Hungry Times Two

Telling people you've just returned from a Viking River Cruise will earn mixed reactions. A few people smirk and ask how old I really am (yes, I know from the PBS Masterpiece Theatre underwriting promos that I'm a little under their target demographic). Some want to know what makes it a Viking cruise (no, I didn't don a winged helmet and pray to Norse gods, but that would be pretty amazing ). But most seem interested to hear about the Danube River trip and what I enjoyed the most.  Spending some relaxing time with my mom on the cruise was tops, as well as taking advantage of all the ship's perks: unlimited espresso drinks and sparkling water whenever, fully-catered meals for nearly all of the eight-day trip, and a lovely "Aquavit Terrace" lounge to sip drinks and in our case, refine our Scrabble skills, while the ship cruised upriver from Budapest, Hungary to Passau, Germany.  And the CHEESE. At every breakfast, there were at least 3-5 different...

There's the bottle of Incantate red wine on my sideboard, the Venetian mask resting on top of my dresser, a few Euro coins mixed in my jewelry box,  and a linen wrap dangling from my closet door knob -- nice little reminders of an unforgettable trip to Italy My bags may be unpacked and I may have returned to work and the day-to-day routine, but much of my heart and thoughts remain dedicated to the fine occupation that is travel. A co-worker told me before I left for two weeks in Italy with my mother that she loves travel for the perspective, to know that there are other places out there, with customs, languages and landscapes that are so different. I found that in two weeks, traveling tested me - my routine, my expectations, my tolerance for crowds and noise, my tastebuds -- and I loved it. First admission: this trip was on a tour with 31 strangers and my mom, via the Globus tour group. We ate together, took ...

We met our friend Gideon in D.C.'s Capitol Hill neighborhood for breakfast at Jimmy T's Place . It's a corner breakfast/brunch place that's been around since 1969, so as Gideon noted, it was around LONG before Capitol Hill gentrified! : ) For Erin and I, it was our second visit and first time eating there - we tried for it last October when my dad and sister were visiting from Georgia, but the staff ignored us as we patiently waited for a table. That experience was odd, and likely isolated, given that we were greeted today with a "Have a seat wherever you like" welcome. As for the food, it's standard breakfast fare if you're looking for that, PLUS D.C./Mid-Atlantic specialties, namely half-smokes and scrapple . Ben's Chili Bowl pretty much equals half-smokes, while scrapple even has a few mentions on The Wire from Baltimore's Jimmy McNulty . Erin had a spicy half-smoke with her breakfast (the sliced sausage near the edge of her plate). ...

So, summer, being the awesome season it is, blessed us with an abundance of watermelon. Other than slurping on a slice over the kitchen sink, there's been few variations on the theme. Until I picked up Sheila Lukins' Ten: All the Foods We Love and 10 Recipes for Each. The Watermelon Salad on page 266 inspired me on Monday eve - I omitted cucumbers and tomatoes and mixed up chunks of watermelon and feta cheese with a little chopped mint, olive oil and cracked pepper. I LOVED this salad; Scott was a little leery of it and didn't really praise it. That's okay, I devoured the leftovers for lunch the next day. This was a week for trying new things: my friend Candice invited me over on Friday night for a little introduction to canning tomatoes. Armed with plenty of chardonnay and sharp knives, we peeled and quartered about 30 tomatoes from her father's stockpile and boiled them in my enormous stockpot (found in the ba...

Give it up for Red, White and Food Blog Day! March 2 is the day for we, the TN bloggers, to make our opinions known that retail food stores should be able to sell wine to their customers. This means changing a long-standing law that restricts wine sales to liquor stores. The Tennessee Grocers & Convenience Store Association is advocating this change. The association represents large corporate stores and small independent grocers across the state. On Friday I hightailed it after work to pick up some weekend fun materials - food and alcohol. However, I made two trips - one to the liquor store for a mega-bottle of chardonnay and a magnum-bottle of Merlot, and another to Kroger. Unnecessary. It wastes time and gas and it's just a big pain in the ass. Give us the freedom to choose - grocery story or speciality wine shop. That's what I call a free (Kroger) Marketplace. Learn more here.

Hope all the "Rent" fanatics catch on to this post title... I dined at Rumba last night with some friends and lo-and-behold their wine on Sunday eve is half-priced . I scored a bottle of red for $12 and, as I drank one glass there, they corked it for me and I took it home. Nice deal for a Sunday when the liquor stores are closed and you want a bottle for snuggling on the sofa and whatnot. ;-) Asheville's becoming quite the microbrew hot spot - back when I lived there (up until 2005) the best places to grab a homemade pint were Barley's, home of the Highland Gaelic Ale, Jack of the Wood for their Green Man line, and Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company, makers of the divine Shiva IPA. Now there's a couple new games in town - Pisgah and The Wedge, to name a few. Didn't get a chance to try them, but I was amazed to hear about all the competition. I did check out a new watering hole, The Thirsty Monk, which specializes in Belgian beer, now occupying the former Almo...