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I realize it may sound like bragging to call my shrimp and grits recipe the best shrimp and grits recipe ever. However, these aren’t my words. These are the words of everyone who has ever tried my shrimp and grits – a regular in my dinner party repertoire. I first discovered shrimp and grits when we moved to the South fifteen years ago. I was hooked! I ordered it whenever it was…
Read moreA couple of weeks ago, I was invited by Kayem Artisan Sausage to help judge my first food competition – the Artisan Affair at NoDa Brewing. Not that I would normally pass up a free meal (you’ve seen my income reports…), but the deal was sweetened when I learned that the competition was between four Charlotte based food trucks. Each food truck was to incorporate a Kayem Artisan Sausage into…
Read moreI have a few trolls in The Wandering Gourmand community. They recently surfaced on two occasions – the announcement of my wife’s pregnancy and then again on our son’s birth. Both posts were immediately followed with comments of “your traveling days are over,” “you’ll never eat out again,” and “get used to chicken nuggets instead of chicken cacciatore.” Normally they follow the spite with a muahaha to show that the…
Read moreCulinary tourism has become a growing trend in the travel industry, exploding to the $150 billion dollars annually. Travel companies are happy to accommodate this new hunger with options ranging from weeklong culinary excursions to daylong cooking classes to city food tours. As a seasoned traveler and foodie, I’ve attended tours of all three varieties across four continents. While most experiences have been positive, I’ve also witnessed the bad side of culinary…
Read moreWhen I arrived in the Loire Valley, I was welcomed with what Chefs Sidney and Allison Bond described as a traditional French market dinner. “It’s nothing fancy. Just stuff we picked up at the farmer’s market today. I hope it’s enough to eat. Are you hungry?” asked Sidney in his distinct South African accent. I was famished. All I had eaten that day was a rather pathetic looking bocadillo jamón on the train…
Read moreIf you’ve followed this blog long enough, you know I grew up in a rather large Italian-American family. My grandparents lived two blocks from us and my great aunts and uncles lived within a five block radius. All said, about fifty of us cuginos lived within a few miles of each other. Christmas Eve was our night to all gather together, enjoy more than a few toasts and saluds, and feast on our…
Read moreLast month I published my first article in a real magazine – Run South Florida. Someone actually liked my words enough to print them! I’m not sure why it has taken me almost a month to mention it here on my blog. You’d think I’d make a grand announcement with animated balloons and Nickelback music (I think Rockstar would be appropriate). Alas, my big splash into the world of adding “published” to…
Read moreAfter a two night hotel stay in Times Square, I wrote New York City off as a place I could never live. The people, the traffic, the gross over-commercialization, really bad food stands, the honking, comedians trying to get me to buy tickets, the construction, the people. Yes, I listed people twice – throngs of them (tourists and business folk alike) shoving back and forth and heaving through crosswalks was way too…
Read moreWho doesn’t love a sweet and minty mojito on a warm summer evening? But a mojito bocktail with blueberries added? Estas loco? I know. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? But hear me out. Sometimes, you just need to use the ingredients you have on hand and pour in a little creative inspiration. You’ll be amazed at what you can come up with. For this bocktail, we did just that. The farmers’ market here…
Read moreI’m going to write this post in true Boston manner and focus only on what it’s about with no fluff. If you want to read about the history of Santarpio’s Pizza in East Boston or the rival with Regina’s for best pizza in town, go find it elsewhere on the web. If you want to read about the pizza, then keep reading, baby! I wasn’t planning to eat pizza on my overnight…
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