Bruce's Smorsasborg

 By Bruce Shawkey A welcome sight along the Interstate as you begin to enter the South are Waffle House restaurants. Comfort food at a reasonable cost. On a recent trip to Chattanooga, my buddy Chris Vandall and I stopped at a Waffle House outside of Nashville to take a break and avoid some of the rush hour traffic. I ordered a plain waffle, a side of bacon, and coffee. Chris ordered a pecan waffle and loaded hash browns. Mine was the usual excellent. I think Chris erred on the loaded hash browns. He could only eat half, took the other half to go, and eventually threw it out.  Waffle House was founded by Joe Rogers Sr. and Tom Forkner. The first Waffle House opened on Labor Day weekend in 1955 in Avondale Estates, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. The founders aimed to create a restaurant that provided good food, friendly service, and a welcoming atmosphere for locals. It was designed to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to cater to any time of day or night. In the 1960s,...

 By Bruce Shawkey On a recent trip to Chattanooga to attend an NAWCC national convention, I had a chance to visit Bea's Restaurant for dinner. Excellent all you can eat dinner of fried chicken, catfish, barbecued pork, creamed potatoes, mac ‘n’ cheese, green beans, corn relish, pickled beets, chow chow, and peach cobbler for dessert. Bea's has been in business since 1950 and is a Chattanooga institution. My buddy, Chris Vandall, took me there for my birthday dinner and treated. We had a very nice waiter.  From their website: Bea's is a 4'th generation family owned business in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We've been serving up some great downhome all you can eat fare for 74 years! Come be seated and enjoy our hospitality! Be sure to check out our Facebook page below for an insite (sic) into our culture, food and community. Some food photos:

 By Bruce Shawkey I've become more aware in the last months that the 5:30 news is more about titillating video footage than about actual news. Almost every broadcast has at least one story about a horrible car crash where people were either killed or seriously injured. It makes for great footage, especially if one or the other vehicles bursts into flames. Every day, it's estimated there are 19,937 crashes where 118 people die, and more injured. That works out to 831 motor vehicle accidents each hour. Some are worse than others, involving fire, mangled metal, fire trucks, ambulances, and more. It makes for great video. I'm tired of it. If there is one good thing about it, it makes me a little more vigilant to drive carefully, pay attention, and quit playing with my phone and other gadgets. I am appalled at all these stories about self-driving cars. I actually saw a video of a woman asleep at the wheel while her car was driving itself at 60 miles per hour. Wake up people! (li...

 By Bruce Shawkey Found this interesting article on the Google news feed. I do many of these, and have a few things of my own to add. 1. Wake up! Obviously, but maybe not so obvious. Some people love sleeping in, but it isn’t good practice.  Studies have found that people who wake up earlier are less likely to experience depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders.  2. Avoid hitting the snooze button Doesn't really apply to me because I haven't slept with an alarm clock in years. 3. Drink some water Amen. I wake up thirsty. One of the first things I I grab when I wake up is a bottle of cold water. Studies show that your body naturally uses up its water overnight, leaving you dehydrated in the morning. Dehydration leads to all kinds of problems, research finds. But most importantly, it affects your energy levels in the AM. 4.  Get fresh air.  This is something I don't do, but should. Sleeping with the window cracked or open makes you happier, it's a proven...