At some point during the life of an average man – and assuming the average man does a little cooking – it will become necessary to boil an egg. Boiling an egg is not rocket science. You put the egg in some boiling water, give it about ten minutes and you have yourself a hard-boiled egg. Hard-boiled eggs are useful in dishes like deviled eggs, which are really not all that appetizing unless the … [Read more...]

I found myself with an entire quart of fresh blueberries. I had planned on making my “Blueberry Stuff” cobbler for company, but changed my mind. Then, to think that my wife Nancy and I would have to eat all that cobbler by ourselves – with weigh gain to follow - I decided to make a few blueberry muffins instead, using half of the blueberries. Prowling through the baking aisle at Kroger’s, a box of … [Read more...]

What if I invited you to dinner and said we were having ‎”Foies de Volaille.” That sounds good, you may say. But what if I said we are actually having chicken livers. Maybe not so good, you might respond. Folks either love “‎Foies de Volaille” or they hate them. When it comes to chicken livers, there is no middle ground. If you happen to enjoy ‎”Foies de Volaille”, I stumbled across an … [Read more...]

Summer is grilling time – burgers, dogs, steaks, chicken, ribs, green beans. Green beans? Why not? Start with fresh green beans and make sure they are not those that are seemingly coated in a light film of wax. That’s some kind of preservative and those beans taste like – well, bad stuff. Get fresh, crisp string beans, about 8 whole beans per serving. After washing the beans, dry them on a … [Read more...]

A recipe does not have to be fancy in order to be good. In fact, sometimes the simplest and easiest recipes are the best. Such is the case with chicken breasts. Recently, my wife Nancy went to the store, as I was on my way home from a trip. We have been trying to eat healthy and therefore eat a lot of chicken, so she picked up some skinless chicken breasts, but she bought the thin cut, not the … [Read more...]

This past week, I ate the best chicken sandwich I have ever put in my mouth. It was moist, succulent, full of flavor and tender beyond description. It came from a breast of a chicken which I had previously cooked “spatchcock style.” Originally, the word spatchcock meant a young, male chicken, but somehow the term came to signify a method of preparing a chicken, by removing the entire backbone, … [Read more...]

Sight Fishing in Carolina Capt. Allen Cain Reports   The weather is finally starting to warm and get more consistent here in coastal NC. This in turn has made fishing more productive as warming water temperatures are making fish more aggressive. It’s still spring, so we get the occasional rainy/windy days, but for the most part it has been nice the last few weeks. Redfish are … [Read more...]

By Sherman Shifflett   Not long before Mom passed away in 2003, I asked for some of her recipes. She replied, "I don't have no recipes. I just throw stuff together".  Then it dawned on me that I had never seen her measure anything, but I remember some of the things she did. Mom put a pinch of sugar in everything she cooked: A pinch of sugar in boiled potatoes; a pinch of sugar in … [Read more...]

Farm raised Tilapia is fast becoming one of the most popular denizens in various seafood market counters in the United States. People enjoy the mild flavor of the fish and the fact that it is a sustainable resource, taking pressure off of many threatened, wild caught species. Tilapia is also relatively inexpensive. It was $4.99 a pound at Kroger’s last week, which drew my attention. This would … [Read more...]

Lake Anna Fish are turning on at Lake Anna. In the Big Fish contest at Anna Point, Mike Harper has a 1-8 crappie; Tom Lernihan has a 7-4 striper and Jeremy Cash put an 8-1 largemouth on the scales. During a 3-19 tournament, Ken Pressley and Mike Hicks combined for an impressive limit of bass totaling 24.61. The big’un went 7.51. Crappie are making their move to shallow water and many are … [Read more...]