Culinary Adventures with Liz Biro, Part 1

In which we go on a food tour of downtown


Liz Biro is one of my local food heroes. Liz Biro, a food hero. That rhymes. I’m not proud.


Anyway, I first heard of Liz by reading her local restaurant column “The Dish” in the Star-News. Her take on our selection of non-chain food agreed pretty well with my own, so she became a trusted source on a new restaurant or a place I hadn’t tried yet. Then I met her, and liked her even more. Her interest in food runs deep and wide and roams the world from Italy to right back here at home in Wilmington. She writes her column for the paper and for Port City Foodies, and contributes to Fodor’s, all in the interest of exposing people to the great food our area has to offer.


Her latest brainchild is her popular Culinary Adventures with Liz Biro. It’s a downtown walking tour of a sampling of the most popular restaurants, complete with drink and food tastings. Liz also knows some pretty interesting food history about Wilmington, including what old buildings used to be groceries that milled their own flour. And I love me some food history! So I signed up for a tour and took my Good Neighbor Morgan along with me.

Now. Listen. (Coming out of the mouths of my parents, this always meant I was about to get in big trouble.) Now. Listen. If you are a tourist, and you are visiting our fine town, and you have time, GO ON THIS TOUR. Not only will you spend a very enjoyable 3 hours or so, you will come away with a wealth of knowledge about the downtown eatery availability. One of the reasons Liz does these tours is that as the local newspaper restaurant reviewer, she gets asked a lot by out-of-towners, "Where should I eat?" You will come away with that knowledge and will probably enjoy your stay that much more.

Now. Listen. If you are a downtown restaurant owner, you'd do well to get ON this tour. If I owned a downtown restaurant, I'd be climbing all over myself trying to get Liz to bring group after group of potential customers through my doors where I could impress them with my wares.

Lecture over.


Liz was waiting for us by the Visitor’s Center in our lovely downtown. She was easy to spot because she had her Culinary Tours sign up for us.

Well, that, and I know her, so I’d have recognized her anyway.  

Now I’m not going to steal Liz’s thunder by walking you step-by-step through her tour. You wouldn’t have as much fun with me as you would with her anyway. But I will say, home girl’s got some knowledge about the food scene in Wilmington, past and present.




In case you didn’t know, Wilmington’s history goes back to pre-Revolutionary War times. And they ate food way back then, too! Liz has some great stories about the river, the groceries, the supply lines, the flour mills, taverns, and structures along the Cape Fear.


But don’t think you’re going to just be wandering around, listening to a history lecture. (I do that anytime I go for a walk with Pootie.) Liz also has arrangements with several restaurant-owners for some stops along the way.


You might get to go by a wine bar…

And listen to the French owner talk about France and wines and the real definition of Bistro. And sample some food.

 

And go to a white tablecloth restaurant

Where you might get to sample some cocktails.

I like liquor bottles.

And you might get to go to another popular spot

And sample some food…

With your Good Neighbor Morgan

holla!

Except not that last part, because she's my Good Neighbor, not yours. Unless she moves. Which would make me sad.

But you can take your own Good Neighbor with you.

Then you might wander up to a great casual dining place

Where you’ll get to sample some more food

And over to Hot Pink Cake Stand

 
Where you might be lucky enough to catch owner Jody Carmichael decorating a cake.
 

Holy cow. That’s impressive.

 


And eat a cupcake.

And maybe sample a nice little dessert wine with it.
 
Then maybe she’ll take you over to Caffe’ Phoenix where the bartender Joel Finsel will let you sample the most unbelievably delicious fresh peach, jalapeno syrup and moonshine concoction EV-ER.

 
I want to marry this drink. Probably because this is all I had instead of the six I would have gladly downed, and I didn’t wake up feeling like someone was throwing a 25 pound medicine ball against the inside of my head. MAN, this was good! It’s a good thing Morgan drank hers fast, because I was about to distract her and snag hers, too.



Instead, I took a picture of the gorgeous mirror over the bar. Which unfortunately also had me in it.

Hey, y'all!

 
Then maybe Liz will walk you down to Mixto, where you’ll get to sample more food and more drinks…

… or, you know, maybe you won’t. Because Liz is about keeping it interesting and changing things up. She’s fun like that. But whatever it is, it will be a great time, and you'll be in the know about the downtown restaurant scene.

Coming up, part 2, in which I interview Liz. Stay tuned!

Second Wind

I really dislike summer. I'd say I hate it, but my livelihood depends on a long, hot season, and also, I don't want to hurt its feelings. So I'll just leave it at "really dislike".

This is my basil now.

Isn't that pitiful? That's how I felt almost the entire month of August. Walking outside was like being in a sauna. And I don't like saunas. Because they're stinkin' hot and humid. Blegh.

But the past week or so, the air has been drier, and there's just the beginning hint that this weather might not last forever. Pootie mentioned kayaking the other day and my first thought wasn't "Outside? What's that? Why, why, why would you want to go out there?"

We're starting to lose a few leaves on the sweetgum.

And maybe it's not because the tree is dried out and burned to a crisp.

The night-time low forecasts are actually beginning to start with sixes. (!) I know!!

So the desire to be in my boarded-up kitchen is beginning to stir. After a string of meals ranging from medicore to utter and complete disaster, combined with most of our friends being unavailable throughout the season (beach families in the summer are busier than Santa Claus in November), and the fact that I've gotten sick of tomatoes, corn, peaches and basil again meant that a thick layer of dust was building up at Cafe' 305.

I miss our friends, and I miss being in the kitchen. I miss butternut squash and brussels sprouts (even if Pootie doesn't) and pears and apples and nuts and BOURBON! (I know, you can put mint in it and make juleps, but it's just not the same, somehow.) I miss hot tea and my hands and feet being cold. (Yeah, I'm jumping the gun here - MONTHS before it's cold enough for that.)

But now, things are looking up! I've been planning menus, marking new recipes I want to try, and filling up our social calendar. Time to dust off the stove, spiffy up the house and yard, pull out some pots and pans, and clean the slimy remnants of cucumber out of my vegetable bin. (Hey. I'm not perfect.)

And I guess I should pull off whatever I can salvage from the basil and make the last batch of pesto for the season.

It's gonna be a small one.

Reid 50th Anniversary Party

My in-laws celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this month. When Pootie and Diane (his sister) and Craig (sister's husband) and I asked his mom several months ago what they wanted for such a momentous occasion, she said she wanted us to have a party for them. So planning went into motion.

my mother-in-law, Geneva, in her element

There are some things that had to be taken into account, of course. My mother-in-law is gregarious and extroverted, and loves big galas and lots of people. My father-in-law, not so much. He prefers things a little lower-key and more intimate. Since we wanted to please both of them, we set some guidelines. Nothing too stuffy or formal, set the guest list around 50, and keep it simple. (We also had a budget - that's reality.)

my father-in-law, in HIS element.

We decided we'd do a 2:00 - 5:00 drop-in. Cheeses, nuts (besides those of us in the family already attending), crackers, olives, and fruit would be enough for something between-meal timed. And I'd make a sangria, have beer and have something non-alcoholic for the few little people that were dragged along by their parents. (Including our nephew.)

Craig with our nephew, Benjamin.

Pootie and I live about four blocks from his folks, Diane and Craig live much farther out. So we decided it made the most sense for us to host it at our house. Diane, Craig and our nephew Benjamin came over to help get the yard ready (in the sweltering heat) and then Diane came over to help me clean the house. They also helped set up yesterday morning before the party. I think I'm going to keep them as my Help. I bet they won't work for free on a regular basis, though.

We wound up with a gorgeous day, not too hot, so we were able to utilize the backyard. Kind of unusual for this time of year. We haven't been out there much in the past two months - it's been a brutal summer. Man, did we luck out.

The outdoor seating area all ready for company.

I decided to do a white peach sangria and watermelon lemonade. For the watermelon lemonade, I juiced two 5 lb. bags of lemons:

this wound up making my fingers raw, for some reason

I learned in the process that a five pound bag of lemons gets you about three cups of lemon juice. I juiced two five pound bags - so six cups of lemon juice.

juicing lemons smells SO good

I cut up one small watermelon - about six cups.

I simmered the watermelon with four cups of sugar and eight cups of water. (Split between two pots). Then I let that cool and mixed it together with the lemon juice. This is pretty concentrated, but I filled the dispenser up with ice and a couple of hours later and some stirring, it was pretty much perfect.

Here's a .pdf version.

For the sangria, I peeled and cut up three large peaches and four apricots, mixed that with a quart of peach nectar, a cup of simple syrup (1 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup water), 2 cups of apricot brandy, and five bottles of Proseco.

it was GOOD, too!

And here's the .pdf version of that one.

That's all the "cooking" I did for this. Kind of disgraceful for a food blogger, I know. But there it is. I got some lovely flowers from Christin at Federal Point Farms.

We had a good turnout - about 40 - 45 people, I think.

Lots of family made it into town as well.

Phillip's Dad's brother, Roland and his wife, Ann - they've been married 60 years!

Phillip's sister Diane, our nephew Benjamin and Craig, of course were there.

Geneva's sister Barbara and her cousin Caroline.

Cousin David and Uncle John

As well as some mutual friends of ours.

Shannon and Phillip (Pootie) - he's trying to wrangle us a dinner date soon.

We drank sangria

And ate

And laughed

And congratulated two people for achieving 50 years together.

I hope Pootie and I will be so lucky.

On Vacation

We are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary this week.

I was twelve.

We are taking our first weeklong vacation that didn't involve family since our honeymoon. It goes without saying that we're long overdue. But I'm cheap. And travel is expensive. And I like my house and my dog. But I don't much care for the heat we've been having, so we headed to the NC mountains for the week.

So far, we've gone tubing down Deep Creek.

Hiked the Appalachian Trail: (Why do they call it "hiking" and not just "walking"?)

And whitewater rafting down the Nantahala River:

We've had time to relax, too.

We have a balcony.

The view is lovely.

We've really enjoyed ourselves. And I'm slowly recharging. It's really been so long since I've taken any real time away from home and work that I didn't realize how badly I needed this. Now I'm taking some time to reflect, plan, and I'm even starting to get re-inspired to cook. I suspect some of that has to do with being out of the heat.

I'm contemplating major blog changes, as well. We'll see.

Now it's time to get back outside and put our kayaks on Lake Fontana and explore there. More later!

Peach Caprese Salad

Caprese:

Not Capris.

But while we're on the subject, why are these things getting such a bad rap? Believe me, my wearing these instead of shorts definitely makes the world a happier place. Nobody but Pootie wants to see my 43-year-old thighs and knees.

Anyway, today Twitter and Facebook blew up with peaches. Good timing, since I had done this one last night. Apparently, the Northerners are now getting their Peach on. Whereas down here in the Carolinas, we're in the last gasp of the season. They're starting to get a little tired. But I had a few from the Farmer's Market, and they're still good, so last night I made a peach caprese salad as a starter.

It's made just like a traditional caprese salad, except peaches are used in place of tomatoes.

Peach Caprese Salad
Serves 2

2 medium ripe peaches, peeled and sliced about 1/4" thick
1/4 cup basil leaves, chopped
6 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced about 1/4" thick
Salt and fresh ground pepper
Balsamic vinegar
Good-quality extra virgin olive oil, no I am NOT abbreviating it EVOO, that's just annoying.

Alternate slices of peach and mozzarella cheese on two salad plates. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper and chopped basil. Drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar, then a little olive oil. The vinegar and olive oil really bring out the best in this dish, so use good stuff if you can get it.

Delicious, refreshing, blah blah blah - you know the words, sing along! It's summer. It's light. It's tasty. It's just one more thing to do with your peach load-up from the market.

Watermelon Syrup for Watermelon Coolers

People everywhere are complaining about the heat. And if they have nice weather, they're not telling anyone, for fear of getting taken out.


So for those of you who are sick of this, and need a little pick-me-up, here's a use for that leftover watermelon. (I had half of one sitting in the fridge getting mealy.)

Watermelon Syrup
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
6 cups watermelon, chopped, seeds and all

Pour the sugar and water in a large pot and heat over medium until the sugar is dissolved. Dump in the chopped watermelon and let sit 2 or 3 hours. Pour the mixture into a large pitcher through a strainer, pressing down on the watermelon to get all the liquid out. Refrigerate in a sealed container. It will keep a couple of weeks in the fridge.

Watermelon Cooler
Juice of one lime (about 2 Tbs.)
1/2 seltzer
1/2 watermelon syrup 

Fill a glass with crushed ice, then add the juice of one big lime. If you've got one of those dinky, dry, little stingy limes with no juice, you may want to use a couple. Fill half the glass with seltzer and then fill the other half with watermelon syrup. Stir.

This would lend itself well to vodka or gin. Or, you know... white rum might also be good. Ooo! With some crushed lime! Like a Watermelon Mojito! Yes! And actually, now that we're on the topic of alcoholic beverages, tequila wouldn't be half-bad with this either.

But it's also pretty refreshing without the alcohol. And kids would probably dig it.