Varmint

Thanks, X. I ended up eating 2 triscuits and moved on. No biggie. I didn't have any cravings last night. I had a bunch of leftover blanched green beans and sauteed them with garlic, oyster sauce, fermented black beans, chilis, and cashews. It was tasty. I then had 2 pieces of salt water taffy. This morning's breakfast consisted of 3 small peaches. Very fresh. Very delicious. I did my morning walk, and I picked up the pace a bit. I'll try to drink a boat load of water today.

We're vacationing in the mountains of North Carolina in late July, and our house is about a mile from an organic farm that has free range chickens and eggs. It is my goal to have meals like that nearly every day. Thanks for those memories.

Right now, I can't plan that far in advance. Just in case, I'm trying to get ahold of a couple bottles of George T. Stagg bourbon. One can never have too much bourbon at a pig pickin'. One can definitely never have too much awesome bourbon.

Dean, Unfortunately, that's the first day of my summer vacation. Next time I'm in the area, as I try to head up to Milwaukee at least every other year, I'll give you a buzz. Deano

We'll have plenty of celebs as it is. Tony would be on the "B" or "C" list. I'll have my agent get in touch with his publicist, if some spots open up. Tequila would be awesome. Damn, I really am going to have to invite the neighbors to keep the cops away.

And THAT was problematic enough to warrant a letter to the Times??? Geesh, Holly!!!!

I'm thinking along the lines of taking vodka, adding some loose tea, and let it infuse for awhile, perhaps adding sugar. I'll then chill this flavored (and caffeinated) vodka, add a touch of limoncello or a lemon infused vodka, and make an iced tea. Or something along those lines.

I don't think Salice Salentino is Sicilian, however. It's from Puglia, isn't it?

I know lots of people make their own infusions with lemon and other fruits, but has anyone ever done a tea infused vodka or grain alcohol? The reason I ask is that I'd like to come up with an alcoholic version of a southern-style, sweetened iced tea. Perhaps in a shooter form.

Invent something with mint, maybe? A Varminter? Anything with lemon in it could not be considered a "Varminter". Hmmm, has anyone ever done a tea infusion? I'm wondering if we could do a sweet iced tea with lemon shooter? I'll post on the libations forum. And bigbear, how come you're not coming for the fest???

Gee, I didn't think folks would start backing out until August or September! I'll keep you on the list until you get your priorities set straight.

and disappear thereafter, one spoonful at a time.

My local wine merchant compelled me to buy a case of red Sicilian table wine (I really can't recall what it was, as is often the case with my memory of wines), promising me that if I didn't like it, he'd buy it back for his personal use. Here's the rub: the case cost me $54, including tax. That's $4.50 a bottle. He said that he could sell more of this if he charged $2 a bottle more. The stuff is pretty good, and we've been drinking it as our regular house wine. Are you embarrassed to by cheap ass wine? Is there a price point that you won't go under? I don't have this problem: My dinner the other night for Mrs. Varmint and me cost us 6 bucks total, including a bottle of wine!! Not shabby.

Are you dehydrated? You seem to be craving salt. Try drinking some more water and maybe have some almonds. They are good for you and will help satisfy your salt cravings. I haven't maintained my 7 glasses of water routine. Maybe I need to get back on that. We were out of many of my routine breakfast foods, so I broke down again and had a small bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats. I used to eat 2 bowls of those for breakfast. For lunch, it was a leftover sloppy joe, some tortilla chips, and a granola bar. Our house is lacking fruit right now, which will be corrected quite soon. I just finished an iced coffee sweetened with Equal and using no-fat half and half. Pretty tasty. Dinner will be a salad tonight (if that), as I won't have time for anything else (including missing my monthly basketball game again!!!). Oh, and I slept until 5:30 this morning. I just couldn't get up to exercise at 5:00. I'll make sure I do it tomorrow.

LODGING INFO FOR THE PIG PICKIN' -- REPEATED!!!!

Shoot, Varmint! That's what I was going to bring! Between Herbacidal's Ginger infused Vodka and my limoncello, I was going to whip up some mean cocktails for the crowd. Lemon-Ginger Pig Pickers, perhaps? Katie, please bring your limoncello, as my m-i-law has volunteered plenty already. I'm trying to think of other good southern drinks that use limoncello, although straight would be just fine for me.

Heather, we can leave Scott at my mother-in-law's house, where he'll have a high speed connection. Of course, we'll leave the kids there, too, while we get gassed.

Just counting the eGulleteers, we're looking at 35. Adding spouses, children, dates, and pets, we're at 53. This does not include my mother-in-law, who has volunteered not only her house to let people crash (sorry, folks, I respectfully declined for all of you!), but also to make a couple dozen pound cakes and cobblers. She likes to entertain!!! Although it's not Southern, she makes an awesome limoncello that might make an appearance.

Here's a list of who's coming: Hjshorter + 23 (actually, only +3) (DC area) ZebA + 1-1/2 (Raleigh) Marlene +1 (Toronto) Vengroff +1 (DC) Jaymes (Texas but Missouri by then) =Mark (NJ) =Mark's "bro" Rich maggiethecat (Chi-town) Holly Moore (Philly) KatieLoeb (Philly) Malawry (DC area) edemuth (DC area) Dave the Cook (Hotlanta) Kpurvis (Charlotte) Dlc (Tennessee) Mummer (Philly) claire797 +2 (??) herbacidal (??) (Philly) Blondie (NY) Ditsydine (Raleigh) NewYorkTexan (??) (Austin, TX) Jason & Rachel Perlow (Jersey – in their RV) Timothycdavis (Charlotte) Weka +2 (Cary) Hungry Chris +1 (where are you from?) Jmcgrath (Massachussets) Hscottk is very interested (NJ) Sam Iam is trying to cajole family members to come (Michigan) Ladybug +4 (a strong maybe) cat lancaster (Chicago) foodie52 +1 ???? (Texas -- "thinking" about it -- book those tickets now and make the commitment!!!) tommy +1 (NJ/NYC) Lady T ???? (Chicago?) Nickn from Maine is thinking that meeting people from eGullet may be worth a thousand mile drive. Xanthippe needs just a touch more pushing, and she's here, all the way from California. Gee, maybe we could figure out a way to get Torakris here from Japan, too! Aurora is still trying to round up the Heartland gang, but now that summer is upon them, they're all in a bit of a daze (but we do have the 2 "cats" from the Second City!) Bourdain? Who's he? This will be even too raucous for him.

Tasted his whole hog at the NYC BBQ Fest a couple weeks ago, chopped pig with a drizzle of red pepper flake & vinegar sauce... It's likely we'll do a road trip to Mitchell's the Thursday or Friday before my pig pickin'. Wilson's about an hour from here.

I've started to get cravings the past few days. It might be for some potato chips (or a bag), or almonds, or half a box of triscuits. I haven't had to worry much about this, but it's getting pretty intense. My task is to give in somewhat to the craving, but not to overdo it. Don't eat the bag of chips; just eat a handful. That's the same with super-sweet breakfast cereal, chocolate, salami, or anything else that might not be the healthiest thing in the world. Help me through this phase, people! Anyhow, I did not eat that vegetable plate last night. Instead, I had a pasta dish of egg, garlic, parmagiano reggiano, basil, and broccoli. That entire dish cost us $1.75 for both of us. We also had some ultra-cheap sicilian table wine that cost a whopping $4.65, so the entire meal, including a bottle of wine, was $6.40. That's a bargain, friends!!! I had a small scoop of orange gelato. No more ice cream is left in the freezer. For breakfast, I had two slices of toast with just a touch of butter. Lunch was a portabella mushroom sandwich with some orzo salad. For dinner, I made Mrs. Varmint and me tilapia with a tomato, lemon and pesto sauce (actually, it ended up being heavy on the EVOO, but otherwise light), fresh lima beans and fresh corn, and fresh spinach sauteed with a touch of garlic. It was a solid meal. I had a yogurt for dessert. I'm craving triscuits right now for some reason. I think I'll be able to resist the urge, fortunately, or give in for 1 or 2!

I know Tony visited Ed Mitchell's joint in Wilson, NC, so this should be a treat. Ed's a hell of a success story, and his food is pretty damn awesome, too!

I had commented about the somewhat unusual wine by the glass option at Raleigh's Enoteca Vin, where you can get 1.5, 3 and 5 ounce pours. Tommy hadn't seen such a program before, and I was wondering if this is as uncommon as it sounds. Vin's Website Be sure to click on their wine by the glass and by the bottle menus. The bottle menus have separate pages for each geographical region.

Home of the weekly Flea Market where you can enjoy boiled peanuts, roasted corn on a stick, and funnel cakes year round! And don't forget to pick up some tube socks while you're there. Although I suspect most might enjoy the State Farmer's Market a bit more. Over priced and over commercialized though it may be. Why do you think the Farmers Market is over-commercialized? I agree that the prices are a bit high, but a lot of that is due to price fixing. It's a great example of what happens when the antitrust laws aren't enforced.

I love recovering vegetarians. They're so easy to corrupt!!