Hungry Times Two

After a decidedly stressful and busy summer of crazy house hunting & buying, moving, unpacking, and a conference visit to ATL for me last week, I came back to Charlotte on Saturday craving vegetables and all things not battered and fried or alcoholic. You know, that healthy stuff. So we hit up the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market and came back with loads of produce -- cucumbers, eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes. A bonus cameo in the photo below: our friends J&B brought over two jalapenos they grew in their garden. (I need to remember my rubber gloves when handling those! Once bitten, twice shy.)

Earlier this week, Erin made beef curry and it featured spices that we received from my dad and sister last Christmas. They live in Augusta, Georgia, my hometown, which has a surpisingly large South Asian community and subsequent restaruants and even groceries. Dad and Molly, thanks so much for the collection of spices, plus the cookbook 660 Curries ! That's the fun thing about food and cooking gifts, they make you think about the gifter every time you use them. Thanks again Dad and Molly!

Guess what, folks? We've discovered the ONE redeeming thing about going to a mall during the holidays. This weekend, Scott and I joined our friend Jim, his mother visiting from Florida, and two friends of his for a dim sum extravaganza at Hollywood East Cafe in Wheaton , Md. As Scott and I had errands to run afterwards, we followed Jim in our car, and were quite perplexed when we pulled up to the Westfield Mall in Wheaton . "A mall?" I asked aloud. How could good food come from the same place that has FYE , Macy's and JC Penneys? Scott reminded me we had a pretty amazing Vietnamese experience at a strip mall in Honolulu during our honeymoon in April 2007, so I shut my trap and hoped for good things to come. I'm happy to report that Hollywood East Cafe should get a Golden Globe, nay, an OSCAR -- at least a supporting one, for its Dim sum. Now, I must admit my dim sum experience is sparse -- other than a couple lunches at Ping Pong in D.C., I got nothin .' S...