Meal No. 941: Juicy Burgers on the Grill

What a great reprieve from winter! Yesterday was again gorgeous, with temps in the mid to upper 60s, making it a wonderful easy Sunday. I had to grill again, and last night I got a few folks over to partake in it.

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"Grilled Juicy Burgers," from Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks recipe magazine.

Meal No. 940: Chicken on a Throne

For the Saturday meal and a small gathering of folks at the Roediger House last night, the choice was chicken on a throne, using the kamado grill while enjoying the mid-60s weather that graced us the day following a sleet and snow event.

Kamado Meal #24

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"Chicken on a Throne" (p. 171-173), "Old-Fashioned High-Cholesterol Great-Tasting Southern Sauce" (p. 351), and "Alabama Great White Sauce" (p. 362). In Smoke & Spice, by Cheryl and Bill Jamison. Boston: The Harvard Common Press, 2003.

Meal No. 939: Chicken Francese

Last night's meal was another new recipe, which I was inspired to try because of how much I enjoy the chicken Francese at Sal's Italian Bistro in Edinburg, Virginia. I shoulda made more of the lemon butter wine sauce and I'll know better next time.

I haven't made a batch of cookies in what seems like quite a while, and the other inspiration of the evening was to thrown in a batch of white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. With a tall cold glass of milk, it was a fine ender to the evening and a great cap to a Friday snow day.

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"Chicken Francese," in Cuisine at Home, Issue 104, April 2014, 58-59.

"Premier White Chocolate and Macadamia Pieces Cookies," from Hershey's Mauna Loa. Found online at http://www.maunaloa.com/recipes/cookies.asp.

Sleet & Snow & Freezing Rain, Oh My!

Winter continues to rear its ugly head, and on this first Friday of March, it brought the region to a near stand-still again by dumping upon us a few inches of sleet, snow, and freezing rain. Schools were canceled so I had another unexpected day off from work. Here are some pics from 'round the house:

Multiple weather warnings and advisories to start this Friday.

Ice glazed on a kitchen window screen.

A front-of-house shot from the morning after.

Please note that the beauty of a North Carolina winter is that, when pulling up the 5-day weather forecast while I'm home on a snow day, I see that by Tuesday we are supposed to reach 74°F:

Being at home for a snow day put me in the mood for a lunch of biscuits and gravy, although I filled up too fast and couldn't eat it all:

Meal No. 938: Biscuits & Gravy

Meal No. 937: Penne Carbonara

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"Pasta Carbonara," a recipe shared by Monie Lawrence of Raleigh, NC.

Meal No. 936: Grilled T-Bone Steak

Thursday 06 March 2014

Oh, I have missed grilling of late. Tossing this T-bone on the grill last night and adding a wonderfully sweet sweet potato to it made one fine meal at the end of an almost spring-like March day.

Meal No. 935: Pan-Seared Pork Medallions with a Red Wine Sauce

Last night, I finished up my snow day at home with a simple but delicious meal of pork medallions with a made-up red wine sauce, some whipped potatoes, and a serving of leftover layered green bean casserole.

Shrove Tuesday, National Pancake Day, and Snow!

Meal No. 934: Pancakes

The reason I was actually home at lunchtime to make pancakes today is because winter is not yet done with us here in the northwestern Piedmont of North Carolina:

There was sleet and snow, enough to get schools called off so that I wasn't able to work next door in Guilford County today...

...and freezing rain that you can sort of see clinging to the basketball goal backboard above.

Update: The following day, I snapped the following picture of a bush at the corner of the house next door, which is (so far as I know) the house where the Roediger Family lived while they were building the house I now call home.

Meal No. 933: Ultimate Cream of Tomato Soup

I'm sick, and this was good.

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"Ultimate Cream of Tomato Soup," from Cook's Illustrated, November 1999. Recipe can also be found online at Cookography.com.

Meal No. 932: Country-Fried Pork with Gravy

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"Country-Fried Pork with Gravy," by Diane Unger. In Cook's Country, February/March 2012, p. 8-9.

"Company Mashed Potatoes," a Jones family favorite.

Graffiti Hits Home

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about the renovation of a building across the street from the house that will be a new Italian restaurant. I also shared a picture showing the graffiti that had shown up on that property. No sooner had it been painted over, though, than it was hit yet again, with a less artistic and more vulgar bit of graffiti (which was painted over before I even saw it). And they didn't stop with that property: they hit Radar Security Alarm, Inc., right next to it, and they also put a heart on the wall at the south end of my property. Damn it.

I still had paint from when I first bought the house and had to cover over some light graffiti on the front walls, and so I covered it over immediately. It looks tacky painted over but that's better than the graffiti.

Meal No. 931: Brendan's Moroccan Bistro Chicken

A night of planned but also welcome-but-unexpected guests, so I turned to the recipe shared with me by former student Brendan Shanley, because it's great with a crowd and with unpredictable arrival times.

Also, with the demolition of the rear wall and the old sales building that was right above my kitchen window, I now actually get to catch a glimpse of nice sunsets to the west, like the one I saw this evening while I worked on dinner:

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"Layered Green Bean Casserole," a long-time Jones family favorite.

Meal No. 930: Seared Tuna with Rosemary Peppercorn Sauce

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"Rosemary Peppercorn Sauce," from MoreThanGourmet.com.

Meal No. 929: Not So Cajun Chicken

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Download and Print: Not So Cajun Chicken (another version can be found here)

Caramel Cake

Wow. This cake had such great promise but the layers were dry as dust. Caramel icing was pretty delicious and that's what saved it for a day or so.

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"Easy Caramel Cake," by Cali Rich. In Cook's Country, December/January 2009, p. 26.

Meal No. 928: Dijon Pork Medallions

This is a very sentimental meal for me, one that my mother and I made when she did her part to send me into kitchendom by buying a recipe magazine in the grocery check-out aisle. It's always good, and it always brings her to mind.

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"Pork Medallions with Dijon Mushroom Sauce," by Frank Hollands of Minnesota. From Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks' A Taste of the BAKE-OFF Issue from March 2001, p. 40-41.

Meal No. 927: Roast Dijon Leg of Lamb

I played with a mix of ideas from recipes to achieve this evening's delicious roasted leg of lamb.

Meal No. 926: Beef Stir-Fry

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Recipe based on "Glorious Beef with Mushrooms," in Wok Fast by Hugh Carpenter and Teri Sandison. Ten Speed Press, 2002, p. 87 (recipe) and p. 26-27 (marinade and sauce).

Abita Mardi Gras Bock

It's about damned time. My friend and former WFU student Tim Schwarz got me hooked on Abita beers such as their Amber and especially their Turbodog. At Christmas I had come to appreciate their Christmas Ale. And he had been encouraging me to try to get my hands on some Mardi Gras Bock. But I couldn't find it around Winston-Salem. Until a week or so ago. That stuff is pretty darned good, and you'd better believe I've stocked up on this seasonal release. It's already sold out at Total Wine but I'm grabbing more as I find them at the grocery store.

Quanto Basta Coming to Spring Street

Former Elections Board Office, as seen from my upstairs porch
(center of picture, visible between two poles)

When I first moved to North Spring Street in downtown Winston-Salem, it was not just the gorgeous old house that drew me here. I also liked the convenience: to restaurants, galleries, performance spaces, bars, and government services. One of the first reaped benefits of this kind of convenient living was being able to walk across the street to the county elections board office to change my voter registration.

That office, though,  moved into the new county government complex on the other side of downtown shortly after that, which is still easy to walk to for early voting and such. The old building across the street has since then been many things, including home to the Winston-Salem Symphony, Bald Eagle Technologies (now merged with OutSourceIT), and a couple of inscrutable "financial advising" firms.

With a front entrance facing West Fourth Street and a side entrance facing North Spring Street, this building is at the early stages of renovation and reconstruction. According to a small article posted in Smitty's Notes, the good folks who opened the Spring House Restaurant, Kitchen, & Bar (within sight of the Roediger House) are going to turn this into Quanto Basta, an Italian restaurant and wine shop:

Quanto Basta: Italian Eatery & Wine Bar coming to 4th Street Winston.

Coming soon! Quanto Basta: Italian Eatery & Wine Bar. Located at 4th and Spring Street in downtown Winston-Salem. This is another project from the folks that brought us Spring House Restaurant, Kitchen, & Bar. Chef Tim Grandinetti, Lynn Murphy and Lynnette Matthews-Murphy. 

The establishment will feature a deli market and dining room on the first floor seating 80. A wine bar will be located on the second floor that will seat 60. There will be a Roof Top Terrace overlooking downtown that will seat 48. Construction has already started with an anticipated opening in Spring 2014.

From Smitty's Notes

A couple of weeks ago, Quanto Basta posted this rendering to their Facebook page:

Source: Quanto Basta Facebook Page
View from intersection of Fourth & Spring

Unfortunately, also a couple of weeks ago, the Spring Street side of the building got hit with this: