The Gulf Coast of Florida’s Panhandle is a favorite beach escape, routinely voted among the prettiest in the world. And, while being known for its rolling dunes and sugar white sand, most may not know it’s also a great dive destination. For the underwater hunter, Northwest Florida is a gold mine, with miles of open…
Read More
Recipe Contributor: Caroline Coker Writers: Susan Benton and Caroline Coker Apalachicola, the old city on the “Forgotten Coast” that produces fresh wild oysters — not farmed — is not that far off, which makes our region the premiere destination for all things having to do with bivalves. Unfortunately, after the over harvesting from Hurricane Katrina,…
Read More
My daughter called me from the grocery store in Tuscaloosa today in a panic about what to purchase in order to make Chicken & Dumplings. Her cell phone was about to die, and she needed the info… pronto. She had decided that Sunday was the perfect time to have a go of it, and I…
Read More
Contributor: Caroline Coker Living in ‘the sunshine state’ all of my life, I have been known to go scalloping a time or two. It is the quintessential summertime experience, and very much like going on an under water Easter egg hunt, yet in the clearest water you will find on the Gulf Coast. With snorkel…
Read More
Egg Salad is simple to prepare, and brings back a flood of memories from my childhood. In my early years, family vacations included long drives to visit my relatives in Alabama, Georgia and Florida. We’d set out in the family truckster, the name I gave my my parents olive green and gold station wagon with…
Read More
Cornbread is King in the South (as long as you don’t put sugar in it) and so is Lodge Cast Iron! Nestled alongside the Cumberland Plateau of the Appalachian Mountains in the town of South Pittsburg, Tennessee (population 3,300), it was here that Joseph Lodge and his wife settled, and, in 1896 opened his first…
Read More
Nutrition Contributor: Caroline Coker I was born in Mobile, Alabama, but also into Louisiana’s seductive food culture, as my biological father grew up in the restaurant business in New Orleans, and my aunts and uncles were (and a few still are) in the fishing and shrimping industry, working in Venice (not Italy), Grand Isle, and…
Read More
Shrimp & Grits A Ya Ya Served at Great Southern Cafe in Seaside, Florida and Pensacola Fish House in Downtown Pensacola, this is chef Jim Shirley’s signature dish. Ingredients Grits 4 cups chicken stock 2 cups grits, such as Dixie Lily 1 cup heavy cream 4 ounces unsalted butter One 14- to 16-ounce can creamed corn 1 cup…
Read More
Walton County is flourishing with an abundance of farmers and producers supplying the highest quality products to locals and visitors, and their bounty is often celebrated in many restaurant presentations along the Gulf Coast. Register Family Farm is one of those businesses, an aviary (honeybee farm) operated solely by members of the Register family and…
Read More
As a food writer and blogger living by the waters edge of the Emerald Coast, one of the first questions people ask when they visit our area is how they can be certain that they are buying or being served fresh seafood. It would appear that answer would be a simple, but many restaurants do…
Read More
Contributor: Caroline Coker Since I love fresh shrimp, whether seasonal royal reds, brown, white, or on occasion rock, and I was passing by Maria’s seafood in Pensacola today, like a moth to a flame I was sucked in to purchase the crustaceans. With it being royal red season (the very deep water, salty shrimp caught miles out…
Read More
By: Gabi Garrett Whether you’re up for the road trip, or prefer to jet your way to your next adventure —Texas is closer than you think. With direct flights from Panama City Beach taking just over 2 hours, or Mobile just over an hour and a half, you can be in downtown Houston in no…
Read More
