Love, Erika

NC Visit 2015: Day 2: Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo

 

May 3, 2015

What an amazing day! Waking up in North Carolina to Parker's 6th birthday was lovely, and he was very excited although his understanding of what would happen was a little cloudy. He was asking about cake, and presents, and having us sing to him. We explained we'd be getting a cupcake later on, and that presents would come on a different day. But today, we were going to the Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo! 

This was a great idea that Sara had, because it was the only day we could get together, and she knew that the rodeo was happening on that day. It was absolutely perfect, because I have never eaten anything from a food truck before! It features heavily on my bucket list, and has been something I was dying to do. In New Hampshire there just aren't that many food trucks, and they almost certainly are not where I ever am. So I'm way behind the times! The rest of the country has been consumed with the food truck trend, but of course things are slow to come to New England.  And how hard could it be?? REALLY?  You don't even need a building! Lame.

 What a journey to get there! Kelly picked us up at the house, and then we drove to Sara's house, and from there we drove again to Raleigh where we parked nearby in the Marriott underground parking garage. By the time we finally got there (around 2:00), the kids were starving in a bad way. I felt bad because it had been a legitimately long time since breakfast, and they were fading fast. 

We meandered through the masses of people trying to look at the food trucks to decide what lengthy line to get in, and they sprawled along a half-mile stretch of road. As we passed truck after truck, the kids were getting frantic, and Drew was in tears and he goes, "Can we start ordering food now????" So we found the Master Bacon truck which they liked the sound of, and we got in line, and split up with the rest of the group who all mostly went back to the start of the line. And we waited and waited and waited as they fought over the one and only pair of sunglasses we had. Finally we were up and I ordered 3 different things because I knew we'd never be able to wait in another line at another truck. This would have to be our only order! Luckily the food was great and HUGE.

Friend reunion at the Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo

Food Changes

Weird things sometimes happen for a reason. This week, I started watching this program that I found on the DVR called The Blood Sugar Solution which aired on PBS not long ago. I thought Dave had recorded it, so I started watching it. He later asked if I had recorded it, and I said no, I thought you did. He said no. So nobody claims to have done it. It must have been a child mishap with the remote control. Weird, huh?

Anyway, this is a program by a doctor who outlines various (negative) changes in the modern diet which have resulted in most of our modern day health problems like obesity, diabetes, etc. The things he talks about in this program are not suprising, not new information to me..... it was all things that I have heard a million times before (way too much sugar, not enough fiber, too much processed food, too many preservatives, etc). We KNOW this. We've heard it all before. But for whatever reason, that particular day I was in the right frame of mind to watch the program, pay attention, and feel ready to even make some changes based on what he was talking about.

So these days there are 1001 things to watch out for in the foods we eat.....saturated and trans fats, pesticides, hormones, genetically modified this-and-that, sugars, gluten, glycemic index, you name it. One of the things that struck me the most from that program was high fructose corn syrup. Gross, in its modern day Frankenstein chemical makeup (and did you know what a rotten, pest-infested crop corn is (and therefore one of the most heavily pesticide treated crops???).

I decided to take inventory of the things we regularly eat and see if they contain HFCS and see what the alternatives are at the store when I go shopping. Reading all the food labels, I am shocked and disgusted about how it's in everything.  But there are a few particularly bad offenders: some juices (particularly lower quality and store brand juices), jelly, pancake syrup, applesauce, ketchup, and BREAD (really?? bread? why they gotta put that crap in bread?).

Luckily I was easily able to find alternatives for many of those things. Ketchup was easy-- ALL of the Hunt's products do not contain HFCS and Simply Heinz does not also.  Jelly was fairly easy too, as long as you read the labels.  Bread was a little harder, but you do just have to stand there and diligently read all the labels. It appears that all the Arnold's brand breads are HFCS-free (which I can get at BJs for no more than I was paying for our regular brand).  Applesauce was easy as long as you get the "Natural" kind or "no sugar added" which means it's nothing but apples and water..... the standard regular version is loaded with HFCS.

I was relieved that a lot of the major things that I feed my kids are good to go....... 90% of their juices (which I have always watered down by at least 100% anyway), waffles, cereals, etc.  I'm still having trouble with pancake syrup because there does not seem to be a LITE HFCS-free option...... Log Cabin brand does not contain high fructose corn syrup but they don't have a lite version. I'm not sure which is worse. I'm sure the kids can stand a few extra calories.

The more you know, the more you should be afraid of everything. Ugh. It's a messed up world.

Guest Post

I was so flattered when a longtime faraway blog reader in Australia asked me to do a guest post for her blog! Brooke from Brisbane put together a series of 5 guest posts and asked me to contribute tips for food photography. I was so happy to do it, and thrilled that someone thinks I know something about something (anything!)! :D Ha! I'm pretty sure it's the first time anybody has ever done that.

Without further ado, please visit Brooke way down under and say hello!

Five Tips for Photographing Food

(also--yikes--I didn't realize it has been a month since I blogged!!)

The Dixie Classic Fair

I was so psyched during my trip home to North Carolina in early October because it coincided with the Dixie Classic Fair dates! It was the fair that I grew up going to because we lived in Kernersville during those years, so I have a lot of early memories of fairs there. And these days I have always had a secret wish to take off one evening and head to the fair by myself just so I can take pictures. With kids in tow, it doesn't leave much time or opportunity for creativity, so it's been many years since I got to satisfy my love of fair pictures (and I'm still not there!).

Unfortunately it was not to be the case this time either, even though I was going with all adults. Too bad it drizzled rain most of the time! That was a real bummer although we still had a great time and I managed to salvage a few shots all the while sheilding my camera from the rain inside a plastic Target bag that I found in my mom's car en route.

Fair food! What in the world would I choose as my fair indulgence this year, in the South? I hardly knew what kinds of things they had there anymore, it's been so long. I've about had it with pizza and sausage & peppers because you can get that ANYWHERE. Ugh. What would be the perfect regional fare at the fair? There were certainly a zillion BBQ stands everywhere and that would have been great, but I could get that elsewhere. And I definitely was not going to be one of these..... certainly not something you can get anywhere else but I wasn't into it. :) Two great tastes that taste weird together.

My mom had the perfect idea--Moravian chicken pie, complete with a thick slice of pound cake.  It was more than perfect!  It was served up in the brick buildings near the main entrance where all the churches and civic organizations house their food offerings. Too bad I never got a pic of the chicken pie (but it was soooo good and fresh), but I had the pound cake tucked safely in my pocket just waiting for a shelter from the rain. :) That baby wasn't going anywhere.

Here's Jill and Derek enjoying their bloomin' onion. It was a good one! And who's the so-called photographer who left the lemonade straw in the middle of the frame? Ooops.

And lastly, the funnel cake that nearly did us all in. (so nice to be able to call it "funnel cake" or "elephant ear"... the only names that make sense to me! In New England it's just "fried dough".)

I was very interested in all the food competitions...... rows and rows of cookies, poundcakes, biscuits, and breads all lined up with tags and ribbons. I want that job!

One of the last things we saw was the vegetable barns and agricultural products....including bees! This honey display was very beautiful with the light behind it.

Sugarland!

Even though Sugarland wasn't there when we went to school in Chapel Hill, it is quickly becoming one of our must-go places anytime we head back there to meet up. Because, yeah..... a cupcake shop on Franklin St probably would have been the absolute worst thing for us back then (if we could afford the $3.25 cupcakes). We were already well on our way to hardening our arteries with Taco Bell and Pokey Stix. But then, with all the walking we did, we probably worked it all off....... I can justify it 100 different ways!

On to the pictures! We all chose our indulgences.

I had a lemon cupcake, set off with a Jimmy Buffett lime gelato martini. Awesome!

Gracie chose pumpkin gelato and it was finger-lickin' and elbow-lickin' good!  That girl was AFTER that gelato. :D She was actually still talking about it the next morning when I saw her.

Quiet little Ella was really tired at this point I think.... I think we wore her out! After an hour long photo session with lots of walking, a dinner at the Brewery, dessert..... she was out in no time at all once we got back in the car. :)

Pretty Jenny! I was so happy to see her!  No outing is complete without her.

One berry, two berry, pick me a blueberry

 

We've been looking forward all summer to when the blueberries would be ready!  We're lucky to have a really huge and gorgeous blueberry farm right here in Goffstown so it's easy to just swing by and pick a couple of pounds. So beautiful. It seems we always manage to get there right around mid-day when the light is HORRIBLE (horrible!!!!) for photos but you get the general idea.

 
 
 
This year's trip was much improved over last year's. Last year when we went it was literally 100 degrees and the kids were sluggish and whiny (also Parker was just over 1 year old). This year it was still hot, but only about 90 this time and both kids understood the idea of only picking the purple ones. Drew doesn't eat blueberries, but if you give him a specific job like just picking the purple ones, he's happy to focus on his task and I think he had a good time blueberry pickin'.  Parker also enjoyed it but the hard part was to keep him from eating them. He's a NUT about blueberries but these really needed to be washed first, no telling how many chemicals he ingested.

Weare Farmer's Market

Here's a quick one from today. Just because I love it so much. We took an impromptu field trip to the Weare Farmer's Market today, and WOW was it small. Maybe 10 vendor tents, *if* that. But everything is just so, so beautiful and I kick myself for being so meek and afraid to bust right up into people's tents to take pictures. At least not without buying something. So in this case, we did buy some beautiful lettuce and an amazingly rustic and gorgeous flower bouquet at this lovely lady's booth. Sadly, I did not catch the name of the farm.  But I felt okay about asking to take pictures since we bought something. 

<sigh> Love.  

The blog posts will be coming fast and furious in the next week or so. We've been balls to the wall over the past couple of weeks and have a TON of things to share. My head is still spinning as things have NOT calmed down yet, but after tomorrow morning, there should be a break.  Drew starts school again on Monday so there will be some semblance of a routine coming in the very immediate future. I can't wait.

Birthday Cupcake: Queen City Cupcakes

 
So I've kind of created a monster lately with providing desserts and treats to the kids after supper..... but trust me, ONLY if they've eaten their supper (this is only really an issue with Drew) and only in small amounts. Parker always eats his supper, but with Drew it's more of a challenge. Anyway, oftentimes we buy the nasty cupcakes at Hannaford for an after-dinner treat when we're doing our grocery shopping. Parker easily knows the word "cake."

So for Drew's birthday I thought about getting him a special treat and my first thought was to take him to the grocery store to let him pick out a specially decorated giant cupcake that they sell. But then I was like, "UGH. Nasty. Who wants that for their birthday?" And just wait!!!!!  Here in Manchester we NOW have our own NEW cupcake boutique bakery!!! WE'RE IN THE BIG TIME NOW!!!  Apparently every town in the world has a cupcake bakery, and finally New Hampshire has caught up to the trend (I think 10 years late is pretty average for this area, given Olive Garden, Target, Kohls, Hobby Lobby, Chipotle, Ulta, etc)

I thought, let's take Drew to Queen City Cupcakes!  I've been following them on Facebook since they opened on Cinco de Mayo but because they sell out every single day, I can never get over there in time each day. However, on Drew's birthday we had the time to make the nearby mother-son trip over to Elm St. to visit the cupcake store that we've heard so much about. I do live in Goffstown, but downtown Manchester is only 10 minutes away. Nice!

We got there around 1:45 and time was on my mind, because I knew they could seriously be sold out at any moment. They had FIVE flavors left for the day. And after going inside and seeing the shop, I am not surprised! It is SO SMALL in there. It's quite amazing, really, how such a great buzz has been created from within such a tiny, nondescript shop. But I won't lie: These cupcakes are FANTASTIC. There is no display case, no interior decorating, no design, just a few tables and a kitchen. But clearly they have put substance before form because these are great recipes they have. No doubt about it.

 

These cute white paper floral chandeliers are adorable and not the first time I've seen them in a cupcake bakery! They must be a trendy thing in the cupcake community. They're from IKEA and I saw them at Delicious in Greensboro when I was there in April. They sure are beautiful.

I bought a six-pack of cupcakes of the flavors they had left for the day: carrot, red velvet, hawaiian, almond joy, and two peppermint--one of which we ate there in the shop. It was fantastic!!!  I have never tasted a more moist chocolate cake, and the peppermint flavor was really high quality, being both light and long-lasting. It hit high up in the nose rather than coating the tongue with some cheap breathmint-like flavor.

Good stuff.... and the Hawaiian was my absolute favorite!!!!  I'm kind of a sucker for ANYTHING with coconut in it. These aren't fancy-decorated cupcakes but more of the homestyle variety....... but the ingredients and taste are so obviously high quality. Fantastic!!!

Dinner at the Mile Away Restaurant

A thousand years ago......or rather, three weeks ago, my Dave and I went out to dinner at the Mile Away Restaurant in Milford. Was it really only 3 weeks ago? I swear every week that goes by is like a century. Life is crazy, and monotonous all at once and occasions like going out to eat, just the two of us, are rare and much appreciated. We had this meal on May 12, according to my time stamp from my camera, and it was my belated Mother's Day gift.

The reason that I know about the Mile Away is because I was the second shooter for a wedding by Sarah Swan here last fall...... and when they started serving the dinner at the wedding and I smelled the amazing aromas coming out of the dishes..... I was convinced that I needed to come here for an evening meal.  Between the food and the ambiance, I knew this was a place I wanted to get to know better.  The decor is amazing and looks like it's straight out of Country Living Magazine. In other words--completely inspiring!

I love the menu structure at the Mile Away. For one price, you choose an appetizer, a salad, and entrée, and a dessert. It's amazing!  And it really encourages you to try all kinds of things. I didn't know before this visit, that they have such a strong German influence.  I ate pate for the first time and it was awesome. And pickled beets!  Ironically, ME, who generally avoids most any vegetable in the world.... I love beets. Sliced and cold. And that is exactly how they served them at the Mile Away. Bears, Beets, Battlestar Gallactica.  Yes. Schrute Farms would be proud (and my mom).

But let's get to the photos......   first up is a shot of the cobalt blue bottles in the windowsill above the table where we were sitting. You feel like you're in a a renovated barn (and I don't know for sure, but would not be surprised if this was exactly the case) and there is all kinds of lovely old-school European decorations on the walls around us. Not to mention a grand fireplace and mantle and fantastic chandeliers. Also, my Caesar salad.

 
Next: the majority of my meal. My Chicken Liver Pate, Chicken Oscar (I cannot resist anything with Hollandaise sauce), and strawberry shortcake for dessert.

 
And lastly, a shot of my red wine flight which was delicious..... and then Dave's meal of stuffed clams and Baked Stuffed Shrimp. Seafood much?

 
It was a fantastic meal. At the end, our server who at first suspiciously asked me what I was taking pictures of and if I was working for a food magazine (ha ha! I wish....), took a shot of Dave and me, but I will spare you from viewing it. Totally blurry. Oh well. ONE DAY Dave and I will have a decent picture taken of the two of us together.  Some day.

My friends: my gorgeous, fun, fabulous friends.

 
Or as Clinton Kelly "CK" says, Freakin' fabulous.  During my visit to NC a few weeks ago (yes, I'm still not done with that topic yet) my best girlfriends and I all met up for a girls' night in Chapel Hill. Except for Shelly, she couldn't make it--missed you girl!!  I love these girls and I can't think of too many other human beings on this earth outside of this small circle that I feel as 100% comfortable with.  It's an amazing thing, especially as I get older, to have a group of friends like this that I've known for so long that I can't really ever remember NOT knowing them.  It's liberating to know people like this who have known you since before you became the person that you are today, who have seen you at your absolute worst, and celebrated you at your best, and laughed and cried together the whole way.  And I have to admit that I like the way I feel when I'm with them, because I feel like we're 20 years old again, the way we giggle cackle and carry on. Yeah, we're not the giggling type. We guffaw.

Here we are at some timeless UNC landmarks. We marveled at how much has changed, and how much stays the same.  Browsing through souveniers at Student Stores, we decided that those prices were geared towards alumni who had majored in things other than Religious Studies or other somesuch nonsense. Ahem. ;)  Who the hell would do that?

 
I love Jenny. She will bust out the irreverence anywhere. Any place. Any time.
 

Bandido's was great as usual (after a quick table change from a lame location to a much better one). A pitcher of margaritas got the party started and we laughed the time away. Who knows how many meals we had spent down in that little basement restaurant 10-15 years ago.

 

After Bandidos..... cupcakes from Sugarland in the street lights of Franklin Street. My 50mm lens allows me to take photos practically in the dark.
 

Looking suspiciously like a mug shot of some kind.....