When Life Gives You Lemons

go south for the winter and learn how to cook chicken and everything else. Low country, creole, Cajun, and barbecue. My life took a major financial change recently and I've decided to put my money to work continuing my culinary education, but not in a traditional classroom. Used to be that you learned from the pot room up. Toiling until they let you near a stove. No fancy schools, just a killer apprentice program meant to weed out the ones who couldn't cut the mustard, or a decent baton of carrot. I've earned the right to call myself a culinary artist. I have the burn scars to prove it. But, there is much I don't know about the culinary palate in this country. I've always been intrigued by the mix of cultures that make up the southern recipe book. French, American Indian, and African for sure. Did collards greens end up on the table because the slaves were hungry for more? That's the story I've heard. I want to find out if it's true. I want to learn Paula Deen's chicken recipe, the way it's done in her restaurant. I want to eat at a shack on a bayou somewhere in Cajun country. Savor fresh fish from the gulf and grilled oysters too. I want to eat as much corn bread and as many ribs and fried green tomatoes as I can wrap my lips around. I want to submerse myself in red beans and rice, red eye gravy, and gumbo. Travel from New Orleans to Savannah to Charleston to who knows were in search of a true Southern culinary adventure. Now, to find the best place to start...... Wish me luck folks.