Sweet Mama's is a new bakery in Hurricane that features baked goods, custom orders, cakes and other fun confectionaries.

Currently, they're open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. So, when I had a recent weekday off, I made a trip out to check them out.

The bakery is located in a large plaza that has been home to many restaurants and shops.

And this shop is small, but bright and filled from wall to wall with sweets.

Cases were filled with cookies, like oatmeal raisin and ones topped with sprinkles.

There were macarons in flavors of raspberry, birthday cake, pistachio, salted caramel and chocolate.

There are mini bites of apple or cherry pie.

They have cakes and even mini cakes made of carrot cake, chocolate mousse and more.

Plus tons of creative fun snacks like chocolate-covered pretzels, chocolate-covered marshmallows, hot chocolate mix and more.

They also had croutons and pepperoni rolls (with or without cheese). Of course I tried one of each - lots of breading - but still flavorful. I also got a rainbow cake bite, a chocolate florentine, two macarons and a chocolate mousse cake.

There truly is so much variety that they've packed into a small space!



And everything was top-notch!



Grade: A

This Girl Scout Cookie season, I've tried coffee, ice cream and now donuts inspired by Girl Scout cookie flavors.

Peace, Love and Little Donuts has a few donuts with these flavors. They have Thin Mint, which is their cake donut, topped with chocolate icing and Thin Mint cookie pieces and an icing drizzle.

They also have a Samoa donut, which is topped with coconut and chocolate syrup.

Their S'more one isn't necessarily Girl Scout themed, but I think it could be! Graham cracker, marshmallow and chocolate syrup - fits right in!

My friends from out of town were driving through the area, so we stopped along their way for a bite to eat and found ourselves at The Barnyard BBQ in Milton.

This is actually the third (and final!) location of theirs I've tried. They have a fun, kitschy barnyard theme so there are pig and cow decorations sprinkled throughout. 

The menu has wings, sandwiches, pizza, BBQ and homestyle dinners, too.

But I decided to mix things up a little bit. I made a combo of an appetizer and the BBQ: Pulled pork cheese fries with onion, nacho cheese, sour cream and ranch.

They serve up three different kinds of BBQ: a vinegar-style, a mustard-based and a sweet and tangy. I slathered the latter two on my fries and went to town.

All around, pretty average. What's your favorite thing here?

The Winter Blues Farmers Market has returned to Charleston, and I was like a kid in a candy store.



From seed catalogs and packets to ready-to-eat foods, there were dozens of vendors selling a little bit of everything.



Some of my favorites included samples from Custard Stand chili, popcorn and fresh veggies.



But I went home with some maple candies from Frostmore Farm.



Which, by the way, is delicious.



And, I purchased some lavender room spray from Lens Creek Lavender - what a cool little place!



What did you find?

Napoli's is a local pizza, pasta and sub chain in the Mid-Ohio Valley with a few locations in West Virginia. I've been wanting to try them for quite some time, but I only recently got around to doing so.

And in fact, it was Christmas evening when I was driving through the area that I had a hankering for pizza.

After calling in a pizza, I arrived at the Ohio Avenue location, thanked the guys for working that day and waited for my pie to be done. Once it was, I was on my way; pizza as my passenger.

The Sicilian pie is fluffy, but with a crisp crust. It's a beautiful combination. A nice layer of stringy cheese, mushrooms and a nice slightly sweet sauce. It made for a good pizza.

What should I try next?