If you know me, you know that two of my main passions in life are food and music – but over all, I prize my relationships with friends and family. It was incredibly exciting for me to see all three come together when I discovered that one of my old friends from our music days, David Ackley, shares his passion for craft beers on the site Local Beer Blog.
Just a quick peek into our lives here in the Triangle. Over the weekend I repotted an orange mint plant I bought from the Carrboro Farmer’s Market last week. The herb is doing great, but what I want to bring your attention to is the heavy dusting of yellow pollen that is highlighting the pretty vein structure of the leaves… Not so pretty when it is everywhere else… 
I suppose it is the price we pay to be surrounded by such gorgeous greenery!
But back to the mint – I’m excited to use it in fruit salads and cocktails all summer long! The orange mint has a Bergamot scent and a flavor that seems sweeter, less aggressive than other members of the mint family. Plus, mint is a super easy, super hardy plant. I come from a line of women with fantastic green thumbs – I’m still looking for mine. Let me know if you find it, ok? 
It always makes me smile to see my adopted home get props from out-of-towners. Here’s a lovely article in the New York Times about the vibrant and experimental wine culture in the Triangle area, with plenty of shout-outs to some of my favorite restaurants in town (and a few to put on the to-try list). We may not make the world’s best wines, but we definitely enjoy them
Mateo Tapas, via NYT
Here’s my favorite quote from the article:
The sea change, Mr. Callaghan believes, came from overcoming a lack of regional confidence and embracing Southern culture, in which agriculture has always been important. The connection to wine, he suggested, came from the realization that the best sort of winemaking was itself an expression of agriculture.
Read the whole thing here: New York Times: Carolina’s Expansive Wine List
So, say you’re someone who loves food and wants to share the spoils of the Triangle with your friends. Maybe you need to get a gift cross country to someone special. Or perhaps you just don’t know where to start. Well, I’m here to help! There are more than enough options in the area — we are spoiled, spoiled, spoiled for excellent local food in the Triangle (click on the three links for a little taste) — so I’m going to cut down the number of choices and give you a few good food-related options for taking action on that holiday gift list for friends both near and far.
How do you plan your meals? I’ve developed a little weekly system for myself and I’d love to hear how you do yours.
Happiest of Thanksgiving wishes from the Don the Apron family to you and yours. May your heart overflow with joy today.
Hey everyone! Just wanted to let y’all food-interested people know about a neat fundraiser going on tomorrow.
It’s called Will Draw For Food and works like this:
They’ve got a variety of different donation levels (want a food poem?), and although you do give up pretty much all artistic control, regardless you know the money’s going somewhere good.
I will be sure to share my illustration when it arrives! I also happened to be the 100th donor, so supposedly there will be some sort of surprise bonus added in…
I will admit — living several hours inland in North Carolina, in the mental bubble that is graduate school, I didn’t pay attention to the Hurricane Sandy warnings. In fact, it was just a few days before it hit that the severity of the issue even registered to me, when I was talking with a neighbor who recommended I finish my yard work before “the rains get real bad.” Wait, what?!
Today is election day in America, where ballots are cast for local, state, and national public officials. Here’s a little bit of election trivia for you, via the Smithsonian blog:
“When twenty-four-year-old George Washington first ran for a seat in the Virginia House of Burgesses, he attributed his defeat to his failure to provide enough alcohol for the voters. When he tried again two years later, Washington floated into office partly on the 144 gallons of rum, punch, hard cider and beer his election agent handed out—roughly half a gallon for every vote he received.”
Am I the only one who is more amazed that he only needed ~300 votes for Virginia? The days when most of America was rural!
Click through to the article for a description of two pretty wild sounding NYC election parties in the 1800s. Surprisingly enough, the one in Brooklyn was the tamest…
Are you over farm-to-table and instead prefer farm-to-fryer? Well, have I got a video for you
Watch it if you like Canadian accents, food processing, and people asking questions like “Where do your potatoes come from? I am told your fries are not from real potatoes.”
