OPINION — It’s funny that as you age, your eating habits may change drastically. For example, in our teens and 20s, my then-future husband Mike and I could eat anything we wanted, at any time of the day or night. Both of us could eat pizza at...

BY STACEY WALLACE OPINION — In previous columns, I have written about the adventures of the Fearsome Foursome: my Daddy, Mama and Daddy’s two older sisters, Aunt Jenny and Aunt Betty. These sensational senior citizens kept us on our toes. For about...

BY STACEY WALLACE OPINION — Sometimes, I am in the mood for a really good steak. Now, that particular food made the Patton family laugh many years ago. In the early ‘70s, my Daddy, Mama, my two much older brothers Jim and Mike and I traveled to the...

BY STACEY WALLACE OPINION — A week or so ago was Teacher Appreciation Week, and I certainly appreciate many of my wonderful teachers. Also, I appreciate them for putting up with me, which was no easy task.Señor Hitson, my Spanish teacher at...

BY STACEY WALLACE OPINION — As I’ve mentioned before in this column, when I transferred to Auburn University as a juniorin 1983, when Fred Flintstone pedaled to work, there weren’t that many restaurants in Auburn.The nearest restaurant was miles...

BY STACEY WALLACE OPINION — One of the really great perks of writing this column, besides eating wonderful food, is meeting interesting people. A few years ago, Mike and I went on an overnight trip to Montgomery for our anniversary. At night, we...

OPINION — When Mike and I decided to move to Auburn in November of 2015, the next important decision after finding a house was to find the church God wanted us to join. We visited various churches in Lee County for about a year. Finally, in 2016,...

BY STACEY WALLACE OPINION — As I’ve mentioned many times in this column, my husband and I have fallen in love with the city of Opelika, while living in Auburn.Mike’s love of Opelika began 60 years ago when he was a kindergartener at West Point...

BY STACEY WALLACE It’s hard to believe that Mike and I are now in our fifth year of retirement after teaching for 30 years. When Covid-19 shut down our teaching careers one nine weeks early, as it did the world, retirement was quite boring.Our week...

BY STACEY WALLACE OPINION — As I’ve mentioned many times in this column, my husband Mike and I taught for 30 years in LaGrange, Georgia. For 29 of those years, I had the dubious pleasure of escorting three classes of 8th graders and 26 classes of...

Butcher Paper BBQ OPINION —As I’ve mentioned before in this column, fall is my favorite season of the year.Although spring in Alabama is beautiful, my allergies are in bloom. And summer in Alabama is brutal; it’s not fun sweating on the way to the...

Long ago on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 1968, I entered Avondale Kindergarten in my hometown of Alexander City (“Eleck” City to the locals). In those days, school began the day after Labor Day. Also, after a snack of soda crackers and milk, we went home at...

Café de Fleur BY STACEY WALLACE | PHOTOS BY MIKE WALLACE OPINION — I am a huge fan of I Love Lucy, and Lucille Ball is my favorite comedienne of all time. My love of Lucy developed when I was in kindergarten through sixth grade.After school, I...

Sam's Southern Eatery OPINION — Have you noticed that as you get older, your tolerance for certain foods changes? For example, when I was a teenager, I could eat pizza at midnight, not even burp and then sleep like a baby.However, 20 years ago, my...

One-Forty Grill OPINION — Way back in 1989 when dinosaurs roamed the planet, and I was 27 years old (but not until December), all of my female friends were married. I was not.By the time I reached my mid-30s, I started boycotting weddings unless I...

Dadeville's Grand Bakery OPINION — As I’ve mentioned before in this column, when I attended Benjamin Russell High School in Alexander City (“Eleck” City to the locals), Dadeville High School was a big rival of ours.Alex City is in West Tallapoosa...

El Jefe Mexican Restaurant & Grill OPINION — What was your favorite age to be? When you’re young, you want to be older; when you’re older, you want to be younger.Well, I’m 61, and I’m happy to be my age; I have no desire to be any other age....

The Hornet's Nest OPINION — On Nov. 23, Mike and I will have lived in Lee County for nine years. These years have flown by, and we have fallen in love with our home county. In fact, if I listed everyone and everything that I loved about our home,...

The reopening of Country's Barbecue OPINION — In September of 1983, I transferred from Alexander City State Junior College to Auburn University for my junior year. Even though I was only 38.8 miles (My sweet husband Mike Googled it.) from my home...

At home with Chef Jim OPINION — As I have mentioned numerous times in this column, I love to eat, but I really dislike cooking.My attitude about cooking is: What if I spent hours cooking a meal and then dropped dead at the end of that day? I would...