Catching Up

So I have been so slack in posting and a lot of that has to do with being so busy. A quick sum up of the last two weeks or so is in order.

Easter weekend -

My In-laws were in town and we hit most of their favorite places like Crepe Cellar and Solstice. On Friday we decided to take a trip to Asheville. The ladies wanted to check out a yarn producer in the area and I wanted to eat, so, win win. The yarn place was a bust so we headed into the city and decided to try Laughing Seed, a place I have heard much about and was really excited to try. We had puppies with us which meant we had to wait for one of four puppy friendly tables. It was a bit of a wait but It was beautiful out and as i found out totally worth it. We started with the pakoras. They were delightfully light and crunchy with a great full flavor. To drink I started an IV drip of the IPA from Green Man, a local brewery.Hey, I wasn't driving. For lunch I had the Mercury Not Rising, which is an herb seasoned seitan patty on a bun with veggies and dill pickle mayo. It was delicious, but the fries made the meal, Jalapeño-onion fries to be exact, but don't eat the pepper pieces, ouch. For dessert we shared a slice of coconut cream pie that was near perfection.

Thursday - April 8th

Grateful Growers has been hosting a series of pork cooking classes and we really wanted to go to all of them but were only available for last weeks. It was on pate and terrines. And, since we had no ideas about either, we were really excited. It was held at Friendship Trays a local charity that runs a food delivery service to the needy who can't get out as well as a cooking school and caterer. When we arrived there was an array of meat spreads and bread. Everything was amazing. There was a classic pate from Julia Child, a country terrine as well as a pate devised by one of our teachers Reg. Then we were split into two groups and got our hands dirty. Our first lesson was on preparing the classic Pate and Regs Pate, and then we switched and learned from Cassie the country pate. It was a lot of fun and we got to take some home with us, which is even better. And, while I will not be eating pate all the time, I would be willing to try one for our next party.

April 9-11

And finally, a weekend of drinking and driving. To celebrate the impending birth of Mr. Chelsea's first child, a few of the men folk decided we needed to take a visit east, to the coast and all beer related sites in between. So we woke up early and headed to the coast on a splendid Friday morning. Our original plan had been to visit Mother Earth in Kinston and Duck Rabbit in Farmville. Both of which were unavailable due to a brewers conference in Chicago. So we quickly changed plans and headed toward Fayetteville and a brewpub called Huske Hardware House. I had just read an article on them and was eager to check it out. We arrived a little early for lunch, and opening for that matter, so we strolled around downtown Fayetteville dispelling our preconceived notions of a town usually referred to as Fayett-nam. Once inside we quickly weighed our options and I headed for the Rusty Nail Pale Ale and a Cuban Burger. While we made polite conversation with our waitress, we asked if we could get a tour and yes, yes we could. Shortly after the Brewmaster stopped by the table and we had a great discussion. When we finished our fine but lackluster meal we got the nickel tour of a very clean and organized brewing area. Then again, it is surrounded by glass, so it has to be clean.

I suppose at this point I should say this was also a working trip for a friend of ours who is trying to start a hop farm called the Cone and Bine Hop Farm. And to round out the gang was Mr. Painter who is one of Mr. Chelsea's oldest friends and an all around good guy. He served as our moral center for the trip, and with Mr. Hop along, boy did we need it.

Our next stop was a quick one at Duck Rabbit, just to see it. I wish we hadn't done that. I love their beer and their facility did not make me want to drink it. I'm sure it's fine inside but I didn't need to see that. On to Washington, and the beer and wine slash book store, where I not only got beer but a lovely bottle of Fererria Tawny Port, to pick up some Mother Earth for the evening, when we arrived in Kill Devil Hills; Which we did without incident. As soon as we arrived it was time for dinner at Outer Banks Brewing Station. I started with a Lemongrass wit that was spectacular and, I have since learned, got a silver at the world beer cup. Unfortunately it was all down hill from there. The food was ok, we had some wings and various burgers and sandwiches. My second was their Abbey which was middling and to finish the night we each got their Ice beer. We were quite excited to try this since none of us had tried an ice beer before, although, I was a little leery that it only came in at 11%. It was ok but lacked real definition, nothing stood out about it. So, back to the room, grab some beer, and watch stars on the beach.

Saturday I woke up feeling fine. Which was kind of a surprise. Unfiltered beer and I don't usually play well together. We started the day at the Grits cafe with a giant breakfast and moved on to the Wright Bothers memorial to kill time until we could get back to drinking. It was cool enough, and the scale of the thing definitely gave me pause. When we were finished we loaded back into the van and headed for Weeping Radish.

Weeping Radish is a brewery, butcher and seasonal cafe run by a German couple who specialize in German beer and sausage. Unfortunately, the cafe part was closed for the season. Mr. painter was not amused, he was promised food. However, there was beer and, after some small talk, plates of food started trickling out. We each started with a flight of all of their beers, six in all at the moment. The group consensus was that the Schwarzbier was one of the finest beers we had had. Thus we settled in for a near constant flow of beer. This flow was only halted occasionally for samples of Pretzel, fresh apple sausage, and Sweet potato liverwurst, as well as a gander at the brewing facility and numerous potty breaks. After about three hours we decided to finally pay our tab and move on. On our way out the door we added cases of bottled beer and countless sausage to out tabs and threw them in the cooler. On the way back to the hotel room we made a quick stop at Chips, the local beer and wine purveyor, to stock up. Here I found another bottle of port. this time the rare Dows Crusted Port.

Dinner that night involved a 2 mile walk and a fine meal of no real consequence.

Sunday we headed home with one last stop on the agenda. We made our way to Raleigh to check out Natty Greene's, another brew pub. This is their second location. The original is in Greensboro. This stop served double duty, since we met Mr. Painters brother there. As far as I'm concerned, outside of the adventure of it, we didn't need to go anywhere else. The beer was superb and the food was excellent. I had a Belgian dubbel that was very crisp and a stout that was smokey and thick. But, since I was driving the last leg I had to quit there. I will be back.

Luckily, we made it home in one piece and full of memories to keep for our lifetimes.

Farmers Market and Modernist Art

Finally, a chance to get to the market. With plans from the last few weeks being foiled by weather, work or both. The Mrs. and I finally got a chance to get back to the Yorkmont Farmers Market. And, although there was little in the way of veggies to be had from our local farmers it was good to see them all and catch up.We got some eggs and sweet potatoes; picked up some meat, including some fresh salami. The real reason we were there was to get the low down on ordering a half cow. We have a chest freezer begging to be filled and some friends who want to split the order with us. We finished or shopping on the wholesaler side if the building, picking up what we needed for a broccoli soup from Orangette . To finish off our visit we stopped by the Harvest Moon Grille and got some breakfast from Cassie. The Harvest Moon is a small food trailer operated by Grateful Growers and serves meals created from local products, including their pork. I had an egg and pork wrap with diced potatoes and herbs, and the Mrs. got an egg sandwich on focaccia.

Sunday was our fist chance to go check out the Bechtler Museum. Since the weather was agreeable we decided to ride bikes and enjoy the day. I am not a huge fan of Modernist art but there is almost always something to like in every museum. My real reason for wanting to go is slightly less altruistic.

At the time of the opening of the museum I was reading a book on art forgery called, Provenance. The artists represented in the book are all represented in the Bechtler collection, so what i really wanted to do was contemplate whether or not the art was genuine. Is that wrong? But, while listening to the stories about the art from the little talk box, I leaned the Bechtler family were personal friends of most of the artists; therefore the possibility of them being fakes is low. With that said I did enjoy the museum quite a lot and will definitely be making return trips as the collection is rotated. The Mrs., however nearly had a nervous breakdown when we entered a room of sculptures by swiss artist Jean Tinguely that were composed of found objects, old wood, animal skulls and electric motors that apparently move when switched on. Unfortunately, they all had large "Do not touch" signs over their switches. It was very hard for her to not turn them on. And, who could blame her? As we finished up we had an interesting conversation about the use of the term "Modern art" and its misuse in place of "Contemporary art" and whether we should use "Modernist art" instead to differentiate.

From there we finished the day anxiously awaiting the USA vs Canada hockey game.

Date Night

Since I am just starting to write for the masses some of my posts will not be new discoveries but things that I love and feel the need to share. Today is one such day. Last night after a very fruitful neighborhood meeting and a couple of Highland Mocha Stouts; Now, I will stop here and explain that ours is not your average neighborhood association meeting; we meet in a bar. I believe it is for this reason we have such an active neighborhood. Almost everything we do involves drinking. Anyway, so after this months meeting we walked the well worn path over to the Revolution Pizza and Ale House for some dinner. As we got in I quickly pulled up a seat next to the owner to get the skinny on the latest beers to come in. Yes, there were lots of changes coming and they finally got rid of Stella, but the lead was that the keg of Life and Limb was about gone. I quickly excused myself, found my party and ordered a glass. For those unfamiliar with the Life and Limb it is a collaboration between Dogfish and Sierra Nevada that combines rich burny, carmely flavors with hints of hop and a sweet backbone that comes from maple and birch syrups. It is delicious and a monster that clocks in at 10% ABV.

To accompany this lovely thing I needed some fire roasted animal. So an order was placed for the pork belly appetizer. If I had to eat one thing for the rest of my life this is definitely in the running. It starts with a layer of potato puree with truffel oil that is then topped with collards sautéed with a healthy mound of garlic and olive oil on top of that lies a slab of perfectly roasted pork belly from Grateful Growers, a local pork producer, and to top it all off some candied red onion.

Unfortunately, as you sit there in a pork and beer educed haze nothing else quite stacks up. We had a lovely white pizza with Peppadew peppers and GG guanciale accompanied by the latest offering from Old Mecklenberg Brewery, the Dunkel.

As I had blown my mouth up, with Life and Limb, there is no way to give this beer a fair shake so I will reserve judgement and report back another time on that.

To finish the evening we had a cup of cappuccino caramel gelato. I have to say this has always been a weakness at Revolution the taste is always fine but the consistency has been an issue. Last night however it was perfect. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that it has been freezing cold and dry here in the south, allowing for purer preparation conditions.

Then we packed up and went home for a well deserved rest.