Beers.

We're negligent bloggers, but we have good excuses -- I swear.

I won't go into them because they're not that exciting - well, house buying is pretty big, but it's also incredibly tear-your-hair-out, cry-a-little-and-curse-a-lot stressful. Thankfully we're drinking away our stress. That's healthy, right?

Sure.

Last weekend we did a fun brews cruise by bike with our friends, a roughly 15-mile tour from south Charlotte to NoDa, just east of Uptown. We hit up Olde Mecklenburg, Triple C, Noda Brewing and Birdsong. My fave is NoDa, as you can nibble dishes from the food trucks conveniently parked in their lot, and they have a nice casual slab out behind their tasting room with nice benches to congregate and chill.

On Saturday, we hit up the NC Brewers and Music Festival near Huntersville,  with friends. The tickets get you several hours of unlimited tastings from breweries across North Carolina and a select number of out-of-state visitors. Scott was amused that New Belgium claimed in-state status, since they're in Fort Collins, Co. but recently opened up operations around Asheville. Despite some rain, our crew managed to enjoy the music, taste a LOT of beer and relax under a handy pop-up tent in between beer runs.

Here's one of the newest Charlotte-area ventures, Free Range, from near our neck of the woods in Plaza-Midwood. They took home the Brewer of the Year award. How could you not, with names like "Awesome Possum."

The Kinston-based Mother Earth was also in attendance.

And this dude, rocking a tuxedo. As his dad explained, "He's formal, but he's ready to party."

 

My favorite beer from the festival was NoDa's NoDajito, a Belgian Witbier with mint and lime zest. @NoDaBrewing tells me their growlers are good for about 7-10 days -- that beer may be my summer pick, and the tap room is just down the street from us -- for now. 

We're moving somewhere by July 1 -- cheers to moving!

Cook Your Cupboard = Awesome

I'm loving Morning Edition's Cook Your Cupboard Tumblr. Anyone with a pantry full of half-used or never touched items can relate and appreciate the genius of this project.

In our pantry languishing right now: wheat bran, almond meal, half a bottle of rose water, pomegranate molasses, the middle eastern spices Sumac and Za'atar, and a huge bundle of buckwheat noodles. It's a lot of well-intentioned purchases, but Lord only knows how they'll wind up getting used.

The pomegranate molasses is super concentrated - I've drizzled it over Greek yogurt with some chopped apple. The buckwheat noodles I want to love but I have yet to prepare them in a way that pleases me. Rosewater? Tastes pretty nice in a summery cocktail with gin and flavored seltzer. But I don't know what else to do with it.

I can't wait to find some uses for these things, as I hate wasting food. What's in your pantry gathering dust?




 

Friday Shout Out: Every Friday Should Be A Good One

Holy heck, y'all. Who turned on the faucet of life and stole the nozzle?

I'm ready for a slow down. I didn't get to blog last week but I managed to make some pretty nice stuff for an Easter meal with my mom.

The main course was this tasty asparagus tart.

You could scatter sawdust on puff pastry and it would taste good, right?  I subbed in some grated Gouda and Parm for the super-expensive Gruyere. (Besides, do you think my sad little Food Lion up the street carries fancy cheese? We're lucky it's not all Velveeta and Cheese-in-a-Can!) I ate asparagus every day last weekend (Fri-Sat-Sun) so I racked up on seasonal eats - thankyouverymuchBarbaraKingsolver.

Served with the tart was a delicious chickpea & roasted red pepper salad, a green salad with a lovely Green Goddess dressing that made my mother reconsider her distaste for anchovies, a baguette from Your Dekalb Farmers Market, and a homemade pound cake.

On Saturday eve, we visited Scott's aunt and uncle up near Crowder's Mountain for a fantastic Easter meal, which capped off with this unbelievable berry trifle. If we weren't raised with manners, Scott and I both may well have just stuck our faces directly into the bowl.

We would never do that, right? Just like I never licked clean my bowl of Mexican Fried Ice Cream on my 10th birthday party at the old Casa Gallardos on Park Road in Charlotte. I still remember the restrained look of dismay as the server took the bowl away from me.

Last weekend I shopped at Atherton Market for the first time, and I nearly bought some eggs but my mom reminded me of her egg hookup. Two of her friends from church raise chickens and their eggs are $3 per dozen -- two dollars less than the vendors at Atherton. I did buy two bundles of broccoli rabe - we became fans of this veg when we had it on the unforgettable cheese steaks at Cosmi's during our Philly trip several years ago. Barton Seaver's recipe for grilled rabe in For Cod & Country helped us use up one bundle. Also, I indulged on a jar of whipped lemon honey from Cloister. Tip: whipped honey on toasted pound cake. It may change your life.


I hope you're in for a lovely weekend with something good to eat and drink -- and go ahead and lick your plate if you have to!

Friday Shout Out: Cuts Like A Knife

T to the G to the I to the F, y'all. Such a long week and lots of funky vibes & feelings. It's brutal.

Kind of like these stabby-looking beauties:

We acquired these rustic knives as Scott's dad's side of the family preps for the settling of two family estates. They may have survived Hurricane Hugo in 1989 down at the family's "Goat House" on Sullivan's Island, SC. Rather than tuck the tough old things into a drawer, we thought maybe they could add some interest to our kitchen walls.

So, that's something. If you think it's more Fatal Attraction than Shabby Chic, please say the word. We don't want to be those weirdo folks taking a false stab (how puntastic!) at decorating.

The only thing saving this deadly week: killer cookbooks borrowed from my local library.

- Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
- Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights by Sophie Dahl

The first has tons of delicious Mediterranean & Middle Eastern-influenced dishes. The eggplant with buttermilk sauce is on my summertime recipes list, as are the Green Pancakes made with spinach, green onions and cumin.

Sophie's book has a crunchy-British Isles- thing going on. I plan to make Flapjacks (a molasses/honey/oats dessert), Swiss Muesli for brekkie time, and Indian Sweet Potato Pancakes for an easy weeknight meal.

I hope you have some mouth-watering plans this weekend. Enjoy!

Brrrrringing in Our Greens

Just pulled up the collards and some baby spinach, cilantro and parsley for tonight's dinner of frittata and salad. Loretta helped.

It's so chilly and damp - hard to believe its nearly time to plant for spring. Then again, it was nearly 80 on Saturday!

We're not sure if we will keep the garden up if we move by late June. I'd love to continue with the salad greens and herbs for now. A $250 investment for a little bit of green stuff? Well, it's worth the education at least.

Happy Monday evening, y'all.