Vicki James

I love food.  I always have.  I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, where there was plenty of fine southern cooking.  My father’s parents owned a barbecue restaurant in Homewood, Alabama.  Though he went on to become an engineer, he remained a prodigious pit-master.  He even made his own sauce using the recipe his parents had used at their restaurant.  My mother was also a wonderful cook.

Although Birmingham has become a foodie Mecca, due to the amazing restaurants started by Frank Stitt, the food scene was pretty tame when I was growing up.  We seldom ate out and when we did, our favorite restaurant was called Joy Young.  Specializing in Cantonese cuisine, the food was terrific.  I have wonderful memories of crispy egg rolls, crab fried rice, butterflied shrimp and other dishes that are now commonplace, but seemed incredibly exotic at the time.

My parents took my brother and me on long road trips all over the country every summer.  We ate our way through America.  They loved exposing our taste buds to new cuisines.  I vividly remember having my first caviar at a restaurant in San Francisco called the Ritz Old Poodle Dog.  These vacations broadened my palate and my world.  But it wasn’t gourmet all the time.  We bought food for lunch and breakfast at grocery stores and picnicked along the way, saving our money so we could dine at the best restaurants to be found when we stopped for the night.

Looking back, I’m not sure why I didn’t pursue a travel or food-related career.  But I loved books even more than I loved food, so I majored in English, completing my degree at UCLA.  I then moved on to earning an M.S.W., and a few years later, a law degree.

Nevertheless, cooking and trying new and wonderful foods has remained a hugely important part of my life.  As newlyweds, my husband and I liked to decide on a recipe that we wanted to make, shop for the ingredients, and spend a wine and jazz filled evening enjoying the whole experience of cooking and eating together.

For the past 33 years we have lived in Chattanooga, TN, which didn’t have much of a food scene when we came.  I couldn’t even find balsamic vinegar in the grocery stores!  Now every store stock dozens of varieties!  And terrific new restaurants open frequently.  Nevertheless, my favorite dining spot remains chez moi.

Traveling all over the globe has broadened my love of food even more.  From 3 Michelin star restaurants in Europe to bush dinners in Tanzania, I’ve enjoyed a vast variety of dining experiences over the years.

So, during the recent pandemic, when we found ourselves tethered to our home base, my husband encouraged me to start writing food blogs.  I have no professional training, so my successes have entailed a lot of trial and error.  I love to try new recipes, so my blog describes my experiences cooking various dishes.  Most of the dishes I write about are fairly simple but include some unusual flavor experience or technique I’ve learned.  Since some of my attempts are laughable, I try to throw a little humor in the mix.  When something doesn’t go quite right, I sometimes try again.  When I learn something new, I want my readers to know!  Every now and then, I try something complicated and when I do, you’ll hear about that, too.  It just goes to show that ordinary people with no training can do extraordinary things.

Please enjoy my blogs, try some new recipes, and eat to be great!  It’s not for sissies.