Thanks for the Crepes

Yep, that's the kind I like too. They have so much more really good flavor than a Poblano, although, at least here, the Poblanos are much easier to find. That makes me wish I could like Poblanos, but I sort of have an aversion to them, somewhat like rotuts' and Kim Shooks' aversion to bell peppers. There is just no way I can like a Poblano. I do like and eat green bells. Lots of people don't realize they pack more Vitamin C than citrus, as do jalapenos, which I also love.

What kind of chili did they use, Lisa?

From my experience, when I was regularly buying the huge Napa Cabbages at S-Mart, before it went out of business, they last a really long time under refrigeration. Like a month. So you can make many dishes out of this veg I was paying like 49 cents a pound for a four pound specimen. You just need to peel the leaves off from the root end and let the cabbage remain relatively intact and keep them in their produce bag. Sometimes mine have grown roots, but I slice those off and have really had good success using up a four pound cabbage over a whole month. You might lose some outer leaves to dehydration if you're not using it up fast enough, but I can testify, that this veg is excellent for long storage.

These two types of cabbage were available at my Korean owned pan-Asian grocer before they went out of business for apparently not properly paying their taxes. The first ones seem more oblong to me while the second seem rounder. I bought whichever was less expensive that day and never noticed any difference in taste. Thanks for this thread!

Well have fun if you decide to go, and it would be great to hear about the food you enjoy there along with prices you paid if you have the time. Take a look at the food maps on WRAL before you go too, so you have an idea where on the fairgrounds what you want to eat is located. Sorry that I didn't realize you were female! Good luck with the bathroom situation. I hope it's better for ladies than it was the last time I attended. I just read an article today on WRAL that said they had razed the rabbit barn to make way for more picnic tables and food vendors. This is what I mean about the Fair being monetized. The rabbit barn was free and held so many rare and interesting cute bunnies, but wasn't producing any income, so it had to go. We had harness racing at the VT State Fair and so many farming displays. Nowadays, it seems to be all about the midway and overpriced food. But things change. I don't seem very able to get on board with that, but it seems to be my problem, because the new generation doesn't care about farming as long as the grocery stores are stocked. One day everyone is going to realize that when farmers don't do well the rest of don't either. Everyone has to eat and farmers are the backbone of that. Farmers in NC and GA have been devastated by the back to back hurricanes during harvest season. That is so not good for all of us.

@blbst36, I'm not trying to discourage your from going to the State Fair if you want to. I enjoyed it when I was younger, but it wasn't as pricey as it is now. Here's a link to an article from WRAL (one of our local news stations) that has was to save $$ at the fair. If you are only interested in the food, you might be interested in the lunch pass where you can get free admission to eat lunch on weekdays by paying $10 cash at Gate 1 or Gate 9 after 11:30 AM. You then have two hours to cruise the fair and buy your fair food for lunch. Vendors only accept cash, so bring plenty. The article says they have ATM's but there will be lines and hefty fees, so get your cash for free from your bank before venturing out. Then if you get back to the same gate you entered by before 1:30 PM, your admission of $10 will be refunded. I can understand how it would not be too PC to take an extended lunch especially with a new job, but that is a way to get free admission for the food only. There are other money saving tips in the article. I remember reading somewhere else that the shuttle bus from Cary Town Center costs $5 for a round trip ticket and the buses run every thirty minutes until midnight. Can't remember when they start running. If you go, enjoy, but there are not enough bathroom facilities for women, who take longer than men, so I do not recommend bringing a female.

I also like stuffed chilis with Anaheims or Hatch, but they are hard to find in this area. Hatch are seasonal, but findable during the season, and Anaheims used to readily available at Food Lion, but not in several years. I just don't like the flavor of Poblanos. They do afford more stuffing capacity per single pepper, but that still can't make me like them. Don't confuse Cubano peppers with Anaheim, as I have done before. If you are looking for that flavor profile and get Cubanos instead, you will be disappointed. If and when I find my target peppers, I stuff them with ground beef mixed with sauteed onion and a little garlic. Bake at high temp and cover with cheese in the last few minutes of baking, after reducing temp so as not to toughen the cheese. I took this technique from a favorite Mexican restaurant whose quality has severely fallen in recent years, so I haven't visited. They always used Anaheims, but I've made this dish with Hatches and that rocks too.

Here's another food recall from a producer in my state. It has also been shipped to California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts and Michigan.

Or not?

I didn't realize you'd been in this area that long! If you go to the fair be prepared for parking problems that are so bad that they actually have a bus shuttle service from a mall here in Cary near my home that is less of a hassle than trying to park at the fair. I used to go when I was younger. The last time I went was with my late brother. He actually managed to wedge his Tahoe into a space near Gate 1. I never could figure his luck, but it finally ran out. It's crowded and very expensive for everything, and this State Fair does not seem to offer any free displays of consequence like the one at the Memphis State Fair. You have to pay a lot for the NC State Fair, including admission. If you like crowds and standing in lines for very expensive stuff, I highly recommend it. Oh and if you bring a girlfriend, she could stand in line to pee for an hour. They can keep this very poorly served up piece of entertainment, as far as I am concerned, and it only gets worse and more expensive each year, from what I hear. Student admissions are $6 this year and seniors are $8, I'd guess adult admission is at least $10. A day pass for rides is $38 and that is before you touch any of the overpriced food in the overcrowded venue. I can actually be happy in the farm displays, watching the dairy cows being milked, or the goat barn, the chicken barn or the rabbits. They were free last time I went, but since the fair has been so severely monetized, I cannot speak to that now. They also used to have displays where cooks would put their best pies, preserves, cakes, breads and so on up for judgement, and that was all free after admission too. As a farm girl, all the free stuff was interesting to me, but I'm not even sure that's even available anymore, and I am quite certain that the character of the State Fair has changed from the last time it interested me. It is just a money grab now.

Yes! This chain, Dame's Chicken and Waffles, seems extremely successful around here. As a fellow G.R.I.T.S. (Girl Raised In The South), I'm left scratching my head as well. It's a popular trend, but seems to have been dreamed up by hipsters, as far as I can tell. Some of the more upscale restaurants are offering chicken and waffles too one tiny piece of chicken for $18? This image, menu and pricing are from Dean's in Cary. Scroll down a little to Entrees.I do not get this at all. But yeah, you cannot go wrong with fruit compotes or fresh fruits with whipped cream for toppings. Also pecan waffles are really good too. You might also try to offer several different syrups, like the IHOP (International House of Pancakes) chain around here. I'm old enough to remember when IHOP used to serve boysenberry syrup in Southern California and they all used to be served warm. Now you are lucky if the bacon grease has not congealed on the plate when they serve your breakfast. They used to heat the heavy china plates they still serve on, but now don't bother, at least at my local chain, so these plates serve as a heat sink to instantly sap the heat out of the breakfast you are paying good money for. Consider pre-heating your serving dishes. It will make a real difference and heat the syrup and have real butter at room temp.

This beverage seems to be carbonated. It sounds perfectly delicious and wonderful. How do you achieve that?

Your food looks great! Yum. Heavy duty aluminum foil is your friend when cooking in a campfire. I used to use two layers of it on HUGE whole russet potatoes while cooking them directly in the coals. It worked great, but you have to just chill out for over an hour, carefully turning them with tongs until they are done. Beer helps with the chilling out, but remember that NC state parks are supposed to be alcohol free. He He. Keeping your cooler locked in the trunk of your car and pouring your beverages into plastic cups while keeping any noise level down keeps the fun police away. That should be easy if you are my yourself, but harder if you have a bunch of people on your campsite. Also. Pro tip, drop empty beer cans back into the cooler rather than into the campsite garbage receptacles. These fun police are serious! I have it on good authority that they party like mad on the confiscated alcohol they steal from campers. They usually do not arrest anyone after stealing your stuff, but that can happen if you mouth off or otherwise resist.

Wow, Jo! It looks so very tasty!

That might be this one. And I also remember this older one as well from when I was just a kid. There is also this montage that I don't remember any of them, because I might have been to young. I also found this out. It's a shame Maxwell House has fallen so far. It used to be really great.

Yesterday I made a veggie lasagna with three cheeses (parm, cottage and mozz). It had Trader Joe's canned plum tomatoes, onion, garlic, mushrooms, grated carrot and frozen spinach. I cooked in the CSO in an old Pyrex 9x9" casserole dish I've had for years. It's the deepest pan I have that fits in the CSO and for me lasagna needs plenty of layers. It is very good and provided me with six portions, four of which are now in the freezer after I ate another portion for dinner tonight. I usually make spinach lasagna with bechamel and will do that from now on. Although the spinach was only thawed before assembly, the acid in the tomatoes turned it an unappealing color I don't like. It tastes great, but lesson learned. Also I have to mention another victory for me. I washed, peeled and chopped veggies, prepared the sauce, cooked the pasta and assembled the lasagna in one go one my feet. I was tired afterwards and appreciated sitting down while it baked, but I did it!

Yesterday, Sunday, my nephew and his wife came to pick me up to go visit my husband in the nursing home in Raleigh. We picked up Little Caesar's pizzas on the way and had to wait a few minutes for them to be cooked. They were so hot that I had to place my backpack on my lap between the corrugated boxes and my lap after initially trying to carry them with no barrier. Hot pizza is a good thing to me, but it was trying to burn me. So we got to the nursing home and I got to see my husband again after months of not seeing him. He's the same, but seems to be in good spirits and was delighted to meet our grand niece. One of the residents that I know from there from my stay and from visiting with my husband, and from my brother taking the time and effort to pick her, my husband and one other nursing home resident over to his house for a party, was smitten with the baby. She is in her very late 80's and had the first episode of forgetting where she was or how she got there that I have witnessed. She suddenly didn't recognize me, but when I walked up to her and spoke, she immediately did. I think she is almost blind, but thanks to a hearing aid, she can still hear. That calmed her down. SIL brought the baby over to her, and that further calmed and engaged her, and she was fine after that. Several other of the residents and staff there were also delighted by my niece. It was so good to see my husband again, and how good is my nephew to take time to do this for us old farts? He is the best! I went and coaxed some paper towels out of the bathroom paper towel dispenser, one of those motion sensors, but it works only if you actually smack it, for plates and napkins. He he, I found this out in an episode of frustration while a "guest" (prisoner) there. The pizza was still hot and I ate three slices, the only thing I ate that day. Quite acceptable. They were both pepperoni after a sausage and a pepperoni one was suggested. I hate the rabbit pellet sausage they have at Little Ceasar's so suggested a mushroom one, but that was nixed and we ended up with two pepperoni pizzas. It worked. Ex SIL met us there on her way to the airport to fly back up to NH. She also brought a DVD of Stephen King's "The Stand, Golden Years and The Langoliers" that I had loaned to my nephew the last time he was here and book he intended to give me, also by Stephen King, "Eyes of the Dragon". This was a really good experience for me who spends so much time alone, and also for my husband who endures the endless boredom of the nursing home where there is nothing to do 24/7. My husband actually called me today on Monday. It's been months since he called me, so this lunch was a very good thing.

It's interesting to me, because we have pawpaws down here in the South US, and I am amazed that they are hardy that far into the Great White North.

What about spiced crab apples? I swear we used to buy these commercially canned when we lived in Vermont, but search as I might, I cannot find any available now. We had a couple of trees in the front yard at one place we lived. These are so delicious with roasted or grilled meats, especially poultry and pork. The spring flowers on the trees are so pretty too. Ours were pink. Recipes here and also here. Don't feel like canning? There is a suggestion for freezing in the Mother Earth News recipe. They say that worked fine.

Wow Kim! That is going to make one awesome gravy. I do love a good gravy.

So I finally have something to share with you that doesn't involve a lonely old lady eating by herself again! Today my sister came and picked me up and transported me to a family reunion. This was prompted by the birth of my grand niece to the son of my late brother and his wife. Most everyone was there, with the notable exception (at least to me) of my eldest niece who is very special to me in many ways. I infected here with the horse bug early in her life with a gift of the book "Black Beauty" by Anna Sewell. It really took! Horses are her life to this day, so I missed her, but everyone else was there. Step bro cooked ribs and hamburgers. I asked to help in the kitchen, but was told none was needed. Step bro's girlfriend, who lives with him in a huge and lovely home and ex SIL (was married to late bro) prepared side dishes. I have to say if I'd been in charge, the proceedings would have gone much differently. The ribs and hamburgers came off the grill before the sides were even finished and so were served luke warm. The long folding table needed to accommodate all the guests was only broken out, wiped down, while a vain search for a tablecloth was conducted, while the hot food cooled. Mmmmkay, I'm just bitchin' here a bit because I was shunted to the side and could have really helped with coordination, if nothing else. Ha Ha, I was in the bathroom when I recognized my step bro's voice cursing very loudly. and that is atypical of him. I limped out to find that much of the huge platter of ribs had been dropped on the kitchen floor! Okay, I thought, I'll just eat one of the burgers. Everyone else was telling their stories of big kitchen disasters, like the time step bro's girlfriend's birthday cake slid off the plate onto the floor. The moment was over before I could add my own story from thirty or more years ago when I tripped on the steps coming up the deck into the kitchen and spilled a platter of 4 rib eyes, outdoors, onto my deck when entertaining twenty people. I was cooking to order and it was a frantic experience, even though the salad, baked potatoes and dessert were already in the hole. I told no one about what happened after picking up the steaks, perfectly cooked, I might add, except my late bro. He was in catering and restaurant business at the time before he pursued a law degree. He laughs and tells me to wipe 'em off and serve 'em up. That is what I did. Perhaps it's a good thing that I wasn't able to get a word in edgewise, because a whole lot of the people at the gathering 30 some years ago were also there today. That is what happened today as well. I saw no wiping off happen. So it was the mother of grand niece invited first to the line for the buffet food and then ladies first per my step bro, with him personally inviting me. This means a lot since we come from an upbringing where males rule all. I was also delighted to see my nephew volunteering to change his daughter, the star of this show. He is such a proud dad, I think he's about ready to bust wide open! I'm so glad to see this family dynamic changing. We didn't have good exemplars, but things can change for the better, and they certainly are in my family. Okay, so when I get to the front of the line, limping around, and persuading Pepper and Dora, the dogs to move out of the way, which is hard when you are lame, I find the burgers that I had intended to get. Uhmmm, they did not look like any burgers I'd ever seen. Inconsistent in size and shape. I am meticulous in my burger shaping. Beyond that they seemed to be cooked way beyond a good juicy temp for me and we are now approaching room temp along with the room temp, not grilled buns. Uhmmkay. Still not deterred, I had picked out a reasonably-sized one for the size of the buns. I had seen some good-looking sliced tomatoes and red onion, and knew that mayo in a squeeze bottle was available. The deal breaker was that there was no lettuce of any kind. I have to have lettuce on a burger, especially if it's cold and a bunch of other things are wrong. I couldn't do it. I caved for the ribs, which were also room temp, but looked pretty good except for their little trip to the floor of the kitchen. After that the news is better. There was good potato salad and coleslaw, that I found out later were doctored up versions of deli salad or salad kits. I partook of the flavorful sliced tomatoes and some "grilled" corn. The corn was done unhusked in foil, barely done, and I picked the most done-looking ear I found. Unfortunately, their was an unpalatable spice blend on it that allowed me to take only a few bites before discarding it. The ribs were actually not bad if probably contaminated. I did get a compliment from my late bros ex wife when she said in front of everyone that her cooking had not improved over the years, when I asked about the potato salad. She said there were two excellent cooks in the room, my sister and me. But she went on to say that I was the best of the best. While that felt good, I have to say that I was just able to pursue fancier and more elaborate ways of cooking over the years because I never had the burden of producing tiny human beings. Sis is certainly a very solid cook too. So while the food may have left a lot to be desired by our standards here on eG, sometimes even subpar food can serve as the locus of something much greater. I received some very sincere hugs from people I care about and after so much isolation, you probably can''t imagine how much that means to me. I got to pet two wonderful dogs, who seemed to sense my Pet Deprivation Syndrome, I got to see some of the old familiar faces again and meet a few new ones, including my grand niece! AND I was able to limp around and do it all without the aid of a wheelchair or crutches! I would call this the best dinner I have had in a very long time, is spite of some technical flaws.

Beautiful meal, as usual, and I will be sincerely hoping for that romantic walk on the beach.

Maxwell House used to be a very good coffee. I grew up with it. In the 1977 photo of Tom Petty with coffee service before him depicted in the linked "Rolling Stone" article, it is quite possible that was the best coffee available to him at the time. I know it was to me. A few years back, the quality dropped off dramatically, probably a product of the company focusing on shareholder return rather than consumer benefit. Sadly, most consumers don't notice. I remember those days of opening a new three-pound tin of Maxwell House and the aroma that rolled out around the room. My grandma's favorite photo was of me milking one of their dairy cows into such a three pound tin at the ripe old age of three. Nowadays the containers are plastic, the beans and aroma and just plain quality of the coffee has gone to the devil. Also (pet peeve) the weight of the containers continues to shrink while the bean counters come up with new, deceptive ways to make that less detectable by the consumer. So maybe the coffee snobs should not be so quick to judge the talented Mr. Petty's taste in coffee. I've written about the demise of Maxwell House, which I also used to revere, on eG before.

Here is a recall of 80,000 pounds of ham from my state in Johnston County. They do not say where it may have been shipped or sold.

Thanks for sharing, @Shelby. I really enjoyed it and look forward to your next installment. And Chum rocks!