New types of fermentation jars also make fermented hot sauces easier than in the past, and they’ve got a funky flavor that you can’t get with only vinegar and a blender. Go to the Fermented Hot Sauce Society group on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/2186993828252093/ ) and look at the files section for some…

I live about an hour and a half or so away from the Lodge plant in South Pittsburg, Tenn., (no “h”), and I love their factory store. I keep meaning to go down there for the National Cornbread Festival, which takes place in South Pittsburg. But I haven’t made it down yet, and may not this year either. I did get to tour…

Sorry. Newspaper jargon. I work at a small-town newspaper.

Ooh, that’s a good idea! We have one of those within driving distance.

I’ve never seen it here in the U.S. but got addicted to it during a two-night layover in Paris a few years ago. My waiter at one restaurant seemed quite amused that an American had even heard of the stuff.

The words “theater chain” needed to be in the first graf or two — you can get a surprisingly long way through the story not sure whether the movies will be playing at an AMC theater or whether they’ll be telecast on the home of “The Walking Dead” and “Better Call Saul.”

You say that Whoppers have little competition, but in the last year I have begun seeing Maltesers, a British brand, more and more often in the US, even in my little rural town.

I cannot stand coleslaw, but a couple of years ago, when I heard about the Slawburger Festival, 45 minutes south of me in Fayetteville, Tennessee, I decided it sounded like a fun festival. What I discovered is that the slawburgers in Fayetteville are a local delicacy and aren’t made from normal coleslaw at all, but…

I am chaperoning the youth from my church to a big conference in Kansas City this summer, and I already told our youth director that I want to try burnt ends while we’re there. Now, maybe I have a secondary goal as well....

Ironically, John Wesley was a strong believer in taking communion as often as you could. The once-a-month schedule evolved from the early days of U.S. Methodism, when ordained ministers known as “circuit riders” were responsible for several churches each, over a widely-distributed area which they traveled on horseback,…

Perhaps they’ve stolen the concept of “synthahol” from the ST:TNG universe, where the alcoholic drinks provide a relaxing effect but have no addictive or impairing properties.

“The Cool Kids,” currently airing on Fox, actually started its run with a cremains scene in the very first episode.

You ought to do a followup story at a sanctioned chili cookoff (ICS or CASI) about how that’s different from your neighborhood cookoff. Here’s my blog post from this past summer. In the blog post, I say I want to enter the 2019 event, but as it turns out I’ll be out of town that weekend, so it will have to be next…

My little rural community in Tennessee hosts a two-day International Chili Society-sanctioned cookoff every summer (technically, Friday and Saturday are two separate events, which gives the serious out-of-towners two separate chances to qualify for the World Championship). I have been a judge on numerous occasions and…

Last year, I discovered the Fermented Hot Sauce Society group on Facebook, which is all about making your own hot sauce using lactofermentation (the same process used to make fermented dill pickles, the kind that are made with salt water brine instead of vinegar). I fell in love with the process. Last year’s batches…

“There are moments of comic-book bullshit that continue to make my heart sing, like Iron Man getting his Hulkbuster armor from a missile fired by a satellite, and Black Widow dropping out of a Quinjet on a speeding motorcycle.”

Charles Grodin, before he got his own talk show, was perfect for this, in small doses as a talk show guest.

I have watched the 50th and 51st seasons of “Documentary Now!” and keep meaning to go back and watch the first 49 seasons.

I got to hear Steves speak in November at a nearby university, and I highly recommend it if he comes to your area. His talk was based on his book “Travel As A Political Act”: https://medium.com/@johnicarney/a-political-act-6fc87882d62d

I’ve never used only one clove of garlic for *anything*.