Hungry Times Two

Brushing off the old blog here... pardon the dust bunnies. It's a rainy gross day here in Charlotte and I have the day off. I started thinking about what I do when I'm not working like a Doozer. (Sidebar: I tried to find the Fraggle Rock " Work Your Cares Away" song to link to but I nearly fell down a YouTube rabbit hole. If you're a proper child of the '80s you shouldn't need the link anyway.) I miss writing but I think I've shied away from it due to an aversion to more time looking at a glowing screen. I get plenty of that in my daily schedule and with these smartphones we're all addicted to now. I thought about maybe going old school and writing with pen and paper. But I remembered this blog, and the other I started with very nice intentions a few years ago, and so here I am. It wasn't until I cancelled my subscription to Bon Appetit and started getting annoyed by all the food photos in my Facebook and Twitter feed that I realized my ...

Prepping for Amtrak food: Root Down in the Highlands neighborhood. Amazing house Bloody Mary mix, Colorado lamb burger with Harissa. Phone home - this place is amazing!!

We planted three cherry tomato plants earlier in the season and being novices, we had no idea what that would yield. We also had no idea that our compost in our abandoned raised beds would spawn six or seven cherry tomato plants. Surprise, us! We now have what could be quantified as a shit-ton (a technical term, I hear) of these little delights. Today I took five seconds to pop a few cups of them in the broiler. Five minutes later -- a tasty something to toss into pasta or, as I am doing now, topping a taco in place of salsa. One of my fave things to do with broiled tomatoes - blend with cold butter. Easy, delicious and did I mention it's easy and delicious?  Hope you are enjoying tomatoes this summer!

There's been a lull here at Hungry Times Two (staring at computer all day for work, or job-search), but a recent community garden visit inspired this post.  I always joke that I hate yard work/landscaping and love gardening because you can't eat mown grass and tomatoes are worth the effort. In essence, it's the debate between flower/ornamental gardening and fruit/vegetable gardening.  There's definitely one crop that achieves a beautiful, edible balance between these two camps: okra! We're growing a red okra (delicious when grilled) and this lovely flower's currently on one of four okra bushes (below). The okra shot was taken with a chain link fence in the foreground, which keeps out riff-raff (rabbits, squirrels, etc.) and is also supporting our prolific burpless cucumber plant (below). We've had a bumper crop of cukes and yellow squash, which we've discovered grows FAST in just a day or so!  Erin made sure to document "Attack of the ...

Last month we trekked with some friends to the Asheville area for some much needed R&R.  "R&R" = cheese, y'all.  We rented a cute cottage in Swannanoa via Airbnb  and planned a fun Saturday out on the Western North Carolina Cheese Trail.  Our trip planner extraordinaire friend J nailed down a few to try out -- we didn't want to overdo the cheese (I know, hard to believe, but that could get ugly ) and we also wanted to save a little time to check out downtown Asheville.  Our first stop: Hickory Nut Gap Farm in Fairview. Currently in expansion/renovation mode, the farm is the perfect spot to say hello to some horses, gape at the goats, and peruse a wide variety of area products in their store. I bought some local honey for our pet sitter, some Lusty Monk mustard,  the farm's salami, and a brisket.  Next we took a short drive over to Looking Glass Creamery , also in Fairview. It's a small adorable cottage with an adjacent...

Where Does General Tso Chicken Actually Come From? From TED Radio Hour -- Takeaways: It's pronounced "Tsow" (rhymes with "Ow"). Fortune cookies don't exist in China. All the food we Americans think we know as Chinese really isn't. (It's still sweet and spicy goodness, though.) Friendship Trays & Friendship Gardens We volunteered last week with these orgs, planting radishes and carrots in their plots at their main distribution center. It was great to meet some new people, get our hands dirty, and help out.  And they have a  garden sign made of metal utensils - I want to make one for our yard.  Second Helpings  A carry-out and catering shop on the East side that employs women with records. The service was slow but the chocolate cake rocked, as did the kale soup loaded with veggies and the grilled pimento cheese sandwich. They're trying to attract more business, so CLT peeps get on it.  Nashville I'm visiting in a few week...

I'm not that picky an eater, but I do hold a strong principle on Sweet vs. Savory. This is especially true for cornbread - I like it salty/savory, so I'm always disappointed when I get a piece of cornbread masquerading as dessert. The offending piece I had at lunch is shown below, and the establishment that served it shall remain anonymous. Really though, the place advertised "homemade SKILLET cornbread," so that had me hungry .. and then let down.  Why do people sweeten things that taste better savory? Perhaps it's the "Corn-Syrupization" of our food and taste buds. I've found this to be true when ordering/buying pasta salad (should be tart from vinegar-based dressing), potato salad (should be tart, if white vinegar-based, or salty/mustardy if Southern) and indeed, cornbread. Perhaps I'll become an eccentric who assumes they can taste-test everything before comitting to it. Wish me luck on future deli/restaurant visits!