TGTyson

Reference: "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" (2001 - Knopf), Julia Child Comfort: "A Love Affair with Southern Cooking" (2007 - Morrow), Jean Anderson Ideas: "The Southern Cookbook" (1951 - Chapel Hill), Marion Brown (it doesn't hurt that there are several recipes by my mother in it <g>) I've just recently taken delivery of a copy of Thomas Keller's "Ad Hoc at Home" and it is quickly gaining a place on the kitchen bookshelf (as opposed to the seven shelf cookbook bookcase in the dining room.) - TT

Pecan or chess pies seasoned with a good bourbon Various fruit cobblers, crisps or slumps Persimmon pudding

Hi Jenny! There's a very new moderate to high-end Italian restaurant called "Porticello at the Palms" at Westridge and Battleground (US-220N) (well, it's really on a side street off Westridge one block/light southwest of the Westridge/Battleground intersection ) sort of behind Village Tavern and Kohls. I ate there for the first time last weekend and the food and the service were both excellent. They serve both lunch and dinner and I'm sure your colleague will find lots to try. Give it a go. - TT http://www.newsandrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll...STAFF/801020306 EDIT: OOPS! Lunch is served TUESDAY through Friday - Sorry - TT

OK, so does that mean that the e-Gig is the 27th? <grin> Let us know if/when- We'll be there with bibs on! - TT

Very good food, excellent and accomodating service in inviting surroundings. Rosemary and I had great meals and the manager & staff of the Green Valley Grill were thrilled we chose them for our first outing. I had Parmesan Crusted Chicken and Rosemary had an off-menu Vegetable Primavera. Both entres were excellent, as were both the Ceasar and the House salads as well as the fresh baked breads. (Sorry, but no photos this time - we're still learning how to do things here.) The bad news is that Rosemary & I were the only ones there. I guess that everyone was at the BBQ Festival in Lexington. I suppose we'll just have to try again after the first of the year. Regards - TT

They may also want to listen to a very good interview Bryan did a few weeks ago (10/17) on WUNC, the Triangle NC NPR station on a program called "The State Of Things". It's available on the WUNC web site : Z Kitchen Well done, Bryan! - TT

We have our reservations made, and we'll be at the Green Valley Grill at 7:00pm (problems with a 6:30 reservation.) Ask for the e-Gullet or the Tyson group. And if you find at the last minute that you can make it after all, come on - we have extra seats. Hope to see all y'all there. - TT

Oh My! Time to break out the skateboard and head north before the next one. (Sorry I couldn't be there last weekend - I've already heard about the spread you and Bob laid out <swoon!>) Hugs - TT

I just got back from the Greek Festival being held in Greensboro, NC this weekend. I'm just STUFFED with good food. <urp!> If you're in the area either later tonight (9/15), or between noon to six tomorrow (9/16), it's worth the effort to stop in. At the Greek Orthodox Church, corner of W. Friendly Ave. and Westridge Rd. in northwest Greensboro. - TT

Saffron on Mill St. between Westover and Battleground? EXCELLENT Indian ! Same owners as Nawab in Winston Salem. http://www.saffronindiancuisine.com/ Next time you are down here we should get together and set up an eG outing or two. Rosemary (my wife) and I try to get out at least once or thrice a week, and Phoenix, Taste of Thai, Saffron as well as Casaldi's Italian (just up the parking lot from TofT and Saffron) are high on the list. And at the other end of Battleground past Guilford Battleground National Park, New Garden Rd and past Libby Hills Seafood is a nice restaurant called Laddie and Dukes - owned by the same folks as the Chop House(s) and sort of an American/Irish Pub. The Battleground area has certainly moved up in the last few years when it comes to good restaurants. It was only a happy coincidence that we bought a house right in the middle of all this, as we never have to drive more than about six minutes max for good food. - TT

A restaurant which has opened since this thread started is Phoenix Asian Cuisine on New Garden at Bryan Blvd in the strip center with Harris Teeter. http://www.phoenixasiancuisine.com/index.htm At first I thought it was part of a chain, like P.F. Chang, but upon investigation I found that it's owned and run by one family, the Pengs, with the parents (still business pardners, though now divorced) running the kitchen while their two sons are out front running the very attractive and efficent dining room. EXCELLENT service. They have a very broad menu touching on many different schools of asian fare, though their emphasis, if there is one, is Thai. Reservations are not required on weekends, but is probably a good idea after 5pm - TT

Karen, I noticed you didn't mention Maxwells (heading out of town west on Main). I've eaten there several times and the menu was somewhat imaginative (for a college town anyway) and the food always seemed well prepared. Are there problems there these days, or was it simply off the radar? Vincents Ristorante? It wasn't knock your socks off good Italian, but they seemed to do a workman-like job the few times we ate there. And the India Garden had some of the better Indian I've had in the western half of VA. (You may take that comment as you may ) Just wondering - I haven't eaten there since we sold our property over in Catawba and moved to Greensboro, instead, so I'm a bit out of touch with up there. - TT

Awful Arthurs used to be a really good, reliable privately owned VA chain. Good seafood properly prepared with good sides. UNFORTUNATELY, the owners (new?) have decided that they can make a lot more money with the bar than the dining room, so the food and service has suffered mightly. We've had the exact kind of experiences as you in the Roanoke, Richmond and Mechanicsville restaurants. It's really sad, as the food there used to be worthwhile. - TT

I'm in the process of moving back to Greensboro from Richmond, VA and I stopped by Giacomo's on New Garden - WOW! Got out of there with about $50 worth of meats. I think I'm in love ... and they're only about a mile from my house Thanks for the pointer - I probably would have never stopped in there if you hadn't mentioned them. - TT

I've been a little surprised that no one has mentioned the River Birch Lodge on Robinhood Road. <RBL Web Site> They're an independently owned restaurant and describe themselves as "Mountain Casual". Nice dining room and a very imaginative menu featuring southeastern fare. The kitchen is quite willing to make modifications and substitutions to their normal offerings. One of my favorites is their Thai Chicken Salad, but with smoked duck substituted for the chicken. I try to get over there from Greensboro at least once a month and I've never been disappointed by either the food or the service. Maybe some other folks here would like to meet there one evening for dinner? Others out there with opinions / experiences with RBL? - TT

Tarnation, Son! Here I go an move all the way from the frozen northland (Richmond) back home to Greensboro, an you have to up and ree-tire?? DANG! Well, maybe we can still get to meet you over a plate of pig sometime when we're down in the Triangle, or you're up in the Triad. Truth be know, ya done good here, and made this pea patch a whole lot better place with all your hard work. Take a bow, you deserve it - TT

Then again, you can always do what I did last night for dinner and mix the potatoes, eggs, cream, cheese and herbs up in a large bowl, and then put it into individual 6 oz or 8 oz ceramic ramikins and bake them in the oven (convection in my case) while I cooked up the last of a batch of homemade sausage I had on the stove. One thing I've learned to do is to place the ramikins on a deep baking pan in an inch and a half or so of HOT water to moderate the heat so as to allow the top cheese to brown without turning the contents into so many hockey pucks. Oh, by the way, for potatoes I used some of the Tater-Tots we were discussing here the other day. They worked really well.

Yes, I finally used the grinder attachment on the Kitchenaid. 2 1/2 Lbs Pork Butt 1/2 Lb Salt pork 1/4 C coarsely chopped Parsley 1/4 C finely chopped Onion 1 Tbs Kosher Salt 2 tsp ground Sage 1 tsp Thyme 1 tsp dried Basil 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes 1 tsp coarsely ground Black Pepper 1/2 tsp Worchestershire Powder 1 tsp ground Ginger 3/4 tsp Minced Garlic 1/4 C White Wine Ground the meat with the 1/4" perf disk after chilling the meat >ALMOST< to to the point of freezing. Kneaded it all together after grinding and put it back in the refrigerator (after making one test patty, of course). Good Stuff! - Tom

I just made my first batch of homade sausage (I used a recipe out of Bruce Aidells book) and am completely blown away by how easy it was to make and how good it is. Are there and favorite recipes for great sausage out there? I used to think Neese's was it, but now my eyes have seen the light! All I have to do now is just wait for the stuffer tubes and casings to get here so I can try some homeade links in my smoker. - Tom Tyson, Richmond, VA

Cross Posted: Hi Y'all, I'm not sure I'm going to make it there Thursday - I have an embedded stone in one of my kidneys that is trying to punt me into next Tuesday. About the only thing I can do just now is lay on my side and drink lots of water. The thought of food, including barbeque is ... well, not good. You all go on without me and report back to the group, OK? - I'll get back over there when I can and do a follow up - promise. Regards, - Tom

Hi Y'all, I'm not sure I'm going to make it there Thursday - I have an embedded stone in one of my kidneys that is trying to punt me into next Tuesday. About the only thing I can do just now is lay on my side and drink lots of water. The thought of food, including barbeque is ... well, not good. You all go on without me and report back to the group, OK? - I'll get back over there when I can and do a follow up - promise. Regards, - Tom

About 175 not counting the 10 or so notebooks full of recipes I've collected over the years. - Tom OOPS, found a box that came from Jessica's Biscuit yesterday - 178

No it doesn'tl, and I'm looking forward to going back there. I really do appreciate the invitation and look forward to a another meal there. - Tom

Sure, my next trip there will most likely be Thursday at around 2:00pm. I want to revisit the barbeque as I said I would, but also want to miss most of the lunch crowd so Buz might have a few minutes to chat without tons of other destractions. Is a late lunch ok, or do we need to put something together for the weekend? By the way, Riverbound out on 360 east of Mechanicsville is doing well, and is a nice casual place to go sometime as well. Regards, - Tom

Buz, Sorry to be so long getting back to you, I've been off the list for a few days. thanks for your response, and thank you for the invitation to return. I hope it's not for a lynching, though I can certainly see where you might like to string me up. As I said in my report I intended to go back and try you again, and I do, probably later this week. As to the specifics, I have to stand by my initial impressions, flawed though they may be until I try things a second time. I'll be glad to try your Barbeque again and I hope I can figure out what it was that I tasted to make me think of peppers. I didn't eat any of the beans until I had eaten quite a bit of the pork because I could see that the beans had peppers in it. Is all of your pulled pork sauced prior to serving? It would really be nice to try some of the meat without any sauce (which was what I had originally intended to do - sauces can be all over the place tastewise, but good pork should be able to stand on it's own). I'll be back and will report honestly whatever I find. It's certainly not my intenton to drop a bomb on anyone. I'll be delighted to be proven wrong and will cheerfully report so here. As to the lemonaide, I didn't really notice any pulp in it, and it was super sweet and gritty which in retrospect may have simply been undesolved sugar. I just didn't think of that at the time since you use a recirculating cooler, so I interperted it as undesolved Countrytime. My apologies on this. Regards, - Tom Tyson