Varmint

I won't refuse beer, but I won't be able to put it out on the Sunday of the Pig Pickin'. In exchange for the donation of the Red Hook Ales, I assured the fine people at Harris Wholesale that we'd be offering no other commercial beer. Homebrews are OK. Now of course, if the Red Hook is drunk, then all bets are off. But that means we'll have plenty of that fine brew for Saturday to go with the chicken. And by the way, y'all, Hodad and I go back. Way back. He even remembers the time I made all these chocolate chip cookies for my housemates and a bunch of skinheads ate them all. So he'll have a few stories he can tell. And some he can't.

The following is what I'm doing (with y'all's help, of course) Eastern NC-style, whole hog barbecue, with sauce Western NC-style barbecue, with sauce Chicken Goat (probably) Smoked portabellos (in =Mark's honor, who will be unable to join us this year) Slaw Greens Green beans or field peas Fried okra (Brooks, you're in charge) Potatoes of some form (anyone want to make potato salad?) Other people's stuff: Hush puppies (Malawry) Deviled eggs (Debbie Moose) Brunswick Stew -- Varmint-Dave Variety (Dave the Cook) Pickled Okra (Brooks, of course) Desserts: Viennese style desserts (Carrot Top) Butter Tart Squares (Marlene) Bread Pudding (Weka) Banana Pudding (the crew -- I'll buy ingredients) Lots of others (my in-laws!) Beverage: Red Hook Beer (complements of Harris Wholesale) Homebrew Red & White Wine (complements of Carolina Wine Company) Cocktails (Katie and Janet in charge) Iced Tea (Does anyone have a 5 gallon water jug cooler thingy?) If I've missed anything, please let me know. Now I know folks are bringing other things, but some of those may be for the staff meal on Saturday. Such as much of the liquor! I know we talked about ice cream, but that's really hard to deal with, particularly if it's going to be hot. When it comes to other items, such as paper products, etc., if someone wants to donate them to the cause, please do so and save your receipt. We will make sure you get the appropriate acknowledgment for the charitable deduction. I'm overwhelmed at the response we've had. Y'all are the best, and gosh darn it, I can't wait!!!

There will be kids at the pig pickin', although there will be nothing planned for them -- except for Mummer's electric piano antics, perhaps! Bring the children if you want, but just remember that they're your responsibility! Oh, I know where VaNC (and thus, the deviled eggs) live. I know where Debbie Moose lives. I know everything. Bwah hahahahahaha.

We tried to do that two years ago, but we failed miserably. I had a wireless router up until a month ago, but it died. I'm hoping to have a new one in place within a week. I do not own a webcam, so if someone wants to set that up, you'll have to bring the necessary technology. We are considering setting up a laptop for public use during the weekend to post updates. It could get a little insane. I will strive to post no fewer than 100 pictures over the course of the weekend. Oh, we're 18 days away. We're having the tennis court pressure washed today, so even the concrete will look clean!

Holly, when I renovated my kitchen, I just put new stainless panels on my 18 year old SubZero refrigerator and 27 year old SubZero freezer. The freezer needed a new gasket, too. Does that give you some idea of why they cost so much? By the way, here's a picture:

Durham: Ben and Karen Barker Chapel Hill: Bill Smith and Mildred Council (Mama Dip) Raleigh: Hmmmmm. Don't know!

No, no, no. See, the principle behind a raffle is people pay money with the expectation that they'll receive some wonderful prize. Now if you're thinking about paying the eG Society to help you get rid of that nasty stuff . . . .

Cases of it at that! We're getting wine donated, too. We might even have some other stuff to raffle off! I'm serious about this fundraising stuff.

Thanks to a very generous donation from Harris Wholesale, we will be featuring Red Hook beers at this year's pig pickin'. We'll have the following Red Hook brews: ESB, Blackhook Porter, Nut Brown, IPA and Sunrye. For good measure, Harris Wholesale is providing us with some Widmer Hefe Weisen, too. Thanks to the great folks at Harris Wholesale and the great Red Hook brews.

Man, that's a strong showing from my native state of Pennsylvania! Except for that slacker, Holly!

I was one of the lucky friends who had a chance to sample on some of the interesting food coming out of the kitchen on Saturday, and I think folks will be very, very pleased with Grasshopper. It has a very intelligent menu, offering dishes that you won't find in the area. Plus, it's a pleasant space. I'll wait awhile after they open to give a thorough evaluation of the food, but no one should be disappointed.

That' an unfair stereotype. I don't have any relatives in my family who are married to each other (or even dating, for that matter). At least not any that are closer than 2nd cousins, and that doesn't count. ← Who said anything about marriage?

You barely beat the deadline! That puts us over 100, I believe. There is room for more, y'all. Plenty of room. For the out of town guests or anyone who wants to help cook, we'll be having a "staff meal" at my house Saturday evening. Looks like fried chicken will be the main course. Lots of it! We'll have some biscuits, cucumbers and tomatoes, and whatever else we can rustle up while staying out of Dave's and Brooks' way. We can always use the two old burners in the loft, too. I'm sure Brooks wants some okra and tomatoes. I can do a couple of trays of ultra-simple peach cobbler, if I get some prep help. All in all, I think we'll have a touch of fun.

Brooks, you know how we mean "family" in the South. C'mon, already.

Tee hee!!!! Three weeks from today, folks. Three weeks. Twenty-one days.

My wife as at an all-day conference yesterday, so this was a great opportunity to sneak off with the 4 L'il Varmints and one of their friends to try out LocoPops. This place is better than what's been described above. I'm majorly pissed it takes 20 minutes to get there!!!! These are the flavors that I remember having: Cookies and Cream Chocolate Banana Nectarine Orange Mango Chile Mojito Creamy Lime Hibiscus Peach white chocolate There were a couple more flavors sampled, but I was doing my best to limit the spillage on the floor. When my prissy 4 year old daughter tried and loved the hibiscus, a flavor she had never experienced before, I realized how cool this place was. The cream based popsicles were sophisticated fudgesicles or dreamsicles. They were that damned good. The chocolate banana had chunks of banana mixed in with an intense chocolate. The water based popsicles were even better on a hot sunny day. The mojito is as good as described above, but I wanted to sample all the available flavors. It's amazing. When it's pig pickin time, we should send someone over to Durham with a cooler. At a buck a piece for the small popsicles, that's quite a deal.

I'll be trying some of Grasshopper's food shortly and will report back here.

Varmint, what happens when you roll out piecrust or other dough? Do you see crisscrosses from the grout, or were you able to get everything flush enough that it isn't an issue for you? Tiles are much less expensive than solid hunks of rock. MelissaH ← I have an area that's a solid piece of marble. Just for the pastry.

Thank you, thank you very much. My next performance will be on September 4. Get your tickets now. Do y'all think I've given you enough reminders to join us??? I'm incessant, much like those public radio requests for money. And until the day arrives or we sell out, I'll keep on pushing!!!

The Green Bay Packers, of course. Or, anyone but the Saints. By 11. The price will peak at a google dollars per share. Yes. Tear out the floors. Then all the varnish is gone. Pork, silly. And the airspeed velocity of the unladen swallow is a trick question, as African swallows are always laden with coconuts. European swallows will, from time to time, fly unladen. But you didn't ask that.

As we approach September 4 (which is only 23 days away!), I'll email the attendees all the specifics about the event, including how to get to my house. We'll be having lots of fun on Saturday as well, cooking up a storm. I'll also post an area guide to give you an idea of some things to do if you're getting in early in the week. If you have questions, post them here, so all can benefit.

This month's Cooks Illustrated has a raspberry bar recipe. So, run out and get a copy!

We have no soffits, but not enough room for storage above them. We like the way it looks, even though it really wasn't intentional to have the cabinets like that. Oh, and we have granite tiles and don't mind the grout one bit.

It might be important for those of you who are developing these wonderful concoctions to know two things: First, if you've never had North Carolina barbecue, you're going to be challenged a bit here. The pork will be slow cooked over pecan and oak and will be sauced ever so lightly with a vinegar-based brew. That twang from the vinegar often makes it difficult to pair drinks with the barbecue. Second, if your drink requires you to have a special liquor or other ingredient, I suggest you bring it with you rather than waiting to buy it here. Our state-run ABC stores are not very good, and anything not considered to be mainstream may not be carried here.

I used to go to the Elegant Farmer when I lived in Milwaukee. I recall the first time I ever went there was the beginning of the sour cherry season. You could pick your own, and I had never seen these types of cherry trees. Well, Mrs. Varmint is a big fan of sour cherries, so I decided I'd pick a few. In about 30 minutes, I had filled up a 5 gallon bucket with these cherries. I went to check out, and they asked me if I'd like them to pit the cherries for me. It was a ridiculously low cost, but I figured hell, I picked 'em, so I'll pit 'em. So I get home with my 5 gallons of cherries and realize that I've never pitted these before. And I don't have a cherry pitter (this was the summer before I started law school, so I was pretty poor). So, I find a bobby pin and commenced pitting cherries. Three days later, I finished. I then made enough cherry freezer jam and cherry pies to last forever. I still think my hands, 14 years later, still have a bit of cherry stain on them. I haven't bought a fresh sour cherry since. But I have eaten my share of those apple pies!