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eG Foodblogs: Toolprincess (2011) - Food adventures from North Carolin

toolprincess
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Peter the eater

Peter the eater

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I love that smoky crispy coalfired crust!

Can you say more about the coal oven or, more importantly, the results?

Nobody cooks with coal anymore where I live, but the elders tell old stories how it cooked the food, heated the house and employed all the men.

Peter Gamble aka "Peter the eater"

I just made a cornish game hen with chestnut stuffing. . .

Would you believe a pigeon stuffed with spam? . . .

Would you believe a rat filled with cough drops?

Moe Sizlack

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Genkinaonna

Genkinaonna

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Wow that pizza looks amazing! Now I have to make pizza for dinner, when I already told everyone we were having fried rice!

I love the idea of a biscuit with blueberries in it. I'm not a fan of frozen yogurt (give me ice cream, or frozen custard, but theres not a lot of that around here) but the idea of the popping boba is intriguing...I wonder if they have them at my local bubble tea place?

Is frozen custard common around there or is it a midwest transplant that opened Goodberry's up?

As for gaining 20 lbs during your foodblog, all the food you consume for the purpose of educating and/or entertaining others doesn't count towards your caloric intake for the week! :wink:

If you ate pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry? ~Author Unknown

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toolprincess

toolprincess

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I love that smoky crispy coalfired crust!

Can you say more about the coal oven or, more importantly, the results?

Nobody cooks with coal anymore where I live, but the elders tell old stories how it cooked the food, heated the house and employed all the men.

Well here's a blurb about the oven:

About Bella Mia

Bella Mia is the only coal-fired pizza restaurant in North Carolina offering authentic Neapolitan-inspired pizzas made with top-quality fresh ingredients. After traveling the country for more than a year sampling the nation's best pies, Long Island natives Rick Guerra and his two sons Louis and Anthony, brought their Northeastern influence to the Triangle and opened Bella Mia in the Arboretum at Weston in Cary. Bella Mia's coal-burning ovens reach temperatures of 900 degrees, twice as hot as a gas oven, allowing the pizza to cook in less than three minutes with a light, airy crust. Read entire article here.

The results (my own ineloquent description) - a nicely brown crust, that is puffy in places in air pockets, it is all at once crackery crispy and chewy. The high temps give it a bit of a "char" in spots which I think adds the smoky flavor. And since they use ingredients like fresh buffalo mozzarella or smoked mozzarella and fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil - it comes out very tasty. I'm no pizza expert but it's good stuff!

You can also read more here.

Bella Mia was named by the local food critic as the Triangle's Best Restaurant 2011.

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toolprincess

toolprincess

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With that being a running joke, our stop at Bojangles somewhere on the road to Savannah was quite an event. And I do remember liking the biscuits quite a bit....and I think really good fries?

Drank Cheerwine whenever I saw it available...here in the midwest we rely on Vess soda products for that crazy-sweet fruity flavor.

I do hope to get back to Bojangles for dinner (or as I call it Bojangles Part 2).

Edited by heidih
fixed quote tags (log)
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Pam R

Pam R

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Thanks for the info on coal-fired pizza. A chain (I think from Minnesota) is opening a place in my neighborhood and I've never had coal-fired before. The crust looks amazing - can't wait to try it now.

Would Cheerwine be comparable to Dr. Brown's black cherry?

Pam Reiss aka "Pam R"

Author: Soup - A Kosher Collection - Passover - A Kosher Collection - Pam's Cookie Collection - Blog - Demos - Pam's Kitchen FB 

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toolprincess

toolprincess

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Wow that pizza looks amazing! Now I have to make pizza for dinner, when I already told everyone we were having fried rice!

I love the idea of a biscuit with blueberries in it. I'm not a fan of frozen yogurt (give me ice cream, or frozen custard, but theres not a lot of that around here) but the idea of the popping boba is intriguing...I wonder if they have them at my local bubble tea place?

Is frozen custard common around there or is it a midwest transplant that opened Goodberry's up?

As for gaining 20 lbs during your foodblog, all the food you consume for the purpose of educating and/or entertaining others doesn't count towards your caloric intake for the week! :wink:

In this area Goodberry's is THE frozen custard place. I couldn't find much info about how it started but apparently there is 1 Goodberry's franchise in Canberra Australia. They don't put any artificial ingredients in their custard and are committed to making ice cream - "Like it used to be."

I have seen some frozen custard places in a other areas of NC but it's not that common statewide.

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kayb

kayb

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Oh, I wish I could remember the name of the barbecue place. It's one of those "It's an institution" type places that everyone in town knows. I want to say Bull's, but I think I'm just channeling the movie.

Bullock's Barbecue? It's something of an institution around here.

I'm another NCSU Alum living in Apex.

That's it!

ETA: I'm a Memphis State alum, but I always loved Jimmy V....

Edited by kayb (log)

Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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toolprincess

toolprincess

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Hiya! I'm still here. Sorry yesterday was s-l-o-w. I am being attacked by a summer cold but fighting the good fight! Also, apparently my work server disapproves of posting attachments on the interwebs so I'm limited during the day. :sad:

I have pictures but I am behind with the postings.

I need you guys to weigh in on these final blogging days. here is what I hope to accomplish:

1- barbeque!

2- a tour of the asian market

3- hit one of the farmers markets

4- cook something at home!

5- Bojangles - Part 2

What else do you want to see? What questions have I missed in this blog?

Let me know!

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toolprincess

toolprincess

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Yesterday I persuaded my coworkers to go to the Vietnamese restaurant not too far from my office. I thought Pho would be just the thing to fight a summer cold. :unsure:

We had 2 orders of summer rolls and 1 order of spring rolls. 2 orders of chicken pho and 1 order of beef ball pho. I loaded my pho with peppers and siracha (the better to fight the cold germs). I ended up having the leftovers for dinner last night.

summer rolls.jpg

spring rolls.jpg

beef ball pho.jpg

chicken pho.jpg

condiments.jpg

pho garnish.jpg

pho with garnish.jpg

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toolprincess

toolprincess

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Tonight I gathered up the troops and headed out to Pittsboro for some barbeque. Allen and Sons does traditional eastern style and had a house made vinegar hot sauce. Their house sauce is made with butter so you have to shake it up before you douse your meat to get the true flavor. Sides are also traditional hush puppies, coleslaw, french fries, fried okra and potato salad (we did not have any potato salad). The french fries are very good they make them fresh from handcut potatoes. They also serve fried seafood and my fellow diners obliged by ordering a variety of different items (seafood platter and a catfish plate).

We also ordered some of their brunswick stew. It is not bad but unfortunately our order was cold. Also unfortunate for all brunswick stew I encounter is that my late father was a master stew maker so generally no brunswick stew can compare!

The original Allen and Sons is in Chapel Hill but we went to the outpost in Pittsboro which is closer to us, also it is generally less crowded than the original location.

Everyone says that they have excellent desserts but I never have room after eating the barbeque and hushpuppies! As usual I am stuffed and it probably isn't helping that I had Chick-fil-a and Hotdogs today. :raz:

allenandson.jpg

bbqnslaw.jpg

catfish.jpg

friedokra.jpg

housesauce.jpg

sandwichnfries.jpg

seafoodplatter.jpg

stew.jpg

Edited by toolprincess (log)
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Pam R

Pam R

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This is all fascinatingly exotic for me. Imagine putting fried chicken in a scone...hmmm...!

That's exactly what I was thinking, but I was focusing on the BBQ. The hushpuppies look good - do you eat them as is or use some sort of sauce or dip?

Pam Reiss aka "Pam R"

Author: Soup - A Kosher Collection - Passover - A Kosher Collection - Pam's Cookie Collection - Blog - Demos - Pam's Kitchen FB 

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toolprincess

toolprincess

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This is all fascinatingly exotic for me. Imagine putting fried chicken in a scone...hmmm...!

That's exactly what I was thinking, but I was focusing on the BBQ. The hushpuppies look good - do you eat them as is or use some sort of sauce or dip?

You can eat them however you like! I like them "as is" but sometimes I'll dip them in the vinegar sauce and some folks dip them in a little ketchup. I think one of my dining companions with the seafood was even using tartar sauce as a dip!

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toolprincess

toolprincess

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This is all fascinatingly exotic for me. Imagine putting fried chicken in a scone...hmmm...!

That might qualify as one of the most revolutionary uses of scones in decades! Let me know if you try it! :raz:

Edited by toolprincess (log)
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