Varmint

I'm not going anywhere on Saturday, so come whenever you'd like. Remember that this is really just a 3 day party!!!

Yes. Does Mrs. Dr. Varmint know that you only married her in order to get access to her mother's kitchen? Yeah, but I am currently in her mother's kitchen, as we bought our current house from her parents! Now the new kitchen, wowee! 3 ovens, including a tile-lined bread oven. 6 burner gas range. 2 dishwashers. Commercial espresso machine, fully plumbed. New Sub-Zero fridge and freezer. 8 feet by 12 feet marble slab working area. Gelato machine, Kitchen-Aid mixer, and Food processor all in cupboards with spring-loaded lifts. Wine fridge. Wine cellar. Dining room table that can accomodate 22. They like to entertain.

email it to me

FYI, we have tons of counter space, but very little room in the actual cooking area. You'll soon learn to hate my kitchen, as it's a horribly designed maze. The kitchen was designed by my father-in-law who has never cooked a single thing in his life (and I'm not exaggerating). His new kitchen is far better. Please note, however, that we also have a two burner range and mini-grill in the loft above our bedroom, so we have a total of 6 burners, all electric (ick). We have no functional ventilation/hood system, and the kitchen range is inexplicably stuck beneath some cupboards. We have a wet bar at one end of the kitchen, a couple of large marble counters, and the rest of the counter is tiled. I have 3 large cutting boards (1 wood, 1 poly-whatever, and my favorite, a rubber one). I also have about 3 smaller wood cutting boards. My knives sort of suck, but I have an electric sharpener that does ok. I do not have expensive cookware, nor do I plan to get any. It's generally heavy enough to get the job done. I have a full sized Sub-Zero Fridge and a full sized Sub-Zero Freezer. We also have an old-fashioned fridge in the pantry that serves as our beer fridge. We have 2 old electric ovens in the kitchen. We have a 36 bottle wine fridge that's mostly empty right now. We have hardly any liquor in the house, and NC ain't the best place to purchase it, either. If you want a kick-ass wine or beer shop, I can direct you accordingly. Any other questions?

Here's the (horribly unreliable) weather forecast for the 11th: Oct 11 Partly Cloudy 75°/52° 10% chance of rain

I'm in.

We'll keep the same oil, but we'll be careful to start with delicate flavors before we venture into the deep fried anchovies. This is comparable to a pyromaniac's desire to burn different things. We'll just deep fry 'em.

Deep fried catfish filets? Chicken wings? Oooh, FRIED PICKLES! Those will be the LAST things to hit the oil, I can assure you. Deep fried pickles are so 1998.

Yeah, it is a bit ridiculous, but it's been a fun ride. On a more serious note, we'll have a big-ass turkey fryer set up for hush puppies, but I thought it would be fun (and, of course, slightly dangerous) to deep fry other things. We'll have to prepare an all purpose batter, then scrounge through my pantry to figure out what would be good. Deep fried Moon Pies, anyone??? Along the same line, I was thinking that although we'll have plenty of desserts, it might be sort of fun to make some fried pies. If someone wants to research that area, we could hit the farmers market and buy different ingredients for filling. The pastry should be pretty simple, I'd think. Anyhow, it's just a thought.

Pressure? Pressure? I laugh in the face of pressure. I fart in pressure's general direction. I wave my private parts at pressure. Yes, just a bit.

For some reason, while reading about the fight on the steps, this song started in my head, "Everybody was kung fu fighting." Anyhow, another great episode, Ellen.

Randall- Many wineries have positioned themselves as tourist destinations. The entire operation has been built as a showplace where the tourism dollar is as important (or at least appears to be) as the wine itself. I'd like to hear your thoughts about the importance of bringing in people to your winery, both as a marketing tool for the wine itself, but also as an independent revenue source. Thanks!

Excellent. Don't forget that we'll have room on a second cooker if you want to do any spicy -- er, flavorful -- stuff! This goes for everyone.

One more thing: Southern Season in Chapel Hill (25 minutes away) is one of the country's largest food and kitchen specialty stores, and they just moved into their new location. This place has 59,000 square feet, and although I've yet to visit, it should be incredible. Check them out online.

If anyone has any interest in baking bread, my mother-in-law has a small tile-lined bread oven. I'm not asking anyone to bake bread, nor do we need any, but the oven is available if needed.

It seems that the Magnolia Grill expedition on Friday is definitely off, but for those of you who want to experience some truly outstanding food, I strongly suggest you try to make it over there during your stay. You will be very pleasantly surprised. Click here for a sample menu. If you're going to be here on Thursday, that might be the perfect night. Their number is 919-286–3609. Call if you want reservations. For those of you staying in the hotel, there are a number of restaurants and watering holes within walking distance. I've cut and pasted a post of mine from June: I measured distances from the Brownstone yesterday, so y'all would have an idea of walking distances: the NC State campus is about 3 blocks away. A great steak joint is 0.9 miles away (Sullivan's), which would be as far as you'd walk. Within that distance, you can find no fewer than 20 restaurants. We can send you for great pizza (Moonlight -- although it's owned by my wife's cousins, so we're biased), the best wine service in the city, if not the state (with an unbelievable wine by the glass option based on the size of the pour -- Enoteca Vin), a great martini selection -- oops, that's actually another block away (Bogart's), 2 Irish pubs, 2 Chinese restaurants, 2 earthy/crunchy/granola type places, a chili joint, a mexican place, an oyster bar, a sushi joint, a good Italian (518 West), a brew pub (Southend Brewery), a French restaurant (Bistro 607), a sports bar, a Greek fast food place, a hot dog drive in, and Char Grill, a Raleigh hamburger institution. Oh, there's an IHOP along the way, too. Going in the other direction towards the NC State campus, you'll find all the familiar trappings of a college campus, including lots of coffee houses and bagel shops (chains, unfortunately), but also 2 homemade ice cream places, a pretty darned good restaurant (Frazier's) and their new sister bar, Porters. A couple of new restaurants have opened since June, including Vivo, an Italian place, that offers a breakfast service, too. Don't forget that we'll be doing dinner at my place on Friday if you're here. Shrimp and grits!

Both!

It's my understanding that Don is Chika's husband, and a hell of a host!

but you'll be in new york at a pub having a 10 oz hamburger. who's jealous now? Not me. But YOU should be, seeing you still could come AND you have realized that I'm only half the creep you suspected I was.

Randall, as one who has always enjoyed your wines and your wit, I'm excited that you could join us. Now, for the silly softball. Think of the following professions: Chef Actor Painter/Sculptor Musician Writer With your type of creativity, passion and humor, if you were transmogrified from Randall Grahm, Winemaker, to those fields, who do you think would most closely represent the "new" Randall Grahm? And note that I didn't ask what kind of a tree you'd be.

Even better is the fact that the VD contains LSD. And it'll be served at the PP.

Have I and my pink pickled okra been uninvited? Just testin' ya, you big lug. I've corrected it above.

Just part of the charm, Mark!

Current eGullet attendees: =Mark (2) (chicken pasta salad that doesn't suck) Hjshorter (4 + 2 kids) (plasticware, plates, napkins) Jaymes (1) (pinto beans and a vegetarian side dish) Marlene (2) (butter tart squares or beer) Mummer (1) Malawry (1) (hush puppies!) ZebA (2) Jason & Rachel Perlow (2) (banana pudding?) Varmint (2 + 4 kids) (pig, pork shoulders, chicken) Tarka (2) (England!) Weka (3-4) (bread pudding or gumbo) Blondie (2) Edemuth (1) (We may want you to do potatoes!) Maggiethecat (1) Ditsydine (2) Joler (4) – Bourbon bread pudding Aurora (1) Ditsydine (2) timothycdavis (2) HungryChris (2) Guajolote (1) -- Pickled okra Dave The Cook (1) KatieLoeb (1) hwilson41 (???) Al Dente (1) In addition to these folks, we've got an equal number of unsuspecting folks who have little clue about eGullet. Easy prey, my friends, for recruitment into eGullet!!!! They'll be bringing pound cakes, pie, beer, and other side dishes. We'll still need help with some cooking the day of the event. We should get tommy to make us a bunch of CDs containing backwoods hillbilly music. I am going to try to get speakers set up outside as well as a few lights.

I've already retained one to help me with the recovery process.