Soaking it all in

Nothing is more satisfying than some hot soup on cold days. I enjoy making homemade soups and stews, but I am just as content on making a quick boil-and-go Ramen noodle soup. Those are the bomb and SO CHEAP. I have a few friends who prep the soup, but then drain the liquid. HELLO, that is NOT soup. The fun part of Ramen is letting those noodles soak in the flavors, getting nice and plump then SLURPING them up. And you don’t have to be quiet when you slurp up the tasty noodles. In fact the louder the better. It is practically proper Ramen etiquette to loudly slurp your noodles. If you don’t, you are doing it WRONG. True Ramen chefs spend hours creating the broth. It is the most important aspect of the dish. Seriously. Look it up. Developing deep, rich flavors that meld well with the noodles is essential. And once you’ve slurped up all the noodles and goodies, YOU MUST chug down that broth. NO SPOONS PLEASE. Pick up the bowl and drink the broth like you are supposed to. Unlik...

’Twas two days before Christmas, yet not quite in the mood, Then I remembered about all the holiday food. Feeling much better, I returned to my chore, Then I heard it, although lightly, there was a knock on my door. So I looked out my window, surprised as to who I did see, Wait is that Santa, there, just waiting on me? “Dude, what’s up? Man you look great,” “It looks like you lost a lot of your weight.” “Ho, ho,” he replied, “but for Christmas this just won’t do.” “My suit won’t fit right, so I came looking for you.” “Me?” I asked. “Well Santa, you must be mistaken.” “Yes you,” he replied. “Just feed me. Let’s start off with bacon.” “Just for the holidays,” he said. “I need to be jolly and round.” “They say you are a foodie, so help me put on the pounds.” He walked in and made his way to my table, “Conjure up some goodies,” he said. “Every meal you are able.” I set out his cookies and started hoisting out pans, I started chopping veggies and opening cans. I c...

Every year we celebrate Thanksgiving, sometimes with friends and family, sometimes alone, and we reflect on things in our lives we should be thankful for. I have many things to be thankful for. I am thankful for having a loving and supportive family. I am thankful for my pets that also provide me with unconditional love. I am thankful, that unlike many others, I do have a roof over my head, electricity, hot water and the ability and comfort of sleeping in my own bed. I am thankful to have a job that has allowed me to report on issues in our community, both good and bad, sometimes ugly, sometimes humorous. A job that has also allowed to me discover new places and adventures and discuss my all-time favorite topic – FOOD. Oh, yes I am thankful for food! This year I’ll be home for Thanksgiving (all alone, all by myself….whimper…whimper), while the rest of my family is in Chattanooga. I don’t plan on cooking an entire meal for myself but I do plan to EAT. So I am thankful for places ...

It’s getting cold outside and it’s usually the time of year where I tend to crave, soups, stews and chili. I mean nothing warms up your insides better than a bowl of piping hot chili covered with melted cheddar and a dollop of sour cream. Am I right? Or warming your hands as they grip a cup of savory chicken soup, which will also warm your heart. Sounds like Heaven! But the other day something entirely different beckoned me. I was watching a TV show that highlighted old television commercials. I got up and went to the kitchen to get some water. In the background I heard, ‘Oh I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Wiener...’ And just that quick I needed, no not needed, WANTED a hot dog. “Man I haven’t had a hot dog in years,” I thought as I grabbed my wallet and keys and rushed out the door. Within minutes I was back home, suddenly facing a new dilemma — toppings and buns. “Let me see where my old bun steamer is,” I said to myself as I plunged my entire body into the cabinets of a...

I always buy candy to make sure I am covered for Halloween. I moved to Allenhurst in 2006 and can count the times I actually had a trick-or-treater knock at my door, on one hand. I live on a cul-de-sac where three families have children. Most of the time the parents take their kids trick-or-treating at local community events, especially if Halloween falls on a school night, and also because it is safer. Knowing that in all likelihood the candy I buy will be consumed by me, I go for the good stuff. I’m a chocoholic so I always get my favorites — Butterfingers, Snickers and Tootsie Rolls. I get the bowl ready, just in case, sit down to watch TV and wait, and wait and wait. There was this one year when I was doing this same routine and flipped the TV to the SyFy Network. It normally does a “30 Days of Halloween” each year, and when the channel came up, one of my favorite horror classics, “Friday the 13th” was just starting. “Oh yeah,” I thought, “I haven’t seen this movie in years.”...

I went into the Haunted Forest alone, Deep into all unknown. Deeper still where things howl and creek, Enveloped in dark unable to speak. In the stillness I lose track of time, Stuck in the recess of my own dark mind. Patty Leon

As the weather cools I look forward to homemade soups and stews. Since leaving Miami, I’ve craved a soup that I used to get on my visits to Latin House Restaurant in Little Havana – plantain soup. No. Not banana soup. That would be just plain gross! Plantains are a cultivar of bananas, but are only edible when cooked. Plantains are typically a side dish staple at a Cuban dinner. More often they are served as tostones (fried like thick chips) or as maduros (when the plantain is allowed to get a bit over ripe and soft to the touch. They are cut at a diagonal and sautéed lightly in oil). Maduros are sweeter and tender. Both are scrumptious, by the way. I had never attempted making homemade plantain soup, thinking it would take hours of preparation and a thousand items for the recipe. But I looked up the recipe and found one that seemed simple on the Three Guys from Miami Blog site. Hey this looks simple! Their original recipe called for a spice called bijol, which is primarily...

Everyone I know is freaking out over Hurricane Irma. As of Tuesday morning she was a strong Category 5 storm barreling toward the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Where it goes from there is still up in the air. Most models show it tracking toward Cuba and the Florida Straits. There are a few models that show Irma skirting up the East coast impacting all of Florida, the eastern coast of Georgia and South Carolina. Which is correct? WE DON’T KNOW YET PEOPLE because it is still way too early to tell people. SO STOP FREAKING the heck out. The one advantage of hurricanes is that there are ways of tracking them and plenty of time to plan ahead. So instead of freaking out you should be planning. First, secure all your important documents in one location and place them in zip lock bags to protect them from water. Have an evacuation plan in place. If you have pets they should be included in your plans as most shelters do not accept animals. Best place to stay is...

There is so many great foodie events coming up, two of which involve some of my most favorite things in the world – BEER and BACON. We are just days away from the annual Savannah Craft Brew Fest. This year it will be held 2-6 p.m. Sept. 2 at the Savannah International Trade & Convention Center. Have you not been? Well if you’re a beer lover, like me, YOU MUST GO AT LEAST ONCE. Dude, I plan to sample every beer they have….all 150 (or more) of them! I’ve got my ticket. Give me my two-ounce souvenir sampling mug and get the heck out of my way, please. And the incredibly SMART folks of Savannah have one upped themselves by incorporating Bacon Fest into the same weekend. Well, Bacon Fest is actually Sept. 1-4, but they are smart to have them both on the same weekend. Bacon Fest will be along River Street. Food vendors are encouraged to think outside the box and make bacon the center of all their appetizers, desserts, entrée and snacks. Think about it! Chocolate covered...

Trying to eat healthy, I joined a few of my friends in giving meatless Monday a go. Not a big deal in switching to a full veggie meal here and there. Pizza can be meatless. In fact my all-time favorite is the primavera white they sell at That’s Italian. It’s mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, Ricotta cheese and spinach. Completely delish! But maybe not a true healthy choice. There are plenty of pasta dishes that can be made without meat. I like substituting eggplant, zucchini and squash for those dishes. While shopping for options I picked up an item I have not used in a long time – Portobello mushrooms. I thought I would try to make a traditional steak with black beans and rice dinner and use the large mushroom caps in place of the steak. I am such a genius for thinking this. It was the BEST EVER and so simple to cook. I got out my handy cooking pan, placed it on the stove top and turned the heat to medium-high. I used a teaspoon of olive oil and a sliver of butter in the pan....

A good way to blow your good eating habits and your pocket book is shopping for food when you’re hungry. It’s just a bad idea folks, too much temptation while your tummy is rumbling saying, “Feed me.” It’s something I tend to do far too often. I start off with the best intentions of getting healthy items but hunger has its own plan. “Let’s see I need chicken for dinner tonight … oh wait this pizza will take only 15 minutes and has pepperoni and BACON . I should get the chicken to make ahead for tomorrow’s dinner, and get the pizza for tonight. YES. In the meantime let me snag this bag of chips and start on these now while shopping.” Crunch, crunch, crunch crunch…YAY CHEETOS! Of course then I need a soda to wash down the chips. There were a few times where I grabbed a ready-made sandwich at the deli to go along with the chips and soda. And if the hunger lingers I may start going aisle by aisle, searching for the next quick grab and chew option. OMG pickles, I need some for th...

In 1978, the low-budget science-fiction film “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” was a hit among young moviegoers. The film was a spoof on the horror and sci-fi genre movies of that time and featured monstrous tomatoes revolting against humans, killing them off one by one. Today, however, tomatoes are highly regarded in helping humans in battling a barrage of diseases. Prostate and breast cancer, surprisingly, top the list. Research indicates that tomatoes contain lycopene, which scientists consider to be a strong antioxidant. “Several studies have shown that a diet high in fruits, vegetables, soy, fiber, lycopene — which you find in tomatoes — and the omega-3 fatty acids reduces the risk of both breast cancer and prostate cancer,” Dr. Dean Ornish, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco, reported when speaking about the benefits of a more plant-based diet while in Savannah in November of 2016. “These diets contain a lot of naturally occurring an...

If you had to eat the same meal for 30 days what would you choose? OMG; decisions, decisions. See, I can actually do this. If I had to live on chicken soup, or say chili, or fried chicken for 30 days, no problem. Better yet tell me I can only eat ice cream and I’ll make it work for breakfast, lunch and dinner — EASY. Oh, 30 days’ worth of Lowcountry boils. YES, please! Wait! Pizza, yes by gosh. Pizza is definitely something I do for more than 30 days. Let’s see, what else would I possibly consider? Hmm. It would be easy to pick something like tacos (way too easy). As much as I like hot dogs I’m not sure I could commit to that for 30 days straight. I think I would stick to something from my childhood. Something I asked my mom to make nearly every day. Bistec de palomilla, con arroz y frijoles negros! (Palomilla steak with white rice and black beans). Mouthwateringly delicious to even think about. A palomilla steak is just top-round or a sirloin cut. The magic is that...

This story was originally printed in the Dec./Jan. 2015 edition of Liberty Life Magazine. Daufuskie Island Rum Company will be celebrating their first year in business this December and owners Anthony Chase and his newlywed wife Kristi are still in awe of just how successful their little venture has become. During a somewhat rainy October afternoon, Chase greets a group of visitors who came to tour his 1,500 square foot business and distillery. He glances at the large group gathered in the foyer and can barely contain his excitement. “Those push pins represent where people live right now and we’ve had visitors from 48 different states already,” Chase says pointing to two different maps on the wall of his tasting room. He says they are only missing guests from South Dakota and Alaska. “And we’ve already had visitors from 38 different countries as well,” he adds. “It’s been pretty remarkable to see the number of people who actually come to Daufuskie Island…we have about 300 people ...

Mead is similar to wine except instead of being derived from fermented grapes it is made from fermented honey, water and yeast. The first time I ever heard of and tasted Mead was at the the Savannah Bee Company. “It is the oldest form of alcohol that exists,” Savannah Bee Company’s Broughton Street location Mead bar manager Laurie Garner said during an interview I did with her for a magazine story years ago. “It predates wine by about 6,000 years,” Chelsea Miller added. She was at the River Street location working as the Mead bar manager. “The way it all started was that people crushed the (honey) combs to extract the honey and they would throw the empty combs in buckets which would then collect with rain water. Someone thought to add yeast,” Garner explained. “And somebody was lucky enough to take a sip of it and they called it the nectar of the Gods.” Miller said there are about 50 types of Mead recognized by the American Mead Association and the Savannah Bee Company carries an...

From the carpeting that lines the parking lot to the hundreds of pictures that give life to its interior walls, much can be said about the eclectic look of the Old School Diner. But it is more than just the ambiance that lures Coastal Georgia residents and tourists to the hidden gem. And while the perfectly cooked shrimp, saucy ribs and delectable hush puppies are what people hem and haw over, it’s the man behind the food who truly symbolizes the restaurant’s soul. The eatery is nestled along the bend of the South Newport River, not far from the pristine Harris Neck Wildlife Refuge. Chef Jerome Brown doesn’t just think of his diner as a place to have a meal. It is his home away from home, and — should they need a special sanctuary — his customers’ home as well. Those who frequent the restaurant are not just closed-out bar tabs and paid receipts — he sees them as members of his family. Born in Waycross, Webster Tyrone Jerome Brown cultivated his cooking skills at the Buccaneer Club...

The best thing about Coastal Georgia is the easy access to fresh local seafood. Locals tend to know where you can find the tastiest places offering up fresh dock-to-diner delights. Some of these best kept secrets are nearby, tucked away off Highway 17 near Shellman’s Bluff. These no frills diners have been around for quite some time, a testament to the scrumptious meals they place before their patrons. Some are well-known to visitors from around the world, simply by word of mouth. You may have to ask for directions and be willing to venture a little bit further off the beaten path but the meals, atmosphere and southern hospitality makes it all worthwhile. We stopped in and had a meal at two of these hidden gems. We also spoke to a few locals who offered up a few more suggestions within the area. The Fish Dock at Pelican Point, Crescent Formerly called Pelican Point Restaurant, The Fish Dock has been pleasing palates since 1986 when Michael Phillips opened the eatery that sits o...

Summer is here and time to get beach body ready...right? Hell no, not me. Let me tell you my summer fun plans. This summer I plan to use my food processor and slow cooker more often and truly expand my food palette. I'm going to dust off all my cook books and make my grocery lists. Heck maybe even splurge and buy a new stove and oven. What? No plans to hit the gym harder and fit into that new tankini? Hell no! And luckily for you I don't own a tankini or any beach wear right now. Come on people. We are halfway through June. Before you know it, it's back to school time and fall. Why bother to get in shape to just lie out in the hot sun, get sand in places you shouldn't and swallow salt water as you fight ripe tides? It's way too hot for that nonsense. It’s too much pressure to work that hard for three months (less than that now) of possible beach time. It’s more likely that you'll spend weekends mowing the lawn or running from thunder storms than l...