Statesville Barbecue Tour

I've been working on a very special barbecue-themed project lately, which means I have been eating a lot of barbecue all over the state of North Carolina. I'm gearing up for another round this weekend with twenty of my friends I've rounded up for a Charlotte BBQ and Brewery Tour. We're renting a van for the day and driving around to destinations in and around Charlotte. We'll be stopping at five barbecue joints and three breweries, so we are sure to be stuffed by the end of the day. 

This brings me to rule number one of BBQ touring... SHARE! Do not attempt to eat five barbecue sandwiches in one day by yourself! You only need to get a taste of everything, so just split a sandwich (and hushpuppies, Brunswick Stew, or whatever classic sides you want to sample) and move on to the next stop.

Above are some photos from my most recent barbecue themed romp around the state, in Statesville. Here's the list of stops (L-R), in case you want to try them on your own:

1. Little Pigs Barbecue:  226 Brookdale Dr, Statesville, NC 28677 (first 5 photos)
2. Carolina Barbecue: 213 Salisbury Rd, Statesville, NC 28677 (next 5 photos)
3. Pfiffer's Hot Wings and Bar-B-Q: 1023 Shelton Ave, Statesville, NC 28677 (next 3 photos)
4. Port-a-Pit BBQ: 119 Marshall Forest Lane, Statesville, NC 28625 (last 3 photos)

And yes, there are a gazillion spellings of the word "barbecue," but what really matters is how it tastes.

If you'd like to keep up with all my food adventures (and other), you can follow me on Instagram.

I Heart Breakfast.

I love weekend breakfasts on the front porch with a cup of coffee, a morning breeze, and the happy tinkling of wind chimes!

 - - x - x - x - - RECIPES - - x - x - x - - 

Chocolate-Orange Doughuts

Squash Blossom Quiche

Raspberry-Blueberry Dutch Pancake

Follow my "Eat" board on Pinterest for more food inspiration!

Everything-but-the Refrigerator Salsa

This year, we started having weeknight cocktail parties at our place. Every time we feature just one drink and a little snack to go with it. I love these impromptu soirees for their ability to bring together unexpected sets of our friends each time. People from our different circles get to meet and mingle and find all the things they have in common, and we get to watch our all-embracing friend circle grow larger and larger. It's a wonderful thing!


This week, we had a tequila-themed cocktail party and went a little crazy with not one, but two, tequila-based concoctions. (We have such an extensive selection of tequila that it seemed like a smart idea!) We made a peach-tequila popsicle with peaches we picked over the weekend and an orange sorbet based drink. (Sorbet has got to be the absolute easiest thing to make in the ice cream maker - just juice and simple syrup!) But at the last minute, I was floundering trying to find a snack to go with our spiked  coolers. I looked to the bounties of our refrigerator, and it gave me a salsa as serendipitous as the cocktail party, itself! Here's as close to a recipe as I can get...

Everything-but-the Refrigerator Salsa

handful of chopped peaches

handful of chopped cucumbers

half a red bell pepper, diced

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

1 lime, zested and juiced

a splash of apple cider vinegar

handful of fresh herbs, roughly chopped (I had parsley & mint.)

dusting of red pepper flakes

salt and pepper, to taste

I considered about adding onions but thought it might be a little much for the kind of drinks we were having. But I do think some mild scallions would be perfect for this. This concoction was very refreshing and light, and everyone went wild over it! 

Family Recipe: Ruth's Beet Pickles

In the spirit of canning season, I wanted to share a recipe from our family's collection. I've typed it word-for-word as my Granny had it printed in her recipe notebook. I love how this recipe has absolutely no instructions for canning. Now, to learn to can, you have to either search out someone who can teach you or read stacks of books to feel even remotely confident enough to get started on your own. But back then, this was something people (ok, admittedly - women) just knew how to do. It was one more thing learned over mama's and grandmama's shoulders in the kitchen. No written directions needed. This is a tradition that skipped my mom's generation, but luckily, Paul's mom is a home preserver and passed the skill on to us.


I love beets about any way you can make them, and if they're canned, I like them especially spicy. So I think this recipe might benefit from the addition of peppers or pepper flakes of some kind. I haven't tried canning any beets yet, mainly because I haven't come across a really huge amount of them at the farmers' market. But the season for root vegetables is nearing its end, so a good deal may be just around the corner! If you have a great recipe for beets that you'd like to share, please send it my way. I'd love to give it a try!


Ruth’s Beet Pickles

2 c. sugar

1 T. whole allspice

1 ½ T. salt

2 sticks cinnamon

3 ½ c. vinegar

1 ½ c. water

Beats [sic], cooked

Heat all ingredients and pour over cooked beats [sic] in jar. Makes 7 pints.


P.S. That's a photo of radishes & swiss chard - not beets, but the closest photo I had in my farmers' market archives! 

Preserving

It's time for canning! This is one of my favorite parts of spring and summer. Canning reminds me of my great-grandma, Isabelle (who I called "Granny"), who would "put up" green beans and tomatoes every year and freeze lots of other things. I remember the shelves of the outdoor utility closet stocked full of jars of vegetables and going out there to grab a can for her while she was cooking supper. It doesn't seem that anyone has ever been able to top Granny's green beans, but nothing ever tastes as good as it does in sweet memory. 

Granny and Papa and Aileen (my grandmother, who lived with them) never had a garden while I was growing up, but we did live out in the country where bushels of fresh vegetables were easy to come by. They'd always buy enough corn and beans each summer to fill several huge aluminum tubs, and we'd all sit around in the front room of their house shucking and snapping for an entire day.

Today, Paul and I grow what we can in our little spot of sun by our front porch. Our green thumb is still growing and hopefully by the time we have more sunlit space, we'll be more knowledgeable gardeners. But in the meantime, we do what Granny, Papa, and Aileen did. We go to our local farmers and get lots of things while they're in season and can and freeze and preserve away. Our favorite is to actually go and pick the things ourselves, and we do that every year for every type of fruit we can get our hands on. The rest we buy by the bushel from farms and farmers' markets when it's at the peak of the season. 

It's so satisfying to "put up" the summer's harvest just like Granny used to do, to use every last bit of what the season has to offer us and to be able to keep enjoying it even after its time has passed. The kind of canning that we do at home is a little different than what my Granny did, though. We do can tomatoes just like she used to, but we like to get creative with flavors a little more than she did. I'd love to make her a slice of toast with our Strawberry Provence Preserves, made with fresh-picked berries from Lineberger's Maple Springs Farm and herbs de Provence. Wonder what'd she think of that?

The recipe we used for our Strawberry Provence Preserves was adapted from Canning for a New Generation, a canning recipe book that I'd highly recommend for its modern twists on the classics. We used the recipe for Strawberry and Lavender Jam, substituting the herbs. If you're new to canning, I'd recommend starting with freezer jam, which is how we first began. It's a great way to familiarize yourself just a bit with canning before committing to it. You make the jam but instead of canning it traditionally, you place it in jars (even reused ones will do), and pop it in the freezer!

Charlotte Bakery Tour

I work in one of the best bakeries in Charlotte one day a week, but I like to stray from Amelie's once in awhile to taste the other sweet treats the city has to offer. I recently took my mom on a Charlotte bakery tour to show her some of my favorite spots, because really, show me a woman who doesn't love a baked good. So if you're looking for something to do this Valentine's Day, here's a delicious itinerary to share with anybody you're a little sweet on!

Sunflour Baking Company 2001 E. 7th St.

This is my favorite breakfast bakery, with from-scratch sweet and savory pastries made from local ingredients. Sunflour uses organic flour from Lindley Mills in Graham, and their eggs and buttermilk are sourced from Cackleberry Farm in Concord. Start your day with a blueberry "pop tart" like I did, and you'll get to savor jam from Hazel's Jams just down the road. My favorites, though, are the hazelnut orange roll and their morning glory muffin. Also not to be missed: homemade croissants, quiche, and fresh-churned ice cream. Sunflour also offers sandwiches for breakfast and lunch and features a few local craft beers.

Suarez Bakery 4245 Park Rd. 

Suarez Bakery serves up the kind of breakfast pastries I grew up with: doughnuts, bear claws, and danishes. They also make the completely homemade version of one of my childhood favorites: the cream horn. But this time, my mom and I both went home with their elephant ear, a crispy round of puff pastry topped with cinnamon and sugar. So good with coffee - yum! Note: Tizzerts shares the same bakery space and offers homemade (and quite lovely) cakes and cupcakes.

Polka Dot Bake Shop 1730 E. Woodlawn Rd., Ste. H 

Charlotte's first cupcake bakery is still one of my all-time favorites for single serving cake. Their cupcake menu rotates during the week, with special flavors featured every day. I have to say that I used to not be a cake fan, but this bake shop is one of the places that has officially turned me into a cake lover. Some of my favorite flavors: key lime pie, cookies and cream, and strawberry shortcake.

Davidson Chocolates 123A East Blvd. 

I am so happy to have a neighborhood chocolate shop! Though it's more a confection than a true baked-good, how could I leave chocolate off the tour? Davidson Chocolates has a case of traditional and creative truffle flavors, as well as other chocolate candy creations. I am sad that the garlic truffle was out when I visited, but I am certainly curious about that one! For Valentine's Day, they have a special pomegranate truffle that sounds amazing: half milk and half dark chocolate ganache with a hint of pear and honey. Yes, please!

Great Harvest Bread Company 901 S. Kings Dr. / 6420 Rea Rd.

Before Paul and I started making our own bread for sandwiches, we'd make our weekly trip to Great Harvest for one of their delicious loaves. But we still stop in regularly for their scuffins, a muffin-scone hybrid which combines the best of both baked goods: a little sweet, a little savory. Their focaccia is also amazing and, really, anything is that comes of out of this well-known national bakery chain. Their menu changes every month, with the selections rotating daily. Both Charlotte locations now offer sandwiches on their slices, so this is a great place to grab lunch (and one of their Savannah Bars for dessert) and end your tour!