If you read yesterday’s post, you know that I’m sort of obsessed with maple syrup. Today, I want to share with you what I’ve learned about the history of maple syrup.
The Rise of Maple Syrup
According to Wikipedia, Native Americans living in the northeastern part of North America were the first producers of maple syrup and maple sugar. The Algonquin people used stone tools to make incisions in tree trunks, and inserted reeds or pieces of bark to run the sap into buckets. The maple sap was concentrated either by dropping …

I just wanted to take a moment to celebrate a milestone. This is my 400th post. YAY! Ok, now back to our regularly scheduled programming….
Yesterday I told you about the strange coincidence that two people from my past have started successful local businesses selling granola. Jessica, of Jessica’s Natural Foods, and Michele, of Michele’s Granola.
I know Michele from our high school days in Potomac, MD. Michele was in the same class as me, David F. (aka Famous Fat Dave), and Dhani Jones (the pro football player and all-around renaissance man). …

I’ve always loved the crunchy, sweet, healthy goodness of granola in cereal, as a topping for yogurt, or in bar form thrown into my purse or backpack for a snack. There’s something special about granola, and I’ve been thinking about that recently because two people from my past have started successful, granola-based businesses. I’ll be dedicating this post and tomorrow’s post to telling their story.
The first is Jessica — a dear friend from my days at the University of Michigan. Jessica is very smart — she majored in Engineering at U …

I’m thankful for John and Kendall Antonelli of Antonelli’s Cheese Shop in Hyde Park. Now that Austin has it’s very own artisanal cheese shop, it feels like we can rightly take our place among the cosmopolitan capitals of the U.S.
NYC has Murray’s, Berkeley has the Cheese Board Collective, Ann Arbor has  Zingerman’s Creamery, and Austin has Antonelli’s.

John and Kendall are all about educating themselves and their customers. They regularly teach cheese pairing classes — like the one they did for a Tasty Touring group back in December at Independence Brewery — and …

When my friend Jen mentioned “the coffee guy” in Hyde Park who delivers coffee that he has roasted in his garage by scooter, I knew I had to try it. I love how this guy does his marketing. He showed up in Jen’s backyard offering freshly brewed coffee one day and she’s been ordering ever since.
The Coffee Guy is Robby Jones and his company is Pilot House Coffee. He delivers coffee for free with beans roasted that day to the following Austin zip codes in Central, South, North and East …