The state of North Carolina is clearly divided between East and West. A boundary as distinct as the Berlin Wall separates the two. The Tarheel State population is split – those who prefer Eastern North Carolina BBQ and those who think the Western style is the real  deal. The dividing line is somewhere near Raleigh and the battle for bragging rights as to which is best has been raging for … [Read more...]

There is Good Fried Chicken and there is Great Fried Chicken. Our good friend, Janice Kaltenbach, known to many as Aunt Remus for her ability to tell tall tales, cooks Great Fried Chicken. Aunt Remus once gathered us around the fireplace and told us that Br’er Flounder had only one eye on each side of his head when he was a baby, then his Momma spanked him, and suddenly he had both eyes on the … [Read more...]

  I thought I was buying Mexican Corn Bread. I saw “jalpeno” on a box, but then I picked up the wrong box. It wasn’t Mexican at all. It was Dave’s Famous Corn Bread Mix, but I made it anyway. Eating this cornbread is like pulling into a barbeque joint down in Rocky Mount, piling your plate with BBQ, Collards, Black Eyed Peas and buttering up a piece of sweet corn bread. It was … [Read more...]

    Now is the time that many of us go into pre-panic mode, trying to find a Christmas gift for Mr. or Mrs. Very-Hard-To-Please. Don’t panic. Take a chill pill and may I suggest a mini, hand-held, electric chainsaw? I am serious. This is a neat gift for anyone that likes to putz around in the yard. I actually gave one to my wife Nancy, and she loves it. The little saw is cordless … [Read more...]

  Nancy said she was going to heat up some oyster stew, so I had to fend for myself as far as dinner was concerned. But I also had to pick up my daughter from the airport at 6:30, so I either needed to do a fast-food pickup or cook something that I could just heat and eat. I had to go to Kroger’s anyway, and decided to buy some pre-made BBQ, but Doughties, the brand I like, was not in … [Read more...]

  What’s with eggs these days? A few months ago, prices started to rise and stocks in the stores ran low, but in the last month or so, I have seen eggs at 58 cents a dozen, and they weren’t on sale, just priced way low. There must be some sort of glut in the marketplace, but I’m not complaining. We love eggs and eat lots of them. There is one brand of eggs, however, that is head and … [Read more...]

I’ve been buying Sam’s Rotisserie Chicken for years. They were one of the first stores to come out with them and keep them rotating on a spit throughout the day, so you felt like they were never old and dried out. Plus, they were about five bucks, the cheapest on the market. This past week I needed a rotisserie chicken for a quick pot pie I was making and didn’t have time to go to Sam’s. I was … [Read more...]

In my eternal battle to lose a few pounds, I have found that if I eat a piece or two of melon after a light breakfast and/or lunch, the sweetness of the fruit helps curb my appetite for more food. Then, I’m good till dinner time. So, I’ve been eating a lot of watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew melons and half the time they are not sweet or even ripe. I buy a melon called a Dino Melon from … [Read more...]

  There is a new product beside our kitchen sink. Our friend, Terry Tigner, introduced us to Dawn Powerwash. It makes after dinner clean-ups a thousand times easier. Often, we eat late and sometimes don’t feel like immediately doing the dishes, especially when I have cooked and left pots and pans in a state of greasy disarray. With Dawn Powerwash, simply spray the dishes and pots before … [Read more...]

At least ten times a day, I feel around in my pocket to make sure it’s there. If I don’t detect it, I panic. I simply cannot do without my constant companion, my Leatherman Tool. Since I was 6 years old, I have carried a pocket-knife, but about 40 years ago, I discovered the smallest Leatherman Tool, the Micra size. It takes up practically no room and fits easily into a front pocket. It’s so … [Read more...]