Big names, big hopes for November food festival in St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG — At a news conference a little light on details but soaring with excitement, a group of organizers on Friday officially launched the buzz campaign for E.A.T. St. Pete, a three-day food, wine and arts festival to be held in a variety of venues in November.

Initial plans for the Nov. 15-17 event leaked out in January but this was the first time sponsors HSN, Bill Edwards Presents and Visit St. Pete/Clearwater gathered publicly to talk about the event, which will include appearances by celebrity and local chefs. ...

Relishing five years of Stir Crazy, and 1,300 dinner ideas

I have this theory about home cooks. Most of us have about 10 meals in our dinnertime repertoire, and they revolve with infuriating frequency.

You know: grilled chicken, something Mexican, big salad, something Italian, soup, pork chops, something grilled, etc. Repeat. Boredom sets in. Take-out beckons.

It's this theory, based mostly on my experience, that led me to start Stir Crazy, the column that has appeared on Page 2 of this section every Wednesday since May 21, 2008. This month marks the column's five-year anniversary, and I had no idea when I started how many ideas I'd have to come up with to get us to this point. I am grateful for all the generous readers and colleagues, cookbook authors, clever magazine editors and inventive bloggers who inspire me. Without them I wouldn't have been able to provide 1,300 dinner ideas, with a few repeats along the way. ...

Pepper adds history and another dimension to food

Pepper is hot.

And earthy. And aggressive. And sneeze-inducing.

It's also ubiquitous, sitting alongside the salt shaker on nearly every table, home or away, in America. But although salt and pepper go together in our minds and often in our cooking, they can stand solo, each adding something unique to food and causing a different reaction on our taste buds. In fact, putting them together doesn't always make sense. Salt enhances natural flavors; pepper brings its own punch....

Saint-Chinian, France area oozes with gentle, fascinating charms

SAINT-CHINIAN, France

I stand in a crowd at a corner of the Sunday market on the main square in Saint-Chinian shaded by plane trees and hypnotized by a large rack of rotisserie chickens rotating over a bed of sliced potatoes. The roasting chickens drip, drip, drip. When all is cooked, I taste the meat and it is exquisite, and then I try the potatoes and join the rest of the crowd in a loud sing-with-your-mouth-full chorus of "Vive la chicken fat!"...

Lee Bros. to bring Southern charm to Apron's Cooking School in Tampa

There's a handful of Southern cookbook writers who also are ambassadors for the way of life that brought us shrimp and grits, biscuits and gravy and sweet tea.

Among them are Matt and Ted Lee, brothers from Charleston, S.C., who have embraced their native dishes and become chroniclers of what some say is the only original American cuisine. Their love affair with Southern food led to the Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts Catalogue, which specializes in Southern pantry staples (view it online at boiledpeanuts.com), and a string of award-winning cookbooks, including The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-be Southerners (W.W. Norton, 2006). They are frequent guests on Food Network and Travel Channel shows. ...

An oyster crawl through New Orleans' French Quarter

NEW ORLEANS

This city — and the French Quarter specifically — is a place of joyful excess. Here you have an abundance of remarkable food, an overflowing cup of history and architecture, and enough soulful music to push you toward the spiritual in times of trouble.

There's a boozy overload, too, especially on Bourbon Street, where drinks are sucked from plastic fish bowls swinging from lanyards around willing necks. Even at 10 a.m., the Easter-egg-colored frozen drinks spin from banks of dispensers, twirling like clothes dryers on high and beckoning passers-by who may not have even been to bed yet. The sidewalks are wet, thanks to a powerful hosing to rid them of spilled beer and more unsavory leftovers from the previous night's indulgences....

25 easy pizza toppings for quick weeknight meals

It seems like forever that pizza has been our favorite go-to, last-minute weeknight meal.

At the end of a hectic day, it's so easy to call a favorite pizzeria to order a pie for pick-up or delivery. But while there are a rash of delicious toppings to pick from, there are still many more combinations that are usually unavailable. Goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes? Ratatouille with smoked mozzarella? Yukon gold potato and rosemary? Those you'll have to make yourself....

Tony's award-winning clam chowder on Publix shelves

Want a taste of the nation's best New England clam chowder? The one that's made in Cedar Key?

Tony's Chowder, which has won the annual Knorr Great Chowder Cook-Off in Newport, R.I., three years running, is now available as a condensed canned soup in about 100 Publix markets from Sarasota to Gainesville, including most in the Tampa Bay area. Kellie Parkin, a spokeswoman for Tony's, says if you don't see it on the shelf, ask. The product is so new it might not be stocked yet....

Three Tampa Bay area cooks make it to Pillsbury Bake-Off finals

The Tampa Bay area will have at least three contestants in the Pillsbury Bake-Off this year.

Bethany Perry of Largo; Marie Valdes of Brandon; and Debbie Reid of Clearwater, are among 33 semifinalists in the Amazing Doable Dinners category who won enough online votes to advance to the biggest competition in all of amateur cookdom. The winner of the 46th Pillsbury Bake-Off, this year in Las Vegas Nov. 10-12, takes home $1 million....