Hi Kitchen Oddity friends,

Sorry for my longer than usual absence, but while I’ve been recombobulating my brain synapses, reorganizing my kitchen to maximize my four square feet of counter space and fighting the spider mites on my pepper plants, you’ll be happy to know I’ve also been productive both in writing and eating. 

So here’s what I’ve done on my summer blogcation. I apologize that most of these photos are Instagram shots, and therefore make it appear that I’ve time traveled from 1978. 

I spent most of mid-June eating my weight in soul food everyday for an article featured in Oxford American’s new online food department.

I met some of the nicest folks the South has to offer all while eating heapin’ helpin’s of fried chicken, smothered shrimp, yams, mac ‘n’ cheese, okra and tomatoes, collards and cornbread. Above is a photo of my dinner at Brown’s Family Restaurant, a sister restaurant to Sisters of the New South. I probably gained 10 lbs. writing this, but it was worth it.

Speaking of the Oxford American’s online food department, I also spent a few evenings on the line in Green Truck’s kitchen for another article on my favorite Savannah restaurant. 

For me, it simply isn’t Friday night if I’m not sitting at the bar in Green Truck with an El Jefe burger, fries and a beer. Although I’ve had to up my Pilates workouts to compensate for this weekly habit, it’s also been worth it to get to know the people behind the bar. 

A few weeks ago I pickled noodle beans with owners Josh and Whitney and server (and friend) Cassandra in Green Truck’s kitchen. They look so pretty in the jars that I haven’t tried one yet, but Whitney says they are perfect for Bloody Marys. I’ll give y’all the recipe in my next online piece for Savannah Magazine. 

For this month, I decided to write about picking blackberries and blueberries in rural Georgia. It’s a darn shame these things have to be ripe during the summer when it’s hot enough outside to bake a coconut cake in my Jetta Sportwagen. 

I bought peaches in a strip club parking lot across the bridge in South Carolina. 

If you’ve never gone across a major suspension bridge over one of America’s busiest cargo ship ports, down a two-lane high way that was most likely repaved in 1978 with a speeding Hyudai Elantra and an 18-wheeler behind you — all while trying to figure out which strip club parking lot the plywood and spray paint signs on the side of the road are referring to — for the sake of stone fruit, you haven’t really been living. 

I’ve eaten one or two Wild Georgia Shrimp Po’ Boys at Gerald’s Pig and Shrimp on Tybee Island.

All inside a tiny, yellow trailer beneath a reclaimed wood patio, Gerald Schantz makes some of the best seafood in the Low Country. Always letting the shrimp speak for themselves, he only gussies them up with some light breading and coleslaw. Friends don’t let friends by imported shrimp as Gerald says. And after a warm day on the sand, nothing beats one of Gerald’s fresh-squeezed, beach glass-colored limeades in a Styrofoam cup. 

I’ve also been buried in reading…

that has absolutely nothing to do with my thesis.

And getting sugar and iced tea fixes from my friends at Back in the Day Bakery, one of the happier places on earth. 

Their lavender cookies are my go-to cure for writer’s block, mild trivia night hangovers and/or summertime colds. 

This concludes my presentation. 

Next up, a recap of my dinner at Husk in Charleston, which exceeded my expectations that were about as high as a 4-year-old going to Disney Land.