sounds with crickets humming and the sprinkler whirring.  [...]

Cherry season is beginning, or at least fresh cherries are showing up in the markets here.  We don’t grow cherries locally, so when I start to see them at the grocery, I buy them up.  I love cherries, so I try to make the season last as long as possible.  I bake with the beauties, [...]

Vichysquash, or Squashyssoise? Yep, this all started because of the name.  I saw a recipe for Vichysquash years ago, and loved the silly name, but it called for canned creamed soup, which has never appealed to me.  The idea stuck though, and when I see the glut of yellow crookneck squash piling up at the [...]

This weekend marks the unofficial beginning of summer.  That means vacations and swimming and long, lazy days and all sorts of good things.  But, for my part of the world at least, it also means heat and humidity.  So a tall, cool drink is always in order. There is just something so refreshing about tangy [...]

  I have an unruly privet hedge.  I know it can look a little shaggy and overgrown.  I know my neighbor doesn’t like it. Landscapers have tried to clean out my hedge, make it neat and groomed.  But at the end of April every year, and again, briefly, in September, that privet is wildly overrun [...]

The spring brunch season starts with Easter, then moves onto graduation parties, wedding parties and long vacation weekends.  That’s where this recipe comes from.  It was a request for Easter brunch – pickled asparagus to garnish Bloody Marys.  I of course complied.  Because quick pickles like these are so easy, but add a very special touch.  [...]