A NewThing I Made

Last weekend, in between coughs, sniffles and whines, I finished the sweater that I started about a year ago. I looked back through my non-searchable hand-written journal and couldn't find the exact date that I started, but I only write three sentences a day, so perhaps if it was the fourth most significant thing that happened that day. Some of you will remember that I bought a bunch of yarn at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. I chose to use the Crystal Palace Panda Silk in "denim tones" for my first article of clothing (non-scarf, non-hat).

I have become quite enamored with the crochet designs of Doris Chan, who has written three books, Amazing Crochet Lace, Everyday Crochet, and, just released, Crochet Lace Innovations. She has a blog, also titled Everyday Crochet and she is on Ravelry.com, a social networking site for people who knit and crochet. I find Ravelry particularly useful, because you can see what challenges other people have faced while crocheting the same pattern you've chosen, see what alterations and what yarn substitutions they've made.

I chose to make the Anisette Vest from her first book, because I'd realized that I had absolutely nothing formal to wear. Doris Chan specializes in "exlpoded lace", designs that are larger interpretations of lace doilies and other finery. In addition, while the stitch pattern is way more complicated than anything else I'd ever attempted, the construction of the entire garment was an extremely simple vest.

In the top photo, you can see the fabric immediately after I'd fastened off and woven in the yarn ends. Crochet lace fabric needs to be blocked, or dampened and stretched, in order to actually make lace. This involves briefly soaking the fabric in lukewarm water, spilling the entire amount of water in the floor, draping the fabric over a towel, rolling up the towel, squeezing it as much as possible, and then pinning it to a foam blocking board in the dimensions specified by the pattern. Knitpicks has an excellent blocking video tutorial, which leaves out the spilling step, but otherwise is very instructive.


Here's a close-up view of the stitch pattern. It's pretty much single-crochet and chain stitches. Since I would go for months without working on it, the most challenging part was always just remembering where I'd left off. When I started using stitch markers every six rows, to indicate a pattern repetition, that helped tremendously.

Here I am actually wearing it. I probably won't have an occasion to wear it for years, but at least I'll be prepared.

Update from the Squirrel Farm

I considered having "Squirrel Sundays" and then realized I just wouldn't be able to maintain even that sort of posting schedule. I'm sure you want an update on how the little buggers are doing, though. While I don't have cats to provide me with an endless supply of camera fodder, squirrels do an adequate job with perhaps equally zany and destructive behavior. Not all of them are as laid back as the fellow above.

This little guy, and I do mean comparatively little, seemed particularly perky. When I first put pieces of dried corn out there, many of the squirrels were terrified by it. They'd sneak closer and closer and then jump back as if it had bitten them. In contrast, this brave youngster chowed down on this thing for at least an hour.

As you can see, if you look closely, some of the kernels are getting stuck between the cracks, because the squirrels are good at making a mess. Guess what happens when the cob is gone? It's time to go after the remaining stuck kernels. While you may suspect they store all kinds of picks, power tools and straightened coat hangers in their nests, they decided instead to use their non-precision teeth for the job. I should have taken a photo of the aftermath with the piles of wood splinters everwhere, but I was too busy yelling at them. Yes, this morning (Pacific time), I opened the door and yelled at the cute, furry, poor and not-so-defenseless squirrel, who happened to be gnawing when I noticed. Of course, I immediately felt guilty.

Just a few minutes later, I noticed that another young squirrel had decided to climb all the way up to the second row of my bedroom windows. Once it got to the ledge, it seemed very upset and didn't know how to get down and I don't think it could have climbed onto the roof from there. You can see where I've circled it in the photo above. Eventually it jumped into the bush below, an Osmanthus fragrans.

I Did Not Crop This Photo

Blu's Spring Menu 2010

I went to Blu Seafood and Bar this past weekend and had a great tuna tataki special. The seared tuna was surrounded by a delicious mango sauce. Nice!

My Most Faithful Reader had the new crab and mango salad! She didn't offer to let me try it, but it looked gorgeous and she said it rivaled our favorite yellow fin tuna tartare.

On April 7th (tomorrow!), Blu will be unveiling their new spring menu. That's always an exciting time where I look forward to trying the Chef Tim Lyons's new creations and I also worry that my favorites will be gone. Of course, sometimes I'll see them again a year later, but I just never know. General Manager Eryk Pruitt assured me that Oysters Rockefeller would stay on this menu and I breathed a sigh of relief. Tuna Tartare will stay, because I don't think they want to cause any riots on 9th Street.

Disclosure: Every now and then, my MFRs and I get a free dessert at Blu. I don't know if it's because I blog irregularly about them or because I've been known to eat there three times in one week. General Manager Eryk occasionally accepts my 2nd Most Faithful Reader's invitations to Duke basketball games and Eryk buys him dinner at a variety of fine Durham restaurants, which is awfully nice of him. Chef Tim Lyons's mom comes over and says hi to me every time she's in town, which is awesome. General Manager Eryk provides incredibly entertaining and intellectually stimulating conversation with almost every visit, ensuring that I will be mentally prepared for the upcoming zombie apocalypse or the next Alamo, whichever comes first.

Celebrating Greek Orthodox Easter at Taverna Nikos

Last year I celebrated Greek Orthodox Easter at Taverna Nikos, even though I'm not Greek and I'm not in the least bit religious. Well, I did once believe in the Easter Bunny. Does that count? The event involved food and dyed Easter eggs, so of course I had to be there. Each person dining at the restaurant that day got a bright red hard-boiled Easter egg for egg jousting. You hit your egg against the eggs of your dining companions and the one that doesn't get cracked is the winner and its owner can expect good luck for the rest of the year.

Last year I remember I was recovering from a cold, so I really appreciated the lamb soup. I will be looking forward to it again, too.

My 2nd Most Faithful Reader had sliced lamb. I'm sure my Most Faithful Reader had calamari or crab cakes, as she always does.

I am a huge fan of chocolate eclairs and I remember that this one was very good. Last night Chef George Kastanias said he was planning to make them again. He's really looking forward to the soup, though.

If you're interested in competing for eggcellent luck on April 4th and want to have some of the lamb dishes that George makes just for Easter, then be sure to make your reservations by April 2nd. See the Taverna Nikos website for more information.

Disclosure: Now that bloggers are required by law to mention free goods and services they have received relating to their blog posts, I need to get with it. I have, on occasion, received free food at Taverna Nikos since I started dining there in 1992. Bill Bakis, co-owner of both Nikos locations, hired a waiter that presciently anticipated the astounding growth in popularity of the Internets and that I would start writing a blog that mostly focuses on food by randomly giving my MFRs and me free food. (DW, if you're reading this, hey there!) We also went to his bridal shower where we received copious amounts of Village Salad (now known as Nikos Salad) for free. Chef George's mom flew here from Greece just to bake me a cake and give me a hug. Finally, I should also disclose that Chef George regularly asks my MFR to bake pound cakes for him so he will have something to eat for breakfast. She bakes them, too. For free. Well, I don't know if I'm required by law to tell you that, but isn't that odd?

Queen of Sheba

For the second installment of the New Year's Resolution Restaurant Series, I'll write about Queen of Sheba, in Chapel Hill. The restaurant, situated among the many fine restaurants in Timberlyne shopping center, serves Ethiopian fare.

I'd never tried Ethiopian food before, so my first visit was particularly exciting. Unfortunately, I was coming down with a cold, so I didn't think that my tastebueds or olfactory senses appreciated it nearly as much as I had hoped. We ordered two meat dishes, Yedoro Watt, chicken, and Minchetabesh, beef. We also ordered a vegetarian combination for one, which included four different salads and a red lentil dish, Yesmir Kay Watt. Yedoro Watt is the national dish of Ethiopia, so my dining companions definitely thought I should give that a try. It was delicious, with the meat falling off the bone, which is good when you don't have any eating utensils. This is obviously the place to go during a drought, because there are fewer items to go in their dishwasher.

For those of you who haven't eaten Ethiopian food either, it is served on and with injera, which is a spongy flatbread made from teff, traditionally grown in Ethiopia. The texture reminds me strongly of a sea sponge or some other sea creature, but it's the perfect compliment to all the dishes. You tear off small pieces and attempt to pick up the food, which is generally a pureed and mushy substance, for a lack of a more appetizing phrase coming to mind. On my second visit, I learned that it makes sense to use as small pieces of injera is possible, so you don't fill up on the bread.

Google Earth Evangelist (GEE) is the one who gave me this sage advice (although recently she's become more of a Poll Everywhere Evangelist, but I won't be using that acronym) when she joined me there last week. We started off with Ayib Begomen as an appetizer. This is made with a special cottage cheese made from buttermilk curds, hot pepper and herbs. This was extremely good.

We followed that with two vegetarian dishes, the red lentil dish that I liked best during my previous visit, Yesmir Kay Watt, and Atkilt Watt, green beans with carrots and potatoes. I loved the red lentils and they tasted much more flavorful when I could smell them. Our meal also came with two sides, which are the chef's choice. We had a Yeshimbera, which is a bright yellow chickpea salad with onions, lemon juice and olive oil and Yeavocado, an avocado and tomato salad. Both sides were excellent, but I thought the Yeshimbera was absolutely wonderful. Fortunately, GEE didn't like it all that much, because of the all the onions, so there was a lot more for me.

Overall, I'm eager to go back yet again. Their menu describes the restaurant as welcoming and friendly and that is a very accurate description. The chef and owner, Friesh Dabei, lights up the cozy restaurant with her smile and frequently visits the table to ensure a positive dining experience. I'm hoping to go there for lunch on a Saturday, because that would be the only time when I could try their Ethiopian coffee without staying up more than half the night.

Panciuto

For my first New Year's Resolution meal, the MFRs and I went to Pancuito, in downtown Hillsborough. It takes me a mere five or six minutes to get there from my house and, now that I've been, it's comforting to know that it's there. The quality of the food, the elegance of the dining room and the service are quite befitting for the destination that Hillsborough has become in recent years.

My Second Most Faithful Reader had a pasta dish with shrimp, adame seaweed and wahoo. He commented that the shrimp were particularly well prepared. He's kind of obsessed with shrimp.

My Most Faithful Reader had the butternut squash ravioli with toasted pecans, pumpkin oil, wilted chard, breadcrumbs, grated parmesan, sage and brown butter. My list of ingredients is a little more thorough for this dish, because it's currently listed on their website. Often, I try to swipe (politely ask for) a copy of a restaurant's menu before I leave. I'm senile, you know.

There were many things on the menu that I would have been overjoyed to order, but they had duck ravioli. Duck is my favorite meat and I love ravioli, so the combination of the two was quite exciting to me, indeed. As I recall, it had pecorino cheese, which is a hard Italian cheese, made from ewe's milk. In any case, it had nice pieces of duck inside the pasta and the meat hadn't been turned into a paste. My meal was excellent.

We all shared pannettone bread pudding with cinnamon ice cream, honey and orange anglaise. This was a nice end to the meal. The entree portions are on the small side, so tackling the dessert wasn't a challenge. From my perspective small portions are ideal unless one is planning to take take half for lunch the next day, but it's important to consider that the entrees are all priced over $20.

Overall, it was a very pleasant experience. The dining room is beautiful and it's amazing how they have made a room with an old brick wall look so elegant with little white lights and exceptionally clear mirrors. The meal started out with our being served small complimentary glasses of Prosecco and ladies are encouraged to take home the carnations from the table. These flourishes make the outing feel more celebratory and I wonder if this association may actually discourage even the more affluent from frequenting the restaurant more regularly. I actually eventually realized that I didn't think of going to Anotherthyme more often was because I associated it with birthdays and similar celebrations.

I do look forward to trying more items from their menu. They frequently have "community dinners" where they set up a long table with communal dining and a prix fixe menu, as always, featuring produce and meats from local farmers. You can subscribe to their mailing list to learn more about them.

Science Online 2010

This weekend, I attended the 4th annual science blogging conference, Science Online 2010.

This year, I won't go into the gory details, but Anton Zuiker and Bora Zivkovic put on yet another fabulous event, with scientists, science bloggers, journalists, educators, students and a lone food blogger converging on Sigma Xi for a weekend of informative sessions, fellowship and food.

For me the highlight of the conference had to have been meeting PZ Myers, author of Pharyngula, and arguably the world's most recognizable atheist. I approached him and introduced myself as a fan, but quickly explained that my Most Faithful Reader was an even bigger fan, so I needed both an autograph and a photograph to prove that I'd actually met him. He graciously complied with both requests.

Taverna Nikos Blogging: Donating 20% to Haiti

Through at least February 28th, Taverna Nikos will be donating 20% of all sales to the Haiti relief effort.

Are any of you aware of any other restaurants contributing in similar ways? If so, please list them in the comments. Thanks!

Happy New Year 2010!

It's a new year and that can only mean one thing. At least, it usually means one thing on this blog. It's time for New Year's resolutions! This year I'm not going to bore you with aspirations of exercising and whatever else I normally write about this time of year and then conveniently never mention again. No, this year I came up with the ultimate foodie resolution. This year, I'm going to try to go to more restaurants that I've never been to before. Is that great or what? I'm going to enjoy this year more if I keep my resolution. I don't know why I didn't think about this before, although I suppose the year of trying to buy more earrings was along those lines, but that was really an attempt at reverse psychology.

This is not. In fact, this is a very measurable goal, because I am going to attempt to go to the following restaurants this year, in no particular order:

• Magnolia Grill
• Cafe Parvaneh
• Panciuto
• Lantern
• Revolution
• Queen of Sheba
  

You may be shocked at some of these. Magnolia Grill? It's the most famous restaurant in town and, as a Durham native who writes a food oriented blog, one would think I would have been there by now. No. Pancuito is a mere five minutes away from my door and yet I've never been there either. In fact, I've been meaning to go to all of these restaurants for years, because they've all been recommended by multiple friends, but for various reasons, I've never been. For example, one guy assured me, rather enthusiastically, that he would go with me to Queen of Shebah and then within one week of our conversation he spontaneously packed up all his possessions and moved to New York. Yes, I am serious.

You, my dear readers, are more than welcome to join me at any of these fine eating establishments! Help me fulfill my resolution and celebrate 2010 one fine meal at a time. If I turn down your offer to join me, rest assured that it can only mean that I don't like you.

Happy Secular Winter Holiday 2009!

I hope you are all snuggled up this evening, drunk on the merriment of exchanging gifts, good food and being with family. We decorated yet another tree and I think this one is really spectacular. Of course, I think that every year, but you can compare several previous trees from posts of Christmas Past and see if you agree.

We always like to think about what it would have looked like a hundred years ago by turning out the lights. This was particularly beautiful this year, I thought.

My blog also turns six years old today! I feel as if I've neglected it this year, but I assure you that I have been eating regularly and haven't wasted away. I won't make any promises about how much I'll write in the next year, but I'll do my best to continue to share some of my experiences at some of the new (or new to me) restaurants in the area, at least sometime before they go out of business.

I Only Play A Socialite On Social Media

I don't normally flit about from one social gathering to the next, stopping for cheese at one place on to wine at another. I did last Friday, though, when I went to two different artists' receptions on the same night. First I went to Bull City Art and Frame Company, in Brightleaf Square, and saw the work of Charles Lallier, a Durham pediatrician, who demonstrated his versatility by exhibiting a series of beautiful landscapes as well as more abstract works. His skill is tremendous and I would be happy to hang any number of his pieces in my home, if I hadn't planned out all spare wall surfaces for my own work.

Here you can see Lallier on the left with the co-owner of Bull City Art and Frame Company, Lewis Bowles. on the right. The exhibit, "ECLECTIC - Landscapes and other random acts of art," will be on display through December 31st.

Next I went to Peter Armenia's Reception at Through This Lens, in downtown Durham. Peter's photography exhibit, "Sacred Light - Asia," depicts sacred places and the people that consider them so. Peter has an amazing eye and I marveled at his compositions. His exhibit will also continue through December 31st.

Peter's other profession is technical writing and he is the only person who has worked with me at both of the two jobs I've held since I graduated from college. Poor guy.

I can't ignore the fact that it's Thanksgiving! In addition to the traditional feeling of thanks for family, friends and food, I'm also thankful that we live in an area that has such talented artists and a community that appreciates them.

Spectator Zombie Lurching

Taverna Nikos was highly decorated tonight, on Halloween eve. I had great crab cakes and my favorite bougotsa dessert, puffed pastry filled with banana, caramel and cheese, was awesome.

Just as we were finishing dessert, the zombies started lurching by!

This was the view from the top of the ramp outside Nikos. The zombies started at Piedmont earlier in the evening and staggered all the way to the Federal. It was quite a crowd and they didn't seem to mind standing in the middle of the street once they got there, since they were already dead. It was around this time that I heard one man say to his family as they were walking by, "I don't know what this is...but get a picture!"

This zombie spotted me and headed toward me saying, "Brains....BRAAAIINZZ!" What was my reaction? "Hold still, so this will be in focus." Then, in a brief moment of lucidity, the zombie thanked me for helping out with a conference a few weeks ago.

We went back into Nikos to pay our bill, but more zombies followed.

This upstanding young gentleman looked well prepared for anything.

I had dinner with this woman on Tuesday night, but she seemed to have...changed.

I wasn't up for lurching the distance, so it was great to be able to see so many zombies up close and personal.


Taverna Nikos has free drink specials! Of course, you might not want to actually drink them.

Dos Perros

I've been very eager to try out Dos Perros, in downtown Durham. Dos Perros is owned by Charlie Deal, who also owns Jujube, in Chapel Hill. While I've only been to Jujube once, it was certainly a memorable meal and I wasn't even using a decent camera yet.

Wednesday night, I tried out Dos Perros with a bunch of friends. I started out by getting Platanos Rellenos as an appetizer. While I had some help with these, I was already planning on taking part of my entree home, in order to try more dishes. The plantain fritters were, by far, my favorite of everything I tried. They were stuffed with cheese and jalapenos and served with excellent salsas and cream. The subtle sweetness of the plantains was perfect with the jalapenos, but they still weren't very hot, by my standards. I have a much higher tolerance for Asian spiciness than Mexican, too.

One of my friends tried the spinach salad, which was quite good. The dressing was good without being overpowering. They also have a salad with cactus paddles, which I want to try sometime.

She also had this beautiful tomato, kale and meatball soup, a.k.a. Sopa de Albondigas.

For my entree, I had the Mole Poblano, which was effectively a chicken stew with chiles and Mexican chocolate. I liked it, but the flavor wasn't as an unusual as I had expected. Yes, I am definitely drawn to weird food or unusual combinations, but obviously this is not weird to the Mexican or South American palate. This was no bacon ice cream, but it was good. In fact, I probably even enjoyed it more as leftovers. The beans were extraordinarily good and there were probably a higher proportion left after my first attempt.

For dessert we concluded the meal with a couple of orders of churros, which I thought were very good. They were less spongy than ones I had recently eaten at Mez and that's probably a good thing, although I enjoyed both.

Overall I enjoyed the experience. The restaurant is beautiful and the food was definitely good. The general complaint that I heard from my friends dining with me was that nothing was spicy at all, but for me spiciness is not a requirement. If you need to feel feverish during your meal, you may want to consider putting on a bulky wool sweater on your way in.

Be sure to check out reviews of Dos Perros at Carpe Durham as well as Leandra's brief review.

The First Long Table Dinner

This past Sunday, I attended the first "Long Table" dinner, hosted by Anton and Erin Zuiker. I am not quick to refer to individuals as experts, but I would say that Anton is an expert at building communities and getting people, even strangers, to communicate. Sunday night, he brought approximately 35 people together, some of whom he knew and some he didn't, to dine together and share stories. It worked. All of the tables were alive with conversation and periodically someone would use a utensil and their glass as a bell to announce that they would tell a story to the whole group. Some of the stories included one man's recounting the adventurous day leading to his marriage proposal and another's opportunity to cook for Julia Child.

The dinner was held at 3Cups, in Chapel Hill. I'd never been there before, but I was told that they have an excellent selection of wine and coffee. I didn't explore much, but I'd definitely like to go back and check it out more thoroughly. They also chose the wines for the evening.

We had a Moroccan meal catered by Sandwhich. The main course consisted of stewed chicken, with onions, raisins and saffron. We also had Zaalouka (eggplant) with tomatoes and peppers and beet salad with onions, parsley, cilantro and a light vinaigrette. Additionally, there was a carrot salad with lemon, garlic, cilantro and cayenne. We also enjoyed a vegetable stew with potatoes, butternut squash, green beans and tomatoes. I was pretty stuffed after all that.


For dessert we had cardamom sugar cookies with a lemon cardamom glaze. There were also "Baghrir" pancakes with butter and honey, served with Moroccan mint tea.

Overall, it was a delightful evening and, as it drew to a close, it seemed as if everyone there were already looking forward to the gathering at the second Long Table.

Meeting @Coopermays

This past weekend, I went to Papa Mojo's Roadhouse, not just to eat wonderful beignets and fresh fruit, but to meet someone from Twitter. As some of you know, when I make the effort to meet new people on Twitter, even if it's just on-line, I tend to focus on people who live in the general vicinity of the Triangle. That's mostly because I think there is a better chance of actually meeting them in person and I just can't follow everyone.

Back in June, it was, therefore, pretty wild that I started conversing via Twitter and then via e-mail, with a woman who was living in Costa Rica, @coopermays. The conversation got started by my complimenting some photos of sunsets and then I quickly learned that she was a potter, originally from the Pittsboro area, here in North Carolina. For some reason, I still never expected to meet her in person.

Fortunately, I am often wrong. I had the pleasure of meeting her at a "meet and greet" party last Sunday at Papa Mojo's. Due to a miscommunication, Martha was unfortunately a couple of hours late and missed several of her greeters. but I stayed and it was a treat to talk to her in person and see several pieces of her pottery. I wish I'd taken photos that day, but you can see the beautiful plate that I had to take home with me.

I know several of you also follow Martha on Twitter or if you missed her at Papa Mojo's, you can still meet her this weekend, September 11-13, Friday and Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday from 12pm-5pm at Lyn Morrow Pottery, in Pittsboro.

You also can check out Cooper Mays Pottery and check out Martha's blog. Brian Shrader, at WRAL, interviewed Martha on Tuesday.

Blu Blogging: Sushi Night

Last Wednesday, I went to Sushi Night at Blu Seafood and Bar. It was four courses for $40, per person, and we each had an excellent dinner. They kicked it off with ahi tuna, with a green papaya salad. That course also had abalone with pineapple and scallions. It all tasted great, but the abalone shell was also gorgeous.

Next we had a North Carolina yellowfin tuna and lump crab roll with avocado, cucumbers, wakame and spicy aioli.

This hebi tataki was my favorite. It was marlin, spice-encrusted on the outside and completely tender on the inside, served with braised fennel. It was a great combination of flavors and textures.

The meal finished with a large serving of wasabi pea encrusted North Carolina dayboat wahoo with sweet soy, wasabi cucumbers and sticky rice. It was all delicious. Separate from the cost of the meal, each course had a sake or plum wine pairing, arranged by the Hope Valley Bottle Shop. We actually ordered the cold-unfiltered sake, Tozai Snow Maiden, because my Most Faithful readers had not tried it before. It's different from the brand that I'd previously tasted, but I though it was good.