Kale has attained the status of a super vegetable in recent months. According to renowned dieticians, a couple servings a week can cure male patterned baldness, restore receding gum lines, prevent crow’s feet on middle-aged women, eradicate toenail fungus and make teenagers obey their parents. Well, maybe I exaggerate, I do that often, but it is true that kale has been elevated to a super healthy … [Read more...]

My wife thinks I eat too many fried foods. That’s nonsense, of course, but have you ever tried a fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich? They are fantastic. Well, maybe I do like fried foods a little too much – which is why I developed this recipe for oven-baked striped bass. I like whole, baked stripers, but when pressed for time, I fillet the fish. I find that the best eating stripers (or … [Read more...]

There are seemingly as many diets as stars in the Milky Way, and a new one pops up every week. “Don’t eat carbs. Eat more protein. Eat grapefruit. Don’t eat grapefruit. Drink 8 glasses of water. No, maybe not. Avoid sugars. Foods have points - eat 22 points a day. Eat lean meat. Eat fish. Take Fish Oil Pills. Don’t eat bread, etc., etc., etc.” Wouldn’t it be nice to have a diet where you make … [Read more...]

I’ve been hearing a lot about Denver Steaks recently. A cousin of a chuck eye steak, I had heard you could get the same great steak flavor with a Denver Steak as with a more expensive cut like a New York Strip or a Sirloin, but without the high cost. A week ago I saw Denver Steaks in the local market. They looked good; they were reasonable priced (4 small steaks for about $7) so I picked them up. … [Read more...]

James Brewer, III went with his son, James, on a Topsail Sound excursion with Capt. Jim Crisco and had good results with red drum. They put four in the boat up to 29-inches; two were keepers. They also broke off a big black drum. Topsail Sound, a fairly shallow-water estuary, offers hot action for drum, flounder and specks. Just offshore, there is good fishing for blues, Spanish and sea bass. … [Read more...]

If you like beautiful, rolling hills at the foot of the Blue Ridge, you’ll love The Greene Hills Club in Stanardsville. One of central Virginia’s best kept secrets, Greene Hills is unmatched in the beauty of the surroundings and the friendliness of its members. Last week, my three golf amigos and I had a chance to tee it up at Greene Hills and use our VSGA cards. I think we paid about $30 each. … [Read more...]

Sometimes the easiest part of preparing a meal is the main course, or even the dessert. There are so many go-to dishes that an at-home chef has lots of choices. Side vegetables can be a little more difficult. Sometimes the plate needs a little color, sometimes a little pizzazz. My daughter, Laura, introduced me to a great dish that is easy to prepare, inexpensive, tasty beyond what’s expected and … [Read more...]

“Eat mo’ chiken!” That’s what the cows on the Chick-fil-A commercials advise. And the bovines are right! Especially if you’d like to get the needle on the bathroom scales heading the right way – down! I weigh myself daily, and with few exceptions, when I eat chicken for dinner the previous day, I lose weight. But chicken every day gets old, even fried chicken, which won’t allow you to lose … [Read more...]

A scary looking fish called a snakehead showed up in the Potomac River watershed about 10 years ago. They began biting hooks and lines and made numerous appearances in fish surveys. With all the negative publicity and hand-wringing by various game biologists, one would have though the Martians had landed and were eating our babies. Snakeheads, they said, were prolific breeders and would compete … [Read more...]