June 2009 cover for Knoxville Magazine.

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More Knoxville Magazine - June/July 2009

• UT football coach Lane Kiffin and his family get settled in Knoxville
• Luxury Inn Blackberry Farm gets back to its roots
• Knoxville couples endure long adoption waits

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Alas, the Food and Wine Issue! Many know I used to be a caterer (aside from catering to Reilly’s every whim, that is), which means I started salivating thinking about all the story ideas, recipes, gadgets and food history I wanted to include in Knoxville Magazine this month. One topic, however, was not the South Beach diet I’m currently on. No bread, sugar, flour - “nothing white” as they say. All that does in my opinion is make for being seriously cranky. Trust me, I can confirm. I’m just grateful for the bounty of grapes used to make red wine!

This issue also means I spent lots of time “talking shop” this month, while trying desperately not to “go there.” People frequently ask if I miss my former 13-year career. While I miss the creativity of it all, my answer is, without question, a resounding, “#&@* NO!” My fear of convulsing over thoughts of catering one more event is too great, as is the risk of stirring my brain into having another nightmare about guests arriving before I’ve even made my grocery list. (It’s very stressful in my REM world).

Trepidation aside, I appreciate and know the extraordinary amount of hard work and the joy of reward culinary “artisans” experience sharing humanity’s greatest common denominator. Whether it’s slow food, fast food, soul food (…or dog food, Reilly), breaking bread across tables, across time, across cultures, tributes to fundamental goodness: sharing, inspiring, creating, family, friends...good wine.

So while people no longer depend on me for pretty tables, I’ll never deny myself the opportunity to say grace over time shared with people I enjoy. As the perfect hosts say in Life is Meals, “Life is many things, but what would one know of life as it should be lived, or nights as they should be spent, apart from meals?” Bon appetit and dig in!