My friend Sara posted a cupcake fundraiser that was happening, and I am always down to support a good cause - especially when food is involved.



Sugar Shenanigans was offering a variety of different cupcakes, so I wanted to try one of each: chocolate peanut butter (chocolate cake, peanut butter filling, chocolate peanut butter frosting), red velvet (red velvet cake, cream cheese filling, cream cheese), pumpkin (pumpkin cake, cream cheese filling, cream cheese frosting), French vanilla (french vanilla cake, rich vanilla buttercream frosting), apple spice (apple spice cake, vanilla buttercream frosting, topped with apple pie filling) and cookies & cream (white cake with crushed Oreos, cookies and buttercream frosting). 



My favorites were the French vanilla and cookies and cream. Which ones would you choose?

EZ Street in St. Albans is a bar with a large outdoor deck. They also have a fairly large menu for this type of venue, which Sarah and I were excited to check out. 



The interior is dark, but it's was bright and sunny when we went out back. Luckily, there was some shade that kept the sun from pounding down too much.



I ordered a draft beer - a Wild Little Thing from Sierra Nevada Brewing. This giant frosty mug held a sweet and sour beer perfect for summer.



The menu has some good options, and I ultimately went with the "Boom Boom Shrimp" Tacos that have a breaded sweet and spicy shrimp with pico de gallo and shredded cheese in a soft flour tortilla. These were pretty good. There wasn't a ton of the sauce, but I did get some of that flavor, which I enjoyed. 



And then I had a side of hot pepper bites, which are one of my absolute favorites. These had a good bit of breading on them, but they were tasty. I wish every single bar sold these, because they are delish. Where else serves them?



Grade: B

After trying just about everything on Gino's menu, I can easily declare that the pepperoni bites are my favorite item.



However, only the Huntington-area locations offer them. So when it was time to finally try out the Barboursville location, I was more than excited to order my pepperoni bites.



These poppable delights are full of pepperoni and topped with romano and garlic butter. They're so good... until they're not. Unfortunately, these ones were baked through the middle and I found myself chewing on raw dough. So, my tummy wasn't happy with that - and I threw the remainder away. Sometimes it's just an off night - or even just an off hour - but this wasn't my favorite rendition. Off to the next location. 



Grade: C

Here is my latest column for the Charleston Gazette-Mail:

You might be from Appalachia if you keep leftover bacon grease at room temperature in a glass Garfield mug from McDonald’s on your stove. Or maybe that was just me growing up.

Those leftover bacon grease drippings — which can be stored up to a month without refrigeration — are culinary gold. And they’re the star of one Appalachian salad that’s sure to stick to your ribs.

Wilted lettuce, or killed lettuce, or even ‘kilt’ lettuce, is typically a spring staple when home gardens begin producing beautiful greens.

But it’s also a perfect seasonal transition dish — like at the end of summer when you want to enjoy the last of the fresh veggies while the weather is shifting into cool, cozy mode.

This bacon grease and green leaf lettuce is simple. Fry up some bacon (or dig into your stash), drizzle the hot bacon grease drippings over a bowl of fresh picked lettuce and let the liquid swine crispies wilt — or kill — the lettuce lightly.

You can add green onions, crumbled up bacon, hard-boiled eggs or even red wine vinegar to the dressing to round it out, but it’s tasty even in its most simplistic version. James Beard, in “American Cookery,” writes that a wilted lettuce salad is “one of the oldest and probably the most functional of salads.

It can be made with nearly any type of greens and needs so few ingredients that it could be prepared en route in the covered wagon, in camp, or in the most primitive house.”

The Wall Street Journal named wilted lettuce “America’s Most Satisfying Salad” in a 2018 article that also praised the Appalachian salad for making a generous meal that lends itself to “endless improvisation.”

While the origins of the simple salad are obscure, Appalachia certainly took to it and continues to celebrate it.

The dish integrates with our culinary traditions easily — making use of something available and stretching that ingredient as far as it can go. Appalachia is known for its resolve and its ingenuity is evident throughout the region’s culinary history.

Through dishes like this, Appalachians help keep food history and food traditions alive — even when they’re kilt.

Another day, another Gino's. This time - we're in Marmet.



Marmet is actually not all that far from me, so this is one of my "local" Gino's spots. Like most others, it's attached to a Tudor's Biscuit World, and I was thankful to see this one had a drive-thru (I've discovered a few that haven't!). 



First up is an antipasto salad. Under that generous layer of mozzarella is some cold iceberg, cold cuts, peppers and olives. It was so cold - maybe in the fridge for a while? - that I actually let it set out for a bit before digging in. I do like the assortment of different toppings.



And the pizza - it's growing on me! The small makes a nice single-serving, and I like the slightly sweet sauce. I just wish I could get the bottom crisper. Otherwise, not too shabby.

Grade: B