Introducing The Southern Diary – our own convoluted tribute to a homeowner’s garden space down in Southern Florida where nearly anything can and will happen. “It’s always sumthin’,” I find myself saying. What better fodder for a blog than such a divine little slice of the planet than a place where almost anything grows and anything goes? Today: Getting there.

It’s been a little startling at times to learn about where food comes from; the best example of how washed out our knowledge of food is was that Food Network special featuring ‘ugly’ food, “The Big Waste.” Come to find out, eggs, like the Duck Egg shells pictured, are naturally all Eastery in their variety and provide incredible meals that aren’t tenaciously exotic.

A recent conversation about the Food Experiment’s next trip to DC inspired an idea that won me and my friends over. The Food Experiment will be themed, “Chinese Takeout.” I’m not a big fan, but I’ve heard about the stuff: It’s always better the next day. And so came, Leftover Lemon Hen with Cajun Sausage.

Cheese and bread with seasoning is an easy way to start things off for your guests while you do a million other things to get dinner ready. But aren’t you worried they’ve had everything before? These are pieces of easy things I did last night to keep mouths moving while introducing friends to something different, Zatar.

Big job? Stuff it – in a Hefty 2.5 Gallon Zip Lock Bathtub Bag. They don’t call it the Bathtub Bag, but they should consider it. Sometimes something huge needs marinating and when I was confronted with a butterflied leg of lamb weighing four pounds, this new item came through meaning one less thing to worry about.

In rummaging through the old hard drive, an idea that was lost was found again: Eat it or Beat it! The section that quickly delivers the scoop on odd little foods that either don’t suck, or do. This time around, Buddy Fruits. Never seen’em before and they’re packed like baby food. Eat it or Beat it?

Honey Mustard. Couldn’t be easier. Long ago since I began looking into food and questioning how what I ate was even made, I began deconstructing everything down to the level of condiments. I made Honey Mustard dressing that didn’t taste like anything I could ever buy. Why is that?