Hungry Times Two

If you review the photos on your phone, you will notice trends. Maybe it's cute baby photos, snaps of your pets doing something adorable and/or ridiculous, shots of your culinary feats or fails, or travel pics. For me, my photo album is bookended with images of mayonnaise.  I can explain -- really. When Scott landed his planning job for Multnomah County, Oregon earlier this spring, we had many details to wrangle and projects to complete. Sell our house in Charlotte, North Carolina - ok, we can do it. Purge or sell many belongings -- that's FUN, let's burn it all! And successfully drive all our belongings for more than 2,800 miles in a 20+-ft. U-Haul truck, with the Ford C-Max with adorable, ridiculous #LorettaDog  following along -- errrr, do what now??? The drive from Charlotte to Gresham, OR was my one hesitation. Not exactly known for my smooth driving skills, I rarely enjoy operating a motor vehicle, preferring instead to take frequently-delayed Amtrak t...

For three years now we've shared our eats - what we ate, what we hope to eat, and what we dream about eating. What have we liked best about it? S: It's been fun teaching a DC-based British photog how to peel shrimp, all via photos on this blog. E: I received a nice letter and coupon for a free jar (any size!) of Duke's Mayonnaise out of it after I shared my post on the company website. That's pretty damn cool. See, blogging CAN pay off! What's been the greatest challenge? S: Keeping it going. E: I agree. Also, trying to stay away from food writing cliches, though I do apparently like to use the word "goodness" a lot. What's the bad thing about food blogging? E: Besides all the calories? Trying to say something original and interesting about simple things like mayonnaise. Or pork. Or the pizza we ate last Tuesday. S: Uploading the pictures. E: Maybe it's time for a new blog program? S: No, I'm just a Luddite. What are the hopes and dreams of...

So, here's a random run-through of my summer. Erin's already gotten a lot the choice writing out of the way, so I'll leave this as more of photo montage with comments, etc. LuLu's, a great restaurant next to Richmond, VA's old train station and farmer's market. The sign itself has a cool Bauhaus-like vibe. That chef should be mixing up a batch of Duke's Mayonnaise, given that it's one of C.F. Sauer's signature products. Perhaps Richmond, VA is a hidden food-town? Funky painting at comfort, a Richmond, VA restaurant with few pretenses and knock-out comfort food. The name says it all - along Broad St., Richmond, VA.

I don't really love sandwiches. It's always mystified me that some people crave Subway or Quiznos , 'cause all Subways smell like burned rubber to me and most commercially made sandwiches use crappy pressed lunch meat that taste like poo and the bread is usually overly large and dry. My one exception is a tomato sandwich in the summer, homemade, with soft white bread, or when in South Carolina, the almighty Captain Derst Bread , with some Duke's Mayo. (Speaking of which, new post coming soon re. a Duke's development. I know, get over it already .) Wraps, however, are entirely a different story. I can get into those. Stuff them with good things like sprouts, cucumber slices, salad greens and more, and we have ourselves a deal. I recently hit up Phillips Cafe , right across the street from my office & offers my workplace a 5 percent discount. I discovered they will turn a BLT into a wrap - and you can do add ons for free. SO I got up on that today, with a spina...

Forget fashion, fancy cars, all that bling-bling; when it comes to brand names, we aren't usually ones to be sticklers for the high rollin' stuff, 'cause we're cheap, I mean, frugal. BUT we do have our exceptions; such as: Yeah, I know it's not healthy and some people tend to hate on this condiment, but seriously, mayonnaise is a good thing, Martha. It adds so much flavor and moisture and creamy delight to so many foods. And as much as I'd love to think I am a "from scratch" kind of gal, I am not about to crack up some eggs and whip up a batch of homemade mayo any time soon, especially with that salmonella scariness going around. If I'm going to revel in the full-fat, high calorie content that is mayo, I might as well use the GOOD stuff - no crappy Miracle Whip (which is not even really mayonnaise, let's get that straight right now) or ho-hum Hellman's. I mean to tell you, y'all, Duke's Mayonnaise is the best. Moving to Maryland, ...