Just another guy with a photoblog. Feel free to follow along as I work on various hobbies and projects around the house.
Recent posts
I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never really cared for the typical Southern version of cheese grits. The grits are tasteless, the cheese is lumpy, and the eggs dry everything out. When the casserole cools down, you have to cut a cube out of the solid yellow mass and smash it down with the back of your spoon. That’s about as unappetizing as it gets....read more
Posted 4 days 11 hours ago.
In the latest Bon Appétit advice column, a reader described a scene where her dining companions flummoxed the wait staff by wanting to divide the check six ways for different amounts. She asked for advice on the best way to split a check among a group....read more
Posted 1 week 5 days ago.
The wife’s sewing supplies have dominated the dining room table for a while now. Her brother brought back some fabric from Africa, and she made a retro-looking dress out of it. She also made a tiny dress for a friend’s baby. I’m impressed with how quickly she can turn these things around these days. Click here to check them out. Share This Post...read more
Posted 1 week 6 days ago.
I mentioned a while back how much I enjoyed reading Frank Stitt’s cookbook. I actually lugged the giant tome to and from the beach over a few days. For my recent birthday, the wife bought me Soby’s New South Cuisine Cookbook so I could keep learning. Who could blame her?...read more
Posted 2 weeks 3 days ago.
After my successful experiment with homemade linguine noodles over the weekend, I decided to make some spaghetti. Over the years, I’ve learned to experiment incrementally to see what my flavor limitations are. Like with bread, pasta is 95% flour. That means that you’d have to add a lot of another ingredient to be able to taste it....read more
Posted 2 weeks 4 days ago.
Over the weekend, the wife and I watched the HBO documentary, No One Dies In Lily Dale. It’s about a small town in upstate New York. The way Orlando is all about theme parks, Lily Dale is all about psychics and spiritual mediums. There are rows of houses that offer palm readings, psychic body scans, séances, and spiritual readings....read more
Posted 2 weeks 5 days ago.
The wife and I stumbled upon a Shriner Parade early on Saturday morning. In case you didn’t know, the Shriners are officially called the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. They’re an offshoot of the Freemasons and sponsor a 50-bed pediatric orthopaedic hospital here in Greenville....read more
Posted 2 weeks 6 days ago.
I’ve been wanting to make pasta noodles from scratch for a while. When we got a stand mixer for a wedding gift, we also got a ravioli attachment. I’ve always wanted to use it, but it seems pretty useless without a pasta roller....read more
Posted 3 weeks 9 hours ago.
Prior to a family reunion a couple of years ago, a relative of mine ran across an interview with my maternal grandfather, Claude Smeraglia, from July of 1968. At the time, he lived and worked in an Italian-American enclave adjacent to the airport in Birmingham, Alabama. The interview was conducted by a Samford University student at the East Side Drug Company, a pharmacy he owned and operated....read more
Posted 3 weeks 1 day ago.
Most people who discover Bob Dylan’s music these days run across a song of his (or a cover of a song of his) in a film or on Pandora. If their interest is piqued, they’ll likely buy one of his greatest hits albums on a whim. The first Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits album was released in 1967 and was by all accounts a great compilation album....read more
Posted 3 weeks 2 days ago.