Mandy Richburg Rivers

Mandy lives in Lexington, South Carolina, is a contributing writer for the Food & Drink section and is currently working on her first cookbook. Mandy is an award winning recipe writer and judges regional cook-offs and other culinary contests.

“I'm just a gal that likes food. Of course I like to eat, but what I've discovered about myself over the years is that there are more ways for me to enjoy food than just eating it. I like to shop for it, read about it, cook it, entertain with it and write about it. And when it's really good, sometimes I'm tempted to throw it on the floor and roll in it."
Number of posts: 27
Email address: mandy.r.rivers@gmail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/mandyriverscom/134923349869992

Posts by Mandy Richburg Rivers:

Southern Hospitality, Talk

Grill Closed – Back in Six Months

by Mandy Richburg Rivers | 7, Add your Comment | Aug 23 10

Great God Almighty, I’m done with summer. All – repeat: ALL – of my once lovely perennials are crispy, wilted and dead and I don’t care. The mosquitoes have taken over the yards and porches with an even more hostile aggression than usual (seriously, I think one called me a bitch last night as it whizzed by my neck). My happy place, the screened porch, looks like a booth at a flea market because the heat has zapped my will to pick up after my husband and kids that treat it like a mud room. The dog needs a good ...

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Southern Hospitality

The Great Steak Experience

by Mandy Richburg Rivers | 3, Add your Comment | Aug 12 10

I just recently did a stint in Marshalltown, IA – home of my employer’s “mother ship” operations offices. There isn’t really anything much to do in Marshalltown and more importantly, there isn’t anything much to eat either. Except, that is, for Rube’s. Rube’s Steakhouse turned out to offer one of the most unique dining experiences I’ve ever had. I wasn’t really even looking forward to going. At Rube’s, you select and grill your own steak. To this I was thinking that I do enough cooking at home and really didn’t like the thought of paying for something I had to cook. I ...

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Southern Hospitality, Talk

Honky Tonk Hostage Chili

by Mandy Richburg Rivers | 17, Add your Comment | Jul 29 10

Taking questions in a recent interview for a local paper, I was asked what the most stressful experience I’d ever had cooking. A colorful memory sprang to mind and I quickly forced it back and thought of a rosier story to tell. But I do believe y’all might know me a little by now and will be ready for this. My mom’s probably going to get a case of the vapors when she reads this, but it really wasn’t as bad as it will read. This was back when I was in college working in my beloved little juke joint. It was ...

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Southern Hospitality, Talk, Voices

Fire Good

by Mandy Richburg Rivers | 5, Add your Comment | Jul 26 10

Southerners love to stand around a fire. This evidenced by the fact that we are probably the only breed of modern era people to purposefully fashion a metal drum into an upright vessel and call it a “fire barrel”. We are so serious about it, we actually take great lengths to cut out holes near the bottom to feed rebar through to support the burning wood (and whatever else deemed safe enough to be fed into said fire barrel – note: consumption of canned beer expands this criteria) and a portal in the bottom so coals can be removed. I like ...

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Southern Hospitality

My Salmon Swims Upstream

by Mandy Richburg Rivers | 11, Add your Comment | Jul 14 10

My husband is a plumber. Every day he deals with the likes of stuff you and I shudder to even think about. This is the precise reason why, when he made a gagging sound as I set supper on the table, I almost picked up his fork and stabbed him in the face with it. I’d made salmon patties with a caramelized onion aioli, grits with stewed tomato gravy and a side of fried eggplant. My four-year old has a broader palate than my husband. Husband is “meat and potatoes” personified. He will not – repeat: WILL NOT – eat cooked ...

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Southern Hospitality, Voices

Ice Cream for My Village

by Mandy Richburg Rivers | 4, Add your Comment | Jul 13 10

I think God blesses us with subtle little miracles when He can. These quiet little blessings giving us a soft spot to land when life stakes a sucker-punch at us. I think that’s what I got when my husband and I moved into our little two-street neighborhood. Jeff and I both wanted to buy a home in the country but had neither the money nor time to find what we wanted. Instead, we settled for a house in a small neighborhood near work and my folks. We were somewhat resistant to suburban living, but chose to settle there all the same. If ...

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Southern Hospitality, Voices

The Short Second Life of the Raisin Bread Loaf

by Mandy Richburg Rivers | 1, Add your Comment | Jul 6 10

Once everyone had gone to bed last night and I was finally alone after the long weekend I cozied up on the couch with a book and let out a sigh of relief. In answer to the sigh my stomach let out a sound of its own – a long, agitated growl. Having spent the last three days celebrating Independence Day here and there, I realized I’d had little more than beer, grilled meats, more beer, highly processed and preserved sausages and hot dogs, some beer, appetizers and snacky food, a few beers and there might have been some champagne ...

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Southern Hospitality, Voices

Food Fight Against Cancer

by Mandy Richburg Rivers | 8, Add your Comment | Jun 30 10

There’s a lot to be said for a community cookbook. You know, the ones that the Rotary Club or the First Baptist Church sell? You’ll be sure to find way too many recipes laden with cream-of-whatever soup in there but it’s also a way to grab a hold of some Southern classics that everyone ought to know how to make: baked macaroni, red velvet cake, watergate salad, sour cream biscuits, salmon patties, banana pudding, etc. I like to give these as bridal shower presents. A lot of us may know these recipes by heart or religiously use our mama’s but for ...

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Southern Hospitality, Voices

Barbeque Judge and Journey, Part 1

by Mandy Richburg Rivers | 10, Add your Comment | Jun 25 10

I get a call the other day asking if I would judge a barbeque cook-off at a Low Country festival in the fall. As I’m getting the specifics on the event the guy asked me if I’m “certified.” Well, I’m certifiably a lot of things but not a barbeque judge, so I tell him so. This conversation leads to a series of events that has landed me with an invitation to attend barbeque judging certification school. Having grown up in rural South Carolina, I’ve had a good bit of exposure to barbequing hogs. It’s always tickled me a bit to see suburbia ...

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Southern Hospitality

The Anatomy of the Perfect Cheeseburger

by Mandy Richburg Rivers | 13, Add your Comment | Jun 15 10

Now that summer is officially upon us, the neighborhood has been awaft with the smoky, telltale aromas of the great American grill. It’s just June and I’ve already feasted upon a cornucopia of exquisitely grilled meats and vegetables. When making my weekly grocery list the other day I realized I was thinking way outside the box; listing ingredients for complex and time consuming summer recipes, and wondered how (for months) I’d skipped over the quintessential entrée for grilling: the hamburger. I tried to recall the last time I’d had a really good homemade burger and didn’t come up with much*. It seems ...

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Southern Hospitality, Voices

I Found My Thrill

by Mandy Richburg Rivers | 3, Add your Comment | Jun 4 10

I sort of lost my fascination with homemade ice cream somewhere around age ten. Once the novelty wore off I realized that the bland, texturally challenged results didn’t stand up to the store bought varieties. This could be for a variety of reasons: crumby recipes, not taking the time to let the ice cream set up properly after mixing it, using substandard ingredients, etc. Or it could very well simply be about a ten-year old’s fascination with the bubblegum swirl, chocolate doo-da chunky fudge or neon blue cotton candy variations that boomed onto the market about the same time. Twenty-five years later ...

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Southern Hospitality, Voices

Well, I’m Not Betty Freaking Crocker

by Mandy Richburg Rivers | 6, Add your Comment | May 25 10

I’m not too big on most prepackaged, prepared, shortcut foods (i.e. gravy mixes, canned soup, dehydrated potato side dishes, etc.) but there is one major exception: cake mixes. I’ve tried dozens upon dozens of cake recipes in my day and have yet to find one that was better than what can be made using a quality cake mix. I find homemade cake recipes (pound cake and fruit cakes excluded) to be dry and often crumbly and lacking in taste. I once saw Alton Brown discuss this very issue on his Food Network show Good Eats. And let me just take a moment to say ...

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Southern Hospitality, Talk, Voices

Southern Summertime Sippers

by Mandy Richburg Rivers | 0, Add your Comment | May 19 10

There are so many things I love about summer but high on my list are summertime cocktails. Oh, to behold a plump glass pitcher, dripping little rivulets of cool dewy sweat, jingle-jangling chunks of ice that stand up to the omnipresent heat, filled with just the thing to beat down the choke-hold humidity throws on us every summer. "I'm not going to drink too much; I'm going to take drunk by the throat." - Pat Mack, friend since childhood Summer means putting away the red wine – for me, anyway, because it’s just too damn hot here in the South to fill ...

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