Southeastern Food Media

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has an article and ...

the popcorn quiz.. actually, I thought at first it was not of much interest but then took the quiz .. see what you think!

* also of interest this week a spectacular recipe for City Limits Maryland Lump Crab-Lobster Cake Benedict Looks incredibly rich!

* Book signing: Alton Brown, host of "Good Eats" on the Food Network, of his new book, "I'm Just Here for More Food." 7 p.m. Monday, Borders Books, 3637 Peachtree Road.

* and articles on food and health:Better product labels will reduce confusion about trans fat content .. interesting ...

Atlanta Creative Loafing offers its Atlanta readers a humorous diary of Cliff Bostock's recent trip L.A. story Wolfgang, pretty women, and foie gras shots

off they go to Bastide:

I am startled. "This is not Provencal cuisine," I say to our sever. "It's ... it's ... French molecular cuisine." "Very astute," he says. "We hired a new chef two months ago and we are no longer doing Provencal food." The new chef turns out to be Ludovic Lefebvre, famous in L.A. for A) looking like a rock star and B) turning L'Orangerie into one of L.A.'s hot spots..... Lefebvre's approach is to cook basically with French style and technique but to mix it up with the molecular style made famous at El Bulli in Spain and practiced by Richard Blais here at Bazaar. In fact, an amuse bouche here is a shot glass of blended foie gras much like Blais' milkshake. There's also a deconstructed Bloody Mary of glittering gels served on a big spoon

This is one article well worth the brief time required to read it!

another article on Atlanta diners ...with reviews

Dining at the counter or the bar is a time-honored tradition, whether you're solo or with a buddy or two. There's something almost rakish about it. I'm sure James Dean never dined at a table.  Perched at a counter, I've watched chefs cook and bartenders counsel. I've struck up a conversation with other singles. I've read a newspaper. I've people-watched. Sometimes, I've had a backache afterward. There's a communal sensibility to dining at the bar -- and membership is open to all.

Reviews include: Rhea's, Buckhead Diner, Majestic Diner, Luxe, and Gato Bizco Cafe ..

Access Atlanta from the AJC has a review by local critic Meredith Ford on Che, a new local dining spot:

LIPS. Glossy, red lips so puffy they would make Angelina Jolie turn green. They're pursed, puckered and ready to pounce from the menu at Che in Buckhead.

Ah, they lure me to drink rum. They lure me to talk. To eat tapas. To laugh. Those naughty lips.  Problem is, I should be more excited than I am. Those lips should have me downright giddy. Che has all the makings of the perfect Latin soiree, minus the piano and closet shower singers: heralded Aria owner, Gerry Klaskala, as well as George McKerrow Jr. and Ron San Martin of We're Cookin' and David Davoudpour, formerly of Blais, are doing much of the backing.

The Birmingham (Alabama) News has a very engaging article this week on teaching children about cooking on television:`Home Plate' scores ... Turner South's Chef Woods brings his true American cuisine, a k a Southern, to TV audiences daily:

"In my mind, you can't have American cuisine without starting with the Southern influence," Woods says. "You talk about the history and the culture of this country, it starts in the South. You talk about American food, it starts in the South." best known as the hip, energetic host of "Home Plate," which started airing on Turner South two years ago. As does Woods' show, the cookbook takes everyday and gives them a fresh, new twist - such as the New Southern Chicken and Dumplings and the Black-Eyed Pea Salad Over Mixed Greens and the Cheddar Grits Souffle.

What a marvelous article!

Charleston Post & Courier has an article which echoes much of what we have seen discussed here in our Southern Food Culture Forum

link to SFC Forum...

Mixed bag of deviled eggs, tomato pie, borscht, pralines .."

Are deviled eggs a Southern thing?  I suspect they might be French. My mother is from the North and she made deviled eggs. True, I was raised in the South; but it was many years before that culture had any influence over my mother ... or her cooking. "I think deviled eggs might be French because one of Julia Child's early shows featured a version of them -- which inspired me and my recipe. And which later another Julia -- Julia Reed -- declared 'the-best-stuffed-eggs-I've-ever-had-and-you-have-to-give-me-the-recipe-for-an-article-I'm-writing-for-the-New-York-Times.' Stuffed or deviled, butter is the answer."

and, of course, his recipe follows .. worth looking at even if you are avoiding eggs and the entire cholesterol folderol ...

The Charlotte Observer has an article by Kathleen Purvis on tailgate picnics:

At Stonewall and Church streets, Joe Ryan and his friends parked an enormous Pace Arrow RV on Saturday night and spent eight hours slow-cooking a whole pig.In the middle of the lot, Dexter Peeler is deep-frying a turkey and cooking ribs for 20 people who are coming after church.

There's hardly a table in sight with less than six bags of chips. There are dip trays and shrimp trays, tubs of homemade cookies, football-size cheese balls rolled in chipped

Charlotte Creative Loafing has an opening article on Russian and Slavic food stores in the area:Kielbasa, Kefir And Kvass Foods from Russia, with love

One of the fastest growing communities in Charlotte is the Russian/Slavic population ...The customers at these stores are primarily from Russia, Poland, Armenia, Ukraine and Romania. In general, the foods found in these shops are winter foods: pickled, smoked or dried. Popular items include grains such as buckwheat, potatoes, rye bread, beef, pork, butter, cabbage, kefir, sour cream, mushrooms, honey, garlic and onions. Polish cuisine is typical of a long winter cuisine. This cuisine is noted for the use of fresh game; flavorful hams; Baltic herring; mushrooms such as morels and chanterelles; borscht and a variety of thick soups; pastries with poppy seeds; noodles and cabbage; and sausage which is served cold with horseradish sauce or mustard, or boiled in beer and cooked in densely flavored stews.

Memphis Commercial Appeal offers a story on a local fine dining choice, La Tourelle:

There's not an element here the Escoffier would not acknowledge, yet every aspect of the dish seems fresh and important. Kent takes a nutty, earthy pumpkin soup and adorns it with a small ravioli filled with crayfish, fried basil and pistou, the French version of the Italian pesto, producing the essence of autumn. A small puff-pastry tart holds a modest mound of crab meat and thinly sliced scallops on a layer of meltingly tender leeks, all topped with silken strips of red and yellow sweet pepper; instead of offering heightened contrasts, this is a dish in which every aspect dissolves ineffably and deliciously into the others.

The Nashville Tennessean has a history and lengthy article on sorghum:

People often confuse sorghum and molasses — the two dark, sweet syrups can often be interchanged in recipes. ''Even the old timers call it molasses,'' Mark says of the sweet brown sorghum ... Sorghum has a milder flavor than molasses, explains Mark's wife, Sherry Guenther. Some molasses, especially the strong, bitter blackstrap variety, is usually cut with corn syrup to make it milder, she says.

• Use sorghum over pancakes, biscuits or toast, as a topping for ice cream or in cookies, cakes and breads.

• Sorghum may be used instead of honey in most recipes, except those with baking powder

• Substitute equal amounts of sorghum for molasses in meat sauces, barbecue sauce and baked beans.

The Raleigh News & Observer has a marvelous article, one among many, on lemons and limes by local attorney, Nick Taylor:

As the keeper of my home kitchen, I buy lemons or limes every time I go to the market. I use them interchangeably, recognizing that limes are a bit more acidic. Along with onions and garlic, lemons or limes make up the trio of basic cooking ingredients. On my counter, I keep a bowl containing onions, garlic, lemons (along with my son's Hot Wheels cars, pens, crayons, old golf balls, loose change and a new light switch I plan to install soon).

Thanks for reading the Southeast Forum Digests this week! Back next week with more from the area for your reading edification and enjoyment!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

By the way, a common theme which ties together many of the SE media this week is a reflection individual writers have upon the recent SFA gathering in Oxford, Mississippi:

Those stories are in purple here...Mayhaw Man's eGullet link here for SFA articles this week

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a lively article on the need for a good breakfast but concedes that granola made at home may be the perfect answer:

making your own granola requires little more than an outline: It's easy, economical and healthful because it allows you to customize to suit your tastes and nutrition requirements."You can control exactly what's going in it, from the spices to the cooking oil or fat to the different cereals that are fun to play with," 

something worthy of your time to read and the recipes are here as well:

* Pop, Pop, Popcorn Cereal

* Fruit-Filled Granola

* Crunchy Granola

* Multi-Grain, Multi-Seed, Multi-Nut Granola

Won Ton Cups With Whipped Cheese and Roasted Pepper which looks simple enough but interesting as an appetizer.

Also of interest to those here in Atlanta:

Fundraising cooking demo: 6:30-9 p.m., Oct. 27, Buckhead Place Shopping Center. $50. 404-760-8904. With Marvin Woods, chef/author/restaurateur, for Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Will be taped for Turner South's "Home Plate."

Set limits for safe, fun Halloween

The Atlanta Business Chronicle is running an article on what is happening with the rapid growth of restaurants along the Atlanta Perimeter Highway (I 285):

Thirteen new restaurants will open in October 2005, when the $165 million live-work-play development by The Sembler Co. opens on Perimeter Center West near Perimeter Mall. The new restaurants will include Outback Steak House, Carrabba's, Cheeseburger in Paradise, Mama Fu's, Tin Drum, Fleming's Steakhouse, Chipotle and Panera Bread. Some contend the restaurant market already is overbuilt in the Perimeter area, with too many eateries chasing too few customers. Others say those folks should try securing a midday table at a good restaurant.

Atlanta Creative Loafing has a number of articles on local dining options by CL's writing staff:

The Malaysian's the thing at multi-culti Asia Bistro

BY BILL ADDISON

Diminutive delights

Five spots to give in to your cupcake craving

BY FLORENCE BYRD

Kitchen aid

Cafe 458 feeds the soul and raises awareness

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

Cafe Karis fills the bill for on-the-go deli fare

BY CYNTHIA WONG

Chef's Table

Blade runner

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

Midtown's Olive Bistro rises above its strip mall surroundings

BY FLORENCE BYRD

Kitchen Witch

Crunch bunch

BY KIM O'DONNEL

Liquid Diet

A gem of a gimlet

BY TONY WARE

Access Atlanta of the AJC has a mixed review of Chops, a local steakhouse :

CHOPS IS A RESTAURANT in need of a large dose of lithium. It is bi-polar. I never know what to expect from it. Sometimes a meal there, usually a late lunch, rates among the best dining in the city. The steaks appear to have been grilled just for me, as if I were a 20-year regular, and every bite I could want has been magically figured out before-hand....

If you enjoy this type of dining and are considering Chops as an option, do continue your reading....

The Birmingham News has a story on a woman who won $100,000 in a contest, the Southern Living Cookoff, with her delightful and healthy recipe for Grilled shrimp, orange and watermelon salad with peppered peanuts in a zesty citrus dressing... read the article for more details ...

The Charleston (SC) Post & Courier has some excellent articles, this week being one on the wide variety of apples in the Low Country ... check it out! Articles this week include:

* Taking a shine to apples

* More tender than store-bought, handmade pasta best with light sauce

* Red cupcakes give nod to the grotesque for Halloween

* Maintain a sharp edge on knives to be safe

* Tubular food newest trend to hit supermarkets

The Charlotte Observer has a number of great articles worthy of your time:

* Deep-fried and divided ....Conference chews over how food has shaped race relations and identity .. this is about the SFA conference in Oxford about which we have details in the Southern Food Culture Forum here on eG.

Edge's genius has come not only from organizing an academic gathering that lures people of diverse backgrounds to talk about controversial subjects.

It's also in the way he has gone about it, giving lectures and events absurd names. This year's conference included "The Fried Chicken Throw Down" and "Possum & Taters: Where Have You Gone?" The names are slightly silly, easing the discomfort of the subjects they disguise: symbolic foods that are fraught with tension and the contested ownership of traditions. In that context, watermelon, fried chicken and chitlins aren't just foods. They're symbols of the way we have defined ourselves and others, and the terrible gulf in between.

* Chicken salad, more

* Exacting measurements

* KATHLEEN PURVIS: Secrets from the vat with a Big Easy star

* Land Down Under yields a label worth its price tag .. you know about Penfold's but do read more here ...

* Got a hankering for pork? We have your guide ...

Charlotte Creative Loafing is this week focusing upon these articles:

* Il Conto, Per Piacere

An Italian neighborhood eatery in Center City

by tricia childress

* Back To School

What's cooking in the classroom?

by tricia childress

* A Meal With A View

Bentley's Restaurant On 27

by jana k. nordstrand

* What's On The Menu?

History a la carte

by linda vespa

* Crunch Bunch

by kim o'donnel

Have you ever met anyone who doesn't like apples?

* Acid Trip

Food falls for Chianti in a big way

by taylor eason

* Good Eats

Our critics' guide to recommended restaurants in Charlotte

Memphis Commercial Appeal articles this week include:

* Proscuitto-Wrapped Salmon

* Chicken culture.. more from SFA! article on the SFA weekend here

* Muffins go with a cozy fall morning

* Recipe books benefit charities

* Old-time gingerbread hits spot for Halloween

* A La Carte

Fourth annual "Taste of the Town" presented by Germantown Area Chamber of Commerce

* Clams need a good soak to de-sand

* A rustic taste of Spain

The Nashville Tennessean has a number of items worth checking out this week:

* Put a cork in the cork: Screw-top bottles, boxed wine ready to replace elegant stopper

* 'Eating Your Words' book good food for thought

* Beef stew takes just minutes

* Southern cooking a blend of black, white cultures: by staff writer Thayer Wine:

Southern food enthusiasts, scholars, chefs, historians and people simply interested in Southern food and culture gathered last week for the seventh Southern Foodways Symposium in Oxford, Miss. ''Food pulls us all together,'' said preacher, activist and one of the speakers Will Campbell, ''but taste, preference and culture sometimes separate us.''

The Raleigh News & Observer has as its premier article one based upon the AFA gathering in Oxford, Mississippi: United we bake: By FRED THOMPSON

Have you ever thought of a biscuit as racially unifying? I hadn't until I returned from the latest Southern Foodways Alliance symposium last week at the University of Mississippi at Oxford. Each symposium has its own theme -- barbecue, Brunswick stew, Appalachian mountain cooking -- and all have included scholarly debates. This year's symposium hinged on the interconnection of race in the South with our food. Is Southern cooking black, white, Greek or Lebanese? In truth, it's all of them and more.

Thus brings to a conclusion this week's SE Forum Digest .. have a healthy, safe, and happy week and watch out for the little Hallowinkies in their costumes collecting their treats in your neighborhoods ...

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

By the way, a common theme which ties together many of the SE media this week is Halloween and the cooking it entails .. look for references in the various media articles...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is mostly focused on Halloween articles to make a gingerbread haunted house with directions for the various parts:

• The ghoulish graveyard and pumpkin patch

• The spider web door

• Spun sugar cobwebs

Also in this week's food section: a Witch's Hat, Ghostly Shepherd's Pie, and Blood-Red Velvet Cupcakes.... more macabre than fully satisfying, I imagine .. see for yourself ...

culinary class schedule and info for Atlanta and Asheville, NC

Access Atlanta of the AJC offers readers a review done by local food critic, Meredith Ford, on Taka Sushi:

Food should not only nourish the body and please the mouth, it should be aesthetically satisfying — enticing — as well. To the Japanese, food feeds body, soul and senses..... kanisu, a cold salad of snow crab and thinly sliced cucumber, becomes swanlike on the plate under Taka's touch, delicately centered, then perfectly offset with a dip of excellent soy sauce and wasabi.Scallops are sliced so thin they are almost invisible, shingled with tawny pears and kiwi slices, then drizzled with an all but indiscernible reduction of Sauvignon Blanc that makes your mouth do a double-take: was it there or wasn't it? I'm not sure . . . let me try another bite to see.

Atlanta Creative Loafing this week has a number of good articles of local interest as well:

* Mosaic's Mediterranean composition coming together beautifully

BY BILL ADDISON

* When good restaurants happen to cursed locations

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* A revisit to Luxe, plus CL critic wins award

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Sun in My Belly pleases the palate and eye

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Chef's Table: Molto Riccardo

BY T. LAGON

* Havana good time: Latin vibe, authentic food vitalize Cuban mainstay Mambo

BY FLORENCE BYRD

* Liquid Diet: Greek divide

BY LAYLA BELLOWS

* Kitchen Witch: Homemade fake food

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Corkscrew: Pour some sugar on me

A little sweetness in a wine isn't a bad thing

BY TAYLOR EASON

The Birmingham News offers up more food stories:

• Writer finds apple pie is American

John T. Edge could be described as a food historian, food sociologist, food psychologist or food activist. All of these are true, to a degree. Edge says he thinks America's love affair with apple pie has its origins in a distinctly American trait: frugality. He cites other examples of this frugality bringing about good flavor in pie, and in other foods. In this book you won't find a lot of recipes for varieties of apple pie. There are 15 recipes in the book. What you will find is the American spirit revealed as Edge travels the country in search - and frequently in praise - of apple pie.

• Halloween hummus is easy to make, fun treat to eat

• Pork rinds really are nutritious, filling snack

• Produce misting de-mystified

The Charleston, SC, Post & Courier has some great stuff to check out right now:

* Know your hams

As I dream of the thinly sliced pieces of ham about to grace our holiday party tables, I ponder the meaning of ham, whose different prices and names in the meat counter or a catalog can be so confusing. I did some research to make it easier... by Natalie Dupree

This is a terrific article!!

* Leland Farms' 'u-pick' tradition ends with retirement

* Why are Barolos so special?

The Charlotte Observer

Pressing the flesh, dishing the pork by KATHLEEN PURVIS

one of the last examples of a great American tradition that dates almost to the beginning of the republic: The political barbecue....

WHY POLITICS AND BARBECUE?

Hogs were slaughtered in the fall, after the first frost. Elections are held in the fall. People with their mouths full of barbecue are likely to sit still long enough to hear a pitch.  Put them all together and you have the political barbecue. Politics and barbecue have gone together all the way back to George Washington, who entertained with barbecues at Mount Vernon.

Charlotte Creative Loafing has these interesting local stories:

* Dosa Do Veg out at university area restaurant

by tricia childress

* Charlotte's cozy cuisine spots by tricia childress

* Worthy Of A Salute: Chef makes up for late start

by jana k. nordstrand

* Sweet On The Yellow White & Orange: What's Halloween without candy corn?

by linda vespa

* Mellow Out With Marshmallows

by kim o'donnel

Memphis Commercial Appeal is full of great articles this week:

* Executive Chef Gino Cipriano ... Odds are you'll eat a delectable Italian meal at Murano's cafe

* Cakes N' Things and Valenza Pasta

* Halloween style

* Blueberry dose a day keeps cardiologist away and eyes clear

* Bitty candy bars let it glow (just a little)

* Tenth annual Sip Around the World features more than 200 wines from 60 wineries, 7-10 p.m. Nov. 5, Memphis Botanic Gardens; $50 in advance, $55 at the door. Proceeds benefit National Kidney Foundation of West Tennessee.

The Nashville Tennessean articles include:

* There's nothing like Mama's cooking

Old Hickory's Carolyn Wyatt Norman cherishes her mother's heirloom caramel recipes:

Both recipes call for melted and caramelized sugar. ''It's not complicated, but you have to get the pan at the right temperature to melt the sugar,'' Norman said. She prefers her set of Emerilware because the stainless steel-lined saucepans have a heavy bottom with an aluminum-and-copper core that distributes the heat evenly.

Her mother's recipe calls for ''browning'' the sugar. While Norman is making the base for the filling, she melts the sugar over medium heat. She says to watch it carefully because once it's melted, it soon will begin to caramelize or turn brown. It doesn't take long for it to burn

* 'Eating Your Words' book good food for thought

* Beef stew takes just minutes

Savannah Now: Diversions announces their local 'Gastronomic nirvana' at the Hard Lox Cafe ...

Matzoh balls -- and more -- are on the menu at the 16th annual Hard Lox Cafe, a Jewish food festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday in Forsyth Park.

"It's total gastronomic nirvana," said Carol Greenberg, a former chair of the event and now chair of its brisket booth.  Sponsored by the city of Savannah and Congregation Mickve Israel, the festival is expected to bring more than 10,000 people to the park's north end to feast on Jewish fare, listen to music and watch a magic show.

The Raleigh News & Observer brings its readers (and, of course, you!) some terrific reading in its weekly articles:

* Get fit quick schemes: Short bouts of exercise are all the rage, but do they pay off?

* Co-ops count on natural selection

Triangle groups plan member-owned stores to focus on whole foods.

* Triangle ranks high for women

The region makes the top 25 of the nation's healthiest places for women.

* Local food co-ops at a glance

CHATHAM MARKETPLACE

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20. Wines mentioned are available locally; prices are suggested retail.

Have an enjoyable week and remember to visit our "sister" forum right here :Southern Food Culture here at eGullet!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

In this week's Atlanta Journal-Constitution there is a delightfully autumnal article on butternut squash and their different qualities depending upon the recipe used:

Of all the winter squashes, butternut offers the deepest color, highest yield and best texture, turning creamy rather than stringy when cooked.  A bit less sweet than an acorn squash but sweeter than a spaghetti squash, it balances squarely on the flavor fulcrum. With just a bit of a nudge, it tips from dessert to side dish, from creamy ravioli filling to bright salad accent.  While there's a lot you could do with butternut squash — stew chunks with tomatoes and hot chiles, or mash it with potatoes and roasted garlic — there are two paths you will assuredly want to take.

Recipes include:

Butternut Squash Pudding With Cinnamon Streusel

Roasted Butternut Squash Ravioli With Sage Brown Butter Sauce

Butternut Squash and Hazelnut Lasagna

Baked Butternut Squash Stuffed With Pears and Apples

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

In Atlanta Creative Loafing this week some interesting articles and reviews of local food scene standouts ... two are by Bill Addison, a favorite of mine:

* Southern Beauty The food can be uneven, but City Grill still weaves evocative magic

A meal at City Grill can offer up several memory-igniting moments that court sentimentality but ultimately deliver soulful  straightforwardness ....Happily, we score with the soup of the day: pumpkin with cinnamon mascarpone. We ask for extra spoons and take turns savoring its spicy fragrance and homey taste.

BY BILL ADDISON

* Sandwich niche Six delis (New York-style or otherwise) for noontime noshing

BY BILL ADDISON

* Les dinosaures Two French restaurants that have survived the years: PetiteAuberge and South of France ...

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Barbecue, with a side of beefcake XL cup o' charm is free at Thompson Brothers BBQ .

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Chef's Table How green does your garden grow?

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Put it in park Out of the garage, into the lap of luxury at Ali-Oli

BY FLORENCE BYRD

* Liquid Diet When in Rome

BY TONY WARE

This week you will find an article on Hometown barbecue in access atlanta.com from the AJC

(the ribs) at Hometown Barbecue literally fall from the bone — they need a little preliminary prompting from your fingers first. The fat in the meat is flawlessly rendered, the meat perfectly pink and smoky, the skin caramelized with just enough char and grit to make things extremely interesting.. fine and rare instance with barbecue joints when ribs and pulled pork are of equal measure. At Hometown, the pork is pulled by hand — moist, tender, meaty, without fat or gristle — and possesses that perfect mix of smoke and wood that makes barbecue, well . . . barbecue

The food section from the Charleston Post & Courier has an exceptionally interesting article with the title "Fair Fare: Main attractions include classic funnel cakes and new foods such as grilled gator ":

Fair food is, and isn't, what it used to be. The classics are there in full force -- hamburgers, corn dogs, french fries, cotton candy, funnel cakes, ice-cream sundaes. Yet there are new faces, such as J&S, which sells grilled gator, shark, chicken and shrimp and homemade potato chips. Or DeLuca's, an eatery that bills itself as "A True Taste of Italy." Dishes include a pasta called cavatelli that's hand-rolled around a ricotta cheese filling. Italian wedding soup is even on the menu.

* also in this week's online paper comes Just in time for holidays Books for Cooks 'Tis the season for big baking cookbooks ....

* and KITCHEN SCOOP ... BY HOLLY HERRICK: Perfecting pie pastry

* CHEFS AUCTION ......

Specialties created by 11 Charleston area restaurants are the highlight of the fourth annual Signature Chefs Auction on Nov. 14 to benefit the March of Dimes.  Participating restaurants are 82 Queen, Anson, Brasserie des Amis, Carolina's, Circa 1886, Embassy Suites Hotel Airport, Sea Island Grill, Sunfire Grill & Bistro, the Boathouse restaurants, Union Hall and Vista Riverside Grille.

This week finds some new items I rather expect you will enjoy from The Charlotte Observer

* Create a culinary keepsake ... Homemade cookbooks also are history books

* COOKING JOURNAL WEEK SEVEN: NEW CLASS .... Rising above impatience

Charlotte Creative Loafing offers its readers several articles:

* California Dreaming Bella is a beauty

by tricia childress

Consider, for example, thickly sliced house made cinnamon raisin focaccia French toast or a radiant frittata oozing with cheese.   One day, the scone du jour was mango. On another, a surprisingly wieldy sandwich of thinly sliced meatloaf tucked into focaccia with sauteed bell peppers proved sensational. Other surprises are buried deep in Bella's overstuffed menu.....A dinner entree shows Castillo-Ritz's Salvadorian penchant for red beans and rice when paired with a grilled skirt steak.

* Ethni-City Locating authentic dishes in Charlotte

by tricia childress

* A Hot Scoop The Loop Pizza Grill

by jana k. nordstrand

* How Sweet It Is Say hola to Dulce de Leche

by linda vespa

Memphis Commercial Appeal on creme brulee ...

as well as an article worth reading: Artistry with omelet typical of Julia Child

The Nashville Tennessean has several articles:

* Got lunch plans? nice article on unusual places for lunch ...

* Wolfgang offers express meals for home cook, too .. all about his newest cookbook

* There's nothing like Mama's cooking

* AFTER FIVE RECIPES Add colors to salad with oranges and spinach

* Sauté turkey breast slices after work

* Reel in fish on way home for oven dish

also in the Tennessean each week are Jim Myers' restaurant reviews .. a sample of his review on Whitfields:

Whitfield's is the latest in the string of upscale restaurants shifting down the fancy scale to the next lower rung, calling it ''upscale casual'' to drive more, and regular, traffic through the door.The food is quite good and shows the hand of a confident chef in the kitchen .... Four seafood selections cover the fish spectrum for most diners, including trout and salmon. The grouper ($19) I tried was firm and rich and had a nicely balanced citrus beurre blanc that softened the tart bite of the mango salsa on top.

Richmond.com, Virginia has a number of restaurant reviews to check out for the local people:

Restaurant Reviews:

* David vs. Goliath

* Hot for Thai Food

* The Eat Beat

* Un-Chained Melody

* Much Ado About Something

* Going Down The Nile

* Classic Italian

St Augustine, Florida has a variety of good articles on food this week:

* An elegant tradition CHEF ANDREA ESTES First Coast Technical Institute'sSchool of Culinary Arts

* Savory Sage: Stuff the bird andnot yourself on T-day

* Select palatable but inexpensive wine for cooking

Triangle.com offers up a lot of new reading:

* Cary sizzles

* Catering to your whims

* Google-what?

* Good times roll in Cary

* Raleigh gets The Point

* Downtown Clayton goes gourmet ....This small town on the outskirts of the Triangle

The Raleigh News & Observer has articles this week which I found to be quite seasonal and, therefore, of great interest:'

* Harvest fall recipes

So after a lot of playing around in my kitchen, I've developed the two recipes below. Both seem to say "harvest time" without turning the corner too quickly into winter. The acorn squash, with the heat of the curry and sweetness of the apricot preserves, seems destined for holiday tables. The braised cabbage is one of those recipes in which pork fat rules. Add a little interest with the mustard, use a beer to braise the cabbage in, and hey, how bad can that be? Pork, beer, mustard.

* Some Capital recipes

* Shaking the salt habit

* The Wine List Tastings

BACCHUS WINE COMPANY Holiday wine tasting, Nov. 12, 7-9 p.m., 1002 Durham Road, Ste. 200, Wake Forest. $15. For reservations, 488-7788.

CAROLINA WINE COMPANY Wines and Values Part II, Nov. 11, 6:30 p.m. $25. 6601 Hillsborough St., #118, Raleigh. 852-0236.

CHAPEL HILL WINE COMPANY Stuff This demo, Saturday, 1-4 p.m. Airport and Homestead Roads, Chapel Hill. Free. 968-1884.

HILLSBOROUGH WINE COMPANY Wine and cheese sampling, Saturday, 2-4 p.m., free. 200 S. Churton St., Hillsborough. 732-4343.

SEABOARD WINE WAREHOUSE New Spanish and Chilean wines, Saturday, noon-4 p.m. Free. 800 Semart Drive, Raleigh. 831-0850.

A SOUTHERN SEASON Pinot Noir, Thursday, free. Fridays Uncorked: Benefits of Age, Friday, 5 p.m. $12. University Mall, Chapel Hill. 929-7133.

THE WINE MERCHANT Joseph Drouhin's wines of Burgundy, France, Saturday, noon-4 p.m. 1214 Ridge Road, Raleigh. Free.

Have a marvelous week .. enjoy the changing colors of the leaves, if you have that in your part of the country .. relish the chill in the air which will serve to inspire you to cooking of the new season ...

Be sure to check out our sister forum here at eGullet on Southern Food Culture ... right here!

If you want your southeastern city's media included in this digest, please send me a PM ...

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . . The emphasis is, of course, on Thanksgiving and many of the articles have to do with the distinctly southern take on this holiday.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is doing a beautiful pre-Thanksgiving piece on desserts for the holiday:

Imagine a profusion of towering tender layer cakes slathered in buttery frosting, golden pecan pies, burnt sienna-colored pumpkin pies, cinnamon-kissed apple pies, amber peanut brittle and bubbling cobblers. These are old friends that visit every November and evoke fond taste memories from my childhood and remind me of where I came from. Aunt Louise always prepares caramel cake, a high-sugar masterpiece expressing the genius of the Southern sweet tooth.

Recipes include:

Aunt Louise's Red Velvet Cake

Meme's Poundcake

All-American Pie Crust

Mama's Pecan Pie

Italian Cream Cake

Cream Cheese Frosting

Old fashioned Fruit Cobbler

Caramel Layer Cake

Burnt Caramel Frosting

Old-Fashioned Apple Pie

Atlanta Creative Loafing has a remarkable interview with John T. Edge of SFA!

"Fried chicken is best served without a side of provincial bluster," begins John T. Edge's just-published treatise-cum-travelogue, Fried Chicken: An American Story.New England surprised me in terms of apple pie. If you're a good eater and a student of American food and curious about the subject, you have an inkling of what's out there. in my opinion, fried chicken still matters to Atlanta. I see it in the stories people still tell about Deacon Burton. I see it in the sense of excitement that surrounds Scott Peacock's Tuesday fried chicken night at Watershed. And I see a measure of what Atlanta's become at the Harue Cafe [where they serve Korean-style fried chicken].

Other articles worth checking out in CL:

* Chef's Table Killer food on tap

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Simmer down Six spots for soothing, restorative soup

BY BILL ADDISON

* With love from Peru The Amazon presents beautiful, affordable Peruvian cuisine

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Kitchen Witch Sock it to 'em with sauce

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Your new watering hole South African winemakers get the funk out

BY TAYLOR EASON

* The Wine List

BY TAYLOR EASON

* Gypsy lure A first visit to Django, plus Khao debuts with Asian carryout

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Come fly with me Romance after dark at Candler Park's Flying Biscuit

BY FLORENCE BYRD

access atlanta from The AJC reviews Vine:

The truth is, Vine just tries too hard. Or maybe it doesn't try hard enough. It's a neighborhood restaurant with illusions of grandeur. But by the time you've visited a few times, it feels false and pretentious. And that's a shame, because the staff is young and sincere. Couldn't we all just relax and admit that this is just a neighborhood joint that should be serving the kind of dishes we all want to come to know and love?

The Charleston Post & Courier offers up a delightful bowlful of peanut soup, an old southern favorite:

I carried myself back to old Virginny the day after the election to visit my mother. The first commercial peanut crop in Virginia was grown in Sussex County, in the early to mid-1840s. During most of the 1800s, however, peanuts were considered undistinguished fare. Attitudes changed during the Civil War when troops were hungry and food was scarce.Peanut soup isn't as strange as it sounds, considering that peanuts are really legumes, not nuts. (Think bean soup.) It had its roots in Africa, where many of the best Southern dishes got their start.

The Charlotte Observer has a number of interesting articles this week:

Kathleen Purvis' article is an eye-opener:

The chefs of Charleston ....Culinary trailblazers saw potential in city, and that led to a `30-year overnight success'.

Chefs who came to Charleston looked at local history and local ingredients and saw something special."People like Donald Barrickman (of Magnolia and Blossom) and myself and Louis Osteen, and the people who came before us," says Lee. "This is a 30-year overnight success. It's come from two generations of people supporting cuisine.""You have the seafood, the truck farmers (on the surrounding sea islands), the Lowcountry and its history," plus the city's slave history and native African ingredients. "All these things came together to make a culinary destination."

Charlotte Creative Loafing has some very engaging articles thus week:

* Fast and Fresh Buy global, eat local

by tricia childress

* Pom Power The seeds of health

by linda vespa

* What's For Tizzert? Tiz Benson's sweet odyssey

by jana k. nordstrand

On average, Tizzerts makes 300 to 400 cakes a week, ranging from carrot cakes, to brownies, to wedding cakes, and she adopts the same philosophy with each cake.  "We like for any of our cakes to look as pleasing on the outside as it is on the inside. We use softer colors. The Tizzerts look is a little bit more of a muted palette, more natural looking. We do things more naturally and it has a very special look and we try to keep things simple."

* Kitchen Witch Sock it to 'em with sauce

by kim o'donnel

* Your New Watering Hole South African wine makers get the funk out

by taylor eason

* It's Your Bird Day Be thankful for someone else's cooking

by tricia childress

Memphis Commercial Appeal has something for everyone in its articles this week:

* Beware of overcooked meat at pricey Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

* Riding The Wave

People liked what he was doing, so Smith decided to open his own place -- a seafood restaurant with "a lot of Asian ingredients" and an "upscale, casual, funky atmosphere." "Tsunami," which means "a huge wave caused by unusual seismic activity," fit his concept: "It's a Japanese word, so right there you have the Asian influence. It's water. It's very Hawaiian 'cause everybody in Hawaii knows what 'tsunami' is. And it's a quirky name. Who names a restaurant after a natural disaster?" Tsunami, which opened in 1998, was no disaster; the sea bass was a particular hit.

* Corky's celebrates 20th with Food Bank drive

* Stitt offers freshness, and new book too ...Owner of Birmingham's Highlands Bar and Grill

* Thanksgiving, Italian style? Try this roast turkey

The Nashville Tennessean has some terrific items this week for your perusal:

* The Traditional Thanksgiving, or is it? Blend together recipes from friends and families for a feast under $50

Symbolic of our coming together, we'll go with a combination of sweet and red potatoes, carrots and onions dubbed Can't We All Get Along Roasted Roots. The spirited debate over sweet vs. mashed potatoes prompted this compromise — Smother them with gravy and you won't know what color of potato you're eating anyway. Mindy's Cranberry Fruit Salad is the result of my personal crusade to add more color and crisp texture to the classic, brown, mushy Thanksgiving dinner.  One crazy year I added dried figs — don't bother.

* Jewish food explored in film at festival

* Building a wine cellar for beginners

* Where to learn more about wine

* From vineyards and varieties to corkscrews and cooling, here's a novice's guide to stocking a wine cellar

AFTER FIVE RECIPES

* Hungarian paprika puts pep in pasta

* Sweet potato, apple flavors meld for fall

The Raleigh News & Observer has a number of articles worthy of being read:

* Triangle kids say cheese for Kraft Photo of Knightdale children will grace macaroni and cheese boxes.

* Praise for the pieman Americans tend to stay away from savory meat and potato pies.

* First in entertaining Sometimes exotic taste sensations are much closer than you think.

* Cheeses that please You can create an elegant cheese board spotlighting locally produced products.

Dancing Doe Dairy in Pittsboro offers aged goat cheese, which has a firmer, drier texture and more intense flavor than fresh chevre. The cheese is available at the Pittsboro Farmers Market. Besides conventional goat cheeses, Goat Lady Dairy, located west of the Triangle near Climax, makes goat's-milk Camembert and Taleggio, plus, for the holidays, chocolate goat-cheese truffles. The items are sold primarily in Greensboro and Winston-Salem markets, but can also be purchased at the farm.

* Fritters from Magnolia Grill Chef shares deluxe caviar-topped take on a potluck dinner classic.

* We even make the dishes Serve foods and wines of North Carolina on dishes made in the state.

* The grapes of home This may be the year to look homeward for a special wine.

*The Wine List Tastings

* California corn pone? Traditional corn pone is an early American type of cornbread.

Have a marvelous week and check back with the Digest during the week for suggestions from the local media on Thanksgiving!

Also be sure to check out our sister forum on Southern Food Culture for some new ideas!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . . The emphasis is, of course, almost entirely focused upon Thanksgiving in all of the media covered here! And that is a good thing indeed!

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution serves up their Thanksgiving repast in an article There's something for everyone to do when bringing annual feast to the table :

The key to pulling off a successful, stress-free Turkey Day for many Atlantans these days boils down to one word: delegate!

Creative Loafing dining critic Bill Addison also loves to host friends for dinner. "The art of compromise is important," says Addison. The former pastry chef likes to dazzle guests with baked treats and a few creative side dishes, like his creamed spinach with caramelized onions and cheddar and brussels sprouts steamed in Guinness Ale.

There are actually several stories of people who have arrived at their own traditions for this holiday .. interesting collection indeed!

Recipes this week:

Sweet Potato Casserole With Brown-Sugar Pecan Topping

Chevre, Asparagus and Prosciutto Souffle

Super Veggie Salad

Luna's Garlic-Rosemary Turkey With Mushroom Gravy

Corn Bread-Pecan Dressing

Creamed Spinach-Caramelized Onion Casserole

Cranberry-Pear Chutney

Apple-Cranberry Caramel Pie

Atlanta Creative Loafing has their own take on the holiday in the form of:Straight turkey talk: CL's slightly irreverent but wholly helpful 8-day guide to getting Thanksgiving dinner on the table

The sides: I refuse to discuss the sweet pota-to marshmallow combination. I find it repulsive and believe that sweet potatoes deserve a more dignified role at the table...... Today's the day to pick up the items on your grocery list. Try to avoid the market on Wednesday, when people are stressed out, tired and mean. ......It is unnecessary to wake up at dawn to put the turkey in the oven. Whoever told you this horrible old wives' tale should be punished..... Then it's time to carve. Then, smile. Scream. Give yourself a high-five. You made it. Let's eat!

Birmingham, AL, News A family Thanksgiving

It's all in the family for Michael Glenn, as several generations prepare feasts for others

Glenn, a local chef who is a caterer,  planned a menu that not only would please the palate but also the eyes.

A beautiful ham, scored in a diamond pattern, topped with a coating of a mixture of mustard, brown sugar and cloves, was baked before it became the centerpiece of the dinner table. Glenn prepared boned chicken breasts filled with a sage stuffing and rolled. A delicious corn-cranberry relish gave off jewel tones to the table, and a perennial favorite, stuffed eggs, had an unusual ingredients in addition to yolks — cream cheese and mashed potatoes. Corn muffins made with Indian corn were accompaniments to the dinner. Sweet potato tartlets with a shortbread crust and a topping of fresh raspberries provided a visual and appetizing sweet.

Now this is one meal I would have loved to see and taste!

Charleston Post & Courier has a superb opening article: Simple, easy-to-prepare dishes won't tax the cook or compete with the main attraction BY NATHALIE DUPREE :

Even though it is my favorite holiday meal, I've gotten selfish about Thanksgiving. I still enjoy cooking ahead of time and the whole production of the day, but when Thanksgiving dinner suddenly intrudes itself into an already busy schedule, it's time to look at what's important and what's not. I've decided that having the traditional groaning table of side dishes, done in the same old way, is not crucial to happiness.  I want simplicity. My happiness at Thanksgiving, and that of my husband's, has become less dependent on food and more on grandchildren time. (Oh, yes, and their parents, too.)

Natalie Dupree's recipes include:

Roasted Vegetables

Barley "Risotto" With Mushrooms

Broccoli with Roasted Garlic Butter

Scalloped Yams With Praline Topping

Turnips and Red Peppers

Hot Curried Dried Fruit and anything from Natalie Dupree, I treat with the utmost reverence .. she is truly the doyenne of Southern cooking: She lives in Charleston, is the former director of Rich's Cooking School in Atlanta, the author of eight cookbooks, including "Nathalie Dupree's Comfortable Entertaining."

The Charlotte Observer articles include:

* Turkey-day countdown.... The Essential guide to Thanksgiving has everything for a flawless meal.

* BASICS Turkey 101 | Recipes | Help?

*TOOLS: Shopping List | Table setting

*IDEAS Recipe classics | Holiday dieting

*WINE | Go for fruity for holidays

Charlotte Creative Loafing articles for this week include:

* Charlotte Cooks Chef's Choice courses at JWU take the cake

by tricia childress

* Cutting Edge Southern writer John T. Edge explores America's foods by bill addison

* Liquid Offerings Wine for the birds

by tricia childress

* Corn Cob Hype It's more than decor

by linda vespa

Memphis Commercial Appeal has some good reading this week:

* The Forum delivers, but some of the vendors fling up an air ball

The new FedExForum is so cool. From the soaring entry to the cushy chairs in the last row of the nosebleed section, this is truly a world-class arena. Unfortunately, the fan fare is no slam dunk. Though the concession stands have clever names such as Snax, Juke Joint Subs and Rock Around the Clock Cafe, there is a dull sameness to the menus.

* Try a pinot noir with turkey dinner

* Fall's root vegetables take starring role in soup

* Baby food makes carrot cake moister

* Frozen turkey a no-brainer

The Nashville Tennessean has some fine articles on this holiday as well:

A traditional Thanksgiving, give or take, is the lead article here:

Forgetting my annual ''themed'' agenda with over-wrought recipes such as that Indian cranberry chutney, the yin and yang swirl of sweet and white mashed potatoes and the Rhode Island clam stuffie dressing, this year's feast is all about blending friends and family and each sharing favorites at the table. Though not a perfect meal by any gourmand's standards, a mish-mash of recipes from everyone is simply good eating and creates new traditions. Invite a dish from a favorite relative or friend and they're with you in body or spirit.

The Orlando Sentinel has a piece on cranberries, which is seasonally appropriate, by Heather McPherson .... some new suggestions as well:

It's the dawning of the Age of the Cranberry for folks like me. For the uninitiated, here are some tips for enjoying the flavor of cranberries all year long.

* Fresh berries may be stored in the refrigerator, just as you bought them, for up to 1 month. For longer storage, double-wrap and store in the freezer for up to 9 months.

* Mix chopped cranberries with softened unsalted butter for spreading on warm biscuits, corn muffins, pancakes or waffles. Or, use the cranberry butter as a topping on broiled snapper.

* Cook cranberries with red cabbage, raisins and wine; serve with pork or ham.

* For a tangy barbecue sauce, use whole-berry cranberry sauce for the sticky and sweet aspects of your own homemade concoctions.

* Use cranberry juice to poach fruit.

*For holiday sparkle on the table, surround candles with fresh berries or float berries in flower vases.

The Raleigh News & Observer offers more than the usual turkey and stuffing items this week .. a welcome addition!

* Pack a peck of picadillo

By about next Sunday, you will probably be pretty sick of turkey and all its accoutrements. Even as much as I love a turkey sandwich with a little cranberry sauce, by the fourth day, I'm in the mood for something diametrically opposed to anything that resembles a Norman Rockwell holiday table. The problem is that from now till New Year's there is precious little time to have a life, much less cook anything other than the typical holiday fare......

* Beginning traditions

Newlywed learns to prepare holiday meal with all the trimmings -- just for two.

* A final round of fair fare The last winning recipe comes from Monique May of Raleigh.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20.

* Heaven on earth with an eggplant slice

Eggplant Paradise is one of Sage restaurant's most popular offerings.

A very happy, healthy, memory-filled, Thanksgiving for you eGulleters, and even more specifically, for those of you who read this Southeast Forum Digest each and every week!

Please be sure to check the eGullet Southern Food Culture Forum for some terrific ideas as well!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has an exceptionally interesting article on pressure cookers by John Kessler:

the pressure cooker is the single most important piece of equipment in the kitchen. It does a brilliant job with whole grains. It tenderizes tough cuts of meat and drives aromatic flavorings deep into their fibers. It reduces cooking times by two-thirds or more....Everyone's mother blew up a pressure cooker. Mention the dreaded device and you will hear stories of lamb stew on the ceiling, permanently traumatized cats and even chicken bones sticking out of walls. That is why your mother's pressure cooker was hidden in a dark corner of the basement and never heard from again.

Why did pressure cooking go so dreadfully wrong in America, and why did it become so essential elsewhere?

do read this article for further pleasure and edification!

Pressure cooker recipes this week include

Beef Stew With Tomatoes and Chipotle Peppers

Punjabi Buttery Black Lentils (Dal Makhani)

Turkish Olive Oil-Braised Green Beans (Zaytinyagli Taze Fasdlye)

Short Ribs in Coconut Milk

Lemon Cheesecake

Another article this week is about what one can do to use up leftover cranberries and includes recipes for:

Seared Salmon With Cranberry-Mustard Vinaigrette

Seared Sea Scallops With Cranberry-Lime Sauce

Cranberry-Horseradish Sauce

Cranberry Ice Cream

Atlanta Creative Loafing has an exceptonally fine collection of articles for the first week in December:

* Green around the (mock) gills: Inman Park's Lush strives to find its vegetarian soul

BY BILL ADDISON

* Bella of the ball: Bella's Pizzeria proves good pizza doesn't have to be chichi

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* When pigs fly: A first trot to Au Pied de Cochon

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

What is immediately lovable about this new brasserie -- besides the fact that it is open 24 hours -- is its decor. Its walls contain 337 panels painted in fanciful rococo style -- see pigs fly, see pigs at pasture -- by the same artist who decorated the Mexico City location of the restaurant. Chandeliers are made of colored glass. A seafood raw bar glistens near the entrance. There are private dining rooms for trysting behind heavy red velvet drapes. A chef's table, which is also the site of the daily lunch buffet, offers a view of the kitchen.

* Nice buns: Five ethnic bakeries for fun, funky treats

BY BILL ADDISON

*Will work for (slow) food

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* No parking on the dancefloor: Buckhead's Aiko proves more nightclub than supper club

BY FLORENCE BYRD

* Pomegranate 101: A primer on the 'it' fruit

BY KIM O'DONNEL

The Birmingham (Alabama) News has a piece on shrimp and grits dishes this week which I enjoyed:

Damon Lee Fowler, in his book, "New Southern Kitchen," (Simon & Schuster, 2002) says of shrimp and grits, "This traditional breakfast dish has also, in recent years, become a staple dinner appetizer in any nouvelle Southern restaurant worth its herb garnish. "Breakfast shrimp is not so much a recipe as it is an idea. There are dozens of variations, from simple bowls of boiled shrimp and grits passed separately to those elaborate, complexly flavored nouvelle concoctions. The best is still the simplest: freshly caught shrimp are peeled, sauteed in copious quantities of butter, and poured over a snowy bed of slow-cooked grits. If the shrimp have never been frozen, I wouldn't make it any other way."

The Charleston Post and Courier has a number of articles which anticipate the upcoming holidays:

* Getting in the party mood

GuÈrard let loose on her vision. She painted the birch branches. She pulled out stored glass containers, two rectangular and one tall, urn-shaped vase, and filled them with the pears. She stood the painted branches up in the rectangular vases, and placed them on either side of the vase on the table. She covered the table in the dried moss. To add some sparkle, she hollowed out a few of the pears and placed tea lights inside, turning them into distinctive votives. The whole effect was stunning, a table made fit for delicious food. For GuÈrard, the whole is the sum of its parts when giving a party. She loves good food and drink, and strives to set a stage for guests to enjoy them fully.

* Weigh cost, time, preparation when planning party menu

* Spices add flair, zing to creative cooking

TODAY'S TOPIC: Storage and usage of popular holiday spices

* Cookbooks for holiday navigation

* Party food series begins with spinach balls

The Charlotte Observer has a wonderful article by Kathi Purvis, Casserole on a roll:

Campbell's classic casserole, originally called the Green Bean Bake, turns 50 next year, the greatest example of successful food marketing since the Toll House cookie.  Then again, look at the casserole recipe: Five ingredients. Four steps. Looks like modern American cooking, doesn't it?  The original casserole had the makings of a Thanksgiving staple from the very beginning. It's simple, it's cheap, you can make it in advance. And it puts a vegetable on the table disguised under creamy sauce and a crunchy snack food.  The Green Bean Bake even has a tale. How could you not love a casserole story that includes a woman named Dorcas?

Read on and enjoy yourself as I did! Purvis gives three recipes to update this old classic:

GREEN BEAN BAKE .. the original down to the soy sauce

JUDICIOUSLY UPDATED GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE .....From "It's All American Food," by David Rosengarten

REALLY FANCY GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE....by the editors of Cook's Illustrated

Charlotte Creative Loafing has some terrific stories worth looking into as well this week:

* East Meets West: Vietnamese restaurant is an American dream

by tricia childress

* Threesomes: Where to get that staple of Southern cuisine

by tricia childress

the Meat and Threes in Charlotte are owned by Greek families and have been around for decades. Meat and Threes are also a nexus into Soul or Southern country food. In either case, however, the customer base is the same. You can see construction workers and attorneys, politicians and sales clerks. Typically, the sides include collards, pinto beans, cole slaw, mashed potatoes, field peas, beets, rice, steamed cabbage, succotash and potato salad. Inclusive with the meat entree is also corn bread or biscuits (or both) and usually a glass of sweet or unsweetened tea.

* Think Zink: Zink. American Kitchen

by jana k. nordstrand

* What Is It This Month? The gift that keeps on giving

by linda vespa

* Thinking Outside The Bottle: Wine gifts that go beyond the usual gadgets

by taylor eason

Memphis Commercial Appeal offers up a bouquet of good food articles:

* Take a 'cue, this joint worth a visit: The best barbecue is served in places that are like your favorite pair of sneakers -- worn, not-too-pretty, completely comfortable.

* Falafel, hummus bring Jews back to their roots:

when the Maccabee brothers found a small amount of the precious oil in the Temple of Jerusalem, after it had been devastated by the Assyrians, the vial miraculously lasted not as it should have for one day, but for eight days, and a national holiday began. Since then Hanukkah has been celebrated for eight days as a reminder of the miracle of oil in the Temple of Jerusalem.  Surely during the time of the Maccabees potatoes were not eaten at Hannukah. My guess is other fried foods were served similar to bumuelos, a sephardic fried dough either made savory with onions and flour or sweet like loukamades, the ancient deep-fried dough soaked in honey from Greece that is still eaten today.

* Star of 'Good Eats' has key to success

* Culinary academy students in chef's comfort zone

* Little shrimp not redundant at seafood counter

* Vegetable soup tasty, quick and simple

The Nashville Tennessean is preparing for the Christmas season in a big way with their articles this week:

* The desserts of Christmas past

English scones and plum pudding, German fruit stollen and Italian cream cake. Early settlers in Tennessee and Virginia very likely celebrated the Christmas season with these traditional holiday sweets from their homelands. This weekend in Goodlettsville, and throughout the season in your own kitchen, you can taste them, too. Reenactors will honor the holiday season Saturday and Sunday at historic Mansker's Station Frontier Life Center's Yulefest.

Recipes include:

Orange currant scones

Italian cream cake with cream cheese frosting

Plum pudding with whiskey hard sauce

Cheese drop biscuits

Italian panettone

The St. Petersburg Times has a sweet collection of treats, The Joy of Cookies for Christmas:

* Roll out the cookies

Many home cooks are intimidated by the thought of making holiday cookies that look worthy of a magazine cover.

* How sweet it is

Butter, sugar, flour and eggs are the essence of cookies, but we know there's much more that flavors the perfect cookie.

* Their cookies, your cutters

For those people who have given up trying to make cut-out cookies but still have a box of cookie cutters, ask your local bakery if they will make the cookies for you.

The Tampa Tribune has an article or two to tickle your fancy:

* Who's Dreaming Of A White Fruitcake?

You've all heard from fruitcake detractors and know the fruitcake jokes, but there also are many fervent fans. She says the legendary Mrs. Harvey's White Fruitcake is tops because she likes the candied cherries and pineapples. She doesn't like the citron in most other fruitcakes. "It's the best fruitcake I've ever eaten,'' she says."My mother made it for years.'' The Tribune has made it a December tradition - every year since 1951 - publishing the now-famous recipe on the first week after Thanksgiving. Many readers say how much they liked Mrs. Harvey's version but somehow misplaced it. They call to have it reprinted. Again and again.

Needless to say, the recipe is right here in the article! Enjoy!

* A Decadent Display

* This Cheesecake's On A Roll

The Raleigh News & Observer has a collection of noteworthy articles appropriate for this season:

* Roll out the Red Velvet Cake

Fact of the matter is red velvet cake is just plain good, and this one is exceptional. Given to me by my friend Michael Rider, the icing strays from the norm to a wonderful chocolate and orange concoction. Notice the inclusion of White Lily flour, which uses less chlorine dioxide than any other brand to bleach its flour, according to a company spokesperson. Chlorine changes taste, especially in this recipe, which has so many other components. Remember, baking is pure chemistry. For the person who first made this cake work, thanks. We have something to speculate on while looking at a stunning cake for the holiday season.

The Recipe is also included:

Red Velvet Cake with Chocolate and Orange Liqueur Frosting

* Bogart these brownies: Bogart's American Grill is one of the hottest spots on trendy Glenwood South.

* Goodies for foodies: Our gift ideas should please both those who love to cook and those who love to eat.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20.

* Angier church gathers recipes: The book blossoms into a hard-back, loose-leaf volume of 900 recipes.

As you prepare for the holidays this week and next, please watch eGullet for some superlative ideas for the season!

Have a marvelous week and eat with delight and abandon! Tis the season, you know!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution offers, as its lead article, a bevy of appetizers for the holidays article worth checking out:

Martyrs and deadline dynamos might live for that adrenaline rush of preparing everything in a last-minute frenzy as guests stampede through the door. Not yours truly. I believe in a well-considered plan of attack, in doing most of the work ahead of time and in patiently sitting back for the kudos to cascade in later. The key to managing all this? Nurturing an unshakable, unmistakable bond with your pal the freezer.

Recipes that accompany this article:

Empanadas de Picadillo

Moroccan-Style Chicken Phyllo Rolls

Baby No-Fry Egg Rolls

Barbecue Pork Buns

Mushroom Turnovers

Access Atlanta of the AJChas a review of a local restaurant called Grace 17:20 which sounds religious but also intriguing:

Faith the size of a mustard seed is how Matthew 17:20 goes.

Perhaps a little or all three — grace, faith and mustard seeds — are what go into the menu and makings of grace 17:20 in Norcross. Pedigree comes to mind as well, since the restaurant's managing partner, Barbara Di James, and the executive chef, Charles Schwab, have formidable culinary backgrounds. She polished her people skills at Sia's, and he is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, and honed his technique at Bacchanalia.

Atlanta Creative Loafing offers a number of interesting articles:

* Six standout books to sate a smorgasbord of appetites

BY BILL ADDISON

New releases include a blockbuster behemoth, a revised classic, a spate of books by renowned Southern chefs and food writers, and a collection of essays from one of the nation's more formidable restaurant critics. These six books cover a wide sweep of tastes and price ranges, but they each make for nourishing reading -- whether you're cranking up the stove or not.

Addison's suggestions:

Ruth Reichl's The Gourmet Cookbook (Houghton Mifflin, $40)

Frank Stitt's Southern Table: Recipes and Gracious Traditions from Highlands Bar and Grill (Artisan, $40)

Cornbread Nation 2: The United States of Barbecue (The University of North Carolina Press, $17.95)

Sweet Stuff: Karen Barker's American Desserts (The University of North Carolina Press, $29.95)

Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (Scribner, $35)

Alan Richman's Fork It Over: The Intrepid Adventures of a Professional Eater (HarperCollins, $24.95)

* Not by bread alone Soggy, sloppy food prevails for now at Fat Louie's

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Giving thanks, Moroccan-style A holiday visit to Imperial Fez

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Bowl me over Six pasta joints to warm your innards on a chilly Atlanta day

BY BILL ADDISON

* Chef's Table Power to the Fifth

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Righteous, dude Damn fine pub grub at mellow Righteous Room

BY FLORENCE BYRD

* Kitchen Witch Pass the pate, love

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Liquid Diet Eye-opener

BY TONY WARE

* Eat, drink, get Rudolph-faced The 12 annoyances of Christmas defy moderation

BY TAYLOR EASON

The Charleston Post & Courier

has one main article which might be helpful for those of us who anticipate a holiday crush of activities:

Recipes come in handy when extra family arrives for holidays For many people, the next three weeks will be a whirlwind of activity. Shopping, of course, has to be fitted in with hanging lights, decorating, wrapping presents, writing cards, fancy parties or casual get-togethers, planning menus and getting ready for guests. Not to mention our jobs, cleaning the house, church work, doctor and hair appointments, shuttling the kids or the pets, or whatever keeps us busy the rest of the year.

and there are numerous recipes and suggestions ...

The Charlotte Observer has a number of pre-holiday pieces which might be to your liking:

Kathleen Purvis' Make it fast Turn your kitchen into a haven from holiday rush with tips from this chef, Johnson & Wales University instructor Jerry Lanuzza

Tip 2: "The thing to remember is, use your time wisely."In the kitchen-classroom, Lanuzza and three assistants from the school's fulltime student body quickly divide a group of 20 students into four teams, each stationed at a steel worktable with a menu of four dishes. Planning before you cook is key, Lanuzza explains. Get the main dish ready and in the oven before you start the side dish. Get the dessert ready so it can bake while you eat the main meal. "It's more a matter of time management than, `oh my gosh, this is so hard.' "

* MORE FAST TIPS: 10 Pantry Stuffers

* JOURNAL Much done, and much to do

* WINE Mention in movie boosts winery

Charlotte Creative Loafing has several articles worth reading this week as well:

* Major Mojo Revision A Cuban revolution for the taste buds

by tricia childress

Castro's rise to power caused a wave of Cuban immigration into south Florida, forever changing the culinary traditions of that state. Stone crabs met the ubiquitous mojo, a tart, garlicky sauce made with sour orange juice and olive oil, as common to Cuban tables as ketchup is to American ones.

* Hello, Deli Now that's a sandwich!

by tricia childress

* Eye On The Prize Perseverence pays off for local chef

by jana k. nordstrand

* Visions Of What? Sugarplums revealed

by linda vespa

* Good Eats

Our critics' guide to recommended restaurants in Charlotte

Memphis Commercial Appeal this week:

* Simply Italian and consistently Bari, with no red sauce allowed

I still like the ultra-basic grilled fresh sardines -- three grilled sardines on a plate with a touch of lemon and olive oil tasting as if they just hopped over from the sea; the sumptuous grilled swordfish with a balsamic reduction, mint, red onion and tomatoes; and, perhaps the best, roasted sea bass, a beautifully tender portion, served with celeriac, yellow bell pepper and lemon.  An order for polpette brings three full-flavored veal meatballs bearing shavings of Parmesan cheese.

* A&R Bar-B-Que

* Azalea Grill

* High prices need some vine-tuning What's red and green and juicy and causes sticker shock?

* Lots of gourmet treats await discovery in the online aisles

The Nashville Tennessean offers a variety of festive articles this week:

* Melting pot Take a trip around the world by sampling ethnic desserts you can find in Nashville:

Nashville, we hardly recognize you. Who would have thought just a few short years ago that a native Nashvillian would be able to score some green coconut-flavored Laotian gelatin, a Vietnamese black-eyed pea, rice and coconut milk sweet treat, and flaky French pastries made by Chinese nationals trained in Japan?  Well, hallelujah for the melting pot, because some of these sweets are give-me-a-third-helping good.

* Light up the night with Winter White

* Cookies for Christmas

* Melting pot

* Fake-believe

* Pair soup, salad for nice supper

* Sausage helps cure turkey, ham hangover

* One-pot meal does double duty

The Orlando Sentinel has their food editor Heather McPherson's article Make yuletide bright, colorful when you toast season

Ordinarily I live by one rule when it comes to imbibing: Never drink anything the color of baby clothes.  Beer, scotch or wine. Fine. Bring on the pastels and creamy stuff, and alert the hangover police.  But the holidays bring out the best in bartenders at places such as the Bösendorfer Lounge at the Westin Grand Bohemian and the lobby lounges at the Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes and J.W. Marriott. Think of a theme, and a mixologist (how's that for cranking up the hoity-toity?) can come up with any concoction to toast the holidays. I'm such a Christmas fanatic, I have to admit that I am tempted from time to time to expand my cocktail color wheel.

The Raleigh News & Observer offers its readers a number of interesting articles which relate to food and the holidays:

* Kids get into action UNC-Chapel Hill and Gatorade form $4 million partnership to help prevent childhood obesity.

* Pass the fish, hold the statin

Exercise and fatty fish can help protect us from heart disease.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20. Wines mentioned are available locally; prices are suggested retail.

* Recipes to serve up gratitude

These books will be a welcome addition to the collection of someone who loves to cook

* Artful dishes from Blue Ridge

Blue Ridge restaurant is justifiably famous for its Sunday brunch. 

Blue Ridge is justifiably famous for its Sunday brunch, but regular patrons know a secret: Andy Hicks, chef and general manager of the museum's restaurant, is capable of much more than fanciful variations on the eggs Benedict theme.

Hick's soul-warming rendition of Cassoulet, the classic French casserole of white beans and assorted meats, is one prime example.  Another is Roasted Pork Loin with Spicy Cheddar Grits and Apple Cranberry Compote.

Recipes are included!

Have a great week, stay warm, and enjoy your holiday preparations! Check back next week for more recipes in the media outlets of the Southeast!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . . the overall theme is, of course, preparations for Christmas ...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a seasonally-appropriate story Design a table and a menu that makes seldom-used china the star of the season which offers several extremely perceptive ideas and tips from several local designers:

"It's always great to use fabulous, incredible china," said caterer Tony Conway, who often helps clients incorporate their good dinnerware with tabletop as well as menu advice. "We eat with our eyes. So we have to ask, 'How do we make that food pop?' I think it all does have to coordinate." If your china has an intricate pattern, for instance, don't try to out-busy it with drizzled sauces or patchwork-colored foods. They'll just get lost on the plate. Instead, Conway said, think about blocks of color: a bed of haricots verts, for instance, topped with a halibut fillet, topped with a garnish of shredded beets.

Well worth your time in reading for some superbly conceived ideas for holiday dining!

Recipes from the AJC this week include:

Miniature Pumpkins Filled With Root Vegetable Mash

Haricots Verts With Garlic Butter

Seared Lamb Chops With Dijon Crust

White Chocolate Lemon Cake

Winter Mixed Green Salad With Cranberries and Goat Cheese

This week's AJC Access Atlanta has a review of the very elegant and highly creative local restaurant, Park 75:

Enter the restaurant's former sous chef, Robert Gerstenecker, who left for a two-year stint at the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach and has returned as the Atlanta property's executive chef, with Camron Woods as sous chef. What a difference a chef makes.  Eating Gerstenecker's cooking feels a little like watching an Olympic ice skater: He makes it look so easy. Never mind that a venue such as the Four Seasons, or any large hotel, makes it difficult for a talented chef to tweak in just the right spots to make a name for himself without stirring up the corporate atmosphere.  Gerstenecker is too subtle for that. His food is as grown-up as the restaurant: sophisticated, but not over the top. His eye and well-trained hand treat the offerings so delicately that you're left smitten without even realizing it, like getting a little giddy on a glass of champagne.

This is definitely a place to try!

Atlanta Creative Loafing has a nice selection of articles this week as usual:

*Showstopper Bollywood Masala Grill House may be ready for its close-up, but misses the mark with overly typical Indian fare

And you need to look beyond the first page of the menu to find it. The appetizers are largely underwhelming. Tiny samosa triangles appear fetching on the plate, like Indian hors d'oeuvres, but don't have enough lentil stuffing for a solid, toothy bite. Mutton pasanda turns out to be lifeless, flattened cutlets of lamb without any adornment to liven them up. Cubes of salmon marinated in yogurt are no match for the tandoor oven, which overcooks them to chewy blocks.

*Pot calling the crock ambrosial What A Crock! cranks out a lunch supreme

BY CYNTHIA WONG

*Bubbly bargains Add some sparkle to your season (and your wine)

BY TAYLOR EASON

*When the sun comes out Genuine warmth makes the meal at Buckhead's Soliel BY FLORENCE BYRD

*The road to righteous pasta A trip to the west side's Via Elisa

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

*Kitchen Witch Egg-cellent nog

BY KIM O'DONNEL

The Charleston Post & Courier

has a number of seasonal articles to check out:

*Sugar 'shacks'

McCrady's in downtown Charleston emerged as the winner against The Boathouse and Fish restaurants in the actual contest. Rupe, head pastry chef at McCrady's, says the hardest part was making sure all the sides were exact and fit together. The best part was the creative process with fellow workers, who set out to replicate the restaurant's historical building, which dates to 1788. If they got stuck, "we would just walk outside and look," Rupe says. "Does this go here?" They visited Market Street sweet shops for building supplies, such as stick candy for the roof, jelly beans for cobblestones, and candy Legos for the chimney. They made a lamppost out of a piece of striped stick candy and a piece of taffy studded with rock candy. They cut Big Red chewing gum into small pieces to make bricks -- lots of bricks.

*Hot drinks easy to make for holidays

*Readers contribute holiday appetizers

*Savory tartlets make handy hors d'oeuvres

*New Orleans barbecued shrimp not barbecued

*FRONT BURNER A cooking class for men only is getting the jump on Valentine's Day.

The Charlotte Observer opens with an article by Kathleen Purvis:

Lighten up Holiday dishes don't have to be humdrum for you to stay healthy

And the holidays are a six-week dash through the sexy foods.

Butter? Bring it on.

Sugar? Please -- and pass the salt while you're at it.

Egg nog, cheese balls, hand-dipped chocolates. If it isn't draped in caramel or spiked with peppermint, it isn't worth a hum or a bug. So we merrily nosh our way through the season, pushing down the rising guilt with the promise, Oh well -- I'll change in January.          Then January comes. ...

Sifting through the holiday recipe file

Holiday recipes include:

AMBROSIA SALAD

LEMON BARS

MOLASSES SUGAR COOKIES

Charlotte Creative Loafing articles include the following:

*Wat's New Ethiopian treats in midtown

by tricia childress

Ethiopian cuisine. Berbere is a multi-dimensional chili mix which may be a blend of chili peppers, shallots, and as many as 15 spices which may include ginger, turmeric, salt, coriander, cumin, cloves, cardamom, allspice, fenugreek, cayenne, cinnamon, nutmeg, and black pepper. Berbere is the base for many stews and the exact recipe is typically a highly prized family secret. A mild condiment made from this spice mix is awaze, thickened with honey wine, and butter. If you want more pepper pow, order the dishes with Mitmita, the Ethiopian version of the three-alarm chili mix. At Meskerem, the kitchen faithfully reproduces dishes that have been emerging from Ethiopian kitchens for centuries and are producing first-rate wats.

*Meals with Zeal Bistro serves up New Zealand cuisine

by jana k. nordstrand

*Soup's On Soup in a can can be good

by tricia childress

*Party Time Frolic & play the etiquette way

by linda vespa

*Egg-cellent nog by kim o'donnel

*Bubbly Bargains Add some sparkle to your season (and your wine).

by taylor eason

*Good Eats Our critics' guide to recommended restaurants in Charlotte

All Around Town

Memphis Commercial Appeal has a number of interesting articles and recipes for the season:

*Erika's German & American Restaurant

The traditional German favorites are still made from scratch, even the heavenly yeast rolls that greet guests while they study the menu. It's easy to fill up on those gems, so pace yourself. The selection of entrees changes daily at lunch. On Fridays, it's schnitzel cordon bleu, schweinebraten (roast pork loin), or broiled fish. On Tuesdays, diners can order rahm schnitzel -- a cream gravy smothered version of the sauteed veal cutlet -- meatloaf or goulash. Don't expect the spicy Hungarian-inspired goulash, though. This version was more like beef tips over noodles ....The dish, "sour roast," is beef that's typically marinated and cooked in a sour/sweet mixture. Erika's sauerbraten is tender, sliced roast smothered in gravy that has a faint sour note.

*Burgers, fries his meat and potatoes

*Wrapping up cooking

*Personalities flavor these troves of Southern ways

*Three levels of Italian: easy, slow and classic

*Top chefs' cooking toys get once-over

*Lamb recipes offer slice of Greek history

*Cream rated by fat content

The Nashville Tennessean

Melting pot Take a trip around the world by sampling ethnic desserts you can find in Nashville:

Nashville, we hardly recognize you. Who would have thought just a few short years ago that a native Nashvillian would be able to score some green coconut-flavored Laotian gelatin, a Vietnamese black-eyed pea, rice and coconut milk sweet treat, and flaky French pastries made by Chinese nationals trained in Japan?

Well, hallelujah for the melting pot, because some of these sweets are give-me-a-third-helping good. True, others of those we discovered may taste a bit strange to the uninitiated, especially for anyone who thinks something like jam with seeds is exotic enough, thank you

give one or more of these international desserts a try.

Indian Paan

Persian ice cream

Vietnamese sesame balls

Cuban Pudin de Pan

Alpha bakery snowball

The Orlando Sentinel has a wonderful article by Heather McPherson:

My mentor and friend, Dorothy Chapman, 83, died Sunday evening at Westminster Towers in Orlando after a long battle with cancer. In 1986, Chapman retired from her post as the food editor, and as copy chief for the Newsfeatures sections, I helped hire her replacement...Dorothy and I were foodies cut from the same cheesecloth. We both came from news backgrounds but we had passions for great food and wine. When I took this job, I quickly learned I had to earn the respect of the culinary community that Dorothy had cultivated. Within months, the proof was dealt in about 1,000 business cards.  I would go out on interviews and politely introduce myself as the food editor of the Orlando Sentinel, only to repeatedly hear the response: "No you aren't. Dorothy Chapman is the food editor."

The Raleigh News & Observer articles include:

*Cheers to you! Holiday beverages are impressive to see and taste, but simple to prepare. The mulled wine is great for an informal gathering of friends. Serve with some special cheeses and holiday munchies. The hot chocolate is wonderful for a more intimate gathering of family or just an intimate gathering of two. The other six servings will be pretty good cold.

RECIPES

*Chestnut Hot Chocolate

*Mulled Wine with Apricots

*Hunting Turducken

This year, it will be a little easier to serve turducken in Raleigh, since the Cajun creation finally made its way into the mainstream, the frozen food section of the nearest Harris Teeter, to be specific. Butcher Cliff Collins of Cliff's Meat Market in Carrboro is also assembling fresh turduckens as customers order them. Collins, who says he has put together turduckens longer than he can remember, uses a 16-pound turkey, a 5-pound duck and a 3-pound chicken. Fresh or frozen, the price is the same, $60 for the whole, deboned, three-bird package. (Harris Teeter also sells the breast-only version for $30.)

*A wild dish from Porter's

Have a merry Christmas this week and stay warm! Enjoy the beauty of this holiday with beloved friends and family ... check back next week as the buildup to New Year's begins ....

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . . the overall theme is, of course, festive food and party preparations for the coming New Year's celebrations!

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the winners listed for the Annual Golden Whisk Awards .. which are given to the best recipes from the AJC for the year 2004:

Here they are:

• All-American Meatloaf

• Day-Before Blueberry French Toast

• Lettuce Wraps With Moo Shu Pork

• Onion Soufflé Dip

• Twice-Grilled Stuffed Zucchini

• Espresso Martini

• World's Best, Easiest (and Prettiest) Brownies

• Dark Chocolate Ganache

• Steve's Beans

• Frozen Pistachio Cheesecake

There are archived Golden Whisk Awards from the AJC from as long ago as 1999...

Atlanta Creative Loafing has some terrific stories which are, appropriate, for the conclusion of 2004:

* Alive in '05 Bye bye Blais and Commune; hello Quinones Room and Shout

BY BILL ADDISON

the most scandalous flameout was Blais, the eccentric Buckhead brainchild of chef Richard Blais that was closed by its investors after less than six months in business. Atlantans never took to the restaurant's zany, brainy bites that included salty chicken skin topped by a tiny scoop of coleslaw sorbet, grilled shrimp speared on an eyedropper filled with liquidy shrimp head sauce, and the infamous "Cristal burger" with the foie gras milkshake. Blais and his milkshake turned up weeks later at Bazzaar next to the Fox, but that relationship also dissolved after a couple months. Word is that Blais is catering while contemplating his next restaurant gig.

* My, aren't we trendy? The fads that fashion Atlanta's dining scene

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Get lucky this New Year's Day

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Jive talkin' Ponce's Java Jive serves up breakfast with a smile

BY FLORENCE BYRD

* A wish for shish fulfilled Sub & Shish Kabob's setting belies its astute eats

BY CYNTHIA WONG

The Charleston Post & Courier

has a number of stories worthy of your reading time:

* Health & wealth: In Britain, the arrival of a tall, dark-haired, handsome man bearing gifts as the first visitor of the New Year is considered very good luck.

* Savory or sweet waffles celebrate new year

waffles are just as easily adaptable to a New Year's Eve late supper as to a Christmas, Boxing Day or New Year's Day brunch.  Remember, waffles don't have to be sweet; almost any waffle recipe can be nudged to the savory side simply by eliminating the sugar. Crisply browned waffles make great bases for all kinds of toppings, from creamed chicken to chili.  If you're pondering a theme or menu for an upcoming get-together, consider a waffle bar. Unearth that waffle iron from the back of the cupboard and borrow a few more from friends. Create waffle stations for guests to make their own ...

* Oranges, chiles add zest to shrimp stir-fry

This bright-tasting stir-fry takes next to no time to prepare and cook

* Spicy chicken soup low-fat but warming comfort food

* Bed-and-breakfast owners serve elegant morning meals

Gayle Johnson is queen of the quick, elegant breakfast --

* Easy ham steaks succulent New Year's Day tradition

Call us superstitious Southerners, but we always serve pork, black-eyed peas and greens on New Year's Day.

The Charlotte Observer offers us: Cocktails to impress

Hot cool drinks      Cool hot drinks

Rather than the expense of stocking a full bar and the work of crafting individual drinks all night, he recommends serving a single, theme-appropriate mixed drink at your party and having it ready when guests arrive. Here's how:

• Mix each component of the drink, without ice, well in advance.

• Refrigerate or freeze them separately in air-tight containers.

• Allow enough time for frozen ingredients to thaw.

• When guests arrive, mix ingredients in the correct proportions and serve.

this is an article with a number of excellent ideas from a NY bartender, Nick Mautone, author of the new book "Raising The Bar: Better Drinks, Better Entertaining" ... read on ...

Charlotte Creative Loafing this week:

* We Are What We Ate Charlotte's year in food ..... by tricia childress

What were the overkill food stories of 2004? Frustrated Hospitality and Business students at Johnson & Wales University have been dismayed by the amount of coverage the Charlotte Observer has dedicated to the culinary department of their university. The consequence for these students has been the need to explain to many Charlotteans that there are three colleges at Johnson & Wales University and only one is the culinary school. Food Editor Kathleen Purvis told me during last fall's Charlotte Shout that the Observer had assigned Johnson & Wales University to be covered by the food department, thus the disproportionate food coverage.

* Good For What Ails You Cures from the kitchen

by linda vespa

If your workplace is anything like the offices of Creative Loafing, there's a lot of sniffling, sneezing, and hacking (not the computer type) going on. With the colder weather and hectic holiday schedules come the inevitable colds,...

* Get lucky this New Year's Day

by kim o'donnel

Even this gal, born and raised north of the Mason-Dixon Line, knows that Hoppin' John rules ...

Memphis Commercial Appeal has a variety of seasonal articles for the New Year ...

* Attacking 2005 with some goals (best article this week! I love her ideas!!)

Mine involve eating more, not less, and include all sorts of drinking and revelry. That way, I know I'll keep those pledges. Here are a few of the ways I'm going to try and be better next year:

Eat less of more. Like a dieter faced with a lavish buffet, it's easy to overdo when you eat for a living. So I plan to graze my way through appetizer lists instead of eating supersize entrees.

Ordering those minimeals means I can afford to eat out more often.

I vow to take advantage of the opportunities to taste wine in and around Memphis, searching for the most interesting mix and the best value.

* Dinner at home? Get the corkscrew

* Finger foods Forget the plates. This New Year's Eve, let's give a big thumbs up to finger food.

* Balsamic vinegar adds rich taste

* Newly revised culinary classic still charming

Its official title is "On Food and Cooking," but it has been years since I've heard anyone refer to it that way. Everyone just calls it "McGee."

* May New Year be free of carb-free foods

The Nashville Tennessean has these pieces:

More FOOD

* Festive, not frenzied

Let this party be spontaneous. No need for invitations; just call 10-12 close friends and tell them to come over at 8 o'clock with a bottle of wine in hand and a good story to tell. What to wear? I love to get dressed up on New Year's Eve; this holiday involves champagne and kisses at midnight, so tell your guests to dress accordingly!To create the warm atmosphere of a dinner party without having to slave in the kitchen, serve an array of Mediterranean-inspired tapas, arranged on small platters along the table for grazing.

Lovely article on tapas follows!

* Pucker up for pudding

* Winter wunder-wurst

* Haute chocolate

* Melting pot

The Orlando Sentinel this week:Gourmet salts and more add spice to 2005

From smoked paprika to gourmet salts, cooks are demanding higher quality powders, seeds and crystals to add subtle undertones of flavor.... Chef Thomas Keller, owner of the French Laundry restaurant in Yountville, Calif. -- one of the country's finest dining spots -- has called salt the new olive oil. So it's no surprise that markets have made room for Hawaiian, gray, Celtic and smoked salts.

An excellent article from Food Editor Heather McPherson!

The Raleigh News & Observer brings readers several new items which I enjoyed reading:

* Color your omelet white -- no yolk

Some of us take no delight in egg yolks. We don't like dipping the edge of our toast in the runny spot of an egg sunny side up.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20.

* Discover new sparklers

There were five glasses of champagne in front of each of us, each unmarked.

* My year of living deliciously

Most people do it this time of year: Look back at what we accomplished ...

When she tucked her wrappers around the filling, they were as crisply tailored as haute couture; my first ones looked like a home-ec project gone bad. Fortunately, looks don't necessarily count.  Besides the dumplings, other cooks had hands in two big personal triumphs: edible biscuits and pie crust. Thanks to encouraging e-mail from a biscuit-baking reader and Shirley Corriher's Touch of Grace Biscuits recipe from her book "CookWise," I now feel like a true Southerner.

A beautiful article which made me laugh and cry simultaneously!

I want to take these last few hours of 2004 to wish you a Happy New Year for 2005 ... to thank you for your interest in this Southeast Forum and for your support and encouragement! Your PM's show that many of us who live in this region of the country have a wide variety of interests in our local food "scenes" ...

The growing contingent of posters from Florida recently makes me positively giddy with delight! There will be more coverage of the Miami and Orlando areas as the interest grows ... Please let me know where you are located for even more focused coverage of the media there ...

An excellent example is the addition to this SE Digest: article from the St. Petersburg Times

New Year's noshes The new year demands our attention.

By JANET K. KEELER

It's time to make changes in attitude and body. Before we do that though, we party. And we don't squander one moment, toasting family and friends right up until the very last moment of 2004 - sometimes beyond.  Savory little appetizers hit the right note on the last night of the year. Today, we share appetizer recipes from readers known for their culinary prowess along with some of our favorites.

A toast, with garlic spread, to 2005!

Beautifully done and the photos of the recipes for appetizers beckon one to taste ...

Happy 2005! Stay tuned for more Digesting ...

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has as their lead article this week 25 healthy snacks under 200 calories

While low-fat snacks are best, some fat — preferably heart-healthy monounsaturates — can help satiate you. Snacks with protein, fiber or both also boost health as well as combat hunger. The following snacks add up to 200 calories to your daily intake — but will likely save you many more by keeping you full from one meal to the next. The key to success is portion control — in your snacks and in your meals — and for that reason many of the suggestions are pre-portioned either by nature or by the packaging.

Snack recipes this week include:

Apricot-Oatmeal Bars

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

Strawberry Milkshake

Black-eyed Pea Salsa

Pumpkin Dip

Tofu Bites

Vegetable-Medley Muffins

Grown-up Party Mix

This week in Access Atlanta from the AJC is a new review of Two Urban Licks:

It's with the smaller plates that Serpas begins to have fun. Bits of salmon over house-made chips blanketed with capers and chopped red onions are delicately bathed in a husky chipotle cream. A row of pecans sandwiched with blue cheese pop into your mouth and are gone before you can say "fat content." The toasted muffaletta is the ultimate panini, with lots of ham, salami, mortadella, cheese and olives all happily smushed together to form the perfect sandwich.  Jennifer Etchison's desserts manage to mimic Serpas' playfulness. A trio of tiny cupcakes with a salty-sweet, house-spun rocky road gelato rocks; the cupcakes (red velvet, chocolate and amaretto) are smeared with yummy cream cheese frosting, and the ice cream blends salty almonds with sweet cream to perfection.

Atlanta Creative Loafing has a number of articles worth checking out:

* Welcome daydream Mirage's Persian pleasures create an inviting post-holiday variance BY BILL ADDISON

The owners may tout the kebabs, but it's the stews and creamy, dunk-worthy dishes that keep me yearning for Persian food. I could happily sate myself with a feast of Mirage's appetizers, each with quixotic names that make me want to pull on a white robe and whirl like a dervish. Kashk-o-bademjan combines eggplant roasted to a smoky puree with mellow garlic, mint, a healthy drizzle of cream of whey and frizzled onions. It's downright erotic, as our two yogurt dips -- mast-o-khiar, flecked with dried herbs and cucumber, and mast-o-mousir, flavored with sultry roasted shallots.

* Hospitality, Bangladeshi-style

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Two's company Atkins Park and Teaspace start the year off right

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Tavern on the scene Suburban charms infuse Midtown's McCray's Sixth Steet Tavern BY CYNTHIA WONG

The Asheville Citizen-Times has an delightful article on citrus fruits which are available at their local farmers' markets:

ASHEVILLE - This time of year area markets are exploding with fresh citrus fruit. You know about oranges and grapefruit, but what's a Honey Bell? Have you ever sunk your teeth into a Satsuma? ... some of the citrus fruits available at area markets.

Hamlin orange: Medium-sized orange with smooth, thin peel and few seeds. An excellent juice orange.

Orlando Tangelo: A tangerine-grapefruit hybrid, which peels easily and is very juicy.

Mineola Tangelo: Also called a "Honey Bell" Tangelo, it has more flavor then the Orlando, according to Everett. Very sweet, juicy and seedless fruit with a thin skin.

Chinese Honey Tangerine (Heirloom): Small to medium size, easy to peel with few seeds. Sweet and juicy flesh.

Sunburst Tangerine: Small fruit with dark orange, loose rind and sweet, juicy flavor.

Red Navel orange: Very sweet; easy to peel and section. Flesh is red-orange and usually seedless. Works well in fruit salads

Clementine orange: The tiniest of the mandarins, these Spanish oranges are now grown in California. Pleasant flavor, peels and segment easily

Satsuma orange: A Mandarin variety originally from Japan with loose skin and lots of flavor. Seedless and easy to peel.

Dancey tangerine: Small to medium size, flat, deep orange or red colored fruit with a smooth, but loose peel. A few seeds. Often called the "zipper skin fruit". Has a rich, sweet flavor with a spicy aroma.

 

The Charleston Post & Courier has an article which bears reading if these two things go together in your mind:

Wine with BBQ turns interesting

Alone, the Edmeades is an assertive wine, jam-packed with intense black fruit and also on the high end in alcohol content. For that reason, when sipped alone, it comes across as a bit on the "hot" side. But when paired with either of the mustard-based sauces, what was "hot" smoothes out some of the assertiveness, and the fruit shows through much more.

The group's favorite overall wine was the 2003 Seghesio Sonoma Valley Zinfandel. With some bright cherry flavors, but lacking just a bit of that in-your-face, high-energy fruit, it fell to second favorite with the original sauce, fourth when paired with the spicy one and third when sampled with the red sauce. Still clearly a favorite with the group, yet it still changed when paired with differently sauced barbecue.

Hadn't really given this idea much consideration .. until I read this!

The Charlotte Observer .. an article you won't want to miss in the middle of winter!

A world of chicken soup

KATHLEEN PURVIS  Food Editor

You could just about dip this ol' planet in soup and roll it in feathers.

Translation: Chicken soup is everywhere.

Avgolemono -- lemon-flavored chicken soup thickened with egg -- in Greece. Hot and sour soup made from chicken broth in China. Yassa, a chicken stew, in Senegal. (And isn't stew just thick soup?)

Vietnam's chicken soup is pho ga. In that hot, jungle climate, people eat it for breakfast, about the only time of day when it's cool enough for soup.

When former restaurant critic Raymond Sokolov put together his book "The Cook's Canon: 101 Classic Recipes Everyone Should Know," three were chicken soups -- basic chicken soup, the Philippine stew chicken adobo, and Belgium's waterzooi. After researching her own book, "An Exaltation of Soups," author Pat Solley came to the conclusion that every culture has some form of chicken soup.

Charlotte Creative Loafing articles this week include:

* Main Street USA Restaurant offers American favorites

by tricia childress

Entrees are served in hefty portions. The Prime Rib, sized for a beefeater appetite, was accompanied by an equally large oozy potato with lots of melted butter, cheese, chives and bacon. One dish, which was served not only to my table, but to many tables around me, was a platter of meltingly sweet, falling-off-the-bone baby back ribs, a bit messy with the touchstone taste of a tomato-based barbecue sauce, cole slaw and hand-cut French fries. Also good was the seared tuna salad with a zingy ginger vinaigrette.

* Healthy And Palatable New Year's resolution should include Indian restaurants

by tricia childress

In January, folks are gung ho about their annual dietary resolutions. Whether it's Atkins, South Beach, No White Food, or Weight Watchers, diet regiments have a nasty way of making their presence known. "I can't eat Italian....

* If It Tastes Like An Orange . . .It's probably octyl acetate

by linda vespa

* Crunchy fantasy by kim o'donnel

It's January. It might be cold. It might be gray. There's an inauguration on the way.

* To Have and To Hold Strategies for wine storage by taylor eason

If you haven't tasted bad wine, you haven't lived to appreciate the good stuff. Like gulping spoiled milk -- especially right out of the jug -- you know turned wine when you experience it. Wine that has...

Memphis Commercial Appeal articles for the week include:

* More chitlins? No! Adventure rolls on

Just 366 days ago I had no clue when it came to pimiento cheese, collard greens or hush puppies. Before moving to Memphis I had never heard of deep-fried dill pickles or cracklin' bread or fish pudding...  Although those things no longer seem wildly exotic, I remain fascinated by the rich regional culinary traditions that makes it possible to order iced tea at breakfast or eat the best barbecue in the universe almost any time of the day or night. I'm still struggling to understand the difference between soul food and home-style cooking. And I'm still on the fence when it comes to grits, unless they're stone-ground and beefed up with cheese.

But I have made up my mind about chitlins.

* Only thing missing is 'Quail to the chief'

* Fondue

The Nashville Tennessean articles include:

* Learn to be flexible

* A rye twist

Tasting whiskey can be a touchy thing. Unlike wine and beer, the high alcohol content can dull and numb your nose and tongue in short order. With spirits especially, limit your tasting to five or six at the most.

Here’s a brief list of some do’s and don’ts for conducting a tasting at your home, whether alone or with a small group of friends.

DO’S

• Do have distilled water and unsalted crackers to help cleanse the palate in between tastes. The water is also used to cut the proof of the high octane brands.

• Do use glasses that are clear so you can note the color and viscosity as it runs down the glass.

• Do try a blind tasting where guests won’t be prejudiced by brand or price.

• Do cut the proof if there’s a wide range of strength.

* 15 things you didn’t know about Vanilla

* Turn up the heat with Cajun spice blend

The Raleigh News & Observer articles this week are numerous and highly interesting:

* More veggies, the CSA way

If you're looking for a way to increase the number and variety of vegetables in your diet, one option is to buy a share in a local farm. Jan. 12, 2005

* Adding it up

How much is a serving of fruits or vegetables? Probably not as much as you think.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20. Wines mentioned are available locally; prices are suggested retail.

* Down with tapas

The Spanish-inspired custom of making a meal blazes its way across the Triangle.

Greg's Hot List: Tapas Time

So you wanna check out the tapas trend, huh? You should be able to do an in-depth study of the subject at these restaurants -- not all of which, I should add, actually refer to their small plate offerings as "tapas." Some call them mezze and others call them, um, "small plates." Same idea.

Acme Food & Beverage Co.

110 E. Main St., Carrboro

929-2263

Bakus Tapas & Wine Bar

746 Ninth St., Durham

286-0777

Blue Martini

116 N. West St., Raleigh

899-6464

Humble Pie

317 South Harrington St., Raleigh

829-9222

The Red Room

510 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh

835-1322

Rockford

320 1/2 Glenwood Ave. (upstairs), Raleigh

821-9020

Talulla's

456 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill

933-1177

Tasca Brava

Parkway Pointe, 2422 SW Cary Parkway, Cary

319-3122

Underground

861 W. Morgan St., Raleigh

664-8704

Verde

Erwin Plaza, 2200 W. Main St., Durham

286-9755

Xios

800 W. Williams St., in Peakway Market Square, Apex

363-5288

Thus endeth the SE Digest for this week ... Next week? I am assuming that there will be some typically January type articles including preparing for the SuperBowl, not so much sports-wise as culinary-wise!

Have a marvelous food-filled week!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has as its lead story in the Food section an interview by local writer, Drew Jubera, on SFA's John T. Edge ... covered here in eGullet in some detail in the Southern Food Culture Forum ...interview and discussion here with John T. Edge

Additionally, the AJC has a very detailed and interesting article, Dinners to showcase brew-food pairings which consists of four different local places doing these "pairings":

Late January and early February highlight that trend, with four imaginative beer dinners featuring a sumptuous array of food both created and matched with a remarkable number of beer styles from four American craft breweries.

• Aspens Signature Steaks in east Cobb County, hosting a five-course Flying Dog beer dinner ...

• Inman Park Patio teams with Slow Food Atlanta and Atlanta's Sweetwater Brewery to present a home-grown, four-course beer dinner

• Iris in East Atlanta hosts a four-course Brewery Ommegang Belgian beer dinner. The Cooperstown, N.Y., brewery is known for its distinctive Belgian brews,

• Summits Wayside Tavern in Cumming presents a beer dinner at 7 p.m. Feb. 7 that promises to be a very special occasion for beer aficionados.

access atlanta from the AJC has an extremely interesting article on an old favorite:

MARCELLA HAZAN, doyenne of Italian cooking, once said, "An Italian meal is a story told from nature, taking its rhythms, its humors, its bounty and turning them into episodes for the senses."  ...maialino, the restaurant's signature dish of suckling pig, easy to spot on the turning spit. Succulent shreds of savory pork with cavolo verza (savoy cabbage) boasting the sweet-tart, vinegary flavors it often has in Italy's Veneto region....grilled polipo (octopus) over arugula with thinly sliced, marinated red onions proves it. No micro greens here, and there's nothing "baby" on the menu.

Just real, honest food. Adams' menu is rife with food Italians actually eat: semi-spicy braised veal meatballs with a near velvety texture; tender risotto with spit-roasted rabbit and meaty porcini mushrooms; wide pappardelle with duck in a sauce that smacks of rich, tomato-y Bolognese; wilted spinach laden with garlic and olive oil.

VENI VIDI VICI

41 14th St., Atlanta

Overall rating:

Food: Tutto Italiano. Va bene.

Service: Squisito!

Atlanta Creative Loafing has come up with a number of fine articles of local interest as well:

* Alon's allure A robust new carryout case adds a fresh dimension to Morningside's venerated bakery By Bill Addison

The best part about investigating the carryout selection was the opportunity it gave me to reacquaint myself with the things Alon's has been doing beautifully all along. The robust roasted lamb sandwich tinged with rosemary; the marinated and grilled chicken sandwich swabbed with pesto; the flaky croissants and crumbly, fruit-laced muffins; the creamy banana tarts with the cookielike crust.  And speaking of cookies, I don't command enough hyperbolic adjectives to describe either the pecan-chocolate chip or the oatmeal-raisin masterpieces they make here. Just go get one for yourself and you'll understand.

* Still waiting for the blossom A revisit to Midtown's Cherry, plus Showtime Cafe on Memorial BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Mi Amor Mi Pilón serves jam-up Criollo specialties BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Chef's Table The Prince of Ponce BY T. LAGON

* Food Book Review Critical thinking BY BILL ADDISON

* Kitchen Witch Citrus of a different stripe BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Liquid Diet Portrait of an artist BY LAYLA BELLOWS

* La Dolce Vita Ciao Bella charms like a trip to the Old Country BY FLORENCE BYRD

* Howl at the Moon Biodynamic winemaking takes hold BY TAYLOR EASON

Charleston Post & Courier offers a number of articles of interest, one being this:Aztec contribution found in avocados

We have a lot to thank the Aztecs for in the way of food. They had a knack for recognizing the potential of wild plants as delectable edibles. Think cacao (chocolate) beans, vanilla beans, maize (corn), chiles, beans, squash and tomatoes. They cultivated those as well as the velvety smooth and rich avocado.

Avocado is really a fruit, not a vegetable. It's the highest in protein and oil content of all the fruits, which accounts for its buttery taste and texture. The modern name is derived from the Aztec word "ahuacatl," which means "testicle."

Recipes, of course follow ...

The Charlotte Observer has its usual Kathleen Purvis' article of not only interest and insight, but a touch of humor as well:

Cookbook caches reveal cook's flavor KATHLEEN PURVIS

Cookbooks are as personal as what you put in your coffee, as individual as musical taste. One person's "White Trash Cooking" is another person's "Joy of Cooking." Cookbook choice is like that. What you keep on your kitchen shelf can be a manifesto, a statement about what kind of cook you are or what kind you wish you were. Or maybe it doesn't mean anything at all. Maybe that cookbook on your shelf is just what your mother handed you as you were leaving home.

But one question came up several times: What kind of cookbooks do I recommend? Tough question. Cookbooks are personal. I can't tell you which one you need any more than I can tell you to put sugar in your coffee.

Charlotte Creative Loafing has:

* Magnum Opus A hearty salute to Salute

by tricia childress

Wine geeks have been flocking to the current hit movie Sideways. In the film, Maya (Virginia Madsen) gives a reflective assessment of wine: "I like to think about what was going on the year the grapes were growing, how the sun was shining that summer or if it rained... I think about all those people who tended and picked the grapes...  Wine and first-rate restaurants share a complexity ... Salute Ristorante, a short walk from the Manor Theater where Sideways has been playing. The Arcovios have been offering Charlotteans their version of Italian cuisine for the past 10 years. Among the entrees at Salute, my favorite was the flounder, usually mundane, here delightfully sliced into pillowy sections, cooked to crispy perfection and resting on a thatch of Italian beans. The organic veal is fragrant, tender

* Frank Talk Chef-owner cites influences and experiences

by jana k. nordstrand

* Five First Dates Surefire spots to make that connection

by tricia childress

* Jawing About Gum A topic to really chew on

by linda vespa

Memphis Commercial Appeal offers several great stories worth your time to read:

* Good gumbo can be eaten any day of the year but it's got to taste even better on a cold winter night.

* Leave room for Cajun Velvet (no humble pie) at Bluff City Bayou

Bluff City Bayou makes the best gumbo this side of New Orleans.

* A&R Bar-B-Que - The latest addition to this family-run barbecue business is in a strip mall in Bartlett.

* Why fry? Give it a try and sigh The cooking method people fear most is the one they love most: frying.

* Wine and cheese tasting Fratelli's at the Memphis Botanic Garden will pour value-priced wines from Spain and South Africa

The Nashville Tennessean has a lead article by Jim Myers on Healthy Food at your Doorstep:

Here's a question: If someone were to deliver top-quality fresh produce, meats and groceries to your door each week, would that spur you to cook more and eat better? More important, do you hate grocery shopping enough that you're willing to pay for the luxury of delivery?

Eric and Katie Satz decided there were enough people who would pay for such a convenience that they launched Plumgood Foods in October. Warehoused in some reclaimed space in the old Cannery complex off Eighth Avenue South, the company delivers groceries to a growing list of clients who want organic and natural products . . . and the time to enjoy them.Seeing high-end, organic-driven stores such as Wild Oats as the primary competition, the couple is banking that enough people in the community are willing to pay both the higher prices for that quality of groceries and a service charge to have them delivered.

do read on ...

Also worth reading this week:

Napa Valley brings its taste to Nashville By THAYER WINE

The Orlando Sentinel has a very interesting article on Oriel Wines by Heather McPherson:

Wine world. In 2005, look for Oriel Wines to take homogenization to an international level. The company's global team of winemakers is bringing products from nine appellations in five countries under one label. The goal is to create a single label that takes the vino voodoo out of selecting the right wine. It's an interesting concept, but half the fun of discovering a new wine is the personal pursuit.  Perhaps the sky is blue, too. I'm still trying to figure out how many tax dollars were spent to come up with the revelations: Move it and you'll likely lose it, nutrients are good for you and -- stop the presses -- calories count.

The St. Petersburg Times

has a variety of articles this week, many by their Food Editor, Janet Keeler:

Oven alchemy

You just think you don't like vegetables. Roasting releases more flavor and can convert the veggie-phobic. Honey, I Shrunk the Cabbages.

But Chris Noth has never tasted my Brussels sprouts. If he did, he would never again malign my favorite vegetable. It is not magic that transforms Brussels sprouts from yuck to yum, just a magical cooking technique: roasting. Roasting smoothes the bitter edge of Brussels sprouts. High, dry heat coaxes out sweetness, and halved sprouts implode in soft, deflated heaps. The technique can do the same for other vegetables. If you've never roasted vegetables, it is time to try. Beets, carrots, onions, peppers, parsnips, rutabagas, asparagus, green beans, even garlic, are sweetened and mellowed over time in the oven

The Raleigh News & Observer has several articles you won't definitely won't want to miss:

* Change comes in its own good time

At the start of a new year, many people at least think about change.

* On the gourmet go-round Reporter tours flagship independent gourmet grocers of the Triangle. (this has been discussed even more interestingly by members from Raleigh in our SE Forum recently!)

eGullet thread

Back in Raleigh, I did visit the new FIGS market in Cameron Village, which opened just before Christmas. FIGS (719-0328, www.cateringworks.com) is the retail extension of Catering Works caterers. While it seems to have its heart in the right place, I would not describe it as a major player just yet. The selection of beer, wine, groceries, bread, cheese and kitchen wares is slim. On the encouraging side, FIGS is in a nice, cheerful space; and the store's good-looking prepared foods and salad bar seems to encourage foot traffic.Let's hope for the best for them. Raleigh could really use some new choices in the specialty foods department.

* Ginger is good for what ails you

The spice that adds zing to many dishes makes a good home remedy, too.

* Tapas on tap

Last week in this space I speculated that the tapas trend, which has been sweeping across the Triangle for a couple of years now, appears to be stronger than ever.

* 'Heavenly Helpings' from Archer Lodge

Cookbook includes history and vintage photographs of a community and its people.

* Gino Russo's crab cakes and taters

Memory of dinner at Gino Russo's Oyster Bar stays on the mind.

Even though it is quite cold outside, you will find wit, warmth, and great reading beside your fireplace with the Southeast region's online newspapers!

Enjoy yourselves and learn all manner of new things here .. same time next week! Keep warm and do cook something delicious and delightful!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . . keeping in mind that much of the focus this week is Super Bowl cuisine ... an oxymoron, of course!

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution offers readers the opportunity to mull over variations on chicken wings in anticipation of the coming Super Bowl on Sunday:

On Super Bowl Sunday, it is estimated that 54 million pounds of chicken wings (about 500 million pieces) will be consumed, about 14 million pounds more that what usually sells in a week. Fried, grilled, baked or broiled, the wing is the thing.

This Sunday, consider spreading your wings beyond the deep-fried classic.Some folks nibble around the edges, and others pick the bone clean. Some who fall in the latter category abide by the "umbrella" technique —There's also the "twirl" method... finally there's the "pull and flick"

Recipes:

Sesame Wings With Cilantro Peanut Dipping Sauce

Jamaican Jerk Chicken Wings

Curried Hot Wings With Mango Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Coca-Cola Glazed Wings

BBQ Wings With Mama's BBQ Sauce

Buffalo Chicken Wings With Blue Cheese Dressing

access atlanta from the AJC reviews the grand old steakhouse which is greatly venerated by meat lovers from all around the country who visit Atlanta .. but wait a minute! It is the service which shines here:

The waiters treat you as if you are Donald Trump. It's not as if they aren't used to very important persons — Bone's is a celebrity haunt where CNN anchors hobnob next to tables of New York stockbrokers.... Bone's' old-fashioned, personalized service is a dying breed: the doorman remembering your name; the waiter remembering that you like mint, not lemon, in your tea; the host understanding that you don't like to sit with your back to the room. The bone-in ribeye is Bone's' best cut: 22 ounces of pure, unadulterated meat, with gobs of butter and seasonings smeared all over its beautifully charred exterior. This is what God wanted steak to taste like.

and then there is Atlanta Creative Loafing which has a plethora of great articles of interest:

* Italian Stallions One take on an old debate: Alfredo's or Nino's?

BY BILL ADDISON

Atlanta, of course, lacks the rich Italian heritage of many other major U.S. cities. We've got a handful of gifted chefs who craft rapturous renditions of authentic cucina d'Italia. But we sure ain't graced with a Little Italy. What passes for our only concentration of wonderfully stereotypical, Sicilian immigrant-based, mozzarella-blanketed, pasta-packed, old-school eats in this city are two restaurants that reside within a block of one another on Cheshire Bridge Road: Nino's and Alfredo's.

* Jamaican stylee BY T. LAGON

* Pick a passable pack of peppers Peri-Peri opens, plus a return to Showtime and ATL dining news BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Touchdown! Year of the Rooster Ribs BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Elephant love BY LAYLA BELLOWS

* Lebanese delight Cedars' buffet satisfies even a finicky father BY FLORENCE BYRD

Charleston SC Post & Courier is also into Super Bowl in their featured articles this week:

Hilton-Head based Wild Wing, which has three locations in the Charleston area, 13 overall and plans for seven more by year's end. Dianne Crowley, co-owner with her husband, Cecil, says each of the restaurants sells about 12 tons of wings a month. Multiply those numbers by hundreds of wing restaurants and chicken plants nationwide, and it's clear that wings have become agigantic force in the food business. And there is no time of the year like the Super Bowl for wings. The makers of Frank's RedHot Sauce claim that 50 million chicken wings are consumed on game day. At any rate, demand and prices spike in the weeks before the game, like gas does before a holiday.

Did they say gas??

The Charlotte Observer has a superb article for those of you from South and North Carolina:

An end to an appetizing adventure

In Places & Plates, we attempted to see other cities in the Carolinas by their food.

Since July 2002, I've eaten my way through Charleston, Wilmington, Asheville, Raleigh, Greensboro and Durham/Chapel Hill, trying to get the flavor of each.

In a way, it's an impossible task.... Reviewers usually make two or three visits to a restaurant. I was hitting two and three at the same meal.

But what you can do is look for what stands out. Markets with ingredients you'd never expect to find in the Carolinas. Chefs who can catch your attention even when you're eating your fifth meal of the day.  After all those miles, I ended up with a priceless collection of moments:

**Please note that this from Kathleen Purvis herself explains the article in greater detail:

I wanted to point out my column was accompanying an excellent story by Debbie Moose, in which we asked her to be an outsider looking at Charlotte through its food. You should be able to see the full story at www.charlotte.com. Look under Living for last Wednesday's Food section. You can also finds links to the stories I wrote for the series Places & Plates, which included Durham/Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Greensboro, Asheville, Wilmington and Charleston.

Many thanks to both you, Kathleen, and to Debbie Moose, for this article!

Charlotte Creative Loafing has a number of interesting articles as well this week:

* Cuts Like A Knife Otto Graham reveals intricacies of ownership

by tricia childress

* Cooking From A To Zebra Owner-chef spells out career trajectory

by jana k. nordstrand

* Experience the salad days by tricia childress

* An Overflowing Super Bowl Snacks score during the big game

by linda vespa

* South America: Argentina Shares the Love by taylor eason

Memphis Commercial Appeal articles include:

* Pomelo, Radish and Spinach Salad

* Quick Chinese Martin Yan understands our problem and he feels our pain.

So for our Chinese New Year he recommends a few menus: one for a 30-minute meal, another for 45 minutes, and a third for an hour. But we can keep adding dishes as our attention spans and energy allow -- remembering, of course, that this is supposed to be a celebration, not a Great-Wall style project.

Since this year is the year of the rooster on the Chinese zodiac, cooking is appropriate. Roosters are hard working and confident -- requirements for good and expansive cooks.

* Old-fashioned juicer puts squeeze on competition

* Lemongrass Chicken is star of Lean Cuisine Spa dishes

* Bierocks simplified with crescent rolls

* Relax and make veal stew together

The Nashville Tennessean has a number of fine articles this week:

• Cooking for one or two: Tiny portions or big batches?

• Bake up a batch for just two?

• Mardi party

• Food and drink gone bad: the year's worst new products

• Jazzed about seafood

• Napa Valley brings its taste to Nashville

Wine lover or not, in coming months you have unique opportunities to sip and discover wine you may never have had a chance to taste. Mark your calendar for several events leading up to a big wine auction called L'Ete du Vin on June 24. And not only do they provide excellent wines to taste and chances to rub elbows with people passionate about wine, but all events benefit the American Cancer Society.  The first is the Napa Valley Vintners Tour and Wine Tasting on Feb. 3 at The Coliseum. More than 50 wineries from Napa Valley, Calif., will be represented.

The Orlando Sentinel

Heather McPherson's column this week is also Super Bowl oriented:

I'd wager there were some pretty stout predecessors to modern tailgating long before any of the aforementioned colleges raised a cheer. Think the masses refrained from roasting meat on sticks at medieval jousts? Think the Scottish clans passed on imbibing after the caber toss? Beer and barbecue -- now that's an original tailgate.  Need more useless drivel for a few bar bets?

Fans are expected to eat 43.8 million pounds of avocados in the form of guacamole during the game.

It's not just for breakfast anymore. Tiffany & Co. of New York makes the Super Bowl Trophy.

The St. Petersburg Times

has a number of delightful articles on this month's big events:

* Special events and food tastings

* Love in any language ... by Janet Keeler

With Valentine's Day approaching, many of us have one thing on our minds: chocolate. Okay, it's on our minds most of the time. When it comes to chocolate, we speak the international language of love. We'll take one of each.

Scharffen Berger, USA

Baci, Italy

Toblerone, Switzerland

Elite, Israel

Jet, Colombia

Cote d'Or, Belgium

Valor, Spain

Milka, Germany

Stark and Simka, Serbia

Kras, Croatia

* Low fat Fried chicken gets a makeover

* Super Bowl parties A championship game plan

Score points at your Super Bowl party by ripping a page from the slow cooker playbook.

* Taster's choice SpongeBob snacks are fruity fun

* To market Bounty awaits those planning Feb. feasts

* Uncorked Wizards of Oz

Australian vintners make make magic down under as their inventive and creative wines

The Raleigh News & Observer is full of great articles of interest as well:

* Beefy, cheesy excess

we're talking about the food, not the football players.  We know what football fans crave: thick and meaty chili, nachos dripping with cheese and chicken wings with a sauce so spicy that extra adult beverages are required to put out the fire. And because the Super Bowl is all about superlatives -- the best football team, the funniest new TV commercial, the hottest FCC controversy -- shouldn't the recipes for the food be super, too?

RECIPES

Beef Chili with Kidney Beans

Buffalo Wings

Nachos a la Butler

* Black bean soup for a wintry day

Sometimes a warming bowl of soup on a cold day is the best way to chase the chills.

* Patrick's Shrimp and Grits

Patrick's in Durham serves Southern-accented contemporary American cuisine.

* Jewish deli? That's a lox to ask

Variations on the deli theme have been popping up all over the map.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20.

So, hope you have a great week of cooking, eating, and, yes, enjoying the pleasures of the Super Bowl ... Heaven knows, this week's SE Digest has certainly given many of you some great ideas as well as recipes!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has two highly interesting articles on, of all things, beans!

AJC article related to this on beans and legumes

Here's a recommendation that'll make you full of beans: Eat 3 cups a week.

You read that right. Three cups a week. More than three times as much as the average American currently puts away. Americans lag way behind the rest of the world in that regard; think of the dietary staples of beans and bitter greens of Greece and Italy, India's dal, Japan's edamame, Mexico's pinto beans and corn.Restaurants are putting more beans on the menu, too, and not just refried ones. Upscale establishments regularly include dishes such as giant Kastorian white bean stew and black-eyed pea hummus, white bean soup with truffle oil ...

Recipes include:

Cuban Black Bean Soup With Sofrito and Smoked Turkey

Tuscan-style Beans With Rosemary

Black-Eyed Pea Hummus

Chickpea and Eggplant Moussaka With Goat Cheese Topping

Red Beans and Rice With Turkey Kielbasa

Atlanta Creative Loafing offers readers a number of excellent articles, including two by Bill Addison:

* Passage to Peru The Amazon offers a refreshing South American alternative along Roswell Road's chain-riddled corridor BY BILL ADDISON

Peruvian is a largely untapped but accessible cuisine ripe for converts. It's a rich confluence of indigenous and Spanish cooking with Italian, Chinese, African and Japanese immigrant influences. You'll find American-accepted familiars like linguine with pesto and cumin-tinged roasted chicken alongside chile-sparked, saffron-scented exotica.... If you're imbibing alcohol, unwind with a pisco sour, the national drink of Peru. Pisco is a white grape brandy akin to a mild tequila. It arrives tart-sweet with lime and frothy from egg whites... My favorite in the selection is aji de gallina, an Italian-influenced creamed chicken dish with the lovely warmth of aji amarillos and a healthy dose of Parmesan.

Within the constraints of only being able to quote a brief amount of Addison's text, I encourage you to read more of this article ...

* Vietnam Vet A first visit to RiceSticks, plus a return trip to Nam

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Slices in the 'hood Liro's dishes out the pie and delivers, too

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Mouthful Vegetarian Indian

* Chef's Table

It pays to be green

* I dream of genie soup

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Food Book Review True Grits

BY BILL ADDISON

more on the book and Bill Neal here

* Choose your new weapon Alternatives to Chardonnay and Cabernet

BY TAYLOR EASON

* Fertile Crescent Who knew? There's more to Vickery's than fabulous cocktails

BY FLORENCE BYRD

* Sake it to me, baby BY TONY WARE

The Charleston Post & Courier has two separate articles which complement each other, namely one on scones and clotted cream and the other, tea.

"Here (at Charleston Tea Company), it's an American way, it's the new Starbucks. It's a Starbucks with tea. I don't want tea to be intimidating or (exclusively) feminine anymore. That's not tea. Tea is very cool. It's healthful and everybody should enjoy it and benefit from it."

Nellius joins an expanding legion of tea-oriented businesses in Greater Charleston, including This Whole House in Summerville; increased tea choices on retail shelves (particularly a greatly expanded bulk tea selection at Earth Fare in West Ashley); and the opening of a Teavana store (the first one opened in Atlanta in 1997) on King Street sometime in the coming months.

Quite an interesting article for Charleston residents as well as anyone interested in the new wave of teas sweeping the country ...

The Charlotte Observer has an article I have enjoyed immensely:

Perfect couples: Chemistry? Biology? What is it that makes some foods go together so impeccably?

Chocolate and raspberry. Beef and blue cheese. Pork and apples.

They're all on that list of magical food combinations. Chefs reach for them again and again.    What makes these pairings so special?

Some have an affinity for each other. Peach tastes peachier with a hint of almond, maybe because peach pits have a natural almond flavor.

There's a kitchen saying, "What grows together goes together." Things that come into season at the same time, or things that grow in the same kinds of places, tend to work well together. Like tomato and basil, or chile peppers and cilantro.

Sometimes, the trick is that opposites attract

Kathleen Purvis cites a number of chefs who have written cookbooks on this issue .. among them Gray Kunz whose book I have just purchased ... a good read ...

Charlotte Creative Loafing articles this week include:

* Gastronomy In Cyberspace Blogs unite the global food community

by ethan gilsdorf

* Pick a Peck of Food Blogs by ethan gilsdorf

* Blogs With Local Connections by tricia childress which includes this tiny mention of eG:

An organization that requires membership in order to post (though anyone can read the posts) is The eGullet Society for Culinary Arts and Letters: forums.egullet.org. A search for "Charlotte" yields hundreds of postings.

* The Boss Lunch: Spots for business wheelers and dealers

by tricia childress

* I Dream of Genie Soup by kim o'donnel

* It's That Time Again Girl Scout Cookies are back in season

by linda vespa

* Alternatives to chardonnay and cabernet by taylor eason

Memphis Commercial Appeal has an article this week which I personally enjoyed because I have never considered making a savoury creme brulee:

Creme brulee satisfies as main dish

Everyone I know loves creme brulee. The one I read about used a Muenster cheese from Alsace. This is a very full-flavored, and shall we say, aromatic cheese. A washed rind cheese, it is just too strong for many people's taste.  I needed a soft cheese with enough flavor to make it interesting, so I chose a camembert from the Mouco Cheese company in Colorado. My second choice would have been a well-ripened Brie-type cheese.... any chicken sausage available in the freezer section of most specialty food stores would be excellent, especially the ones with basil or sun-dried tomato. Kielbasa or another smoked sausage from the grocery also would be tasty. I caramelized onions and finished them with a bit of honey and balsamic vinegar for the topping.

The restaurant served this in small ramekins as a first course....

never actually gave this much thought .. until now ...

The Nashville Tennessean has a number of articles in the food section:

* C'mon, give healthy eating a try

* Meatless, not heatless

* Mad about saffron

Saffron is considered exotic because it is unique and irreplaceable in recipes that call for its flavor. People find it difficult to define its taste, because it doesn't taste like anything else in this world. But once you taste saffron, it lingers on your tongue and in your mind.... if you want a dish that lovingly showcases saffron's culinary prominence, look to Italy for a decadently creamy plate of risotto Milanese (see recipe). The saffron lends a warm aroma of honey-toasted tobacco, at once delicately bitter and sweet. With a salad, bread and wine, the risotto Milanese can be a main course unto itself.

The St Petersburg Times articles this week are worthy of your attention, and this by Janet Keeler, Times Food Editor:

* Hot, hot, hot

The word is used repeatedly by fans of celebrity chef Tyler Florence - and they aren't just describing the food .... Florence answers questions and gives advice while cooking:

* "There are four tastes - spicy, sour, salty, sweet. Every time I make a dish, I try to hit all four."

* The episodes of Food 911 with dark cabinets in the background were filmed at his New York apartment. The others are shot at people's homes.

* He'll eat anything but draws the line at the Chinese 100-year-old egg. He had a bad experience with one of those, something about a black yolk.

* For his own enjoyment, he makes a spaghetti with marinara and fresh basil from the garden that will "make you cry."

* His restaurant will look like a farmhouse. Half will be a dining area and the other half a market where artisanal products will be featured.

* The 320th episode of Food 911 was just shot. The network gets 350 requests a day from people who want Florence to come to their house to teach them to cook a troublesome dish.

The Raleigh News & Observer has some wonderful reading in its articles this week:

* Gloved hands not always cleaner

There's something reassuring about watching restaurant workers handle our food with gleaming gloves, but the appearance of extra cleanliness may be no more than that -- appearance.

* A truly delicious cobbler

I know that it sounds downright unpatriotic with Presidents Day on Monday, but cherry pies just don't thrill me.

* Tea might do you some good

It may come as no surprise to Southerners: After water, the most popular beverage in the world is tea.

* This show really cooks

The confessional monologue, delivered in the form of a cooking class, makes its Triangle debut this weekend.

* Artful desserts from the museum restaurant

Baby Bundt Chocolate Banana Pound Cake, which was served with praline ice cream.

* Two new eateries bloomin'

The first half of February saw the opening of two promising restaurants, both the first ventures of chefs with impressive credentials.

Lopuszynski (Wild Orchid Grill) describes his inaugural menu -- which features entrees like grilled colossal sea scallops with ancho chile risotto, and grilled flat iron steak with veal jus and crispy onion straws -- as "starting off simple" and promises more ambitious fare to come. 

Meanwhile in Chapel Hill, Dimitri Roussos has opened Table 55 ...  After leaving Chapel Hill as a young man to see the culinary world, Roussos has returned home with a resume that stretches from Boston to New Orleans.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20.

* Here's to Slovenia and beyond

Thirty years ago, the world was full of people who thought that only France and Germany could produce wines worth drinking.

* One-dish meals make dinner easy

In these days of busy households and hectic work schedules, it isn't surprising that cooks are spending less time preparing food than they once did.

Have a great week whether you are cooking at home or dining out ... I am going to spend a large part of this week visiting and writing about the food in both Asheville and Hendersonville, North Carolina. Back next week with all new SE Digests!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution features two articles of great interest:

Basically Braising by Kathleen Purvis, whom we know as the Food Editor of the Charlotte Observer:

When you strip away the mystique and accouterments, cooking methods really fall into two camps: dry heat and wet heat.

Braising is wet heat. That's it.  When you use a slow cooker, you're braising. If you've made a campfire stew, you've braised. If your mother made pot roast on Sunday, she was braising.  But oh, the places braising can go. It goes to France, for coq au vin and boeuf bourguignon. It goes to China, for braised fish and spare ribs. It goes to Morocco, for braised chicken with lemons and olives. It goes to Italy, for osso buco.

Recipes this week include

Chile-Flavored Braised Halibut

Slow Cooker Pot Roast With Vegetables

World's Best Braised Green Cabbage

Moroccan Chicken With Green Olives and Preserved Lemons

The other article is on the former Food Critic of the Journal-Constitution, John Kessler and explains more fully why he is assuming even more roles in food writing:

In the pantheon of enviable careers, restaurant critic ranks up there with film actor, banana republic dictator and Springsteen roadie.For starters, I'd like to write about restaurants in a way that extends beyond the basic thumbs up/thumbs down modality. Atlanta has a rich restaurant culture, full of stories I'd like to tell.

And I love cooking.... also hope to write more about the great and varied food markets around Atlanta.

Finally, I hope to broach the subject of wine and spirits in a way that skirts between the rock of pedanticism and the hard place of silly cocktails

Atlanta Creative Loafing has a number of excellent articles on local food this week:

* Sweet submission Haven't been to Midtown's Spice lately? In the hands of venerable chef Paul Albrecht, it's worth revisiting BY BILL ADDISON

Albrecht is at his best with seafood. That means you'll want to hone in on starters like the lumpy crab cakes with a tidy tuft of wilted spinach and lime vinaigrette, or the mussels steamed in a lush lemongrass-coconut broth. A splurge on the $18 batter-fried lobster tail appetizer renders an epiphany....  At Spice, it clicks: Under a sheer cloak of tempura-thin batter, the lobster meat is delicate, and a jicama-Asian pear slaw on the side draws out the crustacean's buttery nature.

Albrecht's primary strength may be his uncommon sense of composition.. He pairs grouper with roasted red pepper grits, fried oysters and broccolini.

* You Have Some Gall Seeking succor at Grady's, plus feedback on Sundown's sea change

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Not Too Caliente Salsa Havana's food and service miss the beat

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Light Bright

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Comfort of Curry

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Food Book Review British Soul Food

BY BILL ADDISON

The Charlotte Observer has several items which you may enjoy:

One of which is Brown, yellow or white: Sugar's all sweet by KATHLEEN PURVIS and be sure to check this out with Kathleen discussing cooking with different sugars:

audio on cooking with sugars

Here, we have sugar cane and corn, for cane sugar and corn syrup. Other countries have different sources, like coconut palms or grains, and they use them to make sugar, too. Or they use sugar cane, but they process it differently. The result: different flavors. There are other sugars in America, of course. Even in mainstream supermarkets, you can find unprocessed sugars, such as Sugar in the Raw. Other people prefer products made in countries that still sweeten with cane sugar instead of corn syrup, because the taste is purer.

Recipes include:

MALTOSE GLAZED CHICKEN WINGS

ROLLED SUGAR COOKIES

CREME BRULEE

BASIC PECAN PIE

Yet another of Kathleen's articles is also here this week:Manhattan in March suits me fine

Charlotte Creative Loafing offers readers an array of good reading:

* A View To A Thrill Food and ambience are the tops at sky-high restaurant

* Deli Delight Eatery offers authentic choices, large portions

by jana k. nordstrand

* The Irish In Us Pubs for St. Paddy's Day

by Tricia Childress who reviews the local St. Patrick's Day options:

At RiRa, you won't find any wussy green beer. I'm not sure you could dye Guinness anyway. On the menu at this charming Irish two-story pub (the interior was actually shipped to Charlotte from Ireland) are Beef and Guinness pie, bangers (imported Irish sausages) and mash, fish and chips, and corned beef and cabbage. At the Lake, the Galway Hooker Irish Pub has a week of celebration planned with a parade, music, dancing and, of course, lots of beer.Sir Edmond Halley's will have local Irish youth dancers, a bagpiper, and some of their regular crowd (also an Irish singing group) performing Irish tunes, so patrons can weep into their beers or lift the beers higher.Third Ward's Hartigan's Irish Pub will serve corned beef and cabbage, shepherd's pie (beef), beef stew, green beer and Shamrock shooters

* Comfort of Curry

by kim o'donnel

* Feed Me The Money: Food as a major investment

by linda vespa

* Drive Yourself To Drink Southeast food & wine fests that are worth the trip

compiled by taylor eason

Memphis Commercial Appeal articles this week include:

* Mushrooms stuffed with cottage cheese, spinach, garlic and bacon

* Seared scallops star as signature dish at Blue Fish

* Caminos de Michoacan review

* Rising through the ranks

* Thistle has a big heart beneath thorns, 'choke'

* Pastry, meatless corn dog will fool those fickle kids

The Nashville Tennessean has as their main article Hippity-hoppity, Easter's on its way by columnist Thayer Wine:

You can go for the glory and make that special dessert yourself, or, if you're not that daring, you can always find something at one of the many bakeries that prepares goodies for the Easter season.  If the busy bunny typically deposits chocolate rabbits on your doorstep, you might consider staying away from a chocolate-based dessert. Consider a lemon tart with a walnut crust. Make it the day before, so you don't have to cook it after you get home from church.

If you're planning to serve a brunch, you might consider offering homemade hot cross buns that are traditionally served on Good Friday (March 25 this year) as well as through the days leading up to Easter.

Other articles this week include:

• What does this winner put in his Crock-Pot? Ribs

• Real men do quiche

• Bogged down? Let Internet service save your dinner

• L'Ete du Vin pledges more to charity

The St. Petersburg Times brings several articles on Miami dining:

* Miami's new accent by CHRIS SHERMAN, Times Food Critic:

The change in Miami cooking comes not from the teachings of Adria or any one chef but a five-year flood of talent from all over Latin America and the newer, progressive two- and three-star kitchens of Spain itself. They have taken charge of a dozen high-end restaurants in South Florida and given new accents, style and shape to the city's finest dining. Miami is still very Latin and long on splash in a way the rest of the state can't imagine, but the changing tastes are deeper, brown and smoky, the decor softer, creamy and gauzy, and the dialect more authentic and cosmopolitan. Ultimately it is not so much fusion as elevated, modernized Spanish cooking.

* Miami restaurants: a tasty sampler

* Nuevo Latino is still cookin'

The Raleigh News & Observer this week dishes up a variety of topics which I found most interesting:

* Batter's up for winning cobbler

* Get a handle on your salt

* Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a real champ

By JAN CURRY

Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day with traditions such as parades, the wearing-of-something-green for good luck and the serving of Irish dishes such as champ. Sometimes called stelk or pandy, champ is an economical and tasty mashed potato dish flavored with green onions, parsley or chives.  My recipe for champ differs slightly from traditional recipes because I like to enrich the potatoes with a little Dubliner Irish cheese, rather than butter. If you're unfamiliar with this type of cheese, you're in for a pleasant surprise. Dubliner cheese has a distinctive, rounded, nutty flavor and although it has a hard texture, it melts well.

Oh yes, the recipe is included but you must first register ...

*Babette's bruschetta

Have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day and enjoy the warmth of the March sun and the change of seasons!

[Gifted Gourmet]

This week shines the light upon grits and catfish and all manner of southern food, as well as many other items of significant interest: whole grains, foodblogging, a few restaurant reviews ...

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. (Some do require a free registration to access articles) This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

In this week's Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the excellent lead article involves grains in our meal planning, to wit:

Once whole grains were the darling of back-to-nature types, consigned to hearty brown bread and healthy cereals.  What a difference a couple of years makes. Stroll down any aisle in the grocery store and you'll see an explosion in whole-grain foods and product claims in unexpected places ... Consumers are getting the message, some food manufacturers say. Some 66 percent of shoppers say they're looking for whole, unrefined grains ... Food manufacturers have been trying to make whole grains more palatable to those who continue to believe they won't like them. A variety of white wheat flour made from whole grains produces bread that's similar to refined white bread in taste and appearance, yet has the fiber and other nutrients of traditional whole-wheat breads made with red wheat flour.

Recipes offered this week include:

Macaroni and Cheese

Wheat Berry Waldorf Salad

Whole-wheat Pasta Salad

Greek Quinoa Salad

Barley and Wild Rice Pilaf With Sautéed Mushrooms

Whole-wheat Couscous With Lemon Dressing, Roasted Chicken, Mint and Dill

The truth is uncorked: Wine collection (deliciously) overstayed its welcome by the former food critic of the AJC ... highly readable and classic Kessler ...

access atlanta this week review of Oceanaire .. this one is particularly dear to my heart because I ate there a few weeks ago ...

ANY MOMENT NOW, Fred Astaire is going to pop from behind a pillar and break into "They Can't Take That Away From Me." He'll tap his cane on top of my table, turn on one heel and sit down to share a half-dozen oysters with me.  He's in for a treat. The raw oysters at Oceanaire Seafood Room are exquisite, right up there with an Astaire-Rogers duet.... The shellfish platter copies the towering style of classic "le royale," although relegated to being called simply "grande" or "petite." Either has generous portions of super-chilled shrimp, mussels, king crab legs, jonah crab claws and lobster meat piled high on a three-tiered megalith of chipped ice.... The appetizers, especially a milky white crab cake full of feathery crab meat and barely held together with anything other than flavor, are the most interesting offerings ... The American notion that bigger is better now has fins.

I have to agree with much of this review .. the decor is perfect for an oceanliner and elegant, the raw oysters were breathtaking, the crabcakes were precisely as described, the service is impeccable, and I enjoyed my friend's cioppino with (far too much)glee!

The Charleston Post & Courier has a lead article by Teresa Taylor, on grits,

that old southern favorite:

Stone-ground GOODNESS: Old-style milling brings out full flavors of grits.

Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills in Columbia goes so far as to say that stone-milled grits can be like fine wine. "There are mineral flavors in great corn that come through in well-crafted, stone-ground grits, and floral flavors, from citrus blossom all the way to lilac and back again, .... even faint chocolate and spice." the modern-day grits "movement" began with the late restaurateur Bill Neal at the legendary Crook's Corner in Chapel Hill, N.C. Neal even co-authored a book in 1991 devoted entirely to the subject, the "Good Old Grits Cookbook."

and, should you be moved to try them out, there are two recipes included here for

Creamy Stone-Ground Grits With Virginia Ham and Red-Eye Gravy

Pan-Fried Stone-Ground Grit Cake With Sauteed Shrimp and Tomato Gravy

The Charlotte Observer has an article on foodblogging, one on Vouvray, and a Kathleen Purvis article about milk: Got milk? Not if it's 8-oz. skim

Until a couple of years ago, vending machines in my building sold cartons of milk. Fifty cents for an 8-ounce carton, in skim, 2 percent and whole. It was a bargain -- two quarters and I could get a relatively fat-free snack of skim milk or round out a takeout lunch without a can of soda.  One day, the milk cartons disappeared, replaced with 16-ounce plastic bottles. They were twice as big, held two servings instead of one, and cost $1.25, more than twice as much. Even worse, they were only available in chocolate, 2 percent and whole. No skim at all.  I grumbled to the long-suffering woman who oversees our vending service. There was nothing she could do, she said: They couldn't get 8-ounce cartons, and they couldn't get skim milk at all.

Memphis Commercial Appeal has this: Dressing up catfish Put some pizzazz into preparing the homely, whiskered Southern delicacy By Leslie Kelly

we asked upscale chefs in Memphis to provide catfish with a makeover, giving it some gourmet sizzle and dash.  "It's the other white meat," joked Jose Gutierrez, chef at Chez Philippe in The Peabody, who was among the many singing the culinary praises of poussin de chat.  "It's a nice, neutral fish; easy to work with," Gutierrez said. "Depending on how you treat it, you cannot tell the difference between catfish and snapper or sole."  Gutierrez said the key to turning catfish into a fine-dining dish is trimming off the dark layer of fat. "That is where you get the muddy taste." He might finish the smoked catfish by pairing it with traditional potato cakes and a horseradish-spiked creme fraiche, or he might toss it with greens for a light salad.

Other articles this week include:

* 'Everyday Italian' host has acting genes

It's always a little daunting to meet someone like Giada De Laurentiis.

* Enjoy your rhubarb, while you can, if you can

* Lactose-free milk should be all right for recipes

* Coconut cream pie? We can dream

* April 06, 2005 Memphis Brooks Museum of Art's "Art of Good Taste" series continues Thursday at 6:30 p.m. with a dinner at the Madison Hotel.

* Roasted pig, salsa verde provide taste of Italy

* Wings earn grateful praise

The Nashville Tennessean also offers readers some new and compelling reading on a number of food related items of interest:

A journey through Brazil Nashville's Portugese authority explores South American melting pot in new cookbook

The distinctive foods of each of these regions evolved from available foodstuffs and from the people who lived or settled there. Even those dishes considered typical of the country, such as beans and rice, vary from region to region. Her cookbook presents recipes from each of these regions.  Hamilton's parties are legendary because of the interesting foods she serves. They also provide opportunities to test her recipes.  She offers a few of them, mostly appetizers, to provide inspiration for a Brazil-themed get-together of your own.

• In sync with the sun

• World on a (microwave) platter

• Play dough

• A journey through Brazil

• Napa Valley brings its taste to Nashville

* Short, sun-drenched season benefits Washington chardonnays

* Blended reds from Washington are good to go

* Try dry Rieslings from Alsace region

In The Orlando Sentinel, Heather McPherson has an article which I found amusing:

Chore to adore is doing dishes at home show

Shelf space alert. If you haven't started your spring cleaning in the kitchen, it's time to get it done. The 2005 International Home & Housewares Show, which took place recently at Chicago's McCormick Place, showcased thousands of tempting new products.  Although flexible, squishable silicone gadgets and bakeware continue to be popular, plenty of stuff for the oven-to-table set was on display, as well. Pfaltzgraff's brightly colored stoneware from California wine-country cookbook author Joanne Weir, Wedgwood's new Emeril Lagasse lines and Anchor Hocking's oven-safe glass cookware in frosted blue and white were among the new items.

Among the items she discusses that are brand new are:

* Good Cook's 4-in-1 Opener

* Sarut Group's Nemo Whisk

* Orka's silicone cookie sheet

The St. Petersburg Times own Janet Keeler has a hilarious article on Burger King's new Enormous Omelet Sandwich ... and she, if you will forgive me, minces no words ...

Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest replied that landscape workers and road crews die of heart attacks like anybody else.  I say there are better ways to blow 730 calories. To be fair, the breakfast sandwich has never been about healthy eating. The breakfast sandwich is about convenience. Slap morning meal fixings - eggs, cheese, sausage or bacon (maybe both) - into bagel, biscuit or baguette, and you have dashboard dining's perfect food. "It's a parody of food," Jacobson told the Daily News last week. The pioneering Egg McMuffin seems like health food at a mere 290 calories and 11 fat grams.  Not surprisingly, the Enormous I bought didn't look much like the glamor shot released by Burger King or the one being shown on the ubiquitous TV commercials. The roll was smooshed and seemed steamed, the way bread gets in the microwave. The omelet looked more like a sponge, with no evidence that it ever met a skillet.

Health food? most pleasurable reading, as usual, by the one and only Janet Keeler!

Other articles this week include:

Elsewhere in today's Taste

* Start your engine

* The raw and the hooked

* Food file

* From his restaurant to your house

* Cork & Bottle Uncorked: Smooth and Sicilian

* On the Cheese Board

* Tasting notes Wine of the week

* Quick cooking

* For full flavor, braise salmon

* Taster's choice

* A sandwich to savor in the summertime

* To market Rising price of gas puts squeeze on food prices

The Raleigh News & Observer has tons of cool reading for us this week:

* Italian, family-style, ready to twirl

Slated to open officially Thursday, Gianni and Gaitano's is actually two very different Italian restaurants under one roof. The larger of the two, with Gaitano at the helm (and in the kitchen), is a casual, family-friendly eatery offering an extensive menu of pizzas, pastas and traditional seafood, chicken and veal dishes.

Gianni's much more intimate dining rooms are around back, under an awning that signals the restaurant's old-fashioned fine dining aspirations. That's old-fashioned as in classic French style serve-from-the-left, remove-from-the-right service, and as in warmed cognac snifters and high-backed upholstered booths.  And it's fine dining as in osso buco, snapper and jumbo shrimp Livornese, and Dijon-rosemary-crusted double-cut lamb chops.

* TV host lives it up

Food Network host Paula Deen shares more special occasions (and the menus for them) with her fans in her new cookbook. She will visit the Triangle this month to promote the book.

* Supper at 'Aunt Mag's' If juicy watermelon pickles, pimento cheese and the best deviled eggs in town appeal to you, then don't miss the charming little spiral-bound book, "Aunt Mag's Recipe Book."

* Crab Cakes from Angus Barn

The Angus Barn is my husband's favorite restaurant. I like the steaks, too, but I really love the Crab Cakes.

* A fool in the name of food

When we think of the late Julia Child, we think of recipes that are complicated and time-consuming. But at the latest Symposium for Professional Food Writers at the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia, I discovered something about Julia ...

* Look at what is added to your food

Nearly all processed foods that we buy contain one or more additives.

* Shiitake farming like rolling off a log

Thus endeth the SE Forum Digest for the week. Spring is in the air with all of the marvelous new and enticing seasonal foods ... see you next week with more articles from the media of the Southeastern United States! Eat well and, if you take any of these articles to heart, make something with whole grains, slow cook those grits, and avoid that Omelet Sandwich like the plague!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. (Some do require a free registration to access articles) This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a lead article on peas and pasta:

The appeal is tactile as much as it is tied to the pea's delicate, sweet flavor, said Gigliotti ... "Peas have lovely, creamy texture inside. And a nice homemade pasta has a great texture — it's not crunchy and not creamy; it's something in between. It's a nice complementary texture with peas." In southern Italy, garden peas might find their way into lasagna, said Betti, but they're a colorful addition to many other pasta dishes as well. Cream, olive oil, light tomato, even citrus-infused sauces all benefit from a handful of peas.

Recipes this week include:

Vegetable and Soba Noodle Bowl

Spinach Fettuccine With Smoked Salmon and Sugar Snaps

Pappardelle With Peas and Asparagus in Orange-Saffron Sauce

Orzo With Fresh Peas and Mint Pesto

Bow-tie Pasta With Peas and Prosciutto

John Kessler's article this week

Food for thought: How can farms, communities make better connection?

At the meeting I attended  ....  the main course was a discussion of what other cities, states, universities and community-based organizations were doing to forge a stronger bond between urban populations and small family farms nearby.  Far from elitist, most of these organizations try to connect local farms with local institutions: schools, prisons, hospitals, food banks. The idea is not to raise awareness of the pattypan squash but to find ways to keep small local farms viable ... Each person in the reading group researched an organization and presented its objective.

This is one extremely interesting article!!

access Atlanta from the AJC has a number of interesting articles but I was particularly intrigued by John Kessler's take on the hamburger:

Times — and attitudes — have changed. In the intervening years, top restaurants throughout the country have loosened up their lunch menus, often featuring a gourmet hamburger to signal a casual-Friday type spirit in places that are otherwise suit-and-tie. Lately, the trend has been picking up in Atlanta as more upscale places have started offering hamburgers with surprising twists and even more surprising price tags, topping out at $15. These aren't hamburgers for unadventurous or thrifty diners. Au contraire. Pricey varieties of beef, special buns and European cheeses all figure into these new Wimpies.

gets even better! read on ....

Atlanta Creative Loafing very cool articles for the week include:

* Prince of Monaco: Don Monaco's trattoria is an intimate oasis among Alpharetta's dining behemoths

BY BILL ADDISON

* Pork It Over: A visit to Carnitas Michoacan, plus first glimpse of Sampan Cafe

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Chicken Soup for the Chinese Soul: It doesn't get any cheaper or better than Hong Kong BBQ

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Mouthful: Soulful Pizza

* No fuss, just Muss (& Turner)

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Hung Like A Horseradish

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Big Organic Daddy: Get to know Mendocino, mecca of organic winemaking

BY TAYLOR EASON

* South by Southwest: Georgia Grille's name may confuse, but the food brings contentment

BY FLORENCE BYRD

the Charleston Post & Courier has two articles of good reading:

Food celeb Greek and Southern

For Cat Cora, a typical holiday during childhood was a blend of Southern traditions such as turkey and hot buttermilk biscuits with sides of Greek feta cheese and Kalamata olives.

"It really did shape the cook that I became and influenced me to really love food," The Mississippi native has used her Southern roots and Greek heritage to establish herself as a personality on the Food Network, co-hosting its kitchen makeover show "Kitchen Accomplished," and appearing on NBC's "Today" show.

and the second article on delicious cakes for the Passover feast ...

The Charlotte Observer has a plethora of cool articles, one of which is by our eGullet member, Kathleen Purvis:

* Haute kitchens: Newly restyled Myers Park home is one of 8 featured in this weekend's Kitchen Ingredients tour.

* KATHLEEN PURVIS: Queen City moves up on cooking shelf

Within the next few weeks, two cookbook authors will pass through town, new books in hand: the Food Network's Paula Deen and award-winning chef Frank Stitt of Birmingham, Ala.  Why is that remarkable? Skip back a few years: In 2001, Peter Mayle was touring with his food book "French Lessons." His stops included Durham and Asheville -- not Charlotte. He had to change planes here, but no one arranged for him do anything on his layover. Food writer Heidi Edidin had a car bring him to her condo on Memorial Day so she, Tricia Childress of Creative Loafing and I could interview him.  At the time, I wasn't surprised. For the first 15 years I covered food in Charlotte, cookbook authors rarely stopped here. We weren't considered a "food town."  Are Frank Stitt and Paula Deen the future?

Charlotte Creative Loafing offers its readers:

* Deen Of Cooking: Living it up with noted cuisine author

by tricia childress

her life started in 1989 when her marriage ended and she was left in Savannah with two boys and few skills except cooking.  "I had no talents," she confessed during a recent interview with CL. "I had been battling agoraphobia, so I had a lot of opportunity to become a pretty good cook. We (her family) love to eat and I love to cook."  To capitalize on her cooking, she took $200 and started The Bag Lady, a catering company. She cooked, her sons delivered.

Instead, Deen continued serving her Savannah customers with the food she had catered, the food they liked: "Plantation Southern-styled cooking with chickens and pigs and that sort of thing and a lot of vegetables raised on the farm."

Paula Deen will be in Charlotte signing her fourth cookbook, Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style (with Martha Nesbit; Simon & Schuster; $25), at Sur La Table on Tuesday, April 19.

* Wrap Artists: Roll with these tasty treats

by tricia childress

* It's a Whole New Ballgame: Non-traditional foods step up to the plate

by linda vespa

* Big Organic Daddy: Get to know Mendocino, mecca of organic winemaking

by taylor eason

Memphis Commercial Appeal has some really good articles worthy of your time:

* Serve French chicken liver dish with red potatoes, salad

* Melange gets a makeover

* Sweet treat

* Here are all kinds of Gooey Cake ideas

* Granola bars this sweet definitely can tantalize

* Cooks find mini uses for trusty, overlooked muffin pan

* Soup worth cheese tribulation

* Hankerin' for seafood gumbo 'n' grits with fried oysters?

The Nashville Tennessean articles this week:

* A snip of this, a pinch of that ... Cook up your own herb garden by shopping rows and rows at plant sale

This popular sale will be well-organized, with the more than 18,000 plants laid out alphabetically according to herb society member Margaret Boyd of Nashville. But if this sale is anything like past years, it's likely to be crowded, so you might want to get there early.  You can save yourself some stress if you have an idea of what you're looking for before you go. The herb society's Web site, www.herbsocietynashville.org, has a list of the herbs likely to be there. You'll find common and uncommon herbs for the kitchen, as well as several varieties of certain herbs, such as basil, of which there are more than a dozen kinds listed.

* You're in pot luck .... this article is all about pot roasts and has four delicious-looking recipes as well ...

* In sync with the sun ... eating and the concept of chronobiotic nutrition ...

* World on a (microwave) platter ... frozen ethnic foods ...

The St. Petersburg Times, home of their food editor and raconteur, Janet Keeler this week:

Humble Pie:

I've found a recipe for a banana cream pie with attitude that you must serve at your next dinner party. ...Or perhaps for a party of one.

Butter Brickle Banana Cream Pie combines the familiar soft banana slices, smooth vanilla filling and luscious topping of whipped cream with the nutty-sweet-buttery candy bits famously laced in ice cream. Your mouth jitterbugs with each bite: Salt jives with sweet, and silky jukes with crunchy.

.. this woman knows my tastes so incredibly well!

The Raleigh News & Observer has a number of interesting articles:

* 'Eggs Carolyn' stumps the Food Guy: Food sleuth cannot find a special name for half-fry/half-poach technique

* High on this hog: The Ossabaw has been called the "perfect pig."

* A couple of Lucky recipes

* Local eateries branching out: A number of North Carolina-based restaurants and chains open additional locations in the Triangle.

Charlotte-based Firebirds Rocky Mountain Grill (www.firebirdsrestaurants.com)

BBQ & Ribs Co. (www.bbqandribs.com) is slated to fire up the pits May 10

in Cary

La Shish (www.lashishcafe.com) has sold so many kebabs and other Middle Eastern specialties in the two years .. will be called Jasmine Cafe ...(www.jasmincafe.com),

a second Tyler's Tap Room & Restaurant (www.tylerstaproom.com) should be up and running in the renovated American Tobacco campus in Durham.

* Pea salad helps boost fiber in your diet: Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were foods that could magically keep your arteries clear?

* The Wine List: Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under

* Solace and splurging after Tax Day

* 'Calorie Commando' gives some ammo

To reduce calories (and fat) for healthier eating, Juan-Carlos Cruz ....

Hope you will not only enjoy some of the myriad articles on all manner of food this week ... there are so many great ideas and recipes in this Digest each week!

Have a great week .. if you observe the Jewish holiday of Passover, that will bring its own culinary delights at the end of this week ...

See you next week .. same time, same place here on eGullet!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. (Some do require a free registration to access articles) This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week has as the lead article, Passover cooking ... while I would have expected it last week before the actual holiday began, it is still most appreciated for the remaining five days ...

this year, our first in Austin, Texas, I asked myself how I could create a midweek Passover meal she would enjoy, but I could prepare easily, with ingredients on hand — still keeping all bread, pasta and pizza out of sight for the required eight days....  After finding some simple baked chicken recipes in a couple of old cookbooks, I combined the memory of my daughter's favorite version with my friend's advice of cooking in a sauce, and crossed my fingers.

All I needed to buy was potato starch to replace corn thickeners, which some cooks avoid at Passover....

Not surprisingly, this week's AJC recipes include:

Passover Peanut Brittle

One-Apple Charoset

Moist Baked Chicken With New Potatoes

Creamed Spinach

The other relatively new column which I now enjoy immensely is by the former restaurant critic of the Journal-Constitution, John Kessler:

Lamb: Pare the fat, love the taste

the easy secret to cooking lamb, and I'm going to share it with you right now. First, try to recall any childhood experiences with this other red meat. You may think of that super-fatty roast your mother served once or twice a year, with potatoes à la naugahyde browning in the roasting pan and dried herbs bristling on the greasy surface.  Now think of the smell. Lanolin? Wet wool? Eau de petting zoo?

Kessler describes past experiences cooking lamb and offers up his most recent "find": Three-day Persian-style Lamb Kebabs .. and it is definitely all about the lamb fat, as the title of the piece says ...

Atlanta Creative Loafing never disappoints me and the articles this week are certainly no exception to this rule:

* Not Off The Hook Yet: Oceanaire's inconsistencies make for a fishy dining experience ... BY BILL ADDISON

* Southern Misgiving: A trip to new Nancy G's, plus an encounter with Paula Deen

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

As atonement for years of bitchy reviewing, I expect to come back in my next life as a bad cook. I will open a restaurant and critics will crush me like a cockroach. I will write each of them an e-mail longer than my pants leg, calling them pretentious snobs who have no respect for the entrepreneurial risks I have taken...

Nancy G's Cafe and Neighborhood Bistro (4920 Roswell Road, Fountain Oaks Shopping Center ... Entrees produced one hit and one miss. The hit was Wayne's big fat molasses-brined pork chop, grilled with a balsamic glaze and served with a juicy grilled peach... The miss was tuna steak seared in a pumpkin seed crust. Two pieces of the fish were thrown onto a bed of field greens that had been drenched until soggy in a super-oily lemon vinaigrette.

* A bite of Big Apple pie: Taste of New York offers hard-to-beat, hefty pizzas

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Mouthful: Margaritas

* Chef's Table: Clothes Complete The 'Cue

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Kitchen Witch: A Puckery Picker Upper

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Food Book Review: Prime Time

BY CURT HOLMAN

* Corkscrew: Talk Tight, Get Heavy... How to speak wine-geek

BY TAYLOR EASON

The Charleston Post & Courier has a number of worthwhile stories to check out:

Fish for the future

'Sustainable seafood' supporters want consumers to be environmentally savvy when then choose fish and shellfish. BY TERESA TAYLOR

"The entire fishing industry is an economic asset to a coastal state. When someone comes to visit the Lowcountry and expects seafood, you don't want it to be the same thing they can have back in Cincinnati at the Red Lobster," he says. "You want it to be the best experience they ever had."  DiPace's shellfish leases stretch from Charleston County south to Jasper and Beaufort counties. He pays the state and agrees to "plant" and cultivate so many bushels of oysters or clams per acre. That, he says, allows him to take from and renew the beds at the same time.....  Kramer thinks chefs belong in the forefront of sustainable seafood because they can decide what to sell. "If you take a whole city like Charleston and stop buying Chilean sea bass, that's going to affect somebody's business down the line, and that's a good thing."

Wow! Talk about a marvelous article! Do yourself a favor and check this one out ...

Other articles here include:

* A journey to Fetzer's Five Rivers BY ANDY FELTS

* Easy kugel uses yogurt

* Here's the rub for some tasty, tender rib-eye steaks

The Charlotte Observer is, as always, a true pleasure to read ... the articles this week include:

* The reign of Spain: It's all about Spain.

* Spanish pantries

* JUST RECIPES: Spain

* Humble peas and pasta (includes recipes)

* Cook to cook (includes recipes)

* Pick-your-own crops : If you've never ventured into fields to pick your own bounty, here's what you need to know:

Our extensive list: How to pick the best fruit, veggies, Storing what you pick

* Will syrah's taste make it a hot item?: Experts disagree about future of ancient wine Will syrah be the big wine of 2005 or does that honor go to pinot noir, still basking from its star turn in "Sideways"?

BILL DALEY / Chicago Tribune

* Suffering from cook's syndrome?

Cook's syndrome is a malady another friend pointed out to me many years ago:

Food always tastes better to other people than it does to the cook.

It's cruel, but true. We don't just cook with recipes and formulas. We cook with our senses and our experience. We cook with our expectations, and we cook with our hearts.  And when we dish up the result and present it to our loved ones, we scoop up all those expectations and hopes, all those things we imagined the dish would be, and we put them on the plate.Our guests, of course, get to pick up a fork and just taste food. Free of expectation, free of imagination. Happy just to be cared for by someone else.  Guests taste it as it is. Cooks taste it as we wanted it to be.

This is something I have just spent an enormous amount of time discussing with a fellow cook and friend ... I always advise: only you will know how you wanted it to taste!" He always disagrees with me ... Thank you, Kathleen, for saying it so well, as you always do ...

Charlotte Creative Loafing offers us a "bouquet" of distinctively different articles this week:

* Wing Ding: Two local joints serve up tasty chicken treats

by tricia childress

Never mind which came first, the chicken or the buffalo - wing, that is. Chicken wings have nestled into the American diet. Various stories are out there about the origin of Buffalo wings. One attributes the original... people do not come to Wing Stop for sports — or bad singing. The wings are the main draw. Wing Stop uses Prestige Farms' jumbo wings, which are so large the whole chicken must be the size of a turkey. Fuller noted that he originally started with smaller wings, but his customers demanded bigger. Wing Stop takes wings to a level beyond the hot and spicy Buffalo variety. Here there's Original Hot, Cajun, Atomic, Mild, Teriyaki, Lemon Pepper, Hawaiian Barbeque, Garlic Parmesan and Hickory Smoked BBQ. The last is their latest flavor, and two more are planned to be released soon.

* Cinco For Cinco: Celebrate at these Mexican eateries

by tricia childress

"The date 05/05/05 comes around only once every 1,000 years, right? That in itself is something to celebrate. Officially, Cinco de Mayo is the Mexican holiday to commemorate the 1862 victory by Mexico over the French."

* My Mango Muse by kim o'donnel

" From the summer of 1999 until summer 2001, I traveled to Barbados eight times. The farthest east of all islands in the Caribbean, Barbados was my growing-up classroom in my early 30s. There was plenty of romance,"

* It Sounds Familiar: But I can't put my finger on it

by linda vespa

* For The Splurge Of It: Wines so good you may even forget the price - for a minute by taylor eason

Memphis Commercial Appeal has some terrific "reads" as well this week:

* A new world market

Foodies Goode, June Owens and Alyce Mantia helped navigate a trip through the recently opened market, 6616 Winchester, uncovering exotic treasures, particularly in produce and at the fish counter. Then a few days later they got together to demonstrate how to make a meal out of some of the bounty ....

Specialty food markets abound in Memphis -- Mantia herself owns a gourmet store and deli in East Memphis. But this is the largest and most diverse of the lot, with food and employees from around the world.

* Bring an international dish, jam the kitchen and enjoy

* Stir-fry peas on high heat for bold taste

* At last, two sought-after recipes from popular Dale's

Good things come to those who wait. We've all heard that, and this time it's true.

* Let your nose be your guide to ripe pineapple

Q: How do you tell when a pineapple is ripe? What is the best way to store the pineapple, and how long will it keep?

* Bring an international dish, jam the kitchen and enjoy

Someone strolling past June and George Owens's East Memphis home last weekend could have suffered olfactory overload or, at least, confusion.

* Artichoke: an edible thistle

You might not have known this, but April is right in the middle of peak artichoke season. While available all year, production is highest between March and May.

The Nashville Tennessean has some marvelous articles this week:

* Steak out: Grill a big, juicy bite of beef to perfection

* Grilling with gas comes naturally, too

* A summer that sizzles

By JIM MYERS, Staff Writer

Grilling is all about making contact and throwing heat. The sound of a juicy steak hitting the sweet spot on the grill stirs us to our primeval core, hearkening back to the days when Neanderthals huddled in caves 'round the fire pit with wooden sticks on their shoulders.  And just like in the world of groomed ballparks, hard work and practice can elevate your game from amateur status to the big leagues. That means a good spring training, grounded in grilling fundamentals, is essential to a summer season of tasty success.

* Local authors back at it with cowboy, cupcake-doctor cookbooks

* Finding Nero

The Raleigh News and Observer offers its readers (and ours!) a load of great articles:

* Clayton goes gourmet

Clayton is rapidly shedding its image as a culinary backwater, as an assortment of new restaurants continues to expand the town's options far beyond its historic selection of barbecue and fried chicken. Steve Punt, who owns Allium Bistro with his wife, Mary ... Drawing on his extensive experience, the chef will offer an eclectic and fanciful menu of tapas, salads and entrees, with options ranging from almond-crusted eggplant "steaks" to pork loin piccata with fried sage polenta. For traditionalists, the menu will also offer steaks, lamb, chicken and nightly fresh seafood specials. More adventurous diners will be happy to know that Punt plans to offer an assortment of game dishes once the restaurant is up and running.

* The Wine List: Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20. Wines mentioned are available locally; prices are suggested retail.

* Bread of love: For Greek Orthodox Easter, the braided loaves of tsoureki are a sweet tradition.

* Homemade crackers have healthier snap: Many ready-made crackers are loaded with unhealthy ingredients.

* Bakery puts icing on the cake: Could you please ask the chef at Once in a Blue Moon Bakery in Cary for his recipe for Buttercream Frosting? It is absolutely the best.

* Wahoo! Grill up some fish

The American Heart Association believes the positive benefits of fish seem to outweigh the risks.

* TV host lives it up: Food Network host Paula Deen shares more special occasions

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This concludes the Southeast Forum Digest for this week ... I want to take this opportunity to welcome eG's newest regional forum, the Florida Forum ... and its new host, Susan Burgess! Wishing her well and knowing that I will miss my reporting on such outstanding papers as the St. Petersburg Times and its food editor, Janet Keeler, as well as The Orlando Sentinel and its food editor, Heather McPherson.

Have a great week!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. (Some do require a free registration to access articles) This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city ...

The lead article in the Food Section of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is Kitchen pantries are stocked with more choices from the Washington Post originally ...

Chefs and nutritionists call the pantry an important resource. "If people stock their pantry in the right way . . . it opens up some wonderful opportunities for new tastes, and can improve their health and weight in the process," says Donald D. Hensrud, associate professor of preventive medicine and nutrition at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine ... Two developments in American life have expanded the scope of our new pantry: our interest and openness to world cuisines and flavors, and a growing concern with health and wellness. While neither trend is strikingly new, there are signs that both are accelerating. Will Americans embrace a changing world of ingredients, flavors, spices and herbs for their pantries? To some extent we already have.

This is well worth the few minutes that it will take for you to read through it ... I learned some new ideas which I hope will make for better pantry-stocking in my home .. see how your own food pantry stacks up ...

Recipes this week include:

* Tuna, Sun-Dried Tomato and White Bean Salad

* Provençal Fish Soup

* Mexican Chicken and Rice

access atlanta from the AJC has an article, by Meredith Ford, food critic of the AJC, on a local restaurant, Com Vietnamese Grill:

Vietnamese fare gets fine diplomatic treatment in a stylish, appealing setting. The biggest conflict is what to choose.Com is new. Fresh. Appealing to anyone who might want to enjoy the intricacies of Vietnamese cuisine — and earthy enough to skip the fancy linen, table settings and chichi ambience of a higher-priced joint like Nam...  there's one quirky thing about this little oasis: It touts itself as a grill. Indeed, all the meats are marinated and grilled (nuong), then served over rice with delicate matchsticks of fresh cucumber and squash with a fried egg, or wrapped in a spring roll, or served minced as goi (salad) with beautifully fresh apple and green mango.It adds up, actually. Exquisite + divine + yum = Com.

This is enough to make me take off shortly and try one of their dinners!

Atlanta Creative Loafing offers its readers several options to read and savor:

* Green Thumb Thumbs Up's East Point locale has shorter waits, but the cooking comes up a bit short, too BY BILL ADDISON

* Deli-cious Muss & Turner's in Smyrna raises the bar for take-home treats

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

"The belly rules the mind," says the menu at  Muss & Turner's quoting a Spanish proverb. Ignoring that the same thing is said about the penis    you'll certainly be able to expand your mind at this new gourmet market and sandwich shop... Muss & Turner's is a gorgeous, sensuous space, with lots of blond wood and glittering glass cases with brilliantly colored food. The cases sit before an open kitchen designed to accommodate cooking classes.... You'd need a small pickup truck filled with money to sample everything here.Salads are almost startling in their flavor. Roasted beets are lightly mixed with red onions; you're given gooey goat cheese to mix with them before serving.

* Yummi Yummi Conquer the colossal noodle bowls at Yanmi Yanmi

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Mouthful Artisan Cheese

* Chef's Table Shaping the Chefs of Tomorrow BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Fava on My Mind BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Southern Spread BY BILL ADDISON

* Drink Blindly Lose the labels, double your fun BY TAYLOR EASON

* Hawaiian Munch Corporate atmosphere dulls the luster of Roy's innovative fusion menu

BY FLORENCE BYRD

* Gimme a 'P' BY LAYLA BELLOWS

An update on the much-discussed Blais from CL:

Richard Blais, Atlanta's master of molecular cuisine, has been named executive chef of One Midtown Kitchen. We're confused. Blais has been working as sous chef at Two Urban Licks and the rumor was that he was to become chef of Trois, the planned third restaurant to be opened by Bob Amick and Todd Rushing. Whatever. We wish him well. ...

and we always do ... good luck, Richard, your loyal dining public knows your creative abilities quite well now!

Charleston Post & Courier has a fantastic article: Moonstruck

For the Atlantic blue crab, the soft-shell stage is part of an intricate mating ritual.

BY TERESA TAYLOR

"They're wonderful. I try to eat at least one a week. It's a delicacy."  Delicate, indeed, because the shell remains soft for only a few hours. This molting process is a bit of nature's magic. It's governed by the temperature of the water -- 66 to 68 degrees -- in concert with a full or new moon  ...  Soft-shell season starts first in the Gulf of Mexico and moves up the East Coast with warmer weather. It started a few weeks ago in the Lowcountry, slightly later than usual because of lower temperatures, Long says. The harvest reaches a peak within a month or so. Then it goes as quickly as it arrives. "They could be here and then be gone. You just don't know," Long says.

and there are recipes ... mmm...

Something quite new: from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina this week Myrtle Beach Online has some incredible articles worth checking out ...

* One fish, tuna fish A new campaign tryies to make the dish popular top sellers: Blue crabs. Spots. Croackers. Shrimp. Scallops. Salmon. Tuna. Grouper. Flounder. Tuna's hanging in there, but it's toward the end of the list. By Russ Lane

* A biker chef's motto: Eat to ride, and ride to eat

One of cookbook author Biker Billy's recipes, "Killer Curry," almost lived up to its name. Biker Billy, also known as Bill Hufnagle, who will be cooking and giving autographs... by Russ Lane, The Sun News

* Sweet scallops great for summer

A simple marinade and some smartly combined seasonings give sea scallops just the right backup in this recipe from Martin Yan, popular master of Asian cuisine, cookbook author and television food-show host.

* Beach buzz - information for the days of our lives

AC Nielsen, a market research company, released a report May 2 stating products labeled as organic, low- or no-sugar are the leading "tags" on food packaging ...

The Charlotte Observer articles this week look like this:

* A Finger-Lickin' Competition 51 finalists gather for national cooking contest by Kathleen Purvis, Food Editor

Gee, how lucky can you get? It was Friday the 13th, but Camilla Saulsbury of Bloomington, Ind., will leave Charlotte with a check for $100,000.  Not bad for a morning's work, making Mahogany Broiled Chicken with Smoky Lime Sweet Potatoes and Cilantro Chimichurri.  She sat stunned, hands over her face, before finally going to the podium to accept the award.

the winning recipes! All of them look great

* Why the chicken came to Charlotte

* Recipes from previous contests

* Grab an apron Cooking classes are hot and folks are lining up at a variety of places for lessons.

* JUST RECIPES: Cooking class extras

* An update on recorking red wine

* WINE Limoncello not something you play

* Pick-your-own crops If you've never ventured into fields to pick your own bounty, here's what you need to know:

* Our extensive list

* How to pick the best fruit, veggies

* Storing what you pick

Charlotte Creative Loafing articles this week:

* Extreme Makeover: Dining in the dark by tricia childress

It's been said that being in the right place at the right time is half the trick. In 1995, the historic Lucas house in Elizabeth underwent an S lift (minimally invasive face lift) of sorts when it... The warm brilliant patina of the golden oak floors and front hall oak staircase is stunning. Immediately to the right of the reception area is a small bar and lounge area complete with one of several fireplaces. The restaurant has been decorated in an Arts and Craft Craftsman style. The menu at the Fig Tree is seasonal and currently focuses on the traditional litany of early spring offerings: rabbit, salmon, osso buco, lamb chops and filet mignon with Stilton cheese. We started with a solid beef carpaccio scattered with colorful peppers, and a less interesting tower of Peeky Toe crab and avocado salsa, dusted with sevruga caviar.

* To Market, To Market: A plethora of produce by tricia childress

For those who have moved here recently, we don't have farm stands or produce stands. We have markets. Local markets are located from Waxhaw to Huntersville and many of these markets, such as the markets in Huntersville,...

* Fava on My Mind by kim o'donnel

In the vegetable world, spring means the arrival of two high-maintenance divas: the artichoke and the fava bean. At first glance, the artichoke is a real looker. But perhaps like a beauty contest queen, she makes it...

* Size Matters: How big are your portions? by linda vespa

In the 2004 Academy Award-nominated documentary Super Size Me, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock spent a month eating only McDonald's foods, much to the detriment of his health. Perhaps in response to the film, McDonald's introduced a campaign promoting...

* Drink Blindly Lose the labels, double your fun by taylor eason

It's sad to admit, but our culture is polluted by marketing. We seem programmed by advertisements on TV, radio, and yes, even in the pages of the newspaper you're reading right now. Wineries are fast becoming marketing...

Memphis Commercial Appeal has an extraordinary collection of articles, nearly all of which are centered upon the glorious barbecue phenomenon:

* Smack, rotate, smack, toss. Quinon Day of Jackson, Tenn., competes in the hot wing eating contest. Doug Slater won. Not for the dainty

* Leslie Kelly and Dave Darnell blog about Bar-B-Q

* Leftover beef has a special place in this French dish

* Barbecuing on the Mississippi 'Cues & A 's

There was a whole lot of flesh on display at Thursday's opening of the 28th annual Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, but it wasn't necessarily pork ribs and shoulders.

* Creole eatery puts stamp on old post office

What a recycling job! Horn Lake's old post office is scheduled to reopen this morning as Creole Quarter, a New Orleans-style restaurant offering everything from beignets to shrimp creole.

* Readers take their 'cue to sound off

We asked readers to give a big hooves up to their favorite barbecue restaurant and got a snout full of suggestions.

* Biting into Memphis's best barbecue Welcome to Memphis: home of the blues, birthplace of rock and roll, and center of the smoked swine universe.

* The critics' picks Kelly's and Koeppel's top five Memphis barbecue restaurants.

Rendezvous Some locals dismiss it, saying it's a tourist trap. That it's not real barbecue. They serve on paper plates and they won't offer dessert. So what?  There's still no place I'd rather eat ribs. They're cooked over charcoal, hot and fast, basted with a secret mop sauce (hint: vinegar is a key) and finished with a blend of seasonings that was once the backbone for the original restaurant's famous chili. That charcoal-broiled treatment makes for meat that snaps when teeth meet flesh. Drizzle that half-rack with a little of the outstanding sauce (one of the few sauces around that doesn't rely on liquid smoke to make a statement), pour me a glass of cabernet (they have a surprisingly good wine list) and I am one happy carnivore.

* Light your grills: It's the great pig gig

Just how much pig will teams put away at the 28th annual Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest?

* Just add smoke

Today, we're going to chew on that burning question: What is Memphis barbecue? Oh, sure, you think you know the answer simply by virtue of living in the center of the smoked pork universe and home of the swine spectacular Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest

* Veterans of pork wars Pete Gross is a seasoned veteran of the smoked pork wars, better known as the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, which kicks off Thursday at Tom Lee Park.

The Nashville Tennessean has this delightfully delicious tidbit:

Berry beautiful By THAYER WINE

The love of strawberries, once considered an exotic fruit, goes way back. Back in the 1800s, they were considered a luxurious treat.  Today, we're fortunate, because they're available from growers from throughout the globe all year long. These sweet red berries present themselves in local gardens and strawberry-picking farms during May in Middle Tennessee.  Among the most tempting and classic of the many strawberry delicacies is the strawberry shortcake — a sweet biscuit split and topped with macerated strawberries and crowned with fresh whipped cream. It never goes out of style.We have embellished on this shortcake idea with some alternatives to the usual biscuit and whipped cream to dress up these special berries for easy and refreshing warm-weather desserts.

and do look at some of the current crop of recipes on this incredible fruit of summer!

More wine-centered articles in The Tennessean include:

WINE IN NASHVILLE

* South American vintners raise a glass to Malbec

* Spanish coastal white tastes great with seafood, pasta

* Try Vouvray for a new experience

* In with the Old; they go well with many foods

* Grenache makes its way to New World wineries

* Short, sun-drenched season benefits Washington chardonnays

* Blended reds from Washington are good to go

* Try dry Rieslings from Alsace region

* Tart chardonnays pair well with grilled chicken

* 'Sideways' doesn't realize the magic of merlot

The Raleigh News & Observer artcles for this week look exceedingly worth your time in reading:

* Salute opening of burger season

Hamburgers should be treated with more respect when grilled.  A great burger starts at the meat counter. Like it or not, you have to have some fat to have a first-class burger. Look for ground chuck, no more than 80 percent lean. Chuck is a very flavorful cut of beef with just the right ratio of fat to lean for a hamburger. Get your hamburger coarsely ground. By that I mean that the meat is loose, with thick strands caused by the butcher using the grinder blade with the largest holes. Mushy and compacted beef just won't give you the juiciest burger on the grill.  Don't overhandle the meat when you are making the patties. The more you compress the meat, the less juicy it will be

.

* Now is the time to go for the green

This is the point in the year to start eating lots of locally grown produce.

* Solomon's blessing

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20. Wines mentioned are available locally; prices are suggested retail.

* With summer approaching, our appetites increasingly turn to sandwiches, salads and other light bites. Thanks to several new restaurants on the scene, our options are more varied than ever.

* Sharing the secret of Nina's ... Dined at wonderful Nina's in North Raleigh last week and had a fabulous appetizer, Eggplant Saltiletto.

* Juicy jewels from nature Strawberries taste great and they're loaded with nutritional goodness.

Have a wonderful week and watch for more great reading from the Southeast Forum ...

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. (Some do require a free registration to access articles) This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city ... this week, of course, many of the articles focus on Memorial Day ...

The Asheville Citizen-Times has a marvelously comprehensive article by Jim Myers on grilling and various types of equipment:

Grilling is all about making contact and throwing heat. The sound of a juicy steak hitting the sweet spot on the grill stirs us to our primeval core, hearkening back to the days when Neanderthals huddled in caves 'round the fire pit with wooden sticks on their shoulders.

Just like in the world of baseball, hard work and practice can elevate your game from amateur status to the big leagues. That means good training, grounded in grilling fundamentals, is essential to a summer season of tasty success

.. now this may answer many of your questions ...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution offers up articles on eating outdoors ...

My love of food and cooking started on the porch with my family, eating fresh, delicious, Southern food. These early inspirations were the seeds that planted my career and led me to study food and essentially, the art of the table.

My favorite meals combine those memories from my youth and my wide and varied experiences as a food professional.  And so, like my picnic table, I've given my Memorial Day menu an update by incorporating recipes reminiscent of my summers in France: fresh salads, fine cold cuts and seasonal fruit.

Recipes:

Tipsy Watermelon Salad With Mint

Carrot and Beet Salad With Lemon Vinaigrette

Fingerling Potato Salad

Cherry Tomato Salad With Tarragon

World's Best Garlic Bread

Spinach-stuffed Beef Tenderloin

Atlanta Creative Loafing has a marvelous collection of food articles and reviews (so what else is new??)Feature

* Freaky For Tiki Fun is the finest sustenance at Trader Vic's

BY CYNTHIA WONG

Part of the chain boasting 21 such restaurants around the world, Atlanta's Trader Vic's is an experience to be savored with the eyes and not necessarily the palate. Its Polynesian plates aren't derived from anything you might find on Tonga but something along the lines of sweet 'n' sour pork: Chinese food with pineapples and maraschino cherries. Like the extinct Playboy Clubs, Trader Vic's is a vestige of mid-century style where campiness and cheesiness come together to create an atmosphere of kitschy class. They certainly don't make 'em like this anymore

This is one very cool read and takes me back to one of my initial visits to Trader Vic's ... enjoy!

* Here Comes The Sun Eclipse de Sol opens with the talented Patti Roth as chef

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* BYO Baby Smyrna's Zucca offers affordable Italian in kid-friendly digs

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Mouthful Lively Salads

* Chef's Table Designer Duo

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Sauce on the Side

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Long Night's Journey Into Gastronomy

BY BILL ADDISON

* Quit Crossing The Line The Supreme Court rules on shipping wine

BY TAYLOR EASON

* Fairlie Forgettable Icon Bar & Bistro looks good but ultimately falls flat

BY FLORENCE BYRD

Charleston Post & Courier articles are worthy of our attention for the array of different topics:

* C'est fromage Comte cheese worth the fare to France

BY NATHALIE DUPREE

Foodies, of which I am one, pride themselves on knowing the newest thing. Many times, ironically, these are age-old products that are just coming to the attention of communities beyond their own. I first heard of Comte cheese when I was given a sample at a local grocery store. I thought it tasted like Gruyere, only better. Indeed, as I found out, all Comtes are Gruyeres, but not all Gruyeres are Comtes 

What makes Comte such a unique gruyere? Like any artisan cheese, it is the way it is made. This is not a farmhouse cheese, however. It is made twice daily in nearly 200 small village cheese dairies -- called fruitieres -- from 3,200 milk producers, then moved to 20 maturing cellars, where it is tenderly turned and brushed. Every cheese is slightly different. The required minimum age of maturation is four months, but most are aged much, much longer, usually between 8 to 18 months.

and the recipes are incredible in this piece!!

* Chandon's known for sparklers

* Caterer hits high point in long, eventful career

* Enjoy summer get-togethers with wine punch

* THE WINE LIST

* FRONT BURNER

Sweet chili sauce perks up sea scallops

The State (Columbia, South Carolina), is something new for me in terms of the media which I usually cover. Their articles this week are wonderfully appealing:

* Layer upon layer of flavor

Combine sweet and tangy. Or soft and crunchy. And all of a sudden, familiar foods will have a whole new allure By ALLISON ASKINS

Have you ever stared at the food you just prepared, wondering how so much effort could produce such mediocre results?

The trick may lie in the layers of flavor skilled chefs know how to create — either by instinct or through years of training.

Kristian Niemi, chef and partner at Gervais & Vine in the Vista, thinks food should tantalize the senses with a contrast of elements — sweet, salty, bitter, sour and spicy.  Texture counts, too. Tender and crunchy create wonderfully different experiences for the senses.

* Eat, drink and be healthy. Tomorrow it’s summer

The barrage of new products on the grocery shelves can leave you wondering which ones are worth your money. This monthly review will help you navigate the grocery aisles. By ALLISON ASKINS and LICIA JACKSON

* Media Bites

A preview of food shows, cookbooks and food books to consider in the month ahead. By LAIN BRADFORD

Charlotte Observer articles include:

* A stove-free meal Kathleen Purvis: Breezing through a hot summer.

* Nunley, she's cooking down in Georgia

* MOORE | Boy's fried chicken a hit in '58

* Cheese gets a new squeeze -- beer

* KATHLEEN PURVIS: Don't scuttle the scuppernong

which winery is "the best"? That depends. "Best" is subjective. In a state with so much variety, I'd rather you explore on your own and look for the experience that means something to you.  That said, which winery to visit also comes down to that line between dry and sweet. And that comes down to the issue of scuppernong vs. no scuppernong.  North Carolina has some serious history with scuppernong wines. We even have "the mother vine," a vine on Roanoke Island that is believed to be the oldest in the nation. It is thought to be the root of all scuppernongs growing in this country. You can see a picture of it and buy clippings from it at www.themothervine.com.

As I said, the Observer this week is full of great reading!

Charlotte Creative Loafing articles for the week:

* The Hungry Hobbit A quest for New Zealand cuisine

by tricia childress

The menu at Queenstown has Asian elements from many Pacific Rim nations. The kitchen is manned by Gao's cousin Jimmy Gao, also of southern China. Navigating this lengthy menu seems complex, especially if you're unfamiliar with Asian and New Zealand cuisine. The Asian dishes are the best dishes. Take the starters, for example. I figured the gigantic green-shelled New Zealand mussels would be extraordinary. But they were not. They were large and beautifully plated, but tasteless... the Thai Fish Soup with large pieces of salmon, a few shrimp and thinly sliced scallops redolent in a bath of coconut fish broth...

* Tar Heel Wines Tobacco Road is now a wine trail

by tricia childress

* Sauce on the Side by kim o'donnel

* Food At The Speedway Fans need to fuel up, too

by linda vespa

Memphis Commercial Appeal

offers:

* Lolo's Table at 128 Monroe is a busy place. Gary Hawkins is in charge of the

* Simple, with a Twist

* Kelly: Downtown grocery shopping a bit easier

* Cool stuff

There's something new on the cold front: stylish refrigerators that keep food fresher

* Plastic grocery bags reused for kitchen garbage

* Try healthier bean dip, guacamole

Memorial Day weekend isn't exactly a health-food fest, but just by making small changes maybe this year can be a little healthier than usual.

The Nashville Tennessean articles for the week include:

* Barbecue bigwigs

BBQ Queens build whole meals around the grill

* Give it a whirl

* Feed your flock's tastes with these tips

* Light sabers

* Enjoy fresh farm produce the easy way

Raleigh News & Observer does themselves proud, as it is said in some parts, with:

* Finding a balance

The single most boring picnic I ever attended was thrown by a family of doctors my wife and I knew when we lived in Washington, D.C. They had a small vacation home on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. As we sat around a weather-beaten wooden table on the back lawn one Saturday afternoon, with the water sparkling in the distance and sailboats drifting by, we dined on raw broccoli, carrots sticks and plain, cold, poached chicken breasts. No one enjoyed it, but I could tell that this was the diet the doctor father thought best, and none of the doctor sons nor their wives (one of whom was also a doctor) nor their small children had thing one to say about it.

...

* They're smokin'

* Glenwood just gets hipper

The hippest six-block stretch on the Raleigh nightlife scene nears the saturation point.

* Fratello's fare

Fratello's has quickly earned a devoted following in Cary after opening in December.

* Transform leftovers into new dishes

Here are some ideas for using restaurant leftovers.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20. Wines mentioned are available locally; prices are suggested retail.

* Grilling by the book

* Veggie lasagna satisfies

* Meat, sticks and a fire -- it's all good

* Taste soft-shell crabs while you can

They look like big bugs on a plate, which is part of the fun for me, although others think they're critters from a Halloween movie.

Have a good week enjoying the first summer foods, grilling to your heart's content, be careful and safe and come back to this spot at eG next week for more of the Southeastern Digest!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. (Some do require a free registration to access articles) This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city ... leading up to, you guessed it: Father's Day ...

The Asheville Citizen-Times has a virtual wealth of articles worth your time to peruse .. check these out:

* What's your 'cue IQ?

"I have barbecue sauce in my veins," says Billy Talbert of Billy T and the Jammers out of Kings Mountain. "We've been competing for seven years now, and won first place in pork last year."  Barbecue-cooking teams stay up all night, carefully watching the coals and jealously guarding secret sauce recipes, awaiting the verdict of the judges with the anxiousness of a Sunday morning sinner searching for salvation.

* THE BEER GUY: Coors comes up with new throwaway case 'cooler' to stay hip in changing market

* DINING REVIEW RECAPS: Enoteca a warm, friendly place with a cosmopolitan feel

* QUICK BITES: 'Taste of Black Mountain' set for Thursday at visitor center

* Cook flavorful chicken, with ethnic flair

* VERSATILE VEGETARIAN: Experiment with menu can result in a winner

* WNC Tailgate Market Roundup

* Fruity bars are easy to bake, make good snacking

* AFTER 5 COOK: Skillet dish benefits from use of whole chicken

* FAST LANE COOK: Keep cooked chicken handy for easy enchiladas

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has as its lead article thia week Real men cook:

Events showcase guys' culinary spirit By ELIZABETH LEE

Along with as many as 100 other men, they're competing for bragging rights in an annual charity food tasting.This year, 1,000 guys (mostly African-American, but anyone may participate) are expected to prepare tastes of grilled chicken, sweet potato cake and the like for 30,000. Atlanta organizers expect up to 2,000.This year's celebration in Atlanta is scheduled to include music, food and drink tastings, health screenings. "We're raising future husbands," Manuel says, "and we want them to know how to contribute."

website for Real Men Cook with information galore!

Recipes include:

Phi Beta Sigma's Wings With a Ting and a Tang

Row da Boat Curry Pineapple Shrimp

Pecan Pie Muffins

Banana Ban-Chi

Quick Spicy Collards

access Atlanta of the AJC has some new restaurant reviews these days:

This week's review of one of my favorites: Canoe:

The panoramic view of the Chattahoochee River. The drop-your-jaw gorgeous gardens..  a barramundi (an Australian fish a little like bass) served whole and roasted in all its glory, or on a more recent evening, tender rounds of halibut cheeks over a creamy corn and fava bean succotash with micro cilantro adding a smidgen of tart nuttiness. Or soft-shell crab, perfectly fried with an ethereally thin crust, surrounded by a light lemon-and-caper beurre blanc.  Even an outdated showing of ostrich (this really is the '90s) rests easily in her hands, the lean meat tender and pink with more lemon sauce and batons of Asian pears for a crunchy twist.

Recent local restaurant reviews include:

Real Chow Baby

Eno

Red Peppers

Com Vietnamese Grill

Muss & Turner's

Sala

Ria's Bluebird

Thumbs Up Diner

Atlanta Creative Loafing offers some divine inspiration for meals around town:

* Time For A Fixe: Soto mixes up his metier with both prix fixe and à la carte menus BY BILL ADDISON

Soto's tasting menu is one of the most sensually harmonized meals I've ever eaten in this city. Shivering "wow" moments detonate with nearly every bite. And for the old timers, plenty of familiar flavor combinations happily materialize.

The next two courses consist of trays with one- or two-bite tastes of edible sculpture: asparagus molded in black sesame paste and sprinkled with white sesame seeds; steamed sea eel draped between lithe slices of smoked abolone; tuna and uni paired with Japanese yam; an approachable tangle of sea weeds in a clarifying vinegar.

more details on Soto's tasting menu can be found in the SE Forum ...

* No Missing This Link

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Go for the Dough

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Grazing Mail Call Reader feedback, plus first bites at Taste

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

Charleston Post & Courier has some interesting items worth looking over this week:

Chicken with a kick: Entries in a national cooking contest reveal a taste for spicy and international recipes.

What was the recipe that netted $100K? Once again, full fusion: Mahogany Broiled Chicken With Smoky Lime Sweet Potatoes and Cilantro Chimichurri. In addition to chicken and sweet potatoes, the ingredients list includes dark brown sugar, Dijon mustard, hoisin sauce, balsamic vinegar, butter, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, lime juice, lime zest, cumin, fresh cilantro, olive oil and garlic. Sound like a mouthful? It was.

.. recipe follows ...

This week in the Food section of the Charlotte Observer you will find a highly interesting article by eGullet's own Kathleen Purvis:

To market: You might not find a fat pig at today's farmers markets, but there's plenty else

Lettuces, radishes, spring onions.  No local tomatoes yet, but plenty of variety for salads.  Farm eggs in all sizes, with smudges and straw still on them.

Another basket of strawberries, our fourth in a month, and a loaf of bread for breakfast toast.  And with that last crumpled $5 bill, a fistful of irises and Sweet William for the table.  Farmers markets are always changing. Strawberries give way to blueberries. Sweet peppers replace spring onions. Irises fade as dahlias bloom.  But the markets go on, growing all through the summer.

There is a complete, long list of local farmers' markets in the Charlotte area in this article ...

Charlotte Creative Loafing articles this week:

* The Soy Next Door: Mizuho warrants return visits

by tricia childress

Of the stars, the marinated octopus salad and the perfect shrimp shumai shone the brightest. Also good were the large, succulent shrimp tempura enveloped in a greaseless, delicate, airy crust and the succulent, bursting with flavor pan-fried gyoza pork dumplings. Obviously, Chef Ueno is teasing his customers to return. We instantly downed steaming bowls of flavorful miso soup with small rafts of tofu, but could not even attempt to finish the abundant bowl of rib-sticking udon noodle soup.

* Go for the Dough

by kim o'donnel

I'm the kind of cook who cooks. Baking bread is better done by others - or until I have the time to learn to be patient. I even had pizza lessons in Italy, but all I got...

* The Big Scoop: Summer screams for ice cream

by tricia childress

School's out, the thermometer is rising, and lines get longer at area ice cream parlors. Who doesn't crave the creamy cold sweetness of ice cream on a summer's day? The ice cream cone is thought to have...

* It's Picnic Time: Go casual or classy - just go outdoors

by linda vespa

It's not officially summer for another couple of weeks, but for all intents and purposes, summer started on Memorial Day. And summertime means picnics. The word "picnic" comes from the French word picque-nique, which first appeared at...

* Way of the Sommelier: Only the best students attain the rank of Master

by taylor eason

It's a word that strikes fear in the hearts of those who have to pronounce it: Sommelier (SOM mel YAY). French for "wine butler," this person is in charge of wine at a restaurant and can be...

In this week's edition of Memphis Commercial Appeal, you will be able to read such articles as:

* Buffet dominates at Medallion

Driving on Central by the University of Memphis, as I frequently do, I cast my eye toward the carved inscription atop the Holiday Inn - Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality and Resort Management - and say to myself, "How hospitable is it?"

»

* Keep it cool: It's Hurricane season. No, we're not talking about destructive storms with names like Charley and Francis, but the potent tropical cocktails that look and taste cool.

* Diet detective: Elsa giving Barbara a run for her money

Diet Detective rated cookies in an early column and became a big fan of Barbara's Bakery Old Fashioned Oatmeal Crisp Cookies. It's a super 60-calorie, 1-point cookie and still our favorite.

* Kelly: Chefs line up to help fund-raiser

Asking a chef to cook on a night off is like asking a bear to share his honey. But Karen Blockman Carrier said the all-star lineup of chefs signed up for the second annual "Commemoreat" were downright sweet about the chance to dish at this event - a fund-raiser that honors the memory of Kelly Wilson.

The Nashville Tennessean has some articles you might enjoy:

* Jim Myers'

Best in the West and the test: Texas export Blue Bell ice cream has us screamin'

So it is we stand with guarded interest when a Texas-based creamery named Blue Bell announces that it's opening up in Nashville so we can finally benefit from its fine ice cream.  "You mention Blue Bell to a Texan and their eyes just glaze over,"

So recognizable is the flavor, they immediately declared it Blue Bell with whoops and hollers right when it was served in a small, plain cup. We suspect that the Blue Bell neophytes were unduly influenced by the blurted proclamations of greatness.

Other articles:

Thigh-high marks (06/13/05)

It'll bring tears to your eyes (06/13/05)

Butter wrappers put to use with potatoes (06/13/05)

Restaurant leftovers enhance meals made at home (06/09/05)

Pie birds make their point in the crust (06/06/05)

Cooking with hunks (06/06/05)

It's picnic season (06/06/05)

Breakfast on the go (06/01/05)

Cooking with pride (05/30/05)

The Raleigh News & Observer articles for this week include:

* Beer opener is set to pop

Last month the state House passed a bill to lift the cap on beer alcohol content.

* Taste this!

If you're a devotee of soft shell crabs, you probably know that cool weather has delayed the season this year. And you're probably tired of nursing your habit with the frozen specimens that are the star ingredients year-round in Japanese spider rolls

* Got a paunch? Get a pooch

If there's room in your heart for a four-legged friend, a dog might be the best fitness investment you've ever made.

* Fruit bar packs energy in lunch bag

If you're looking for a wholesome, homemade snack that has more nutritious value than many "junk" food items, you may wish to try this recipe with its blend of grain ingredients.

* Classic salad from archives at Bogart's

Chef Colin Auchincloss retrieves recipes from the restaurant's files.

* Grilled shrimp spice up weeknights

I love to cook out on the grill - especially at this time of year. But I don't necessarily wait for the weekend to have a cookout. Nope, I cook out on weeknights, too.

* Blanching times

This chart giving the blanching times for vegetables was inadvertently omitted from the June 1 story about freezing summer produce.

* The world is their buffet

A prevention program at the Girls Club of Raleigh uses food to discourage teen gang activity. Participants prepare a buffet.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges:

* Find pearls in small towns

Smaller towns on the Triangle's outskirts have been busy expanding their own culinary horizons.

* Veal vs. beef: It's a matter of age

Q. When does veal turn into beef?

Have a wonderful week and check out this SE Digest next week for new articles to whet your appetite!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. (Some do require a free registration to access articles) This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city ...

The Asheville Citizen Times has as its main article this week:

Put down that cookie and read this: Trans fats can load up arteries, lead to coronary disease

I eat almost no processed foods, and I refuse to eat margarine, even in restaurants.

If trans fats are so bad for you, then why do food manufacturers even use them?

"Food manufacturers used to think they were a good thing," McGrath said. "Trans fats make cookies and crackers crispier, keep foods from going rancid - but now they know that they're not a good thing."

Although the article may be something with which we are now familiar, there are some ideas in it worth reconsidering ...

Other articles from the Citizen Journal:

* The Beer Guy: Asheville Brewing opens new tasting room downtown

* Dining review: Menu changes daily at Table bistro

* Quick Bites: Local Food Guide available

* WNC Tailgate Market Roundup

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution opens with the article:

Artfully mixed fruit salads ever so easy

Summer, when melons, stone fruits and berries are at their flavorful peak, is the best time to integrate fruit into your daily routine. With all those ready-to-eat options available in your market, you can assemble a fresh fruit salad in no time —and in endless colorful variations.  Entertaining guests? Fruit salads can easily fit into the menu, and they bring a festive flair to the table. Make them right before serving or, since many get a benefit from a soak and a sit, in advance.

Recipes this week:

* Fresh Fruit With Balsamic Glaze and Honey

* Tropical Fruit Salad

* Mixed Berry Parfait

* Honeyed Summer Fruit Bowl

* Fruit Salad With Cannoli Cream

* Gingered Fruit Salad

* Summer Fruit Salad With Port-Lime Dressing

Aged cheddar cheese article by the AJC's MERIDITH FORD is also worth a look ...

Other Food & Drink headlines:

* Fishermen and farmers help sell the 'home' in homegrown

* College students send summer grocery bills through the roof

* Companies use fresh-sliced, grab-and-go produce to lure shoppers

* Spinach has undergone an extreme makeover

* Vineyard proves to be labor of love for Middle Tennessee couple

* Your kernels won't pop? Scientists to the rescue

* Gourmet coffee may be adding to commuters' rush

We can rely upon Atlanta Creative Loafing to have a bunch of noteworthy items to browse this week:

* Buzz from the Grapevine: Eno's wine and dine terrain can be rocky or rapturous

BY BILL ADDISON

* Chef's Table: Oscar Winner

BY SUZANNE WRIGHTCHEFSTABLE@CREATIVELOAFING.COM

* Kitchen Witch: Mind Your Melons

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Mouthful:Ethiopian

* Earthly Delights: First visits to Midtown's Globe and the new Cafe at Woodfire Grill BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

about Midtown's Globe, he writes:

A special starter featured seared ahi tuna, sliced and arranged over a mild ratatouille-like mound of eggplant surrounded by a sauce made of the eggplant's juices, citrus oil and olive oil. Micro greens garnished the plate. We also tried a demitasse of piquant gazpacho colored with green-apple sorbet and a narrow ribbon of balsamic vinegar.

Nota bene(Comments on the new Cafe at Woodfire will be found in the SE Forum in the existing Woodfire thread)

* Southern Grace: Meat 'n' two with a helping of soul at Louise's

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Liquid Diet: Celestial Spirits

BY TONY WARE

* Food Book Review: Mouth-for-Hire 101

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Cool Cat : A hassle-free breakfast beckons at Candler Park's Gato Bizco

BY FLORENCE BYRD

* Female Aficionados: Women increasingly wow the wine world

BY TAYLOR EASON

* The Wine List

* Good Eats: Alternatives to the baking soda in your fridge

First time here that I am adding the local favorite The Hudspeth Report which has a number of insightful restaurant reviews from around Atlanta .. do your self a favor and take a peek ...

We can always rely upon some interesting stories from the The Charleston Post & Courier ...

* Pizza pizazz!

I found that grilling pizza is actually easy -- that is, if you are well prepared and organized before it's time to place the dough over the flame. It's well worth the effort. The grill imparts a luscious smokiness and crunch to the dough that's unlike any other kind of pizza preparation I've sampled.... It's creative and delicious. I wouldn't want to do it for a large group, but a grilled pizza party for a small group of four to six people would be very manageable, tasty and fun.

Recipes follow, of course!

* Fresh & hot

* The life of wine after it's opened

* Calling all shrimp & grits cooks

* THE WINE LIST

* Blue cheese adds color, aroma, tangy flavor

* FRONT BURNER

* COOKING CLASSES

* Get sweet and sour with bourbon pie, bread starter

* Hot chefs

Columbia SC The State has several articles which I found of interest, namely:

* Tasting the rainbow - By ALLISON ASKINS, Staff Writer

The peaches are arriving. The blueberries are almost ripe for the picking, and fresh, locally grown watermelons soon will follow.

* Dash of this: Food news -How to minimize cancer risk at the grill A free brochure from the American Institute for Cancer Research offers guidelines for safer barbecued food to minimize cancer risk.

* This Little Penguin dresses up even a modest meal: By LAIN BRADFORD

What a delightful value-priced merlot! The Little Penguin will make tracks for a long time with wine of this quality and price..

* A source of comfort, a sense of history By ALLISON ASKINS, Staff Writer

“Comforting” is among the words that Glenn Roberts, a grower of Carolina Gold rice, used to described the treasured South Carolina rice.

* Media Bites “Chef Fatback’s Cooking Blues,” a new cooking series featuring Barry Walker of Mac’s

Never to be missed is Kathleen Purvis' The Charlotte Observer and some terrific articles:

* True blue: Hey, blueberry fans, it's almost time for your favorite fruit.

How do you select the best?   You want firm, plump, deep blue berries with a slight silver sheen. Or as Carolyn Evans tells her customers: "You want them to look like they've been dusted with baby powder." Avoid berries that are moist or soggy.

Tips from expertsBlueberries are delicious to eat frozen, and frozen berries cook beautifully, too. As soon as the berries are picked, they should be placed -- unwashed -- in freezer bags or plastic containers and placed in the freezer. Washing before freezing will toughen the berries

* Give fruit pies a more even crust

* Troutman family cookbook

* Pick-your-own crops

If you've never ventured into fields to pick your own bounty, here's what you need to know:

* WORLD OF WINE 10 Cane Rum and the White Lie

One's a chardonnay created by women; the other's a new liquor

by FRED TASKER, Knight Ridder

Two ways you can tell mankind from the lower animals: the opposable thumb and the eternal quest for new, more prestigious -- and more expensive -- alcoholic beverages.

FOOD BITES

* Cast goes on, ingenuity comes out by KATHLEEN PURVIS

Amazing what a half-pound of Fiberglas can do. Especially when a doctor wraps it around your right hand, a few hours after you fall and land on that hand.

* J&W chefs, farmers meet in Denver by KATHLEEN PURVIS

Call it field work for chefs. With classes over and most of their students gone for the summer, five chefs from Johnson & Wales University had time to head 30 miles north, to Denver, N.C., for a party.

* Supermarkets taken to task: by CANDY SAGON, Washington Post

Linda Raymond of Chantilly, Va., has one goal when she goes to the supermarket: to get out as fast as she can.

* It's NOT the real thing:

On the Shelf Coke Zero claims to be "real Coca-Cola Taste + Nothing." But the taste left us flat. In a blind taste test with regular Coke, our samplers immediately spotted the new diet drink. by KATHLEEN PURVIS

* Give fruit pies a more even crust

Charlotte Creative Loafing offers some new articles as well:

* Great Scott: A conversation with nationally renowned Southern chef Scott Peacock by cliff bostock

I met Scott Peacock, executive chef of Watershed in Decatur, GA, and co-author with Edna Lewis of The Gift of Southern Cooking, around 1991, just after he was laid off from his job as chef at the...

*Come Fry With Me: Tips to take the intimidation out of fried chicken

by kim o'donnel

Done right, fried chicken possesses all the mystery and magic of Keebler cookies — it must be made by elves. How can mere mortals take an ordinary piece of poultry and really do justice to an otherworldly combination of crisp and juicy, salty and tangy, with opportunities to gnaw on both meat and bone? Most home cooks tell me that in spite of their love for fried chicken, they avoid it for fear of less-than-magical results.

* Female Aficionados: Women increasingly wow the wine world

by taylor eason

As a woman, I get especially proud when I meet a dynamic, talented female winemaker. You know... a chick with balls. She's not afraid of the good ol' boy wine industry, and arrives on the scene full...

* Wine Classes The interactive classes will explore the essentials of wine and food pairing, tasting techniques and trends in winemaking. Wed., 7pm. $25. Maggiano's Little Italy

* Wine Classes for Women A series of...

* Good Eats: Our critics' guide to recommended restaurants in Charlotte

* All Around Town

* Anntony’s Caribbean

A hint of the tropics; rotisserie chicken with Jamaican jerk sauce, ribs, Paradise Island fish special, curries, and Caribbean styled greens. $$...

Memphis Commercial Appeal offers these articles:

* Chef Rick Farmer creates one of Jarrett's popular seafood dishes.

Jarrett's: From subtle to sublime

"Sorry, we don't take reservations for less than six." Jarrett's policy is designed for the considerable walk-in traffic ...

* Blueberry bonanza

When George Traicoff operated a zoysia farm in DeSoto County, he repeatedly complained about the acidic soil to the county agent. "He kept saying 'Blueberries. Grow blueberries',"

* Kelly: Dinner, movie? Galatoire's is coming for 'Funky' premiere

If you buy into that adage about the Mississippi Delta starting in the lobby of The Peabody hotel, then it surely must end in the hallowed dining room of Galatoire's on Bourbon Street. This 100-year-old gastronomic institution is making a rare road trip to Memphis.

* A la Carte: Wine dinners and tastings

Bistro Aroma, 1779 Kirby Parkway, will pour wine from around the world selected

* Bleu cheeses come from many places, add tang to recipes

Bleu cheese can be confusing. If you can get past the exotic variety names such as Maytag, Roquefort and Stilton ...

* Cooking Q & A: Storage of roasted garlic can be risky

* Raw-peanut brittle 'is worth the effort'

* Kelly: Have a tasty time here as well

I've been to Beale plenty, but always to drink and dance and people-watch. Never to eat. Like a lot of locals, I've dismissed the city's most famous street as a dining destination. Shame on me!

* Koeppel: Some good service and spicy food lure tourists and Memphians to the street known for the blues

A couple of weeks ago I flew from San Francisco to Memphis and sat next to a bluesman. Or bluesboy...

* What's New: Cafe 61, 85 S. Second, has updated its menu, adding summer salads and has introduced a new signature dish: crispy duck and mushroom pilaf waffle...

* The coffee of her land

Lucia Heros of Memphis was a child when she moved to the United States, and the dearest memories she holds of her early years are those of her family's farm at the foot of Mombacho Volcano in Granada, Nicaragua....

The Nashville Tennessean articles include:

* Dessert: Italian style

Hendersonville chef specializes in sweet treats from her native Italy

An example of Hicks' experimentation is in her recipe for sweet risotto with apricot sauce. Risotto is a creamy rice dish most Americans know as a savory side dish or entree. Hicks transforms the traditional arborio rice into a rich pudding baked slowly in the oven. Each serving is topped with a fruit puree that punches up the intensity of fresh apricots with the dried version.

* Travel Channel samples a 'Taste' or two of Nashville

* Season with reason

* Peach of a pie

* Under lemon verbena's spell

* Best in the West and the test

* Thigh-high marks

* It'll bring tears to your eyes

* Butter wrappers put to use with potatoes

* Restaurant leftovers enhance meals made at home

* Pie birds make their point in the crust

* Cooking with hunks

* It's picnic season

* Breakfast on the go

* Cooking with pride

* Got (coconut) milk?

* Score a home run with this homemade ballpark tradition

Last, but hardly least, are the highly interesting articles of The Raleigh News & Observer

* We've got the scoop on beans

For many who live in the barbecue belt, an odd event takes place in New York City in mid-June. That's when the annual New York City Barbecue Block Party takes place. For the last three years, I watched the response to this weekend grow at an unbelievable pace. Not only do New Yorkers show up, but word is out and folks from the barbecue states, including North Carolina, have also arrived to see what the fuss is about.  North Carolina barbecue is well represented at the hand of Wilson's Ed Mitchell, owner and pit master of Mitchell's Barbecue, Chicken and Ribs

well worth reading!!

* Taste this!

It all started innocently enough with the California roll...

* Give kids food for thought this summer

For those of you with kids, be prepared this summer when they say there's nothing to do.

* Cool sandwiches for summer

Two exceptional new sandwich shops have opened in the Triangle...

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20...

* A taste of lavender

Known for its comforting scent, the herb makes a comeback in cooking.

* Duffy's She-Crab Soup

Restaurant's rendition of She-Crab Soup gets its distinctive kick from Cajun spices...

* Eating in the raw

Heat from cooking affects vitamins and minerals. It can also destroy enzymes in ...

Have a marvelous week and prepare for some updated Fourth of July recipes this week in the Southeast Regional Forum! more next week ...