local flavors | lumpy’s ice cream
our pants are fitting a little bit tighter this week, but it’s for a very good reason.
after serving hormone-free, all natural ice cream made with locally sourced ingredients at events throughout the triangle for the past eleven years, lumpy’s ice cream will open their first brick & mortar store in wake forest this saturday, march 24th…& we, along with some other area food bloggers, were invited to preview the good things that are on the way.
in addition to serving 14 made fresh daily flavors of ice cream, lumpy’s ice cream shop is taking things a little old school, offering hamburgers & hot dogs along with all the sweet treats. fitting in with lumpy’s simple philosophy “ to find the finest ingredients locally and craft them into the best ice cream without any preservatives, additives, or synthetic hormones” all beef hamburgers & hot dogs will come from 100% grass fed beef supplied by harris-robinette farms.
{patrick robinette, of harris-robinette farms}
we were able to sample both the hamburgers & hot dogs, & the mister was happy to oblige. every time the tray came back around.
then, we were on to the ice cream!
lumpy’s founder, buck buchanan, talked us through each one of the nine flavors we sampled, from their maple view farm cream base to the house made extracts as each ice cream was served.
{from left to right: top row: blogger’s special baklava, mad mae’s mint chip, peter’s pumpkin pie, middle row: sally’s silly strawberry, kenny’s kicking’ chocolate, drunken berry, bottom row: bernie’s butter pecan, chris’s gone coconut, cathy’s coffee cinnamon}
did you know that 5° is ice cream’s perfect temperature? neither did we, but apparently it’s makes for the perfect creamy texture, but is just warm enough so that your tastebuds don’t freeze & the flavors to really come alive. i have been a lover of really hard hand scooped ice cream for a long time, but was surprised at how much i liked the smooth, & almost light, texture of lumpy’s. it was creamy, without being melty, & melty is my main complaint with softer ice cream.
we had a wide variety of flavors, from the expected, like chocolate & strawberry, to a bit more inventive, like the drunken berry, made with raspberry that have been soaked in 12 year scotch. lumpy’s even makes a bacon & bourbon flavor! despite being a major chocolate fan, tom’s favorite flavor of the evening was the mad mae’s mint chip, & even though it’s 80° & march, i seriously loved peter’s pumpkin pie.
to find out more about lumpy’s, check out their website, this feature by the hartford
& come out to their grand opening this saturday at 306 East Wait Avenue, Wake Forest, NC.
any & all views presented in this post are ours. we weren’t compensated in any way for this post beyond the obscene amount of sampled ice cream. we just so happen to thoroughly support buck’s food philosophy & the ice cream really is that good.
meatless monday | curried tomato soup with hard boiled eggs
simply judging from the title, i thought this week’s food matters project recipe was going to be good.
i didn’t read the recipe beforehand & tom put together the grocery list, so i didn’t give it another thought until we set out to make it. tom started pulling out the ingredients, tomatoes, onions, garlic…regular tomato soup ingredients. but then out came potatoes, coconut milk & cauliflower.
i wasn’t so sure about this soup anymore.
we don’t cook very often with curry, & when we do, it’s usually thai green curry, so this was all looking very different to both of us. as it simmered though, it smelled heavenly, rich & warm.
& that is exactly how it tasted, with a little added kick from the curry & jalapeño…a wonderfully, deliciously complex tomato soup.
it’s our favorite recipe from the food matters project thus far.
the only change we made to the recipe was to puree the finished product, adding about 1 cup more vegetable broth, to give it the velvety texture the two of us prefer in a tomato soup. for the full recipe, check out eats well with others. to see all the other takes on this week’s recipe, visit the food matters project.
california, here we come {again}: san francisco, day two
so, with the whole beer in the computer incident last week, i was afraid we had lost over a year & a half of pictures that hadn’t been backed up…including all of our pictures from mexico & california that aren’t living on this blog. luckily, the hard drive was salvageable & we recovered everything. & backed it all up. & then backed it all up again.
back up your pictures, people.
…we really only had one full day in the city & we were going to eat our way across it.
it began a few blocks from our hotel at café de la presse. we had coffee & breakfast while watching people pass through the dragon’s gate into chinatown & the waiter accidentally pour syrup into the very expensive bag & all over the iPad of the guy sitting next to us. sticky.
afterwards, we meandered over to the ferry building & walked around with the growing lunch crowd. for any food lover, this place is heaven.
{clockwise from top left: ferry building, ferry building inside, cowgirl creamery, meat cone @ boccalone, gorgeous heirloom tomatoes, boccalone}
we had individual drip coffee from blue bottle coffee, a meat cone from boccalone {that spurred us to make several online orders since then}, & just walked around soaking in all the sights & smells before settling in for lunch at the slanted door.
i first heard of the slanted door years ago & knew i always wanted to go, so i’m glad we finally made it on this trip. i don’t know why, but i had expected a tiny, dimly lit restaurant. maybe because it had been? once upon a time in the mission? well instead, it’s a huge, open restaurant with tons of natural light & floor to ceiling windows overlooking the bay.
the menu is vietnamese influenced & sourced by local farms. the menu is pretty huge, but our waitress clued us in to the small plate style & let us know that the cocktails shouldn’t be missed, so we ended up getting a few different things like spring rolls, cellophane noodles with dungeness crab & spicy broccoli with tofu & mushrooms, as well as a whiskey cocktail & queen’s park swizzle to wash it all down.
the whole meal was delicious, flavorful & fresh. & the waitress was right, the cocktails shouldn’t be missed.
it was hard to not notice the white puffs of cotton candy that arrived at almost every table in the restaurant for dessert, & although we were pretty full, there was no way in hell i was leaving without having some. the flavor of the day was orange bergamot & it was not at all like any other cotton candy i had ever had. sure, the same fluffy, sugary texture was there, but the flavor was unreal. instead of tasting like “pink” or “blue”, it had the most vibrant orange flavor.
we really had no trouble polishing it all off.
on the way back to the hotel, we detoured at cask, the most well curated whiskey store with a decent selection of wine & beer & other spirits. tom was like a kid in candy store. we eventually left, with a bottle of
{image credit}
& all the russian river beer we could carry back with us.
seared bean sprouts with pork & sesame orange sauce
well that was an unintended absence.
last week, my macbook pro met an untimely death at the hands of my husband & a full oskar blues g’knight beer. it was in standby mode, so we threw it in a bag full of rice, made a genius bar appointment & cried hoped for the best. $1300 & a recovered hard drive later…
this week’s food matters project recipe was chosen by dominica of wine food love. the original recipe called for beef, but much to tom’s dismay, i haven’t eaten beef in at least fifteen years. in it’s place, we thinly sliced a boneless pork chop, added some soba noodles to soak up the sauce & really enjoyed the asian inspired combination of flavors & the crispness of the bean sprouts against the chewiness of the soba. to top things off, we drizzled just a touch of toasted sesame oil over each serving for a little bit of added richness.
to see what everyone else thought about this dish & their variations, check out the food matters project. the full recipe can be found at wine food love.
meatless monday | baked rigatoni with brussels sprouts, figs & blue cheese
around this time last year, tom & i embarked on a new food journey…giving up meat for lent.
we had gotten too used to the idea that a piece of chicken, or pork tenderloin, or something similar, should be the anchor of every meal & had fallen victim to the convenience of running to the grocery store for a value pack of inexpensive meat, without a thought of where it had come from, or the impact of how it had been raised or processed.
we took the next forty days discovering new forms of meatless proteins & really learning about how what we eat affects not just our own health, but the health of others & the impact on the environment. 
food, inc. is pretty eye opening.
since then, we’ve reincorporated meat, but how we use it & how we shop for it have changed for the better. we’re eating a lot less meat, using it more as a garnish, rather than centering an entire meal around it & the stuff that we are eating is more humanely raised & as local as possible. 
whole foods & the global animal partnership have a wonderful rating system to help you make informed choices.
this year, we’re not going meatless for lent. instead, we’re heading on a new food journey, one that’s going to last more than forty days…the better part of a year, really. we’re teaming up with several other wonderful food bloggers for the food matters project.
it’s based on mark bittman’s food philosophy of less meat & fewer processed foods, which is exactly what we’ve been trying to do. so, for the next several mondays, we will be linking up with the rest of the group, sharing our takes on the week’s recipe.
this week’s recipe included all kinds of ingredients we enjoy, pasta, brussels sprouts, figs & blue cheese. 
but putting all of those things together? we weren’t so sure.
it ended up being a wonderful surprise, though. i didn’t think there was any way i would enjoy dried figs in a dish over having fresh ones, but they added a welcome sweetness to the entire dish. the only thing i may change for next time is to opt for a funkier blue cheese…the creamy gorgonzola we used lost it’s punch up against the concentrated fig flavor.
for the full recipe, be sure to check out twenty by sixty.
california, here we come {again}: san francisco
we rolled into san francisco, along with the fog. it’s a little unsettling to see how it swallows the entire city like a thick blanket, when there’s such a sharp contrast with clear, sunny weather just a few miles to the south, but once you’re in the thick of it, you’d never know the difference…except that it’s unseasonably cold.
since we weren’t on a honeymoon budget this time around, we stayed at the chancellor hotel in union square.
now the chancellor doesn’t have the overstated luxury of the fairmont, but the room was nice, especially for the price. it was updated, with a fun kelly green accent wall, pillow menu & adorable rubber ducky to go along with the deep tub…not too shabby. our room was at the end of the hall, kind of in a corner, where the door swung in at an angle that made me feel like i had to step in the bathroom to be able to get out, which was totally unnecessary, but i did it every time anyway.
but before we could even check in, i had a panic attack because, after being out on the open highway for most of the day, i felt like the buildings were closing in on me. i made tom circle the union square area, while i tried to remember how to breathe & he tried to figure out what the hell he was going to do with me.
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by the time i was able to compose myself enough for the general public, we had just enough time to check in, unload our things, drive our rental car to the parking deck a few blocks away & throw on some comfortable shoes for our walk to the financial district for dinner at tyler florence’s restaurant, wayfare tavern.
it may seem a little bit crazy to travel across the country & eat southern food, but we really love tyler florence‘s food, so we had to try it.
{clockwise from top left: fried chicken, deviled eggs, chicken paillard, mac ‘n’ cheese, scherrer pinot noir}
it’s usually my restaurant policy to order something that i wouldn’t/can’t make myself. so, to order deviled eggs as an appetizer? it felt a little silly. they were delicious, though…family tradition meeting curry oil & crispy shallots.
my entree was a little underwhelming, unfortunately. i got the chicken paillard, thinking i would love it as much as i do the one in tyler’s ultimate, except not so much. i should have just gone along with the fried chicken, because tom’s was delicious, as was the mac ‘n’ cheese we split as a side. actually, it ended up being too much food for the two of us, so we had the leftovers packed up & called a cab to take us to lower haight.
{image credit}
toronado: dive with amazing beer. also, the final stop necessary to earn our west coast bar crawl badges on untappd.
we stuck out like sore thumbs in this place, the only ones sans plaid & skinny jeans, but managed to hang out long enough to sample some of the selection 
dijon buttered popcorn
popcorn is my favorite food.
i make it when i’m on my own for dinner, i make it for lunch when i’m home sick on the couch watching law & order marathons, i buy it & a diet coke for $1.50 at target when i’m running errands on my lunch break, & tom uses it to bribe persuade me to go to movies i have no interest in seeing.
there’s nothing i love more than a bucket of buttery theater popcorn, but we all know that isn’t an everyday kind of food. so, for more regular consumption, this has become my absolute favorite.
never in a million years would i have thought to add dijon mustard to butter & pour it over popcorn, but that’s why i think heidi swanson is amazingly talented, because this works. the butter is just enough keeping this from becoming an overly indulgent snack & i love the hint of tang that comes from the mustard so much so, that i add quite a bit more than the original recipe. finish it off with a sprinkling of sea salt & fresh chives & it is snacking perfection.
DIJON BUTTERED POPCORN
makes about 8 cups popped corn
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1 1/2 tablespoons butter (the quality of the butter will make a difference here. we like to use salted kerrygold.)
1-2 tablespoons dijon mustard
generous pinch sea salt
1/2 bunch fresh chives, minced
set a medium, heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. drizzle with enough olive oil to thoroughly coat the bottom of the pan, about 1-2 tablespoons. drop in a few popcorn kernels.
while letting those few kernels heat up, add butter to a small saucepan & set over medium heat. let it sizzle, get foamy & turn a bit brown. whisk in the mustard, taste & add more mustard, if necessary. set aside.
when the popcorn kernels pop, add enough to cover the bottom of the pan, about 1/2 cup. cover & let pop, shaking the pan occasionally, until the pot fills up, or the popping slows to about 3 seconds betweens each pop. transfer to a large bowl.
drizzle about 1/2 of the butter & dijon mixture over the top of the popcorn & toss to coat. sprinkle with salt to taste. add remaining butter & dijon mixture, sprinkle with chives, toss once more & serve.
adapted from super natural every day
thirsty thursday | spicy grapefruit margaritas
as i mentioned here, winter is really prime time for oranges, lemons, grapefruit…really citrus of any kind, which couldn’t be better timing, because i don’t know of anyone that wouldn’t benefit from a vitamin c boost right about now.
last week, the mister was sick. i thought i had escaped unscathed, until monday, when i came down with a killer sore throat & a voice that sounded remarkably like marcel the shell‘s.
well, since monday, all i’ve been drinking is shots of generic dayquil & nyquil respectively {the only things on earth that actually taste like red & green}, but before, back when i could taste things, i couldn’t get enough of these spicy grapefruit margaritas.
i’ve avoided margaritas made with sour mix since the great hangover of 2009, aka my my 27th birthday & the switch to margaritas made with real juice has been much tastier. in mexico, we had fresh lime, cucumber & tamarind, but the grapefruit, with its balance of tart & heat, has been my favorite.
SPICY GRAPEFRUIT MARGARITAS
serves 4
1 cup tequila (we used a reposado)
1 habenero chile, halved
kosher salt
2 cups fresh grapefruit juice (about 2 large grapefruits)
dash of orange bitters
mix together tequila & chiles. let steep a maximum of three hours, checking each hour for spiciness. discard chiles & strain, if necessary.
pour water on a small plate to cover. pour kosher salt on another small plate to cover. dip the rims of four 12oz glasses in the water, then the salt, fill each glass with ice.
add 1/4 cup of spicy tequila, 1/2 cup grapefruit juice & a dash of orange bitters (per drink) to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. shake & pour over salt rimmed glasses.
adapted from bon appetit
california, here we come {again}: paso robles wine country & the pch
after a relaxing night, we got up fairly early. if there’s one thing we learned from northern california wine country, it’s that the tastings start early. like 10am early.
we packed up & hit the road, winding through the countryside until we hit justin winery. the wineries are pretty spread out in this area, but the drive out to justin is well worth it. they focus on mainly bordeaux varietals, some with names that invoke memories of high school geometry, like isosceles & obtuse.
our next stop was the beautiful tasting room at tablas creek.
here, we tasted through their rhone style wines & grabbed a few bottles to bring home, including their delicious rosé.
driving back towards the highway, we saw plenty of signs for familiar wineries, though most of them were open for tastings thursday-sunday & we happened to be passing through on a wednesday. noted.
our final wine stop was at turley, whose wines we’ve enjoyed ever since tom was allowed a semiannual allocation a few years ago. we scooped a bottle of their pesenti red velvet zin, a secondary label that’s only available for purchase at the tasting room…if you happen to be there, grab a few bottles. it’s insanely good for just $12.
after coming all this way, we would have been insane to NOT drive along the coast, so we headed west to highway 1. we had dinner reservations in san francisco & a lot of ground to cover to get there!
the weather up in the mountains was absolutely gorgeous, in the 80s with no humidity , something that you truly appreciate when you’re visiting from north carolina in august.
{look! no frizz!}
we crossed over the mountains, to the oceanfront highway & pulled into the tiny town of cambria just in time for lunch. perfect, because nicole mentioned enjoying a pretty memorable bowl of clam chowder there at moonstone beach bar & grill. we sat on their deck, overlooking the ocean, & just watched the waves & the birds boldly grabbing fries from diners’ plates.
{these birds know no boundaries in their quest for fried potatoes.}
now, i’m not typically a clam chowder lover, but when something comes so highly recommended, i’m willing to give it a shot. & nicole was right. this chowder is memorable… rich & creamy, with a warm garlic undertone, studded with bacon & clams & served in a perfectly toasted sourdough boule…it’s without a doubt, the best clam chowder i’ve ever had, one of the best soups, even. bon appétit, you will be hearing from me soon. people need this recipe.
after lunch we headed down the road just a bit to the actual moonstone beach, where we changed in the car because the temperature had dropped about 30° by the water & the fog set in. but i was still going to dip a toe in the pacific, which is all i did because it was fah-reezing.
the rest of the afternoon was spent in the car, soaking in the beautiful scenery
of big sur, carmel, monterey & the rest of the rocky coastline all the way to san francisco.
lemon sugar cookies
citrus is winter’s little bright spot, the standout amongst the bleakness of winter produce. & while the bright flavors & tartness are reminiscent of sunny days & warmer weather, citrus fruits are really at their peak right now.
so grab some lemons & get baking! these soft & chewy lemon sugar cookies are sure to brighten up any winter day.
LEMON SUGAR COOKIES
makes about 3 dozen cookies
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 large lemons, zested
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar, for rolling the cookies
preheat oven to 350°. line at least two baking sheets with parchment paper & set aside.
in a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder & salt. set aside.
using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, or hand mixer, beat the butter & sugar together at medium speed until creamy & smooth. add the lemon zest, egg, vanilla & lemon juice & continue mixing until well combined. gradually add in the flour mixture until combined.
roll dough, by the tablespoon-full, by hand into little balls, then roll through the reserved granulated sugar. place on prepared baking sheets & bake for 8-10 minutes, rotating halfway through, until the cookies are set & slightly golden. let sit on the baking sheets for a few minutes to firm up before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
from two peas & their pod
