I apologize to the lactose intolerant, this may seem a bit insensitive. But I love me a grilled cheese.

Something about grilled cheese is so fantastically comforting. It’s crunchy, yet gooey. It’s not too hot, it provides the perfect amount of warmth. It can be dunked in tomato soup, or can stand alone. And anyone from the age of 8 onward can make it! Just be careful not to burn it.

A recipe for grilled cheese may seem foolish, but it can be an art form. And yummy as the diner-style ones are, you can make a healthy one in two seconds. And it’s still delicious.

Sammich for one:

2 slices of 2% milk American cheese
2 slices whole wheat or multigrain bread
non-stick cooking spray
frying pan

Assemble your sandwich (I have faith you know how to do this). Spray the exposed bread on each side with non-stick cooking spray and put them in the frying pan, letting the bottom piece of bread toast and allowing the cheese to start getting melty. Flip as you deem appropriate to toast the other side and melt the rest of the cheese. I prefer my bread to be a golden brown but some people are pickier about the crunch factor. Read More »

Does the food at your cafeteria suck? Want to make some extra cash? Can you cook candied olive crumble with fish, braised short ribs with scallops, robiola cheese with fizzy carbonated grapes or chai ice cream with miso-sesame chocolate and powdered peach and pineapple? Didn’t think so.

Fortunately for Duke senior Bryan Zupon, who just loooves food, all this was a possibility. So, he opened a restaurant…in his dorm room.

Those Duke kids, they’re always going the extra mile. Damn overachievers.

“I don’t think that New Southern cooking has changed since the mid-’90s,” Zupon said to the New York Times. “I’d talked to a lot of big-name chefs in the area — for personal reasons and also for the newspaper — and they were so apprehensive to change. I was like, this is frustrating, so I’m just going to do my own thing and see where it takes me.”

Now I know, having grown up in North Carolina, that the state is not known for its culinary wiles. Although there aren’t any top restaurants, there are still some delicious places I look forward to eating every time I go home that could rival some of the best southern cooks out there.

Allow me to share: Read More »