Good Press

Chef Harv died before I got to make his acquaintance. Harvey Christie could've gone quite far, but was just getting companies and concepts off the ground when he crashed his van in December 2006 and died. He had founded a gourmet company in the Eastern Panhandle that served The Greenbrier Resort among others. But his most intriguing concept was a company that handled the overhead for people who wanted to make and package their own products to sell. For example, let's say I had what I thought was a great recipe for Granny's apple butter but opening a commercial kitchen and getting the proper permits was too overwhelming. I could call Harvey Christie's Gourmet Central, take my apples and spices to their kitchen and use their equipment to prepare, package and even label my product before marketing it. Harv's wife and partner are still running it last I heard. What got me thinking about Chef Harv? I caught a 15-minute cooking show he hosted on our local public televisio...

I abhor Hardee's fast-food restaurants. The grease in their food -- even the salads -- is not the only thing that makes me queasy. They concoct the most unhealthful sandwiches -- huge slabs of meat with more meat as toppings. Disgusting. However, every now and then, I crave their cinnamon-raisin biscuits. That happened early one morning back when I was helping on my mom's paper route. I went through the drive-thru. Some employees smoking outside told me that they don't open till 6. It was 5:55 -- you have got to be kidding me. I laid rubber to get home and look up a comparable recipe to do it myself. Who needs Hardee's? I found this online and this morning I finally made it after saving it all that time. The craving had apparently passed. I have been trying to make myself an easy little comfort food homemade treat on Friday mornings just because. This was today's. I think if I make it again I would cut back on the sugar a little. And instead of making drop biscuits,...