Varmint

Cella had some sort of ice cream that had several different types of candy in it. I think it may have been a bit of overkill.

No cheese on these fries -- just gravy. And no, these fries were very crisp to start with, and stayed crisp throughout. I ate no dinner and just got back from a movie, so I'm making myself hungry looking at these pictures!!!

We headed to Chapel Hill for lunch at one of my old college favorites, Breadmen's. This is the restaurant where I discovered the wonderful vegetable plate. It's been about 5 years since I've been there, so we drove the 20 miles, were immediately seated, and ordered a nostalgiac lunch. Fortunately, nothing has changed, and I now remember why I loved this place so. Here's my plate: okra & tomatoes, black-eyed peas, turnip greens, french fries with beef gravy, a tossed salad, and a grilled biscuit. Sweet tea, too. Mrs. Varmint had the salad, fries (no gravy), limas and creamed corn. Two of the kids ordered breakfast, as Breadmen's serves breakfast anytime (and no, Clara did not order French Toast during the Renaissance, a la Steven Wright). Finally, my cheesehead son, ordered his regular grilled cheese, but this time with bacon in it. The kid was born in Wisconsin, you know. The highlight of the meal was my 4-year old daughter wanting not a bite of my black-eyed peas, but the entire dish. About 6 or so miles outside of Chapel Hill is Maple View Farm and their country store. Lots and lots of good ice cream and milk. The boys both ordered a fire cracker float. Clara got a chocolate chip cookie dough cone. I went with a scoop of peach and a scoop of blackberry. It is summer, you know. We all then retired to the front porch. Ryan had a root beer float. Did I mention that this place is in the country? I mean, really in the country? There will probably be no report on tonight's dinner, as we're having left-over macaroni and cheese, limas, some fresh fruit, and that's about it. I'm quite stuffed, frankly. And then I'm taking Everett to see Star Wars (finally!).

Lemons, sugar, water. All to taste. Lots of ice. No mint. I love the pure and simple flavors of straight lemonade.

Hmmm, we might have a winner. I love the clean flavors of buttermilk pie. It's a perfect summer dessert. I think I might need to make some sort of squash casserole. My kids may go yuck, but there's so much of it around, I may not be able to resist. I'm also thinking that something should be smoked, although a good flank steak might be just right, too.

I make two types of cobbler: the first is the standard biscuit like topping. That's a much "fancier" type of cobbler that I don't hesitate to serve for a more formal affair. The clafoutis type is the other kind, and I usually make this type with peaches. It has no eggs in it, so it's not really a clafoutis. It's just kind of a sweet, doughy top that caramelizes a bit. It's ungodly good, and is a much simpler version (but the same taste) of a dessert my grandmother used to make.

I also made some cinnamon peach ice cream earlier this week, so we'll probably not make some more. I forgot to mention that I did make fresh lemonade yesterday!

Just got back from lunch and ice cream. I had a vegetable plate consisting of the following: turnip greens, black-eyed peas, okra & tomatoes, french fries with beef gravy, and a tossed salad. Mmmm (I can never give up on the french fries with gravy, much like my son with his bacon/cheese fries). Blackberry and peach ice cream for dessert. I have a full belly, and dinner's only a couple of hours away. Ugh. Pictures to follow later.

Our cleaning service comes today, so the timing of last night's dinner was not a coincidence.

I failed you. I let you down. I forgot to take a picture of my breakfast this morning, which consisted of a slice of crusty bread, toasted, with 2 eggs, over easy. Coffee and 5 or 6 grapes rounded out the meal. Kids had heated up chocolate chip pancakes and one had hash browns. We are going to Maple View Farm today. Saveur magazine named this place one of the 12 best ice cream parlors in the country. Sounds good to me! So, anyone want to throw out menu ideas for Saturday's dinner? Anything you want to see that might be considered Southern? I'm all ears. On Sunday, the final day of this vacation blog, we'll be headed to the 26th Annual Festival for the Eno, where they have pretty good food in addition to some great music and crafts. And yes, I have taken lots of pictures of the kitchen to discuss its flow. I'll get to that today or tomorrow.

Oh Lord, here we go again. ← uh oh, did I open a can of worms? ← Not at all. I love both styles of North Carolina barbecue. In fact, I love SC barbecue, and Memphis and Kansas City and Texas barbecue, too. To me, when you slowly cook meat over wood, well, what's so bad about that?

First of all, I'm referring to two styles of North Carolina barbecue. Eastern-style is made with the whole hog and uses a simple sauce of vinegar and red pepper. Some people add some other ingredients to the sauce, but it's usually thin and somewhat piquant. Western or Lexington style barbecue is generally made with pork shoulders only and the sauce has some tomato (usually ketchup) and some sweetness added. It's still vinegar-based and is generally nothing like the Texas type of viscous sauce. It's easier to find decent Western barbecue, as it's easier to cook shoulders rather than whole hogs. However, in my humble opinion, you can't beat the flavor of well-made Eastern barbecue. Come to my pig pickin', and you'll be able to sample both styles!!!

After poaching the chicken, I needed to make some fresh mayo for the chicken salad (I used a lot of pecan oil here -- it was a different flavor, but not that substantial): Et voila! This is a very simple chicken salad of chicken, celery, red grapes and mayo. My son (the one who was born in Wisconsin) wanted what else -- a grilled cheese. I had him make it himself (note the concentration). My daughter wanted the college student's lunch of choice, Ramen noodles. She definitely had to make that herself. This was the featured item on tonight's menu: My 4-year old offered to help set the table, at least the napkins. She needs to work on not unfolding the napkins and balling them up. Mmmmmm. Served with roasted asparagus, potatoes boiled in the crab's steaming liquid, tomatoes and feta, and sauteed salmon for the kids who didn't want crab. Everett loved the crab. For dessert tonight, I had intended on making an ultra simple cobbler of blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. I've probably made a variation of this cobbler a hundred times. It's just 3/4 of a stick of butter melted in a deep dish pie pan. Then mix 3/4 cup self rising flour, 1 cup sugar, and 3/4 cup milk. Pour this into the pie pan with the melted butter. Mix 2 cups of fruit with about 1/2 cup of sugar. Add to batter. Bake at 350 for an hour. You end up with a light, cakey top and wonderful fruit at the bottom. Use salted butter for this, as you want a bit of salt in the caramelized top. I made a mistake today that I didn't realize until it was way too late: I used all purpose flour instead of self-rising flour. So, I ended up discovering a new dish: sticky berry pudding. It was quite excellent and made for a pretty dessert. We may visit tomorrow a local dairy for their ice cream. Otherwise, who knows????

That would be unsweetened iced tea.

The non-milking goats just aren't old enough to be milked yet. These goats are incredibly well-treated. I'm almost concerned they care too much, as Ron, John and Debbie often petted them. I could never be a farmer, as I'd get too attached. But their care results in sweet milk which makes awesome cheese.

Barbecue potatoes are nothing more than potatoes boiled in water that has barbecue sauce (or oftentimes, Texas Pete hot sauce) added.

Stromboli is really just a folded up pizza. Calzones generally have ricotta and no sauce on the inside. Sauce is served on the side for dipping. If I'm wrong, I'll let others correct me.

Here's my ultra-difficult, luxurious breakfast this morning: Sometimes all you want is a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee. That's what I got. My 9 year old daughter, Ryan, on the other hand, wanted her weekend traditional breakfast that she call's "RBB" for "Ryan's Big Breakfast." It's a slice of toasted Italian bread, grits and scrambled egg. It's rather disgusting -- not just because it's an ultra-heavy breakfast -- but because she actually prefers (Gack) instant grits over good ol' fashioned slow cooking grits. Please have mercy on her, y'all! Give her time as she'll learn. For lunch, I'm thinking chicken salad. I'll poach some local chicken. Someone said I needed a pot filler on my stove. As you can see, I don't need no stinkin' pot filler -- my prep sink is but one step away.

During the work week, Mrs. Varmint feeds the kids, as I rarely get home before 6:30 or 7. I then make something for the 2 of us, which would not be generally considered to be "child friendly." Some of the kids will eat what I make, but not all the time. Our younger children are in bed by 7:30, so there's really no time for me to get home to eat with the family. I'm still trying to sort out what's for dinner tonight.

We have a winner, folks. After lots of thoughtful consideration, the Varmint Family has selected the following submission to be the "official" t-shirt of Varmint's 2nd Occasional Pig Pickin'. FRONT BACK And the winner is . . . . . our own Dave the Cook Scantland. Now because he is part of the eGullet Society management, Dave is not eligible for prizes. Therefore, our second place contestant will take home the booty, including 2 free admissions to the Pig Pickin' and 2 t-shirts (or 2 t-shirts and a 6-pack of Blenheim's Ginger Ale if he can't make it). The recipient of these fine parting gifts go to Tim Oliver ("toliver"). Tim, let us know your gift preferences. Here are pictures of Tim's entry. FRONT BACK We'll be getting a post up shortly about how you can order your own eGullet Society Varmint's Pig Pickin' T-shirt. Thanks everyone for your great entries. This was a lot of fun. And Fresser, maybe it's time for you to start learning some computer graphics!!! Thanks, y'all!

I'm poaching a chicken to be used later today, perhaps for some chicken salad or chicken and dumplings. I've also taken lots of photos of the kitchen and where everything is located to give you an idea of how it flows. We still don't really have plans today, other than making a birdhouse or two to donate to the child care center where all four of the kids have gone. Our youngest has one more week there before going to YWCA camp the rest of the summer, and then -- egad -- kindergarten!

Oh, my, don't get me started about barbecue. I've talked more about barbecue than many people want to know. Here's a story about Allen & Son, north of Chapel Hill. Here's a journal from a day of Western style barbecue joints spent with Mr. and Mrs. Fat Guy. And here's a chronicle of an afternoon visiting Eastern style barbecue restaurants. And by the way, did you know I'm throwing this little pig pickin' in September to raise money for the eGullet Society? Come to this and you'll learn lots about North Carolina barbecue. As far as my dinner is concerned, Stephenson's is an eastern NC-style restaurant, cooking their pig over a mix of charcoal and wood. It's a better than average barbecue, with a mix of light and dark meat that isn't overly sauced and a light touch of smoke. I'm usually pleased with their barbecue. The Brunswick Stew is a better version than the cloying glop served in most barbecue restaurants, as it's thicker, less sweet, and has lots of corn and lima beans in it. The green beans are average and the barbecue potatoes are just white potatoes boiled with some Texas Pete! Stephenson's is in McGee's Crossroads, not far from I-40. Banana pudding is THE dessert of NC barbecue. Perhaps the best restaurant version of banana pudding I ever had was at Crooks Corner in Chapel Hill (see here for a brief review). Some people want their banana pudding to have lots of vanilla wafers, but I actually like to see lots of bananas, for goodness sakes!

I'll start here with Professor Depression -- Jack, this isn't really representative of what we eat during the year. We are on vacation (even though we're staying at home), and we have relaxed the rules tremendously. For example, the children never EVER get soda, but they've had it twice this week. They always have a vegetable and a fruit with every meal, but we haven't concerned ourselves with it. Part of the fun of a vacation is forgetting about the rules a bit and acting somewhat decadent. Come Tuesday, it'll be back to the routine of carrots and beans and apples and peaches. But until then, stand back. One more thing: one of us is obese, but in the beach picture above, he managed to hold his daughter in front of him to conceal that!

Today was a BIG adventure day, so breakfast and lunch were spartan. Most of us had some locally grown canteloupe, which was outstanding. Lunch was worth writing about, as we were out of time and needed to get to Wayne County, North Carolina to visit Holly Grove Farms and their retail branch, Holly Grove Cheese. What is Holly Grove Cheese? Well, it's a goat dairy farm, with nearly 200 does (they're only milking about 108). This operation is owned by our own eGulleteer, John Lichthardt and his partners, Ron and Debbie Craig. This goat farm is run by livestock farmers who have discovered a great niche in the making of goat cheese. The bulk of their operation focuses on making high quality chevre. They sell the bulk chevre to other operations for repackaging, but if you want to get some fantastic simple chevre at a rock bottom price, I suggest you visit their site right away. The site is in its infancy and has a simple design, but their cheeses are out of this world. The chevre has just the right amount of tang and creaminess. They have a Camembert-style cheese that I could have eaten all day. My eleven year old (he of the cheese fry fame) thought that it would make an excellent grilled cheese sandwich. Yes, it would! They also have a Summertime Blue that is made with both cow and goat milk. If you enjoy a hearty blue cheese, I recommend you get some of this. We were so warmly welcomed by these fantastic people. Ron Craig has made his name in the hog industry, and he and John Lichthardt recognized that most of the goat dairy farmers are extremely small operators that focus almost exclusively on the retail, artisinal business. They also knew that the demand for chevre in the U.S. has increased dramatically, such that the majority of chevre curd consumed in the country is imported from France. Trying to get a jump on the market, Ron and John have ambitious plans to increase their output of bulk chevre while developing their own private label artisinal cheeses. Based on what I tasted today, I think they're doing pretty damn well for being in business only 3 months now. Of course, the highlights of the day focused on my children and the goats. They played with the goats, helped feed them, and did quite a bit of milking. The L'il Varmints came away today with a lesson in food production and how hard a life it is. They have a newly found appreciation of farming in general and cheese specifically. Most of all, they had fun. They will always remember this day, and I can't thank Ron, Debbie and John enough. For the most part, I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Ron Craig in the cheese room. John Lichthardt showing the kids the French cultures they use to make their cheese. John opening some fantastic aged cheese. They had intentionally packed this in an air-tight package to see how it would respond to anaerobic conditions. The rind had that off smell, but the cheese itself was mind-boggling. All of us raved about this. Where the 108 lucky "milking" does stay. I thought shirts give goat milk an "off" taste. When goats chew on shirts, they also spit on shirts (look at the bottom). Coming to a theater near you: "Attack of the Baby Goats" Ron getting ready to milk the first two dozen goats. They have a very slick operation here. It took us about 50 minutes to milk 108 goats, with 3 of my kids "helping" them along the way. Debbie helping load up the goats. My son Everett attempting to "strip" the teats, getting them primed for the milker. Milking is done. Time to get those goats back to their "bubble." Feeding time. We then got to sample some very fresh goats milk. Two of the kids (and their parents) couldn't get enough of it. If you've never tasted goat milk, it's incredibly rich and slightly sweet. I'd gladly drink a cup of this a day. Something tells me, however, that this trip may have compromised my ability to serve goat at the pig pickin'. "Memo to self: Do not take the children to a pig farm." As we headed down the driveway to head back to city life, Everett yelled out from the back seat, "That was awesomely fun!!!" He was right. Thanks again to John, Debbie and Ron. On the way back home, we did hit a barbecue restaurant, but it was not Wilbers, which was 40 minutes in the other direction. We stopped at one of my local favorites, Stephenson's Bar-B-Q. Some hush puppies to start. A pitcher of sweet tea, of course. Notice how they provide you with extra ice, as the tea is on the table when you arrive. My dinner: barbecue, brunswick stew, barbecued potatoes, and green beans. Barbecued chicken with barbecue. Notice that the fries are fresh cut and are cooked properly. By the way, Stephenson's does a great job with their barbecue. Fried chicken. And some banana pudding to finish off the meal. What a day! I have no clue what tomorrow will bring. We have no true plans, so we'll play it all by ear. Thanks for reading along!

We then headed to Wrightsville Beach to spend a couple of hours playing in the surf. Of course, we don't get there until lunchtime, so we have to stop at the Dockside Restaurant and Marina. This is a institution located on the Intracoastal Waterway, where you can watch the big yachts pass by while eating a greasy lunch. They had the dreaded kids menu here, so 3 of the 4 L'il Varmints ordered off of that. I will say that just because the Dockside is on the water doesn't mean that it's exclusively a seafood place. Their burgers are a legendary hangover cure, and that's something I know from experience. My fried shrimp salad. Mrs. Varmint's shrimp burger (a poor man's po boy). The eldest L'il Varmint's crabcake. Kids burger (I'll spare you the photos of the grilled cheese and hot dog. All pretty good, mind you). Nothing like a cool, refreshing drink looking at the water. Or a cookie sandwich with marshmallow cream to end the meal. We frolicked on the beach for a couple of hours. Here we all are. We were hot and thirsty, and right in front of where we parked our car was a smoothy bar/ice cream shop. Sampling a strawberry milkshake. My 6 year old decided to go with a smoothie made with raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and orange sherbet. Yes, it was that big -- three of us shared it. We got back to Raleigh around 6:15, and the kids wanted something other than Southern food! So, we hit a neighborhood Italian-American joint, "Two Guys." Very cheap, very simple. Ravioli with pesto. Cheese pizza -- and if one of you asks how the "char" was, I'll haul my butt up to New York and kick your ass! Places down here don't have a clue about char. My sausage and mushroom stromboli. My father-in-law joined us and ordered this beastly plate, which they called lasagna. Hah! He said it was good. For some strange reason, my 4-year-old daughter wanted fried flounder. Something tells me this fish came straight out of the freezer! And I leave the worst for last. My oldest child and I battled over his dinner selection. I ultimately gave in to allowing him to have the bacon-cheese fries if he ate a Caesar salad. Again, it IS vacation, you know. Tomorrow we head down to Mt. Olive, NC to visit Holly Grove Farm and their goats. I just might make a side trip afterwards to my favorite barbecue restaurant, Wilbers.