eG Foodblog: Varmint - A Southern Stay at Home Vacation

[saskanuck]

Your blog is great, and the food pictures are making me so very hungry right now.

Cute kids, too! Mine also like to help in the kitchen, and my 11 year old son is getting to be a pretty decent prep chef.

Looking forward to more.

[CaliPoutine]

Your kids are adorable and the pancakes look so light and fluffy. Can you post the exact recipe?

[Varmint]

I even find myself thinking succotash might not be so bad after all, if it doesn't have to have lima beans.  How do you season your succotash?

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I used fresh thyme, and then let the butter and a couple of ice cubes of chicken stock do the work. Of course, that last shot of cream at the end helped!

[Varmint]

Your kids are adorable and the pancakes look so light and fluffy.  Can you post the exact recipe?

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Um, probably not. I just don't use recipes much. I intentionally made a lot today, as I wanted leftovers to freeze (my 6 year old loves 'em, even if they've been frozen). So I started with 3 cups of self rising flour, a scant teaspoon of baking soda, a dash of salt, 3 eggs, and then a mixture of buttermilk, milk and cream. I think I used about 1/2 buttermilk, 1/3 milk and 1/6 cream. I don't know how much I used, as it's all by feel. Add the wet into the dry until it's thick and fairly smooth. Some small lumps may remain. Don't overbeat. Add chocolate chips and go.

[Varmint]

We went over to see some friends who just moved back to the area after living a couple years in Florida. Since we hung out by their neighborhood pool, we didn't make any food -- instead, they called Papa John's. I must say, is there a chain pizza place that has a sweeter pizza sauce? Pizza Hut is pretty bad, but this is almost cloying. No, I'm not including a photo of a piece of Papa John's pie. Yuck.

Anyhow, on the way back from the friends and pool we swung by the farmers market again and there we had a dispute among the L'il Varmints what to eat. One child wanted burgers, another wanted no meat. I wanted fresh chicken. THus, I appeased everyone. I bought fresh, free range chicken and fresh, pasture fed beef from Chatham Choice Farms. The kids also wanted twice baked potatoes, so accomodated them, too (have I mentioned that this is vacation?)

Here's the meal.

Frying some chicken:

Almost done.

Ta da.

Extreme close up.

Some of you have asked about the kitchen, and I'll do my best to give you a working tour later this week, but here's a shot of 4 of the 6 burners on my range going simultaneously. I do love my range! I really like my hood, because my kitchen doesn't smell like fried food.

Dinner was a bit more colorful tonight, with fresh tomatoes, baby carrots, green beans and more. I'm not doing anything fancy for dinner, as when it's summertime, I truly love the clean flavors of fresh vegetables.

I don't know how much I'll post tomorrow, as we're headed down to Wrightsville Beach for the day. It's only a 2 hour drive from here, and the kids get to play in the waves and the (ugh) sand. If there's anything of interest food-wise, you'll be sure to know.

I need to make some silly ice cream drink for Mrs. Varmint and me when the kids go to bed. Which is right about now!

[snowangel]

Comments, questions:

You have fried several times already. What is your prefered grease or oil?

Talk more about the fried chicken. What did you do to prep the chicken other than cut it up. Buttermilk? Egg wash? Dredging mixture?

The veg. We are at least a month away from home-grown/farmer's market tomatoes. I'm jealous. And, the green beans. I don't know which of these I love more, and the unbelievably cool spring has just put these off even longer. Be sure and keep posting pictures of veg so those of us way up here can live vicariously.

How does the flow go in your new kitchen?

[LindaK]

go ahead, diss us Yankees, but I hope you used real (ie. Vermont) maple syrup with those lovely pancakes.

For those of us who followed your kitchen renovation, please let us know how your new space changed your daily cooking habits. Is it easier for family and friends to help or at least hang out? Does that great new ventilation system account for all that fried chicken?

[kiliki]

Damn. Your food-every single picture-looks great.

[Varmint]

Comments, questions:

You have fried several times already.  What is your prefered grease or oil?

Talk more about the fried chicken.  What did you do to prep the chicken other than cut it up.  Buttermilk?  Egg wash?  Dredging mixture?

The veg.  We are at least a month away from home-grown/farmer's market tomatoes.  I'm jealous.  And, the green beans.  I don't know which of these I love more, and the unbelievably cool spring has just put these off even longer.  Be sure and keep posting pictures of veg so those of us way up here can live vicariously.

How does the flow go in your new kitchen?

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Yes, I do fry more frequently in the new kitchen, simply because I have this wonderful hood. Frying in the old kitchen was a nasty affair, as every single speck of volatilized grease ended up elsewhere in the kitchen -- not a pleasant smell. I've just been using vegetable oil, as I don't need to get it extremely hot when frying the way I have. If I want a higher temp, then I use peanut oil. If I had really planned this meal, I would have used vegetable shortening, as that's the best medium for frying chicken.

This was the most simple method of frying chicken, and one I heartily endorse when you just want a great batch quickly: Buttermilk with a touch of salt. When the oil is ready, straight into some AP flour with some salt and then into the oil. Take your time frying the chicken -- too many people get the oil too hot and it burns the crust before the inside is fully cooked. I've got a couple of thighs left over that I'll be packing in the cooler today when we go to the beach. Heh heh.

I'll discuss the kitchen flow later in the week. I hate to bore you, but it's perfect. I wouldn't change a thing and couldn't have improved on the design. And yes, even my tupperware is perfectly organized. I'm King of the World!!!!

[Varmint]

go ahead, diss us Yankees, but I hope you used real (ie. Vermont) maple syrup with those lovely pancakes.

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Yes, it's real Vermont maple syrup. Actually, we usually use real Maine maple syrup, but we just finished our last gallon and our Maine friends haven't shipped the next gallon yet!

Off to the local pastry shop for this morning's breakfast.

[bergerka]

Thanks a lot, I'm now seriously jonesin' for chocolate chip pancakes and fried chicken, which would be seriously weird in combination!

Your kids are adorable, dude.

K

[lexy]

Thanks a lot, I'm now seriously jonesin' for chocolate chip pancakes and fried chicken, which would be seriously weird in combination!

Your kids are adorable, dude.

K

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Actually, that sounds kind of good to me … sort of like fried chicken and waffles.

Edited June 28, 2005 by lexy (log)

[AlexP]

Great Blog, and I am quite glad there is a Barcelona soccer fan down there. We have just won the Spanish League a few weeks ago!

Alex

[racheld]

Lovely blog, lovely family, great pictures, WONDERFUL kitchen (where's the envy-green shade of ink when you need it?) and I love the captions and explanations and answers to questions.

I gotta go back and read the kitchen thread all over again, step by step.

Just a wonderful way to start my first cup of coffee (from MY freebie machine, as well).

And I DID think your cornholders matched. There's a thread going now about them, and I looked at yours, saw green at one end, yellow at the other, and marvelled that someone cooking for hungry children underfoot, guests standing around, and taking pictures and making a documentary at the same time could have the forethought to put a stem on one end and a corn on the other. Every time.

Thanks for the lovely peek into that marvelous kitchen. And I don't think you're a Yankee. (is Rebel politically incorrect?---can't keep up with the standards any more). You've morphed into at least a Yankel. It's all that goooood fried chicken, I think.

rachel

[jsolomon]

Thanks a lot, I'm now seriously jonesin' for chocolate chip pancakes and fried chicken, which would be seriously weird in combination!

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Hah! I had suspected that you had a see-food obsession, and now I have confirmation!

Varmint, that is some seriously good-looking chicken. I'm glad my keyboard is at arm's-length; elsewise, it would be acutely short-circuited from drool.

[arbuclo]

Blooooddddyyy hell, I'm hungry now. Stop it! Just stop it! Naw, go ahead and tease me some more with those excellent pics.

I never fry anything because it spatters on me and I get burnt, so if I were to try to do fried chicken (which looks so freakin' good!) what temp should the oil be? You said not too hot but could you give more of an explanation or a guesstimate on the C/F of it?

[jsolomon]

Blooooddddyyy hell, I'm hungry now.  Stop it!  Just stop it!  Naw, go ahead and tease me some more with those excellent pics. 

I never fry anything because it spatters on me and I get burnt, so if I were to try to do fried chicken (which looks so freakin' good!) what temp should the oil be?  You said not too hot but could you give more of an explanation or a guesstimate on the C/F of it?

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I believe you want your oil between 350-375 F or 195-210 C

Err more toward 350/195

[Genny]

Well Varmint, I can only add to everyone elses praises here!

That pix of the drawer... a man after my own heart! Very nice meez!

And the chicken and biscuits are just makin me miss my mama and grandma! I haven't had home fried chicken in years (kleenex anyone?) I guess I'll have to go get myself a chicken and do it myself.

[MaggieB]

Man, I took a couple days off and missed the beginning of this incredible thread! Beautiful children, food, and blog, Varmint - keep up the good work. Do you also do the cleanup in that great new kitchen?

[Varmint]

Man, I took a couple days off and missed the beginning of this incredible thread! Beautiful children, food, and blog, Varmint - keep up the good work. Do you also do the cleanup in that great new kitchen?

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Mrs. Varmint does most of the clean-up, but if she's doing laundry, I'm certainly taking care of dishes. But then, we do have 2 dishwashers, so clean-up is much easier now.

We just got back from a day at the oceanside. I didn't cook at all today, and nothing I ate could be considered "southern." It was fun nonetheless, and I did take a few photos along the way.

[Varmint]

Before I talk about today's gustatorial pleasures, I wanted to make sure I mentioned the "dessert" I made for Mrs. Varmint and me last night, after the kids were in bed.

I made an "adult" milk shake that combined coffee, vanilla ice cream, chocolate milk, and a few special items. As you can see, I don't generally buy good liquor, but I will shell out for bourbon, tequila, vodka and gin. But mostly bourbon.

Because we were going to the beach today (Wrightsville Beach, to be particular), I decided it was a non-cooking day. We started by visiting my new neighborhood pastry shop, Hereghty (danger, over-the-top but essentially useless website alert).

Hereghty is fairly new, and it's run by two brothers. I've sampled a number of their pastries, cookies and candies, and I'm VERY pleased. Here's a sampling of some of their goods.

We weren't there to buy cakes, but we did purchase cinnamon rolls, chocolate eclairs, chocolate croissants, ham & cheese croissants, and raspberry scones. I also sampled this wonderful little chocolate "cookie" consisting of dark chocolate, caramelized hazlenut, almond, pistachio and cacao nut with a bit of candied orange. This very adult sweet is not to be toyed with -- it's a very serious, and very good item (sorry the picture sucks).

We got the pastries to go, and drove the 1.5 miles back home.

When you bite into the eclair, you get a decadent little surprise -- it's filled with chocolate custard!

The ham and cheese croissant is my 11-year-old's favorite, but the cross-sectional picture is almost pornographic!

Of course, my 9-year-old daughter doesn't really care for pastries, so I made her what she wanted: a bowl of grits. Whatta girl!!

[Varmint]

We then headed to Wrightsville Beach to spend a couple of hours playing in the surf. Of course, we don't get there until lunchtime, so we have to stop at the Dockside Restaurant and Marina. This is a institution located on the Intracoastal Waterway, where you can watch the big yachts pass by while eating a greasy lunch.

They had the dreaded kids menu here, so 3 of the 4 L'il Varmints ordered off of that. I will say that just because the Dockside is on the water doesn't mean that it's exclusively a seafood place. Their burgers are a legendary hangover cure, and that's something I know from experience.

My fried shrimp salad.

Mrs. Varmint's shrimp burger (a poor man's po boy).

The eldest L'il Varmint's crabcake.

Kids burger (I'll spare you the photos of the grilled cheese and hot dog. All pretty good, mind you).

Nothing like a cool, refreshing drink looking at the water.

Or a cookie sandwich with marshmallow cream to end the meal.

We frolicked on the beach for a couple of hours. Here we all are.

We were hot and thirsty, and right in front of where we parked our car was a smoothy bar/ice cream shop.

Sampling a strawberry milkshake.

My 6 year old decided to go with a smoothie made with raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and orange sherbet.

Yes, it was that big -- three of us shared it.

We got back to Raleigh around 6:15, and the kids wanted something other than Southern food! So, we hit a neighborhood Italian-American joint, "Two Guys." Very cheap, very simple.

Ravioli with pesto.

Cheese pizza -- and if one of you asks how the "char" was, I'll haul my butt up to New York and kick your ass! Places down here don't have a clue about char.

My sausage and mushroom stromboli.

My father-in-law joined us and ordered this beastly plate, which they called lasagna. Hah! He said it was good.

For some strange reason, my 4-year-old daughter wanted fried flounder. Something tells me this fish came straight out of the freezer!

And I leave the worst for last. My oldest child and I battled over his dinner selection. I ultimately gave in to allowing him to have the bacon-cheese fries if he ate a Caesar salad. Again, it IS vacation, you know.

Tomorrow we head down to Mt. Olive, NC to visit Holly Grove Farm and their goats. I just might make a side trip afterwards to my favorite barbecue restaurant, Wilbers.

[Andrew Fenton]

My 6 year old decided to go with a smoothie made with raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and orange sherbet.

Yes, it was that big -- three of us shared it.

All I can say is holy crap! Is that a smoothie or a wading pool?

[foodiehall]

We then headed to Wrightsville Beach to spend a couple of hours playing in the surf.  Of course, we don't get there until lunchtime, so we have to stop at the Dockside Restaurant and Marina.  This is a institution located on the Intracoastal Waterway, where you can watch the big yachts pass by while eating a greasy lunch. 

Am really enjoying all these great photos and captions. The weather at the coast must have been lots better than what we had in Raleigh today...ha, what an understatement! Y'all picked a good day to get out of town....

[TheFoodTutor]

We frolicked on the beach for a couple of hours.  Here we all are.

Wow. What an adorable family you have. You and Mrs. Varmint make beautiful food, and beautiful children.

Damn. I'm speechless. I think I need to figure out a way to get my shifts covered so I can come to that Pig Pickin.'