The first 100 of a nearly 630-piece commission for LaGrange, Georgia, potter Genna Grushevenko.

My pal Genna Gruchevenko has been unbelievably fired up lately. Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Potters call forth so many good wordplays. But seriously, the Ukrainian-born potter was recently asked to do a 630-pot job for Kia, the big new employer in Troup County, and he's nearly finished. It's a pretty huge mountain to climb, and, though I haven't yet checked with him, likely a once-in-a-career type gig. Well-deserved, I might add.

So it's my first time in Tulsa and I'm driving past the fairgrounds and suddenly I see this giant. Nearly wrecked the rental car. Giants make me nervous, for some reason.

This one, however, has been standing in the same place since about 1966, reminding folks that Oklahoma was once the largest oil field in the country. Apparently, in all that time, the oilman has never made a threatening move, even to protest America's dependance on foreign oil, lament falling oil prices, or to make his views known on the state of the industry. He's been a silent guardian at the fair standing up equally to Oklahoma twisters and the winds of time.

There's something to be said for that.

Fall is a popular time of year for visitors to the Smokies—those from all over flock for a glimpse at the sprawling view of reds, yellows, and oranges. But early Sunday morning, a rockslide hit North Carolina’s Highway 40, leaving a mountainous pile of boulders just past the Tennessee state line and closing the road in both directions.

Authorities say the rocks may leave the road blocked for several months, but don't let a highway closure put a hold on your road trip just yet! There are several detours available, so there's no need to miss out on long Fall drives or Winter ski trips this year.

Follow the link for additional routes that offer a scenic drive and great stops for amazing views.

 
  
I read this morning in the New Orleans Times-Picayune that oysters in the off-season are on the brink. Regulators could be shutting down restaurants from serving the Louisiana staple - how many times have I had a dozen at Acme, Casamentos, Pearl! - from April to October. Same goes for Florida, the Carolinas, the Chesapeake, and onward. In an effort to cut down on a rare bacterial illness from bad bivalves, the new FDA sterilization rules means big time losses for oystermen, restaurants, and consumers. To put it in perspective in New Orleans, Lousiana harvests one-third of the nation's oysters. If the FDA plan happens, the new rules will likely take effect in 2011.

Read the full article here.

Shreveport icon, Strawn's Eat Shop, is best-known for its strawberry pies topped with smooth domes of whipped cream.

But this little restaurant (featured in SL's November mega-story "Secrets of the South's Best Diners") also serves a mean meat-and-three lunch. The daily menu is so stone-sure, it's painted on one of the walls...

Yesterday morning, TALES FROM THE ROAD, the travel and culture blog for Southern Living magazine, received the Bronze Award from the Society of American Travel Writers. We were chosen out of 25 other such blogs for the honor during SATW's annual conference in Guadalajara, Mexico.

It's the first award for TALES, and in the spirit of awards, we'd like to celebrate in ways only Southerners would choose. After all, we Southerners know how to have a good time. Here's our best picks for an unabashed, deep-fried, roll-tide-roll victory lap:

10. We'll drape the blog in a Derby garland of roses. Roses are the official flower of Kentucky's great race, and Governors since Burgoo King won in '32 have been draping the 554-rose blanket across the winning horse's back. Hides the smell of hay, we guess. 

Georgia's small farms took a devastating hit with the record-setting rains. Some even lost all their crops. Judith Winfrey, owner of Love is Love Farm near Atlanta, saw an overflowing Aneewakee Creek ruin most of their fall harvest completely.

To help, a series of events and fundraising efforts will be happening in the coming days. Slow Food Atlanta is a great place to start if you'd like to help out these growers. Visit SFA here.

RELIEF EVENTS:

WHOLE FOODS: All 7 Metro Atlanta Whole Foods (including Harry's Farmers Market) stores will be hold a 'Donate Your Dime' program for the entire month of October. You can donate your $0.10 per bag refund to the Georgia Flooded Farmers Relief Fund when you shop at any Whole Foods store and bring your own bags. On Wednesday Oct 21st, all 7 Metro Atlanta Whole Foods stores will be donating 5% of their net sales to the Georgia Flooded Farmers Relief Fund. This includes the Harry's Farmers Market stores in Marietta and Alpharetta. In addtion, the Briarcliff, Cobb, and Duluth stores will be holding special farmers' markets at the stores where you can purchase produce directly from local farmers.

Oct. 7-11, Rosebud: Rosebud is hosting a week-long dine out to raise money for the Georgia Flooded Farms Relief Fund. Dine at Rosebud anytime between Monday, October 5 - Sunday, October 11 (lunch, dinner or brunch) and 15% of the proceeds will be donated to this important fund. 1397 North Highland Ave Ne

Oct. 8: Brick Store Pub and Leon's Full Service in Decatur will donate 20% of all profits to the relief efforts. Click here for more.

Oct. 11, Woodfire Grill: Woodfire Grill will host a fundraiser for Love is Love Farm, starting with a cocktailm party at 6,  followed by a seated dinner.

Oct. 11, Canoe: Chef Chris Hall & friends will be cooking for Canoe on Sunday, $33 per person for three-course prix fixe menu. All proceeds benefit the employees and staff of Canoe after it was wrecked by epic flooding in Atlanta last week. Please contact them for more information at 770-434-1114.

Fans of storyteller-humorist Lauretta Hannon know her as the Cracker Queen. We’re calling her the funniest woman in Georgia. She published a new memoir this year and counts NPR’s All Things Considered a friend. Now, Lauretta’s traveling the South telling her tales about the best BLT she’s ever had, why women need to calm down, and how bugs can cure Georgia’s woes. And lucky for us, Lauretta's kindly sent us an excerpt. Read on.

My first hike on the AT felt like I stepped into a perfect postcard. October’s blue skies served as a backdrop as I plodded up a steep trail through gold and russet leaves. I was walking up my first rugged mountain: North Carolina’s Standing Indian (5,498 feet) with a group of six friends, and we told stories and sang songs along the way.

The path unreeled ahead, a dusty rut, wide enough for two of us to walk abreast. Grasses with dots of yellow, red, and purple wildflowers swiped against our knees. Fingers of buttery light reached into the trees, lighting the forest floor.

When the trail turned sharply, I’d reach out for a nearby tree trunk, and felt smooth places on the bark, created by countless other hands. At the top, the view made all the sweating and climbing worthwhile.

The AT met my expectations for beauty that day. I went on to hike along much of the Southern half of the AT: in North Georgia, North Carolina to the Smokies and beyond, and even in Virginia and Maryland.

The trail drew me back not too long ago to join the Konnarock Crew—one of the volunteer groups that rebuild portions of the AT every summer (appalachiantrail.org for more info). We camped along Virginia’s Mount Rogers, spied wild ponies, munched wild blueberries, and dug into some back-breaking labor (without a shower for a week!).

The biggest surprise along the AT is how populated it can be It’s more like a friendly pedestrian highway on weekends where hikers stop to greet, to pet each other's dogs, and to chat about the route. In the evenings, the shelters and campgrounds fill with gabfests. 

No matter how beautiful and awe-inspiring the AT can be, at the end of the day, journeys here are all about story making and storytelling.

Have you hiked along the AT? Where are your favorite places? Mine feel more like mental snapshots I took along the way (both of these come from the Smokies):

 --Crossing a rushing stream in winter where rhododendrons the size of school buses hugged the banks in thickets, their glossy leaves curled up tightly like cigars.

-- Cool hillsides in summer’s midday with deer napping in the shade.

--A bear cub shimmying up a tree to hide (fun to see, but I knew momma bear had to be nearby too).

The late Jim Dickinson, second from left, sits with (left to right) son Luther, wife Mary Lindsay, and son Cody. Jim’s good buddy Lightin’ the basset hound is seated center. For more on the piano* that served as the centerpiece for this photograph, see below. Photo by Art Meripol.

Memphis and the greater world of music lost one of its most knowledgeable, talented, and entertaining denizens last week. James Luther Dickinson died Saturday, August 15, at his home outside of Coldwater, MS.

Jim leaves his wife Mary Lindsay and their two sons, Luther and Cody, who many music fans know as the guitarist and drummer, respectively, for the North Mississippi Allstars. He also leaves us all with music he’s written, performed, recorded, and produced, having played with such icons as Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones, and worked with bands, such as The Replacements and Memphis’ own Big Star.

It began innocently enough. Earlier this summer I spent time on a Texas ranch to research a story. While there I fell hard ... fell for the look of cowboy boots. Since returning home my fascination grew. I needed some cowboy boots of my own.

To be perfectly clear, these aren't boots that I'm going to wear horse riding. I just like the look of them, and what Southern girl doesn't? Thus began my quest for the perfect pair: ones that I could wear at work, on the road, with jeans, with dresses, when line dancing. OK maybe not that last part.

Here are some of my favorite stops along the trail of the perfect pair:

 Wildflower & Wax -- Located in Helena, Alabama (just outside Birmingham), this store actually specializes in making their own beautiful and delicious smelling candles (here is their blog). But the owners discovered that customers were interested in the vintage cowboy boots they had on display for decoration, so they started selling vintage boots from all over the country.

I found several pair I liked, but none in my size. If at first you don't succeed ...

Keep shopping.

I looked around online a bit but am a believer in trying on boots for the right fit. So when I had some extra time during a Texas trip last weekend (Lubbock), I tried on a few dozen pair on for size.

At Cavender's, a chain that has been in business since 1965, I found rows and rows of gorgeous new boots in every size, shape, and color.

Simple, ornate, tall, short, dressy and casual (seriously, I had no idea of the range of possibilities), I pulled pair after pair from the shelves, trying them on and learning from their friendly salespeople how boots should feel and fit.

Here were some of my favorites (at right).

Although several of these caught my attention, I had a feeling that the perfect pair was still somewhere out there, waiting for me.

Luckily, I happened to be going to Nashville after Texas.

The odyssey continued.

Following a friend's recommendation, I stopped off at the legendary Katy K's, whose customers sing on the Grand Ole Opry. Rockabilly and rhinestone fashion galore, I knew this was my kind of place. And indeed, this is where I found them: The Ones.

As soon as I put them on I knew I'd found my glass slippers. These vintage boots would go with everything, had an ever so subtle but colorful pattern, and fit like magic.

Move over Carrie Bradshaw. You don't have anything on a Southern girl with the perfect pair of boots. (But if another pair come along, there's still room in my closet ... )

Related Links:

40 Things Every Southerner Ought To Do

Music City Shopping

Recently I've started hooping for exercise. As in hula hooping, the thing that you did when you were a kid. It's a ridiculous amount of fun, and there are even health benefits (but that's another story for another time).

Let's just say you can't feel bad when you have a brightly colored hoop spinning around your body and the music way up. I even have a collapsible one for travel, which gets a lot of attention in airports.

What? You've never seen a grown woman carry a laptop on one shoulder and a fold-up hoop on another? It is a conversation starter to say the least.

Random person: Um, what's that around your neck?

Me: It's a hula hoop.

Random person: Seriously?

Me: Yep, wanna try?

Random person looks suspiciously at me, backing away slowly.

OK, so it's a bit bulky and I don't take it everywhere. But I'm not the only Southerner who is into hooping --  in fact the Hotel Palomar in Dallas is offering a 50% discount to anyone who can hula hoop for one minute upon check-in. And if you can't make the full minute, they'll offer a free-upgrade if you hoop for 20 seconds. How fun is that?

The deal is upon availability and runs through Sept. 7. Now go get your hoop on.

Related Links:

Southern Living: Dallas Like A Local

Southern Living Live Healthy: Hula Hooping To Health

Hooping.com - What is Hooping?

Maybe it's the Spanish moss dripping eerily from live oaks in the moonlight, the hushed secrets of  multiple cultures, or the imaginations of a thousand storytellers--the South is a born-and-bred backdrop for intrigue. The region is fertile ground for folklore and secret societies (that old Greek fraternity/sorority handshake counts for something), and mystery is bound to entail. Similarly, we're home of the famed phrase: "Hey y'all, watch this!" A Southerner will try anything once.

The Manta at SeaWorld in Orlando, FL
Afterburn at Carowinds in Charlotte, NC
Thunderhead at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN
Goliath at Six Flags in Atlanta, GA

You've got a few more weeks of sweet summer left for lazy days curled up in the sun with a book in hand. Check out our latest book reviews and read our picture-perfect location suggestions. Where would you picture reading one of these books?

What are your suggestions for last-minute summer reads?

Beach Trip 

by Cath Holton (Ballantine Books, $25)

Twenty-three years after graduating from a small Episcopal Southern college, four friends reunite for an island getaway in North Carolina's Outer Banks. I know, I know. Beach Trip sounds like your typical chick lit summer read. But this novel will surprise you. What begins as a lighthearted book about rebuilding an old friendship becomes a truly touching novel about love, loss, regret, and renewal. 

                                                                                                                                              Several weeks ago I found myself surrounded by family and friends of rock and roll royalty.

While visiting Lubbock, Texas, I was invited to a performance of "Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story."

The musical, which tells the life story of Lubbock's native son and rock pioneer Holly, is being staged by the non-profit Lubbock Moonlight Musicals and features cast members from of the London production of "Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story," which closed earlier this year.

The talented performers (including many local residents and Texas Tech students) brought Holly's music alive under the Texas stars. Adding to the depth of the experience was the fact that so many people in the audience -- and even on the stage -- had personal connections to Buddy Holly.

The woman sitting next to me went to school with him. His niece, Ingrid Holly Kaiter, sang in the show. And as an encore, his nephew, Eddy Weir, joined Matt Wycliffe (who plays Buddy) on stage, for a rocking guitar duet. I spoke briefly to Eddy, who said it was an honor for him to be play in the musical depicting his late uncle's life and legacy. Countless others in the audience shared how proud they were that the musical had returned, so new generations can learn about this music pioneer.

As far as British actors playing boys from West Texas -- I have to say they got the accent down just right. And by watching all of the young people in the audience it's pretty clear -- the music definitely hasn't died.

Lubbock Moonlight Musicals presents "Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story" at the Wells Fargo Amphitheater in MacKenzie Park, July 25 and August 1, 7, 14, and 22 at 8 p.m. For more information, visit www.lubbockmoonlightmusicals.org or call 1-800-735-1288 or 806-770-2000.

Related Links:

Southern Living: Top 10 Cities In Texas

The Buddy Holly Center - While in Lubbock, learn more about the man and his music

If there is one thing (and trust me, there's more than one thing) I've discovered in my two months interning in Southern Living travel headquarters, it's that these people know the South. Seriously--any one of the editors can rattle off where locals dine on the freshest seafood, the personality of City A compared to City B, and how on earth to pronounce that little island of the coast of Carolina. 

These erudite scholars of the South were prime suspects for assistance in compiling a Southern Bucket List. Here's their Top 40 Things to Do in the South Before You Die.

Ashlyn: Cabin fever. BAD. i'm about to say lets jet off to ATL or nashville
Sloan: really?? can we please? i just said those exact same words to my mother i am DYING to get outta this town. (I should add at this point that, despite a Braves game, we have been kicking it in the fabulous 'Ham for approximately 5 consecutive months.)
Ashlyn: you think we could swing it? you know i'm in if you are.
Sloan: well. we'd have to decide where first.
Ashlyn: ha. okay, hm. can we go to n'ville?

CHEZ LULU

The choice of restaurant was easy: Give a girl French lessons for five years, and she's got a built-in affinity for anything francais, mais oui. We trotted over to Chez Lulu, a bohemian yet refined French cafe tucked into Birmingham's English Village. (Think decor of Grayton Beach's Red Bar with less flip flops and sand, more ballet flats and white table cloths.) Lush reds, walls covered in scrolling-gold frames, and European food: Perfect ambiance for a new 21-year-old and her mama.

Okay, okay. So while I may be interning in a city where I go to college, let's be honest: You kinda lose the "explorer" habit when sophomore year hits. This summer, I'm going to finally dig into Birmingham like I am a fresh out of the gates traveler. And while I may be no novice to Birmingham, there a a plethora of mossy Shades Creek rocks I have left to unturn. Keep checking back with me--I'm a girl on a mission and I will welcome any and all ideas you have for me!

GILCHRIST'S
I've smugly uttered the following phrase approximately 26 times: "Oh, well I never order the same thing twice." My, my. How cosmopolitan. But alas, as I add years to my life I find some comfort in having my "usual." At my table. In my restaurant.

This past weekend my family and I experienced the beauty of the Locust Fork River for the first time. One of Alabama's longest remaining free-flowing rivers, it twists and turns its way between ridges and cliffs just north of Birmingham. Home to several rare aquatic species, including a few stands of the beautiful Cahaba lily, the river meanders lazily in places, while at others its waters rush between rocks, over shoals, and, when I hit the chutes just right, over the bow and all over my wife. 

by Ashlyn Stallings

You know those little triggers that cue the voice in your head to say, “This time last year?” Lately for me, memories ensue with the thick scent of confederate jasmine or the lowcountry cookbooks lying around my apartment—it’s safe to say I miss Charleston these days.

This time last year, I was interning at the fabulous Spoleto Festival USA in the Holy City. Trotting up and down King, George and East Bay streets to hit up shows with my comp tickets, I was high on art, music and dance during the 17-day festival. This is the last weekend, so check it out now.

(I visited Mose Tolliver at his home in 2005.)

I'm heading to Tallahassee, FL, this week to interview an artist for an upcoming feature on the great Southern folk artists you need to buy now.

(I would tell ya more about it, but I don't want to scoop the story.  Keep your eye on the mag...) 

I'm a folk art enthusiast, investing any extra cash into pieces I admire and the artists who create them. The trip reminds me of my first folk art encounter: A trip to see Mose Tolliver, one of the most noted artists of the contemporary folk art genre... 

Buddy Grimm stepped off his long, flat stone crab boat just as the sun began its last half-hour in the south Florida sky. He looked beat: reddened on his forearms and ears, his loose and tatteredoxford shirt stained by tobacco and sea salt. His three crabbers lifted the day's catch in large rectangle boxes filled to the top with pink-and-black stone crab claws. Looking at the catch, I thought of two things: 1) Would the poised and frightening claws come back to life if I touched one; and 2) Were a bunch of crabs swimming in circles out beyond Chokoluskee Bay?

Everybody fears #17.  The island hole at TPC Sawgrass haunts all of professional golf's big boys (Tiger, Phil, and the rest of the pack) who are swinging away at THE PLAYERS tournament kicking off today in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. 

I understand.  I played the course last Spring with my father (see my story on the TPC Sawgrass Experience in SL's April '09 issue).  #17 beat me.  Dad smote it, however, and I even shot a video of his tee shot. 

Last week I traveled to North Carolina. It was my first trip to NC in the two years I've been on staff at Southern Living. After tens of thousands of miles logged in the far reaches of Texas and in Louisiana's  bayou backwater, seeing the rolling, tree-wealthy range of central North Carolina was the freshest breath of air I've had in a long while. At times, I felt like I was in another country, maybe Scotland.

Hikers, spelunkers, and other outdoors lovers often advise "take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints." As a photographer, I've always tried to adhere to that. Yesterday morning at the beach in Camp Helen State Park in Florida's beautiful panhandle, I found a lot of different footprints to photograph. 

Photo: Robbie Caponneto

A 450th birthday calls for some serious celebrating and Pensacola plans to commemorate its founding all year long. The Florida Panhandle city, home to a festive lot of residents well rehearsed in the art of merriment, has planned a slew of events throughout 2009 and in the process remind St. Augustine which city was actually settled first. (See below for the answer.)

Okay, so this is really cool.  I caught wind about the Southwest Airlines Wi-Fi, but it didn't cross my mind this morning when I hopped the plane from B'ham to Dallas.  

Then, Bam!  Here I am, blogging in real time from the skies.  Their wi-fi homepage shows me the progress of the flight.  (It's 8:15 a.m., we're going 450 mph, our ETA to Love Field is 68 minutes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses...)  During this testing period, the service is as free as the two packs of peanuts sitting on my tray. 

Now, what could I write about?  The guy in 12D holds his newspaper close to his face.  The woman in 13D brought cheese crackers.  She offered me one, but I politely declined. 

I never promised the post would be exciting. Just cool.

Kachina Peak as seen in the distance from the intersection of the Highline and West Basin trails

My head was in the clouds and my burning lungs felt like they were in my stomach…being digested. At an altitude of some 12,000 feet, I looked up at the final approach to Kachina Peak, breathless and more airheaded than usual. More than a little humbled, too, as the words of the ski shop clerk down in Taos Ski Valley (TSV) echoed in my head with a sort of taunting lilt. When I had asked him earlier in the week if the hike to the ski resort’s highest peak would take me the 45 minutes a local had estimated, he in turn asked me, “Where you from?” Upon hearing the place I call home is the relatively low altitude Birmingham, AL, he smiled and answered my original question with a confident, perhaps overly so, estimate of, “An hour and a half.”

Back on the mountain, I looked at my watch and reveled in the fact that he was wrong. By his reckoning, I should’ve reached the top five minutes ago, yet I still had another quarter mile to go – all of it up hill.

Mark your calendars for April 19-20 and 25-26: The global music community is descending onto Houston for iFest. From Celtic to Tejano to African drum circles, the city will be jamming out both weekends. Since 1971, the iFest has been THE international event of the year in hTown, and for good reason. When you look at all the offerings, it will make your head hurt it's so packed. 

Editor's Pick: Rootz Underground, one of Jamaica's hottest reggae bands, shown above. There's plenty of good acts to catch on the 10 stages. So, if international travel is out for your family this summer, head into Houston. Tip: If you buy before March 31, one-day tickets to all the shows are only $7.50.  For a preview of Rootz Underground and other performers, continue reading...

Detoured off I-540 to hike at Devil's Den State Park in NW Arkansas.  Followed unmarked paths to crevices and blazed trails to caves.  Didn't make it too far into this one.  Next time, I'll pack a flashlight.   

Ah. It's FINALLY here. My very favorite two days of the sporting year. Thursday-Friday of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tourney, the day when giants are knocked off, when the little guy hits the game-winner to clinch immortality on his home turf. Tune in to this post to hear all about the South's best sleeper teams likely to shock the hoops world. Even President Obama is in on the fun. 

Some people think of Oxford and immediately think of The Square, The Grove, and Ole Miss. For me, Oxford is a bastion of Mississippi culture and great Southern dining. So it disheartens me to report that Yocona River Inn, one of the community's culinary landmarks, was destroyed by fire on on Thursday, March 12.

I wish Billy Reid was my roommate. Then whenever I needed to look especially cool and dapper and Gatsby-gone-South, I'd just raid his closet. Last month, the New York Times ran a killer piece giving the Alabama fashion designer major kudos. He deserves it. Now only if I can convince Billy to move from Florence to Birmingham.

There’s something strange afoot in Lake Wales, Florida. Automobiles seem to defy gravity on one notorious side street.

Just down from peninsular Florida’s highest point, the aptly named “Spook Hill” has been thrilling the willing for nigh on 100 years now by making wheeled vehicles seemingly roll up hill. Is it the result of a buried magnetic pole? Or is it the protective ghost of a Native American chief and the gator with whom he fought to the death, both of whom are supposedly buried nearby? Or maybe it’s a Bermuda Triangle-esque portal to another universe?

I can claim a few towns as my own, at least enough so to give strong local-recommended, mother-approved tips on what to do. Foodie heaven Charleston, mega-opolis Laaa-Grange GA, Grayton Beach, and everyone's favorite string music capitol Nashville. Just yesterday on a Mexican beach (Tulum, but don't tell anyone, ok?), I ran into a man on his way to Nashvegas. Going to the Whole Foods executive board meeting. Big wig, I know. Anyways, he mentioned the Music City, so I quickly mentioned The Station Inn on 12th. If you like live music and popcorn and possibly pitchers of Bud, well, JT Gray's cinderblock wonderpalace of banjos and mandos will slap you happy. Enjoy.

This moonlight photo would never have worked the old way Southern Living shot images. Want to know why?

(photo by Robbie Caponetto)

“Everybody wants to know when they will win the lottery," said Margaret "Miss Maggie" Burkley. "It’s not the winning or the losing, though. It’s the playing of the game.”

SL Photographer Robbie Caponetto and I sat down with Miss Maggie last March while researching our story The Allure of Natchez in the March '09 issue.  We found her, because when we asked locals about the unique personalities and characters, they all recommended we make an appointment to see her at her pink house on the bluff. 

Why?  She was the town psychic, and even though I called ahead, I had a feeling she knew we were coming... 

The first thing John David Montgomery ever gave me was a pair of red chopsticks.  To be fair, they were the only things he ever gave me.  To be even fairer, he tried to give me a Bud Light when last I saw him, but I politely passed.  I still had a ways to go on the bottle in my hand...

The James Beard Foundation recently announced the Semifinalists for the annual James Beard Awards, the Oscars of the food world. And not one, but three Charleston chefs got the nod.

Pictured from left: Chef Aaron Deal of Tristan (nominated for Rising Star Chef of the Year), Chef Sean Brock of McCrady's (Rising Star Chef of the Year and Best Chef: Southeast), and Chef Mike Lata of FIG (Best Chef: Southeast)

Now, Momma taught me it's rude to say, "I told you so." No one likes a know-it-all. But in the February issue of Southern Living,

Yesterday I read something very, very Southern in the New York Times. For months now the newspaper fairy has been delivering to my doorstep a free copy of the Sunday Times. I used to "borrow" the local public library's copy early sabbath AM --- returning it before the den of books opened on Monday --- until, lucky for me, the daily gods saw fit to save me the two-mile drive. Now, it's waiting thickly folded and wrapped in thin blue plastic when the sun comes up, minus that obscene $5 price tag Starbucks requires. But, back to the gorgeously written piece...it was about a frozen deer carcass in southeast Tennessee.

“He is not my friend.” That’s what my 3-year-old daughter, Campbell, said when she first laid her eyes on a clown at Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey circus. We went an hour before the show to the All Access Pre-Show. All ticket-holders can go early to take pictures with the clowns, get performers’ autographs, meet the performers, and even see an elephant paint. I found it a good way to introduce my first-timer to the circus.

Read More

Hey, just a quick post from the Romance-Isn’t-Dead department. As we barrel into Valentine’s weekend, I was reminded recently how simple displays of love can mean so much.

A friend told me about when, this past Saturday night, she and her husband were driving home from a dinner out. “He kept driving around in circles, and I’d ask him what he was doing. He’d say ‘I’m not going to tell you.’ He was playing ‘Moonlight Serenade’ by Frank Sinatra on the stereo over and over.’

For me, it was love at first sight.

Growing up, we never went on snow-filled vacations, but opted for with sandy beaches instead. I never got "snow days" from school, but instead watched Dallas shut down due to ice. Snow was something I had only seen on the big screen. So when I saw all that snow in Taos, New Mexico last year, well, I was smitten.

From watching skiers at the Bavarian Lodge and Restaurant to driving to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Angel Fire, a visit to Taos is all about relaxation and exploration. Taos Ski Valley right now has 84 inches of snow and primo conditions for skiing. Or, if you're like me, making snowballs and simply gazing at the beautiful white stuff.

Check it http://www.skitaos.org for more information.

Downtown Roswell, Georgia, a suburb about 14 miles north of Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood, feels much like a little English village. Clockmakers, painters, tidy and cute cottages, the whole bowl of cheerios. Now, as restaurant men with an affinity for country pubs opened Salt Factory, Roswell really feels like Sussex.

As news of the ice storm and its drastic effects on Kentucky and parts of Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee, spread in our offices, the common question was "How can we help?" Over the next days and weeks as a staff and magazine, we'll do everything we can to keep readers and travelers updated on progress in those areas touched by the storms.

In this effort, we ask for your help as well.

As news comes to you, please let us know by posting comments at the bottom of this blog post. What restaurants and grocery stores are open? What community projects are starting up? Where can families find aid and relief? Any pertinent information that people in these areas would benefit by knowing, post it. Also, if you read of any info relevant to your family and friends in these towns, consider calling them and letting them know. With such a storm, internet service is likely down. Sources tells us cell phones are your best bet.

Last week's ice storm left considerable destruction in several states, including Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and Illinois. Some communities may not have electricity or municipally supplied water for weeks. Stay tuned to this site for information concerning how you can help residents rebuild infrastructure and get their lives back on track.

If you're planning a trip to the area or just want to know how family and friends who live in these states are faring, see www.wpsdtv.com for information on utility outages in Kentucky. The list includes county-by-county information concerning electrical outages, what businesses are open, road conditions, locations of warming centers, and water boil orders. The site also includes information on Missouri, Illinois, and Tennessee counties affected by the storm.

(Photo: Wendy Davis, Cunnigham, KY)

Sure, Grand Isle is a famous fishing village in South Louisiana that has endured more than its share of hurricane misery, most recently from Gustav. It's also the name of a new dining spot in New Orleans that captures some of the soul of the Lousiana coast in all its funky appeal.