Last Saturday, my friend Sandy Zitkus and I, along with my daughter Anne McLachlan, made an annual trip to Atlanta where we usually hit IKEA for our household needs and some Christmas gifts, as well as Trader Joe’s where we pick up a heft supply of Charles Shaw wine, lovingly known as Two-Buck Chuck for it’s extremely low price of $2.49 per bottle.

When it comes to olive oils, I’m no expert.

Even though I’m not a fan of sweet potatoes, except for sweet potato fries and chips, there’s something about autumn that makes me want to give the baked/boiled kind a try.

My niece got married last weekend in Nashville and following the ceremony, we drove a few miles into downtown Nashville’s for the reception at the Musicians Hall of Fame.

An article about who’s reading what newspaper sections appeared on my desk the other day from Editor and Publisher.

I was happy to see that the USDA’s new requirement of food labels is now in effect. From now on, grocery stores will have to begin marking packages of meat, nuts, produce and other items with the countries of origin. Nice.

I was happy to see that the USDA’s new requirement of food labels is now in effect. From now on, grocery stores will have to begin marking packages of meat, nuts, produce and other items with the countries of origin. Nice.

Whenever I get recommendations for restaurants from readers, I always try to follow up with a visit.

I was awfully disappointed to hear that Hershey’s has started replacing cocoa butter with vegetable oil in some of their candies. Shame on you Hershey’s! Sure, you’ve changed the labeling to reflect the change, but most people aren’t going to notice that you’ve replaced the words “milk chocolate” with Hershey’s “candy.”

I love this time of year. Warm days, cool evenings.

I’ve never had a rice cooker, but know I need one.

Now they’ve really done it. And ’scuse me please if you’re a member of PETA or a member of whatever pro-vegetarian group that recently sponsored an anti-hot dog ad, but shame on you. Shame shame.

The makers of French’s mustard are sponsoring a contest, Do You Have the Skinny on Mustard?” And, what they want to know is how you use mustard to reduce your caloric intake. For instance, do you use mustard in dip instead of sour cream?

THE SEARCH FOR GOOD German food just doesn’t seem to end.

I had an e-mail conversation with my friend, “Wild Bill.” The topic of the morning was letting a restaurant owner know when the meal was less than perfect. He had breakfast at a local diner recently. The pork chop and biscuits were both excellent, but the scrambled eggs were dry and the gravy for the biscuits was a little burned. When he walked up to the counter to pay, the fellow at the register asked if his meal was OK, and Wild Bill told him about the eggs and gravy. “He had no reaction other than to nod his head that he heard what I said,” Wild Bill said.