Tagged: WFAEats

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I despise it.

Lumps of low-fat cereal afloat in a sea of soymilk. Goopy, gelatinous oatmeal. Protein shakes the color and consistency of mulch - and every bit as appetizing.

Recently I vented about this on Facebook. And thanks to the wonders of virtual communication, my longtime "friend" Kym Motley responded right away with an offer to help.

  Few things excite me more than morel mushrooms. Hunting them is a rite of spring where I come from. My hometown, Shelbyville, Illinois, holds a mushroom festival Spores ‘n’ More, with a contest and auction. That’s serious mushrooming.

There’s something about that delicate nutty taste, the crispy-fried texture that makes my mouth water. Morels are the epitome of eating local, in season. If they were available every day, I wouldn't care so much.

Sound Clip: Pharaohs Slaves

Ah, spring! Time for rebirth, renewal, celebration - and the dreaded chores of spring cleaning. Ironic, isn't? Just when longer days are luring us outdoors to play, there’s housework demanding to be done.

Each year at springtime, flat, unleavened bread called matzo appears in stores as Jews prepare to observe Passover. But non-Jews may not realize that modern-day spring cleaning has roots in the holiday, too, as a ritual that reaches back thousands of years.

Grab your little drink umbrella and join us for a liquid version of the Charlotte Talks monthly food show. This time we belly up to the bar and explore the popular rise of interest in cocktail making, or 'mixology.' Mixology has become a serious exercise with classes offered by well known culinary schools. We'll look at the science of mixing a drink and at the explosion of cocktail choices. We'll also look at a growing debate between traditional bartending and what makes a bartender a 'mixologist.' It's 5 o'clock somewhere, when Charlotte Talks.