We Screamed for Weekend Ice Creams

When Maureen Moos and family were here the other weekend, they ran up to Mount Airy and over into Cana, Virginia, and came home with some terrific fresh sweet peaches. I put those to use last week in a new recipe for peach ice cream and then churned it in time to cool the tongue-sears from our spicy beef chili on Friday night. I do believe all eight comers sought out a second helping, and then there were two or three who went for a third serving. I take that as a promising positive sign.

I also managed to use up some over-ripe bananas last weekend, by roasting them with light brown sugar and then turning them into an ice cream all unto themselves. It's tasty, but not my thing, so I'm glad there were others around to enjoy it:

For me, though, I was content to have another bowl of the previous night's peach ice cream, all nice and set up after an overnight stint in the freezer:

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"Contest-Winning Peach Ice Cream," by Toni Box Weaver [Alabama]. In Taste of Home, June/July 2004, p. 31.

"Roasted Banana Ice Cream," by David Lebovitz. In The Perfect Scoop, Ten Speed Press (Berkeley/Toronto),  2007, p. 72.

Meal No. 1886: One-Pan Pork Tenderloin

Last Saturday night, with good friends visiting from Lynchburg, we feasted on one-pan pork tenderloin with roasted green beans and baby Dutch potatoes...before diving into more delicious homemade ice cream (to be blogged about tomorrow!).

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"One-Pan Pork Tenderloin with Green Beans and Potatoes," by Christie Morrison. In Cook's Country, October/November 2015, p. 27.

Meal No. 1885: Simple Beef Chili with Beans

Goodness gracious: there were eight folks at the dinner table last Friday night and I thought a pot of beef chili would be more than sufficient to feed us all. Alas, it amounted to seven full bowls and an eighth skimpy one, which I took, and then we all made up for it with hearty tender slices of Granny Wilson's honey wheat cornbread. And the dessert, too, which will be described in a subsequent blog entry.

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"Simple Beef Chili with Kidney Beans," from Cook's Illustrated, Number Sixty-One [March-April 2003], p. 10-11.

"Granny Wilson's Cornbread," a recipe shared with me by Linda B. Dunlap.

Meal No. 1884: Roasted Turkey Tenderloins

A new recipe happened on Thursday night: roasted turkey tenderloins, along with broccoli with cheese sauce and candied sweet potatoes.

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"Roasted Turkey Tenderloins," by Laura Gordon. From TheDailyMeal.com. [Posted 04 November 2014]

"Candied Sweet Potatoes," by Cecilia Jenkins. In Cook's Country, October/November 2015, p. 21.

The Roediger House: Backdrop for a WXII Live Report

When I took Sumner out at 6:30 last Thursday morning, I caught sight of a mobile news unit from local station WXII-12 up on the parking lot behind the house:

It turns out that Bethany Moore, one of the station's reporters, was doing a live segment with the city skyline behind her. It's kind of cool that the cameraman also captured the Roediger House in the shot.

This might be the third or fourth time I've chanced to spy WXII mobile reporting from up there...the last time being in connection with the construction of 751 West Fourth across the way from here. On another occasion, back in 2013, that lot was the setting for WGHP's evening live report (the station's Winston-Salem bureau is right around the corner from here, on Holly Avenue).

Here's what the house looked like from the front, once the sun began to appear beyond the city skyline:

More Projects Completed!

Shower Doors Completed

Much earlier in the summer, Quality Glass Service was here to install three shower doors and a bathroom mirror, but only half the job got completed because of some broken tile. Mr. Todd Sink was called in to do a replacement of the inside tile of the shower entry in the main second floor bathroom...

and that was finished the last Friday in July:

Then, on August 1st, the Quality Glass fellows returned to install that last shower door and also to put up a new mirror over the vanity and basin in that bathroom. I still need to add some towel rods but I'm feeling pretty good about this bathroom now.

Van Gogh Guest Bedroom Furniture

Also on my list for this summer was refinishing the writing table in the Van Gogh guest bedroom. I've had it since I was in middle school and it went off to my dorm room at Carolina and has been with me ever since. I distinctly remember foolishly placing the hot ceramic microwave dish full of fresh-made oatmeal on it one of those college years, and there were plenty of other scuffs and watermarks and heat injuries. Kent Grubbs of Grubbs' Woodworks made it look fantastic:

He also fixed a kitchen table chair that had been broken.

The other addition to the Van Gogh bedroom is a hope chest at the end of the bed. Made in the late 1940s by Lane (headquartered in Alta Vista, VA), it certainly does seem to be an appropriate new item in that lovely guest room.

Brioche Stone Fruit Cobbler with Vanilla Ice Cream

After a fun night with the six core members of the larger Roediger House family, with Star Wars IV: A New Hope on the evening's entertainment agenda, and a filling comfort food dinner, I also had planned a bit of dessert to finish us out. It has been forever since I've made stone fruit cobbler and I was excited about bringing it back as a summer treat. I had even made vanilla ice cream in time for it to mostly set up as a sidecar to that main sugary feature.

Unfortunately, when the timer went off and I went down to pull the cobbler out of the oven that I'd just used to make dinner, I discovered that I must've been too habitually thorough when pulling the casserole out...and had turned OFF the oven instead of leaving it on for dessert. So, the guests had to head out (it was getting late!) and the cobbler and ice cream were enjoyed by a considerably smaller audience!

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"Brioche Stone Fruit Cobbler," recipe worked out by me as an adaptation of "Stone Fruit Cobbler," by Ann of RedactedRecipes.com. [Published 08 August 2008]

"Vanilla Ice Cream," from Bi-Rite Creamery's Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones, by Kris Hoogerhyde, Anne Walker, and Dabney Gough. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press (2012), p. 35-36.

Meal No. 1883: Cheesy Chicken Broccoli and Rice Casserole

Last Tuesday night the core crew of most regular regulars came over for dinner and a movie. Dinner was the sumptuous goodness of cheesy chicken, broccoli, and rice casserole. The movie was Star Wars IV: A New Hope. And it was all good.

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While I have pretty much made it my own recipe, I still got inspiration and ideas from:

• "Chicken Broccoli Rice and Cheese Casserole," by LifeAfter40 on food.com. Posted 18 March 2013.
• "Cheesy Chicken Broccoli and Rice Casserole," by Sabrina from Dinner, Then Dessert. Posted 14 December 2016.

Meal No. 1882: Rotisserie Chicken Sandwiches

Last week was a pretty busy and intense week, and then there was the pleasure of a weekend visit from fellow WFU grad student Mo Moos and her family...so I was content on Monday night to fall back on a simple sandwich and leftover broccoli salad and blue cheese coleslaw. Quick to fix and easy to clean up...and that was a winning combination.

Caramel Popcorn Crunch Cookies

Several years ago, when a dinnertime conversation led me to search for pics of the famous Voodoo Doughnuts creation called "Oh Captain, My Captain" (a yeast doughnut topped with Cap'n Crunch cereal), I also stumbled across a couple of recipes for Cap'n Crunch cookies, and I was seriously intrigued. In the intervening years, I've now made quite a few batches of these, with a variety of Cap'n Crunch cereals (including Sprinkled Donut, Cinnamon Roll Crunch, and Chocolatey Crunch). The favorite version, though, depends on the limited-issue Caramel Popcorn Crunch, which I'm glad I stocked up on. That's what I made this past Sunday in order to tempt Mo Moos and her family while they were here, and also to send with them when they hit the road on Monday afternoon.

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"Cap'n Crunch Cookies," found online at The Capitol Baker, with credit going to The Sugar Plum Blog for inspiration and the source of the adapted recipe.

Meal No. 1881: Indoor Pulled Pork Barbecue

An incredibly special family came to the Roediger House for a visit this past weekend and it was great. In the late 1980s, a delightful young Iowa farm girl named Mo Bayles found her way to Wake Forest University to pursue her master's degree, at the same time I was there in a similar pursuit. We were both graduate hall directors and that was the beginning of a long friendship that has survived time and distance. She and her husband Dave live in Minneapolis and have two wonderful daughters, and all of them (plus a niece!) came east for a college tour and a week at the beach. I'm glad they put two nights at the RoHo on their itinerary. To welcome them in proper North Carolina fashion, I made indoor pulled pork  barbecue, blue cheese coleslaw, broccoli salad, and creamy stuffed eggs. For appetizers, there was pimento cheese and warm Swiss and bacon dip.

We were mighty glad also that one of the assistant directors from that time, Paul Barnes, and his wife Denise were able to join us, too.

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"Swiss and Bacon Dip" [not pictured], from Rachael Ray. Available online at the Food Network website.

"South Carolina-Style Pimento Cheese [not pictured]." Recipe worked out by me, based on Sharon's Palmetto Pimento Cheese.

"Indoor Pulled Pork," by Bryan Roof. In Cook's Illustrated, January & February 2010 (No. 102), p. 6-7.

"Blue Cheese Coleslaw," from Ina Garten, from the Food Network website.

"Broccoli Salad," by Carolyn Purpura Mackay. In Cook's Country, August/September 2012, p. 7.

"Creamy Stuffed Eggs," a recipe shared with me by Barbara Huneycutt of Crozet, VA.

Guidance on Hard-Boiled Eggs: "The Hard Truth about Hard-Boiled Eggs," by J. Kenji López-Alt, Managing Culinary Director of SeriousEats.com.

Meal No. 1880: Chicken with Coronation Sauce

One of the popular dishes at the Roediger House is chicken with coronation sauce, and it gets made with some frequency because it is simple to make, simple to serve, and simple to eat...but also simply delicious. With another packed day of to-do list items this past Friday and a late start on supper prep, it's the meal that made sense to me that night.

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"Coronation Sauce for Chicken," from 400 Sauces, by Catherine Atkinson, Christine France, and Maggie Mayhew. Hermes House (2006, 2008), p. 155.

Meal No. 1879: Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

When I was out in Oklahoma last week, my father-in-law made Ree Drummond's meatloaf, and I thought it was pretty amazing. So I've been itching to give it a try, which happened on Thursday night. I must've molded the loaf much too plumply, because it actually took twice as long as the stated baking time for it to be cooked through. Once it was served up on the four plates, though, it seemed to be quickly devoured. To go with it, I had a meatloaf sauce, creamy homemade mashed potatoes, and seasoned green beans.

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"My Favorite Meatloaf," from Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman. Posted 20 September 2010.

"Creamy Mashed Potatoes," from Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman. Published online 03 November 2007.

Exterior House Washing

It's painfully self-indulgent to make note of this, but the Roediger House really is a beautiful old place. When I'd been too lazy to take down the Christmas decorations this past December, it had the positive benefit that the house was seasonally jazzy when an early January snowfall hit, as shown above. Wouldn't that make a great Christmas card? Except on closer inspection, you see how dirty the house is, dingy and dark and mildew-stained. Beautiful structure, lovely snowfall, festive lights and decorations...and mildew.

It's gotten pretty bad over the last couple of years:

Fortunately, on my way down Robinhood Road last August, as I returned from the grocery store, I spotted a Crystal Clear pressure washing van and snapped a quick cell phone photo of it to get their number...and then finally followed up with them in late May. The earliest appointment was about nine weeks out, but that day finally arrived this past Wednesday and the house has now been beautifully cleaned and refreshed and all the exterior windows washed.

The dark nasty stuff under the eaves washed away easily, but Wes and the crew had to do a double-scrub of the clapboard siding on the east-facing front walls on the first floor. All in all, I'd say they did a fine job of it:

It does reveal how much peeling paint I've got, too, and presses me even more to think about the desperate need for a full painting of the house's exterior.

Meal No. 1878: Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

On the steady march to get things done around here, this past Wednesday proved to be another productive and full day. The great thing from that day will get its own blog entry tomorrow: a full exterior washing of the house. But I also finally got around to replacing the cracked windshield on the Volkswagen CC. And late afternoon, my boy Brian was finally able to come and try to figure out what's going on lately with the beer cooler in the mancave in the attic. He was here for a good while, and we even got in a couple of rounds of pool while waiting for the cooler to come back down to temp.

But it meant a late start on dinner (Amy was also here!) and no time to run to the grocery store. I had the fixings for biscuits and sausage gravy and dinner was served by 8:25 pm to the great satisfaction of the whole table.

Meal No. 1877: Chicken Stroganoff

Tuesday was another incredibly busy day with a huge list of must-do items...and a darned good success rate on completing them. By the time I'd showered after cutting the grass late afternoon, the grocery run was a bit rushed and I didn't get to start on dinner till about 7:40 pm. Still, though, I beat the usual deadline of 8:30 and served up some savory chicken stroganoff. This was a new experiment for me, and it was pretty good.

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"Chicken Stroganoff," from the Food Network Kitchens.

Sumner's Summer Kill

Last week's excursion to Oklahoma meant that the precious pup Sumner had a huge country setting to run and play to his heart's content. He was great about responding to the boundaries at the yard's edge and only once (thanks to a darned cat) did he take off and completely not respond to the summons to stop.

There was tons of playtime with his cousin Jo:

Or he'd make his own amusements:

He really is a fine and awesome dog...

All that exercise and training must've upped his skills, because on the second full day back in Winston-Salem, Sumner scored his first squirrel kill when he tore out after five of those little buggers that were raiding the birdseed in the back yard:

I'm a little torn on this one...there's the proud papa who appreciates Sumner's swift execution of this execution, but I'm not thrilled for him to now have the taste of bloody conquest. Then, too, the squirrels have been running us over here at the Roediger House, and when I was gone for a week and didn't resupply the bird feeders, they certainly made a mess of my storage bucket where the extra was kept:

And they played heck in early spring with the cushions of the furniture on the upstairs balcony, raiding them for the stuffing to line their nests:

And also they created a nasty hole in the porch gable vent in order to set up house where I really don't need them to be:

So, no...I'm not really weeping about one less squirrel.

Meal No. 1876: Smothered Pork Chops with Onion-Thyme Gravy

Monday: the first full day back from a week on the road to Oklahoma. It was a day full of appointments: looking at a pump organ across the street at Radar Security Alarm, Inc.; checking in with Lisa at 1502 Fabrics about progress on window treatments; Toma K. Banner from Wash Me Auto Detailing came to clean the car up after a week with a dog traveling along; Mike Sink was here late afternoon to show me samples for fixing the broken tile in the landing bathroom; and (unfortunately) Brian from my commercial refrigerator service company wasn't able to show up to see why the third floor beer cooler is acting up again. Then, it was six folks at dinner! That meant going for a meal that would have longer cook times to allow for some pool playing and visiting, so I chose smothered pork chops with onion-thyme gravy together with slow-cooker scalloped potatoes and garden peas. Fortunately, I still had some homemade applesauce ready to serve up too!

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"Smothered Pork Chops," by Erika Bruce. In Cook's Country, April/May 2011, p. 22-23.

"Slow-Cooker Scalloped Potatoes," by Kelly Price. In Cook's Country, January 2011, p. 6.

Meal No. 1875: Grilled Bacon & Cheese Sandwiches

After finishing the long drive home yesterday from a week's vacation with family in Oklahoma, the time spent unpacking and making an evening-time run to the grocery store led me to throw together the simplest of suppers: grilled bacon and cheese sandwiches with a tall cold glass of orange juice.

[Insert Poop Pun Here]

Before the loss of dear sweet Cyprus, I had on a wild hair purchased a poop station because it certainly did seem needed! But then she passed away and it went into the attic for the last couple of years.

Now, though, the Roediger House is home to the precious pup Sumner who is quite a regular pooper in his own right. Here in the heat of summer, I am reminded why it stinks (!) to have a poop bucket at the back corner of the house...and since Sumner has been well-conditioned to do his business on the mulch in the azalea area along the south property line, bringing back out the dog waste station and installing it over there just made a lot of sense to me. I am a man who seems to lack moderation.

Count that as another item on the extensive house to-do list...completed.

Maid to Please

As I manage to tackle item after item on my house to-do list, another one got checked off in the last few weeks. I've been in this house for coming up on 14 years, and I've never given it a truly thorough deep cleaning. And that's with two major construction projects, plus about a six-month intensive renovation process, having occurred! You don't even want to contemplate the condition of all the plantation blinds, for instance. Turning to Angie's List, as I am fond of doing, helped me connect up with Margaret Staton and her cleaning service, Maid to Please. Right around the first of June, she and her crew came and gave this house an amazing thorough deep clean...and yes, it took part of a second day to get it all done. They've now been back twice more for regular cleaning, and I am really, really glad to have things looking so nice and cared for.

Sloshed on a Sunday

Downtown living...which includes watching two incredibly drunk men sway and stagger and stumble while stopping to relieve themselves into the bushes at my neighbor's house across the street:

The dude with the bag had the aesthetic sensibility to pluck a flower blossom or two. The dude with the turquoise cap wasn't feeling much, except for the constant pull of gravity.

Meal No. 1874: Roasted Vegetables

The plan at dinner this past Friday night was supposed to involve a delightful young couple who'd been here once before, and since one of them is a committed life-long vegetarian, the intended menu was going to be mindful of that. Unfortunately, illness among the party resulted in a complete cancellation of the visit and meal. I still had to eat, so I made some of the intended dishes and was quite pleased at how good it was. That included zesty roasted broccoli, green beans with tangy mustard sauce, and feta-stuffed balsamic peppers. (I'd made yet another batch of applesauce earlier that day, and it was super once again.) I like my meat, of course, but it still turned out to be a great late supper.

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"Zesty Roasted Broccoli," from Amie the Day-Dreamin' Optimist.

"Green Beans with Tangy Mustard Sauce," from Southern Living, June 2009. [Recipe Clipping.]

Feta-Stuffed Balsamic Peppers, first made for me by Sheryl E. Cohen of Los Angeles, CA.

Guidance for Homemade Applesauce from:

• "Spiced Country Applesauce," from Finding Joy in My Kitchen. Published 11 September 2009.
• "Homemade Applesauce," from Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman. Published 16 October 2013.
• "Sarah's Applesauce," from PHATCAT on AllRecipes.com.