April 17, 2016
Yes, this is the year that may drive me to drink. Actually, it’s the year that I will drive so you can drink. The University of North Carolina Press has enlisted me to tackle a new book, “Distilling the South.” It will have a few recipes, but it’s really a food and travel book, about the exploding craft distillery scene that is washing over the South. Rum, brandy, gin, vodka, whiskey of every description. If it’s alcohol, hundreds of new makers are opening up from Virginia to Louisiana. Where do you even begin to explore it all? That’s where my new book will come in. I’m setting up liquor trails in five regions – the Virginias, the Carolinas, the central South (Georgia, Alabama and Florida), the Mountain South (Tennessee and Kentucky) and the River South (Mississippi and Louisiana). Each trail will highlight the stories and styles of 8 to 10 distilleries: The whys, hows and wheres of places you need […]
November 13, 2019
At last, the story can be told: Yes, I took a Viking River Cruise. It wasn’t necessarily my choice, but it was important that I did it, for reasons I’ll explain. And one thing I learned while planning the trip is that as much as I apologized for doing such a bougie thing, my friends immediately reacted with great interest and curiosity. Apparently, all those ads on PBS have paid off. We’re all captivated by the images of a ship serenely sliding past castles while people hop into town to watch women in peasant costume pull bread out of ovens. So I promised, repeatedly, to tell everyone about it when I got back. First, let me explain that cruises and I have a distant relationship. As a features writer for a daily newspaper, I was once assigned to take a Bahamas cruise on Carnival. All my co-workers could just stuff […]
May 19, 2018
A digital news story takes minutes (sometimes seconds). A newspaper story takes a day. A magazine story takes a few months. A book? That takes a lot longer. I turned in the manuscript for “Distilling the South” right on time (well, mostly) in February 2017. And a mere 15 months later, a finished book was in my hands, on May 7, 2018. “Distilling the South” is now available at bookstores and on the usual online sites (hello, Amazon.) The book signings, talks, panels and wanderings have began. I’ve updated the events page, so check there. (And I promise to try to keep it updated as I go along.) It’s tough to find blogging time when you’re juggling a full-time job, an active freelance side job and a book tour. But I’ll do my best to touch in occasionally to with reports from the road. Thank you to everyone who has […]
August 9, 2016
I started out in January with a year to do an impossible task: Create five liquor trails covering 10 states in 12 months. Oh, and write a book at the same time. Here it is in the ninth month of the year, and I’ve covered most of six states and more than 30 distilleries. But boy, I still have a long way to go. Still, the adventures are mounting up. On two long weekends in a row, I covered most of two states, Virginia and West Virginia, and made a quick trip to Columbia and Charleston. You’ll have to wait until the book comes out (that would be “Distilling The South” from UNC Press, still slated for spring 2018) to get the details on the distilleries. But in the meantime, I’ll catch you up quickly on a few food adventures along the way.
June 9, 2016
When you’re working on a tight travel-book deadline, every mile has to count. For “vacation” (as I laughingly call it), my trusty travel assistant Mr. Wayne and I arranged a loop around the state of Florida a few weeks ago: Six days, 1,600 miles, 5 cities, 3 distilleries (Fish Hawk Spirits, St. Petersburg Distillery and St. Augustine Distillery), with stops to visit friends and family in Tallahassee, West Palm Beach and Tampa/St. Pete. We worked in pleasure, of course, with stops at the Dali Museum in St. Pete and dinner with old friends at Bern’s Steakhouse in Tampa. We also had an unusual set of “bookend” experiences, at the beginning of the trip at The Edison, Tallahassee’s new restaurant in Cascades Park, and at the end, at St. Augustine’s hot restaurant the Ice Plant.
June 5, 2016
Sometimes, a girl just needs to sit quietly and have a nice drink. Or three. My distillery tours for my book project, “Distilling the South,” have now hit four states (North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Florida). The list of places I’ve visited is around 18 and growing. But in the middle of all that, I took time for the two trips that involve my yearly duties with the James Beard Foundation awards. First, to New York in late April for the media awards (call BBJ in shorthand, for Books, Broadcast and Journalism). Then, a week later, to Chicago for the biggies, the chef and restaurant awards (shorthand: the Gala) at the Lyric Theater. My first night in New York, I grabbed a spare hour for a stop at a bourbon club I’ve had on my list for a while, Maysville, 17 W. 26th St.