Hungry Times Two

Earlier this summer our friends J&C (aka Ditch Chicken ) invited us to head up 1-40 to Winston-Salem, NC for a leisurely Saturday trip. "Chocolate Factory tour and winery visit. You available?" they asked. "Yes, please," Scott and I answered. They picked us up in Charlotte and 90 minutes later wheeled into the parking lot of Black Mountain Chocolate . We killed a little time before our 11am-ish tour and walked around the area near Trade Street. As a former Statesville, NC resident during my high school years, Winston-Salem was a larger city that often lured my friends and I there for shopping and restaurants. Sadly most of this occurred not in W-S's now bustling downtown but the Hanes Mall. Yes, I was a "mall rat," buying way too many cargo jeans and oversize flannel shirts and logo sweatshirts at Old Navy and the Gap (Hey, it was the mid to late '90s.) I also knew W-S from annual trips to Old Salem for Christmas shopping, a ritual wit...

In the past week, Scott and I decided to call any opportunity a "Christmas Miracle." The little elderly dog lost in the park in our neighborhood, a week later found unharmed a few blocks away  -- a Christmas Miracle. Scott not catching whatever funky virus I had last week -- a Christmas Miracle. Receiving not one, but THREE packages of our favorite Berger Cookies from two friends in Maryland -- a Christmas Miracle. It's the little things, y'all.

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 - thankyouverymuch BarbaraKingsolver . 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...

Meatloaf.  Mashed potatoes.  Chicken soup. Anything sweet.  These are all comfort foods that we seek when we're cold, sad, stressed or otherwise unsettled.  I sought comfort food Tuesday night, as I'd found out my mom had a stroke on Monday.  The stroke was mild, and she's been in good hospital care this week, even walking around, reading books, and doing all sorts of other tests, proving she's still ticking. Still, as with anything "Sudden and Medical," the situation's got me a bit on edge, which brings me back to comfort foods. I was anxious Tuesday night and decided I needed to get OUT of the house, so Erin and I took a trip to Common Market , a most uncommon market in Plaza-Midwood .  Looking around for something sweet, I found two of my favorite things: chocolate milk and a cookie. Why have regular milk with a cookie when you can have chocolate milk ... mmm.  And keeping with the comfort theme, the chocolate milk was a drink-box - nothing turns ...

So I took a little two-week trip to Italy and came back only slightly jet-lagged and over-carbed last Friday. I have missed blogging, so I aim to bring you a post or two on my Italy escapades soon. In the meantime, how about a little taste of bourbon for this Kentucky Derby weekend? Last night Scott and I enjoyed a preview of the Early Times Julep Mix from our lovely friends down the street. They host an annual shindig for the Derby, and this will be our second appearance at the bourbon-soaked fete. (We brought our mint plant in case we needed to make a minty simple syrup, but luckily, convenience saved the day.) Since too much of a good thing can be wonderful, I plan on making these Bourbon Balls and an appetizer (to be determined, but Blue Cheese Cheesecake is looking like a solid contender, as is Kentucky Greengrass from the excellent Cordon Bluegrass cookbook gifted to us by two dear Adams family members that recently passed away. Scott's Uncle Bruce and gran...

I'm renewing our segment "We've Got It Made," in which we highlight our joint ventures in the kitchen. HTT is in the house, baby. After sitting on the recipes from the awesome Mrs. Wheelbarrow class on Easter Desserts for nearly a month, I up and went to the grocery store this a.m. to ensure I had all the ingredients to make a pretty pretty pavlova . Since I won't be here for Easter, I thought it would be nice to make it anyway.

Blogging sucks. Blogging is the best thing ever. I hate blogging. I live to blog. Welcome to my mind, in which I debate why I haven't posted more often here lately. Blame my ever-increasing disinterest in cooking -- I had the "mehs" this winter, but damn if it isn't sunny outside and spring is almost here and well, I miss writing and having good tasty things to write about. So... I'm presently reeling from a dyno-MITE class with Mrs. Wheelbarrow : Easter Desserts rocked my world, and the worlds of friends A & S, who were so smart to join me today to learn how to rock a coconut cake, tishpishti , and a pavlova.  Let the record show I'm heading out in 20 min. on the greenway to burn off what I'm about to describe:

I seem to have a knack lately for finding random food-related news stories. Forget breast milk ice cream : how about waging a full-on fight with the one you live with over Girl Scout cookies ? Apparently someone really loves their Thin Mints. I swear, I could see this happening over the Caramel deLites (formerly known as the far-superior Samoas), but I fail to see what's so special about mint cookies that would lead a girl to get all stabby. Which begs the question: what foods would you defend with your best sharp kitchen utensil? For me, it might be my stash of emergency cookies (presently Gingersnaps) - that you certainly don't want to fool with, particularly when my hormones are raging. Enough said. Food stealers, beware. Step off from this Cookie Monster.

Erin would have gotten this for me at Wegman's a few weeks ago, but it goes against our whole "tacky Valentines" aversion. Still, what man wouldn't want chocolates in a tough-ass metal non-skid box?

Warning: Valentine's Day-themed post. Continue at your own risk. Yes, it's that holiday tomorrow, the one with the flowers, the heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, the ugly-ass, age-inappropriate teddy bears, and the Hallmark cards professing undying, oh-so-special, forever love, love that cannot be denied, love that won't fade away, Big Love, sloppy wet love, etc. (OK, maybe the sloppy kind is for another occasion entirely.) Don't get me wrong, I luuuuuv love. I just don't really care for the commercialized kind. Scott and I had our first date the day after Valentine's Day nine (!!!) years ago, and we've always much rather celebrate our dating milestone than to observe February 14. (Sidebar: our second date was to see The Vagina Monologues . My husband rocks, and is totally comfortable with all iterations of the terms for female genitals.) We're spending tomorrow night in, with a dinner of cod fillets fresh from our Eastern Market visit today, veggi...

Ever the fan of a playful pun, I came up with several on our 45-minute car ride this past Saturday to Deale, Md., which is pretty much in the middle of Backwater, Nowhere. What's the big Deale? I can Deale with that. I hope we're getting a fair Deale. Deale or No Deale? You get the picture. Luckily, bad puns were the only poor thing we endured during our trek out to Skipper's Pier Restaurant & Dock Bar.

Hard to believe it's just two days away! What kinds of things will you enjoy this holiday season? Here's a rundown of what I expect we'll partake of this Christmas and New Year's: 1 ) Some form of sugar cake. You may recall I've waxed poetic on the Moravian sugar cake I grew up enjoying as a child of the N.C. Piedmont area. Winkler's Bakery in Old Salem is the place to get the sugar cake - it's like a coffee cake-style deal - cinnamon and sugar and all those good things. I have the recipe, but will I really work with rising yeast and stuff early on Christmas morn? That, my friend, is TBD. This little elf may want to sleep in. Mother Dear says she has a simple recipe for something similar, so we shall see. 2) Seafood! Mom's promising her amazing Carolina Rice & Shrimp dish, and we're headed for Charleston, S.C. to ring in the New Year. Shrimp, I am coming for YOU. 3) A pig roast! Scott's aunt and uncle have held a traditional New Year's pi...

My mom and step-dad were up visiting for Thanksgiving and after gorging ourselves on turkey and the sites of D.C., I took them on a day-trip to Baltimore. After a visit to my mom's favorite museum (she's a mosaic artist), we aimed for lunch at Rocket to Venus in Hampden . It was closed for lunch, but our trip up Charles St. wasn't for naught - we stumbled onto residents of 34 th St. setting up their Christmas displays! This street is Christmas at its best, or worst, depending on your tolerance/interest in all things Christmas. Erin teases me for being a scrooge, but I have to admit, lights and what-not are nice at this cold and dark time of year. After a brief walk through Hampden , we aimed for lunch at Kooper's Tavern in Fells Point. The tavern was most certainly open, with rowdy sports fans packing the bar and even spilling onto the sidewalk for fresh-shucked oysters. (My friend Gideon would have camped out right there for their Chincoteagues !) After some d...

This one's for my Grandmother Carrie, who died last Friday at age 93. My grandmother wasn't flashy or overly free with her affections, but she was a woman of strong faith and well, she baked one hell of a pound cake. It's not just any ol' pound cake - it's a Cold Oven cake, made by putting the cake pan in a non-preheated oven to bake. I'm in the process of tracking her recipe down from one of my cousins, so for now, here's a similar one that you might find enjoyable. It makes for one of the most moist cakes I know of and results in a nice crust on top, too. She didn't add flavorings like almond or chocolate, but I am sure you could if you wanted that little something extra. I find that would be like gilding the lily, however. Sometimes a simple pound cake can do so much - it brought our family a lot of joy and pleasure to rave over during holidays and special occasions, and now, it's a legacy - a token of a woman who's left us, but is still in o...

As I sit here typing, a funny little sound escapes from my kitchen. "Thwack. Pop." Silence...then again, "Thwack." No, it's not Scott taking out his frustrations on a meal tonight. It's glass jars filled with yummy sweet spreads sealing their lids as they cool. Oh, how I love that sound! What did I make, you may wonder. Well, let me tell you. It has to do with these shots, taken during our visit to Homestead Farm two weekends ago: Our host tells us what's up... respect the fruit. We always respect the fruit. The apples we picked -- about 20 - 25 of the Gala and Cameo varieties, were HUGE - nearly twice the size of the typical grocery store kind. I am obviously all about them, as you see below. In addition to acres of apples, the farm also includes a pumpkin patch - pretty irresistible this time of year. Our friend Ryan demonstrates how Mr. Potato Head has been replaced by a much larger piece of produce - MUCH larger. If apples aren't your deal, you...

Tell me this isn't the best video featuring fake flan-like pudding and silly folks from Japan that you've ever seen. P.S. Shoutout to my friend Beth , who turns 30 today - the Dirty Thirty has arrived!!!!

Yes, it's super sweet and chock-full of high fructose corn syrup and Red 40 food coloring, and I should eschew all of that, but hell, I'm a North Carolina girl and one of the best things to come out of the state - other than (in no particular order) Mr . Andy " Matlock " Griffith, public radio's Carl Kasell , author Thomas Wolfe, musicians Tori Amos, Ben Folds, Nina Simone and James Taylor; Duke basketball, and Krispy Kreme doughnuts - is Cheerwine . Don't know about Cheerwine ? Bless your little ignorant heart. Check it out, please, if you're ever in North Carolina. You'll be glad you bypassed the Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Sprite and whatnot for some carbonated cherry yum- yums . (I love that http://www.cheerwine.com/ converts into http://www.itsasoftdrink.com - it's kind of a weird-ass page. Do take a look-see.) Made by Carolina Beverage Corporation of Salisbury, North Carolina, since 1917, it's a fine tasting soft drink, indeed. A friend...

This should really a postscript to my post from September 14, the day o' my good husband's 32 nd year of birth, but sometimes it's hard to post photos as events are occurring and then time flies by, and any who ..... Behold the cake I baked for that special day: Those pellet/poop-like things forming the numbers are Ocean Spray Craisins . How resourceful/ scatological am I?!? The recipe comes from my new- ish cookbook The Healthy Hedonist - the Naked Carrot Cake. It contains the oh-so-nutritious oat flour plus four cups of grated carrots ( Oy . That was a lot of tedious grating, let me tell you), and other stuff that makes cake so awesome - vanilla, brown sugar, eggs, spices of nutmeg, cinnamon , all spice, etc. Only I didn't want it to be so nekkid , cause frosting, when done well and not all grocery-store lard- ish , is marvelous, mmmkay ? SO, I doctored it up with The Joy of Cooking' s Cream Cheese Frosting , and substituted the lower-in-fat and hard-to-pron...

It's amazing what you can find on these crazy Interwebs. Exhibit A: Yep, Little Debbie tries and tries to wear me down with her promise of cheap, sweet thrills but somehow I've managed to stay away from a box of Oatmeal Cream Pies in my own home for over a week now.* Scott's responsible for this devil woman's merchandise taking up space in my pantry. He has a bit of a sweet tooth for foods that aren't really, well, food. Looking at the box of OCPs, here's the ingredients: Corn Syrup, Enriched Bleached Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1] Riboflavin [Vitamin B2] (Folic Acid)Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil with TBHQ to Preserve Flavor, Dextrose, Water, Oats, Sugar, Molasses, Raisins, contains 2% or less of each of the Following: Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Ammonium Bicarbonate) Whey [Milk] Emulsifiers (Soy Lecithin, Mono and Diglycerides, Sorbitan Monostearate, Polysorbate 60)Salt, Cor...

It's nearly the weekend, and I for one am just elated about that! Something about the past couple work weeks has me jonesing for some down time, with no computer screens to stare at or emails to answer. So, weekends are made for fun, and pie . Last weekend we enjoyed a visit from my old college roomie and friend Victoria. She's from Richmond, she's a Historic Preservation planner so she can do planner-speak with Scott all the time and she loves her historic stuff so she's fun to travel with and tour museums and noteworthy places, and she's a non-seafood eating vegetarian . With three more food lovin' folks along - Jim, Gideon and Gideon's friend Jason, We visited Federal Hill, Baltimore's Cross Street Market for Nick's Seafood, so Victoria found a Mexican joint in the market, Pop's Tacos, run by Asians (just saying...it was unusual.) Photo...