Date Night in Durham! March 23, 2009

For our anniversary, Chris got tickets for us to see Fiddler on the Roof in Durham at the new Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC).   I don’t get to Durham often enough considering how many good places to eat (and great people!) there are there.   The city has created this amazing American Tobacco Historical District project right in downtown,  featuring places to eat, the Durham Bulls stadium, WUNC studios, and now the DPAC.  Its really quite amazing.

We started off the night by checking out Toast, a “paninoteca” in downtown Durham.   It was amazing!  Small, bistro style, with all kinds of wild panini, bruscetta, and crostini options  (warm goat cheese, local honey ancracked pepper anyone?) .   Not expensive either, so go check it out.

The musical was amazing.  I loved all the songs, and the star, Topol, was amazing.  Dpac has comfy seats and great sound.  All the ushers were really super friendly too, which was nice.

Beyond that, I was not that impressed with Dpac.  At the intermission the line for the ladies room was, no joke, 75 people deep and cut into the line for the concessions.  There’s a design flaw!

In addition, there is the new light sculpture out in front of Dpac.   Created by Jaume Plensa, the renowned Spanish artist responsible for Chicago’s Centennial Park, it was originally destined for downtown Raleigh.  Raleigh city council didn’t want it so it was donated to Durham.  The main feature is a beam of light that shoots up in the air.  This feature, combined with the fact that the Dpac  building itself is a glass cube makes this a migratory bird death trap.

From American Bird Conservancy:  “The intrusion of light into migratory bird flyways poses added danger to an already perilous journey. The interior and exterior lights on tall buildings and bright uplights used for decorative illumination of monuments, government offices, parking garages , and other structures of all heights, emit light fields that can entrap birds. The birds are reluctant to fly from a well lit area to a dark one, particularly during periods of low cloud cover or inclement weather when views of the stars and moon, which serve as navigational aids, are obstructed. The birds circle repeatedly within the light field, and as more and more birds are drawn into the light, they collide with each other and the building, or fall to the ground from exhaustion. If they are not killed immediately by the collision, they are at risk for death from injuries they have incurred, predation on the ground, and collisions with windows during the following days.”

Its really too bad, because Durham so far has done such a nice job with the revitalization.  I am not sure that folks are going to be so thrilled about finding dead and dying birds everywhere.   Most discouraging is that there is a movement now to have the sculpture lit 365 days a year (currently it is only lit on show nights).   Hopefully this will get shot down.  At my job we have already written letters to the Durham City Council and the Durham paper about this (we did this before it was installed).  You know what would be really great, is if they could shut down this light sculpture during migration (like NYC and Toronto do with skyscraper lights).   A chance for conservation and education!

Final score?  Toast yes, Fiddler on the Roof yes, Dpac no.  This Friday we head back to Durham, to the Carolina Theatre to see the Gondoliers.  I am already wondering which of the fabulous Durham Restaurants we should eat at.   Cake, perhaps you can help us choose?

Final BBQ tour post January 31, 2009

….so then we arrived in Austin.

Austin is just as cool as everyone has ever told you, if not more so.   Julia and I made multiple jokes about how every indie looking person we saw was thinking about or working on their screenplay.   The city has  gotten to be quite large, but the fact remains that you can do lots of neat stuff there and eat a bunch off good food and it has not lost its small city feel.

We went out drinking twice, once to a bar called the Ginger Man, which is mostly outdoors.  I had a great local brew there (well, Houston) called St. Arnold.  Most bars and restaurants  in Austin are outdoors, or have large patios, and did I mention it was 75 degrees nearly every day? The second time we went out was Saturday, when we saw some good local bands:  Built by Snow and Hollywood Gossip at Club De ville, which is a neat outside venue built into a cliff face (so, the backdrop to the band is…a cliff face, its very nifty).

We went birding with a nice retired teacher name Marilyn who I found through a great website called birdingpal.  You type in where you are going and it gives you a list of locals willing to take you birdwatching.  She took us to some neat local parks (one great thing about Austin is you go about 15 minutes out of the city and you are in the middle of nowhere).  One of the parks, Hamilton Pool, features a large grotto that you can swim in!  I bet its nice in summer. I saw some birds I had not seen in 10 years, Lesser Goldfinch and Golden-fronted Woodpecker, and also a lifer, the Ladder-backed Woodpecker.

The food in Austin is fantastic,, and we branched out from the Barbecue.  Some of the culinary highlights include:  El Chile (the Chile Relleno is a work of art!), Kerbey Lane Cafe, and the amazing Uchi, which has to be the most interesting Japanese restaurant I have ever been too.  We had rice with amber jack sashimi, Benito flakes, and an egg yolk served in a 400 degree bowl.  You stir it and it all gets cooked and is amazing.  I think if I lived in Austin I would eat there every day.

Austin has about a zillion miles of green way, and we spent my last full day hiking around.  I think we went about 6 miles in the city.  And we did some shopping and eating, too!

One thing I have to tell you is that if you find yourself in the Austin Airport, get a brisket sandwich from the Salt Lick!  Best Brisket Sandwich ever!

Barbecue Tour Part II January 29, 2009

Reid once told me not to speed driving through Louisiana, because the cops are out in full force, and then went on to comment that I probably just shouldn’t even stop in LA if I could help it.  Well, we stopped, spent the  night, and even did some birdwatching.   I think we are OK, but then, both mine and Julia’s typhoid and hep A/B shots are up to date.   Our trip continued with a drive through Alabama, Mississippi (where we did not stop) and into Louisiana.  We spent the night in Lafayette, where I realized one flaw in our “BBQ only plan”.  I love Cajun food more than BBQ, and when given the choice I say bring on the crawdads.   So, we ate Cajun that night.

The place we ate is called the Blue Dog Cafe and it was tasty and the bartender well versed in his bourbon.  In fact, maybe too well versed.  Anyway, it was one of those “draw on the paper tablecloth places, so here are some photos of the bisque we had with our artwork

Julia's artwork

OK, I can’t put my artwork (wordpress is smarter than me) in but maybe I will put it in later.  Anyway, the next morning we did a mini bird trip to Cypress Island Preserve and saw a Rusty Blackbird, but we didn’t stay too after that and headed down the road and into Texas.

We arrived without incident in Austin at about 5pm.

more next!

Barbecue and Brown Liquor Tour 2009 Part 1 January 28, 2009

Well, its been a while since my last post, for which I apologize, but my pal Julia and I drove to Texas.  She has a new, kick butt job out there, teaching UT Austin students, and I went with her to help conquer the miles between Raleigh and Austin as well as eat a bunch of barbecue, Cajun food, and Tex Mex.  Oh yeah, and look at some birds.

We left on Monday January 19, escaping Raleigh before the 6 inches of snow.  After much pre-trip debating, we decided to avoid the cold weather and drive via Atlanta and the deep south instead of through Tennessee.

We hit the road with a very full car on Monday, and had an uneventful day.  A few highlights we saw included the SC Gaffney Peach, in front of which a “Fats” restaurant has been built.   The “Fats” sign is now alarmingly close to the peach, which already looks like a giant behind anyway.  Further down the road we saw a big fake pirate ship on the ground in front of a tent near a church.  The ship had torn up black sails.  We didn’t know what those baptists were up too.  In Greenville SC we saw the California Dreaming restaurant, which is shaped like a castle and used to have a moat though now its a parking lot. Later on we passed “Quaker Steak and Lube” and then made our first barbecue stop.  Hickory Wind Barbecue.   We were disappointed with the dry pulled pork sandwiches we had, but chalked it up to the fact that maybe you just shouldn’t order pulled pork when you are in a state that is not NC.

Hickory Wind BBQ

Our first tourist stop was about 5:30 in Tuskegee, home of the Tuskegee airmen, the first group of African American Pilots who fought in WWII and the Tuskegee Institute.  We did a drive by of the school, founded by Booker T Washington, and admired the lovely architecture.  But then it got dark so we snapped a photo and continued on.

we were here!

We decided to change course again and go via Montgomery, where we finally arrived at about 7:30.  We emptied out the back seat of the car (which filled up an entire luggage cart from the hotel, which we then kidnapped into our room for the night).   We hit the streets of Montgomery to see what is going on down there, and I will tell you they were deserted!  We wandered around a bit and ate salad for dinner at a super fancy place, which was the only place open.

The beauty of Montgomery was apparent itself the next morning.  En route to the  Rosa Parks Memorial we admired many, many murals painted around the downtown area.  We had noticed them the night before but the full vibrancy of the art (not too mention how many murals there were) was amazing in the bright morning sun.  The artist was RP Adams, and google as I might, I cannot find any information about him.  The mural subjects were things like: a man with a Northern Flicker (a type of woodpecker and the state bird of Alabama) pecking the word “fool” into his forehead.   An amazingly muscular Bald Eagle holding the 10 commandments.

We were very luck at the Civil Rights Memorial and Museum, which is where we stumbled upon a free screening of the Obama Inauguration.  That was really special, to watch such an event in a location with so much history regarding the fight for Civil Rights.  There was not a dry eye in the house, including mine.

We checked out at noon and headed towards the coast, with a stop outside Greenville Alabama for barbecue at the Smokehouse.  I was convinced by the waitress to try the fried chicken, which I have to say, was fabulous. Julia had a barbecue sandwich (pulled pork, despite our misgivings)  and said it was really good, though the sauce was rather ketchupy.  The highlight of this meal was the fried green tomatoes, which were light and crispy and tart.  Good stuff!

More to follow….

And check out the photos, over here!!

Vegetable Enchiladas January 19, 2009

The secret to these babies is the sauce.  Its sooo good!  They are pretty easy and even Chris will eat them, despite being meat free.  OK, he ate one.  And complained about the lack of meat.  BUT you should try them anyway.  The recipe is originally from Quick Vegetarian Pleasures, a favorite cookbook of mine.

Ingredients:

Filling:

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 med onion, dices

2 med zucchini, chopped

1 tsp oregano

1 4 oz can chopped green chiles

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

salt and pepper to taste

Sauce:

1 28 oz can tomato puree

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/3 c chopped cilantro

1 large garlic clove pushed through a press

1/4 tsp salt

pepper to taste

also:

8 8-inch flour tortillas

2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

1) heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and saute 5 minutes.  Stir in the zucchini and oregano and cook until tender but not mushy, about 7 minutes.  Remove the pan from heat and stir in chiles, kidney beans, salt and pepper. Let cool

2) preheat oven to 350.  To make sauces, combine tomato puree, cream, cilantro, garlic, salt and pepper

3) to assemble enchiladas,  pour a layer of sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.  Spoon 1/8 of the bean mixture along the center of a tortila, the sprinkle on 2 tbsp of cheese.  Roll the enchilada and place seam side down on baking dish (don’t worry if the tortilla breaks a bit).  Repeat with remaining tortillas.

4) spoon remaining sauce over enchiladas, and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese.

5) bake 25 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.  Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

Whats my beef? December 26, 2008

I think I may have already mentioned that this fall/winter Chris and I are doing a CSA (community supported agriculture) which means that every week we get a big box of organic veggies from Coon Rock Farm.  Lucky for us, this farm also produces free range grass fed meats of all varieties: beef, pork, goat, lamb, duck, etc.  The meat is truly fantasic, and we have enjoyed everything we have tried.

As anyone who glances at this blog knows, I love to cook.  However, much to Chris’ dismay, I am intimidated by large cuts of beef.  They are expensive, for one, big, and, well, meaty.  When my folks were here, I managed to totally overcook a roast that a bought from the farm, and though it was still edible I was still disappointed.  The internet let me down: for the particular cut I had gotten (eye of round) I read everything from:  must be braised to be tasty to roast it normally and all in between.  It didn’t help that I got a relatively obscure cut of meat.

So, I think over the next few months I will get in touch with my meaty side and try and get some other cuts that are more common and perhaps easier to find information on and give it a try.  My goal is to turn out as good a standing rib roast as my father in law made for Christmas dinner.  If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know!

Off to roast a safe chicken!

Classic Spinach Artichoke Dip November 16, 2008

People, I have an artichoke problem.  I am addicted to them.  When I was a kid, for our birthdays my mom would fix whatever we wanted for dinner. I always wanted artichokes (and lobster, but that is a different post, and for the record never got it). I love to steam  artichokes and eat them one leaf at a time (a pal of mine served one like this as a party appetizer and I nearly ate it all), or if I am lazy I will eat them from a can.

Artichoke Spinach dip is amazing stuff. I learned how to make it in college.  One of my roommates earlier this decade and I practically lived on the stuff.  Lately, I have been leaving it alone; it is awash in fat, after all.  Its been a year or so since I made it.  So I made it again last night.  Like an addict, my desire to eat the whole pan of it came roaring back.

Now some people like to muck around a put mayonnaise in their dip.  Unnecessary and weird.  Some folks like to put mozzarella on top before it gets baked,  but that is not necessary either, plus those little stringy bits of cheese get in the way.  Serve this stuff with hearty crackers or bread, wimpy tortilla chips can’t stand up to the heft and will break.  This stuff is so good, even those without artichoke addictions will love it!  Here you go!

Classic Artichoke Spinach Dip

Preheat oven to 350

1 pkg frozen chopped spinach

1 clove garlic

1 can artichokes (NOT marinated) progresso is the best

1 package cream cheese (not the low fat kind, I swear it tastes funny)

1/4 cup shredded parmesan

In a saucepan, combine spinach and garlic and heat until spinach is thawed.  Meanwhile, drain and chop the artichokes roughly.  Drain excess water off of spinach.  Add artichokes, Parmesan and cream cheese to the spinach and stir to blend.  When its all combined put it in a pan ( 8×8 square, or pie pan will work) and bake for about 20 minutes.  Then, eat while hot.

Beantown November 12, 2008

Chris and I just got back from a long weekend in Boston.  We were there primarily to attend one of my high school pal’s wedding, but decided to make a vacation out of it as well.  It was a great trip!

We arrived on Thursday and met my parents at the club they belong to.  Its a really cool place, in a 200 year old mansion just down the hill from the state capital building on Beacon Street.  It is very formal, conservative club, so as long as you are in the common areas men have to wear a jacket and tie and no denim allowed!  Small price to pay to stay in such a lovely place.  The food is outstanding: the chef is the coach of the US Olympic Culinary team (I know, I didn’t know it existed either!) and every meal we ate there was fabulous.

Thursday we stayed in the city and prowled around Back Bay with my folks, visited a number of great galleries (I found a bronze of a puffer fish that I loved but was more than our new roof cost, sadly) and the Fluevog Store, and generally experienced big city envy.  Which then started our discussion of why all the great cities are in cold climates.  What is up with that?

On Friday Chris was very, very patient while my mom and I took him on tour of my hometown, Winchester MA.  He saw my house, my schools, my church, and we ate at my favorite deli, D’Agostinos.  That place is amazing!  If you ever find yourself in Winchester, go there.  Get an Italian sub with everything!  I promise you will not regret it.  After lunch,  we went out to Lexington and Concord to get a dose of Revolutionary War History at Minuteman National Park.   Finished the day with a big dinner at the club to celebrate Chris’ birthday.

More on out trip later….

Loco for Locopops November 2, 2008

Last night I had some folks over for enchiladas….homemade by me, some black bean (for the vegetarians) but most chicken.  They kicked butt!  Dessert?  I was kind of stumped…I didn’t have a lot of time to bake because yesterday was the Wake Audubon Annual retreat, then I had to go by the office, etc, etc.  So I just bought a whole bunch of Locopops.  They were soo good, and the perfect ending to such a cheese heavy meal.

For those of you unfamiliar with Locopops, they are paletas (Mexican frozen treats on a stick, like a Popsicle) which are made in variety of familiar (strawberry and cream) and exotic (pomegranate rosewater) flavors.  Locopops is based in Durham and has stores in Raleigh, Durham, Hillsborough and Chapel Hill.  The pops come in two types:  cream based and water based.   Every week the store has carries the same 5 cream and 5 water based, but has another 10 or so “guest stars”.  I have developed quite an addiction to them.  My favorites are The Mexican Chocolate, which one of the staff told me “tastes like Christmas”: creamy chocolate with flavors of cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom; Cranberry Orange, which is very orangy with a cranberry tang, and Pear and Candied Ginger.  I have a friend who swears by the olive oil, and claims it is best with balsamic vinegar on it.

Best of all, many of the ingredients in Locopops come from a local urban organic garden tended by inner city students.  This garden is part of the SEEDS program which “teaches people to care for the earth through garden based progects…”.  A treat that tastes good and does something good for the community!

The best Peanut Butter EVER! October 1, 2008

My boss and I work outdoors a lot, and over the years, we have consumed a lot of PB&J.  A lot.  And, we refuse to eat each other’s PB&J.  He likes all natural Peanut Butter, while I like Peter Pan or whatever kind is on sale, and he likes this amazingly dry 10,000 grain bread from a local bakery while I like regular old white bread.

Well, I have finally found a peanut butter that we can both agree on.

On the way back from the beach we stopped at a store just East of Plymouth NC called Mackeys Ferry Peanuts to get souvenirs for our pet sitters/mail picker uppers/etc.  They had the peanut butter, along with all the varieties of roasted peanuts, out for the tasting.  The peanut butter blew me away!  All it is: peanuts and molasses. Amazing.  I bought some. My boss will love it, though honestly I am not sure at this point I will share it.  Read on….

Now for the kicker.  They also sell dark chocolate covered peanut clusters.  Colleen bought some.  As we hopped in the car and dove into our goodies she told us the lady behind the counter had suggested dipping these clusters in the peanut butter. So we did, right there in the parking lot.  And then we both immediately went back into the store: me for the chocolate clusters, she for the peanut butter!

I already ordered some for my dad’s birthday, and some roasted nuts too…he loves those.  The folks were really nice on the phone, wrangling with UPS and my parent’s small town address.

Link’s at the top!  Go order some!