On a dreary, rainy, foggy, but surprisingly warm Wednesday morning before Christmas, it was a pleasure to be joined at breakfast time by childhood friend Todd Martin. This was his
second visit to the Roediger House, and I was glad he was able to make the one-hour drive up from Asheboro, where he's spending the holiday with his folks. After the leisurely breakfast of party ham biscuits, souped-up scrambled eggs, and creamy grits, with fresh-squeezed orange juice and coffee, we did a quick tour of the progress on the house. We finished up in the renovated/rehabbed attic space and played a number of rounds of pool. It was a great morning.
Let me also note that today (Sunday, December 27) was unbelievably warm. At the end of the driveway, I found that two azaleas (that have been pretty quiet in the bloom department) had suddenly busted out in color:
I also spotted the seed pods on the iris just outside the back door:
It was such a lovely afternoon (when the sun would occasionally poke through) that I took a good walk through downtown. Here's a shot of the R.J. Reynolds Building, which is being renovated to become the Cardinal Hotel and Residences, which is really awesome for downtown:
I don't think that my sister in Indiana (where it was 39°F) was at all appreciative of the phone screenshot I sent her:
"Party Ham Biscuits," a recipe shared with our family by Susan Brown, who was my sister Allison's college chum at the University of North Carolina. I recorded Susan's in my recipe collection in 1988. There are various versions of this recipe, of course. Pretty popular is the "caramelized" version, such as this one: "
Caramelized Ham & Swiss Buns," by Iris Weihemuller of Baxter, MN, in
Taste of Home, December 2013, p. 59.
Based on "
Slow Cooker Make-Ahead Scrambled Eggs," from
Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks, April 2001, No. 242, p. 18-19.
"
Creamy Grits," from Luquire Family Stone Ground Grits, milled in Greenwood, SC.
