Snakeheads on the menu? Sounds like a meal straight out of Hollywood. In reality, it’s how Chad Wells, Maryland-based chef and restaurant consultant, hopes to put a dent in the population of this invasive yet edible fish – the snakehead is a tasty invasive species! Aggressive African and Asian native species traveled to the United Read More
When summer shuffles into the Chesapeake Bay, everybody wants to get crab happy. This culinary bliss comes when you park yourself at a waterfront dock bar and receive a platter piled high with red, hot-steamed crabs. To initiate the ritual, raise a wooden mallet toward the heavens, take a slow sip of a cold brewski Read More
It had been 12 years since Patrick had been on a boat in Isla Mujeres and 20 since I’d frolicked in Mexican time — too long between fiestas. “Jacqui,” my husband called to me from his hammock suspended over white sand. Before the lime of my first margarita had even puckered my throat, Patrick decided Read More
Where Rum Is the Main Attraction Whether you enjoy the delicate taste of silver rum mixed with tropical juices in a smiling tiki glass or prefer the robust flavors of aged rum sipped neat in a tumbler, the islands deliver whatever your lips desire. As the birthplace of this divine elixir, the Caribbean is a Read More
It was Easter and I was attending a Baptist church service in St. Thomas. We had been in the Virgin Islands for a month. Each morning, Marilyn, a local woman with skin the color of melted chocolate, dressed in oversized T-shirts and black spandex tights, would sing out “Good morning to you” as I came Read More
Fish on, fish on!” Jack the first mate cried over the rumble of the powerful engine. Dumbstruck, I watched as my line began to run. “Reel in, reel in!” he shouted at me as if I were a child. I looked down at the spinning reel. I began winding the handle. “No, no, let it Read More
Florida’s culinary scene is sizzling hot right now, and it’s not due to steamy temps in the Sunshine State. Master chefs are migrating to coastal towns challenging food traditions and creating a wave of dishes unique to their region. They’re tapping into centuries-old ethnic influences from the Caribbean, Cuba, Central America, Asia and beyond to Read More
When warm weather rolls into the Bay, everybody eagerly anticipates the arrival of new restaurants in the Chesapeake Bay to pick crabs and savor local seafood. Change inevitably comes with the new season. Some restaurants don’t survive the winter hibernation, and beloved watering holes occasionally disappear from the shores. But before long, hopeful new owners Read More
On our way to British Columbia I had visions of watching grizzlies swat passing salmon out of the river for their dinner. The salmon runs are legendary and the stuff of National Geographic specials. I have seen enough documentaries to think it would be easy to hike up and pluck one out of the racing Read More
The flat-bottomed aluminum boat glided through Bayou Savage, parting the sea of emerald green and leaving a trail of muddy brown behind us. Overhead, sprays of Spanish moss hung like tinsel from the Cyprus and tupelo trees of the bayou. The zit-zit-zit sound of thousands of dragonfly wings flittered through the thick, muggy air. We’d Read More