Varmint's Pig Pickin', Version 2 -- 9/4/05

[ditsydine]

Raleigh folks, what's the gas situation like there? I've read that stations as far north as Charlotte had to close yesterday due to lack of supplies. I'm trying to assess where and when to fuel up. I'm looking to borrow my husband's hybrid vehicle instead of driving the non-hybrid I just bought since the gas savings will be significant.

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Today near me, which between downtown and NCState most major stations had gas, a lot of regular is out, which was $2.99 the other grades were about $3.10 and $3.25. I just read one of the pipelines to NC is open & I heard a clerk tell a customer that only the mom & pop stores are going to have problems getting gas. I would fear not. Yes, I have heard Charlotte is worse, but we are 2 hrs away from them, and IMHO Charlotte might as well be South Carolina!

[ditsydine]

Raleigh folks, what's the gas situation like there? I've read that stations as far north as Charlotte had to close yesterday due to lack of supplies. I'm trying to assess where and when to fuel up. I'm looking to borrow my husband's hybrid vehicle instead of driving the non-hybrid I just bought since the gas savings will be significant.

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Today near me, which between downtown and NCState most major stations had gas, a lot of regular is out, which was $2.99 the other grades were about $3.10 and $3.25. I just read one of the pipelines to NC is open & I heard a clerk tell a customer that only the mom & pop stores are going to have problems getting gas. I would fear not. Yes, I have heard Charlotte is worse, but we are 2 hrs away from them, and IMHO Charlotte might as well be South Carolina!

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Oops look like I was replying the same time debbie did!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Gasoline price gouging .. tonight I heard on NPR that it isn't illegal gouging if the station owner charges customers $6 a gallon when his supplier is charging him $5.75 a gallon ... somehow I find that interesting ..

[KatieLoeb]

Gasoline price gouging .. tonight I heard on NPR that it isn't illegal gouging if the station owner charges customers $6 a gallon when his supplier is charging him $5.75 a gallon ... somehow I find that interesting ..

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So who's gouging whom?

We'll be topping off the tank in lower VA on the way down for sure.

[Gifted Gourmet]

So who's gouging whom? 

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My rental car may well turn out to be a Segway scooter, depending upon what the situation looks like when I get to Raleigh-Durham Airport. I well may have to fill the tank with that Two Buck Chuck from Trader Joe's ...

[Marlene]

Ok, the pickin hasn't even begun and I'm already stuffed. Dean took Mrs. Varmint and I to lunch today (ok, Dean what was the name of the place? ). My first southern meal.

I got to try some of Dean's corn pudding. I want more of that! It was amazing. My lunch was half a fried chicken, (litterally half a chicken), string beans, mashed potatoes and gravy. I had half sweet tea and half not sweet.

Dean had fried pork chops (I've never actually seen a fried pork chop before) string beans and corn pudding, and Mrs Varmint had a sweet potato, corn pudding, tomatoes and corn on the cob.

After lunch we walked over to the Farmers Market where we purchased a basket of peaches and a bunch of potatoes for potato salad.

Not that we really needed dinner, but we ate anyway! Mac and Cheese, ceasar salad, stuffed sweet peppers and a blueberry tart.

Fortunately, I walked over to Varmint's this morning! For those who are adventurous walkers, it's a great walk, however, it isn't a 5 minute walk. It's about 1.3 miles (I think that's what we measured on the drive back, and some of it is uphill). I'm going to have to walk over there every day, just to keep even here I think!

In a daring move, Mrs. Varmint let me drive her van and I went off to the local Whole Paycheck to do some grocery shopping. I say this every time, but the States have way better grocery stores than we do, although I still couldn't find any ground ancho!

Tomorrow is butter tart squares.

(yes Rachel, we have your accroutrements.)

[Mummer]

I pick up the pig around noon tomorrow.  ...  I'll have to go get the goat on Saturday, unless my goat-man is coming my way.  Riders to the abbatoir appreciated!

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I dug out my Goat Heads Soup LP tonight - yeah, vinyl - with a four side fold-out jacket with pix of Mick and the boys, the Goats Head Soup card inside and the liner notes printed on, you guessed it, the liner! Cool '70s photos of the sidemen, including Nicky Hopkins, Billy Preston and others.

I remember the hooves and head, as well as the innards from the pig were left at the abbatoir last time - but he kept his curly tail.

So I'll guess there will be no soup for us, but perhaps I'll add Angie or Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) to my set list. Dancing with Mr. D can compliment the Sympathy for the Devil we did last time. I'll leave the one they list as Star Star on the vinyl, where it belongs.

[KatieLoeb]

There's a big 'ol jug of limoncello down in my kitchen that's cooling and waiting to get tweaked to taste tomorrow before I divide it up into plastic travel bottles. This was a short term batch as I've been busy and couldn't start this as soon as I would have liked. It'll still be good, but perhaps not up to my usual exacting standards.

My hands are going to smell like lemon for days...

[Varmint]

I've picked up the wine. I pick up the beer at 10AM and the pig at noon. The rental places are bringing the equipment early this morning. The goat comes tomorrow. My refrigerator is currently filled with all sorts of exotic fruit juice concentrates, complements of Ronnie's company. Time to experiment.

Many of my friends come today. Yeah!

If you have coolers and are driving, please bring them. If you have those 5 gallon water jugs, please bring them. We'll use them all. We'll be icing down beer and wine and will need to keep LOTS of ice on hand.

Marlene made a super meal last night, and I'm still stuffed. I haven't had a stuffed pepper in over 10 years, so it was such a treat. Plus, having someone else cook for you in your own kitchen doubles the pleasure!!!

As far as the distance between the hotel and the house is, it's actually about 1.7 miles. It's a great walk, flat until the very end, and you can get some decent exercise. But as I tell people, "it's farther than you'd usually want to walk."

Travel safely, y'all. And welcome to North Carolina!

[Rachel Perlow]

In a daring move, Mrs. Varmint let me drive her van and I went off to the local Whole Paycheck to do some grocery shopping.  I say this every time, but the States have way better grocery stores than we do, although I still couldn't find any ground ancho!

(yes Rachel, we have your accroutrements.)

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I have ground Morita Chipotle (medium hot) and ground Guajillo (mildly hot) from Calustian's in NYC. Would you like me to bring either or both and how much? I have 2-3 tablespoons of each in their bags (the rest has been put into spice jars, I have a total of almost 4 oz of each). I also have an 8 oz bag of New Mexico pods (died but pliable) picked up in the end of the show give-away at the Fancy Food Show this summer. Let me know what you want me to pack.

(don't tell me you bought Jello at Whole Foods?!)

[Varmint]

I think my wife picked up the Jello at the regular grocery store.

The need for the chile powder may have come and gone -- they have dried anchos at Whole Foods, and I have a coffee mill that is dedicated for grinding up that sort of stuff, but Marlene had no way of knowing that. I do have a nice jar of chimayo chile powder that was recently given to me by a very nice lady -- the same one who has let me borrow her pig cooker!!

[Rachel Perlow]

OK, I'll put the chile packets away then. I've got to go get more sleep. I'm always sleepless the night before a trip. See you this afternoon!

[hjshorter]

We will bring a large cooler. Dean, I have several 1/2 sheets pans (the sturdy professional kind) - should I throw a couple of those in the car too? They're good for prep. And what about our deep fat fryer? If we're frying a lot on Sat night it might be nice to have an extra station.

I'll also throw a pack of disposable plastic containers in, just in case there's any leftovers.

[Varmint]

Heh, I remember you made out with a fair share of the leftovers last time around. Smart woman you are!

I wouldn't worry about the deep fat fryer, but I welcome everything else. We will not be doing the fried chicken throw-down and are instead at looking at some sort of braised short rib dish for the staff meal. I think it'll be Southwestern-influenced, and we make make roasted garlic cheese grits to go with it. We'll figure out the details tomorrow.

[hjshorter]

Heh, I remember you made out with a fair share of the leftovers last time around.  Smart woman you are!

The best was finding a pound of pulled pork hidden in the back of my freezer right before we moved.

OK, cooler, sheet pans, disposable plastic containers...anything else? I load the car this afternoon.

[Marlene]

Actually the ancho chili pepper was for me. I can't get ground ancho in Canada, and I figured I'd be able to get it in the South!

Cooking in Dean's kitchen was wonderful. For those of you who remember Dean's previous kitchen, you're going to be astounded and delighted at the new layout. It's very easy to move around from prep to cooktop to sink etc. And I love the big window by the baking prep area, even if the view is of a pink house in process.

I even had to more or less abandon my recipes and go with the look and feel method of cooking as I couldn't find a measuring spoon to save my life. I did manage to find a set of measuring cups, forlonly tucked away.

Room service has kindly delivered my gallon of coffee, which means very shortly I will be human again and ready for more tasks to be assigned.

[Varmint]

I know some of you had talked about setting up a webcam. Just to let you know, I haven't had the opportunity to pick up a replacement router, so I have no wireless capability here. Thus, we may not have a webcam (and I don't have one of those, either!).

[Varmint]

The first photos!

Marlene creating for the McCord family:

The youngest L'il Varmint offering her assessment of the meal:

This is what I got to eat! Yum!

And for dessert:

And away we go!!!!!!!

[Malawry]

I'm leaving in about 15 minutes--car's all packed and everything. Hopefully I'll be able to buy gas easily along I-95! See ya'll soon.

[Mummer]

I think my wife picked up the Jello at the regular grocery store.

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That's a relief!

Given this bash's expenses, it's essential not to overspend for Jello.

[Varmint]

Twelve cases of Red Hook Ales have just arrived. I'm soon off for my pig! And yes, I've decided to brine it in the bathtub again.

[debbiemoose]

For those of you who are going to be in town this weekend (sadly I have a work obligation that will prevent me from going to the pig-pickin') I wanted to let you know of some of the cool entertainment things that are going on.

Saturday night--downtown live in Moore Square

Free music--Saturday Night Special (4 ex Lyndrd Skynrd members), Little Texas, and other bands, plus beer, etc. If you are going to be down south, might as well get some southern rock' in you too! It starts early, but the bands don't usually start till 9

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Also on Saturday all day @ King's which is on McDowell Street

Saturday, September 3

"THE RALEIGH RUMBLE MODS VS. ROCKERS"

DAY LONG MOTORCYCLE SHOW (11am to 2am) + ROCK BANDS

Great local rock bands--these are British motorcyles and scooters

 

http://www.tonup-nc.com/raleighrumble.html 

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I highly suggest you pick up an Independent while you are in town, or check out Indyweek.com

I love my city of Raleigh, and I wish all of you to as well!

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Another entertainment option. In the interest of full disclosure, Jacob is my step-nephew and is studying music at UNC. Hereghty Cafe is in Glenwood Village on Glenwood Avenue, has fab desserts, coffee drinks and wine:

Hey everyone just wanted to let you all know that the Jacob Rosch Trio is off sabbatical and will return to Hereghty Cafe this saturday night from 8-11pm. The setup is Me, Jarred "EC You" Wafford, and Austin "Orgain" Johnson. I hope to see you all there.

If you can't come out to Raleigh and you'd still like to hear some great jazz I recommend you hit up Cafe Pan Vino in raleigh. Adam Peterson and his group will be playing from 10-12 pm.

Jacob Rosch

[debbiemoose]

Cooking eggs, cooking eggs, cooking eggs....

I'll be over tomorrow bearing cooler, pepper vinegar and other items, plus eggs and deviling supplies. And a husband suitable for fetch-and-carry work.

[Jaymes]

I want to thank you all...

Thanks to the hosts, thanks to the participants, thanks to the guests, thanks to the folks that had considered canceling but are now coming anyway, thanks to the other eG'ers that can't make it, but who are contributing to this thread.

Following along, reading about the preparations, seeing the photos, feeling the anticipation and increasing excitement of this 'coming together' of good food, good fellowship, is a relief beyond words of the sadness and inhumanity we're all witnessing elsewhere.

Please keep it up, y'all. And fry a hush puppy or two for me.

[KatieLoeb]

You can't move the pig out of the bathtub until the Philly crew gets in tomorrow early evening. I want to see the transfer from bathtub to cooker again and I have Mummer, one of the original " Piggy Pallbearers" with me. I'm certain he'll be crushed if he can't help this time. Herbacidal ought to be able to lend a strong hand too.

I'll be mixing cocktails...