yummy

I'm home from a lovely weekend with The Boy. We went out of town and spent our time at a most amazing resort, The Umstead. We had THE best meal either of us had ever had (granted, a five star restaurant you should not walk out of thinking "meh" but still). It got me thinking about some of the best food I had ever had and as a bit of a nod to the show on the Food Network "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" I thought I would share.

Well, obviously, the meal on Saturday...but the highlight was the cauliflower chowder. I have never had cauliflower chowder, must admit, never even heard of it, but now I want it for every meal for the next oh, twenty years or so. It was amazing. We started the meal with the apricot and mascarpone scones and I loved them so much I got the recipe. The Boy couldn't believe they gave it to me, but I suspect they are so confident in my ability to NOT be able to recreate them that they were like "sure lady, knock yourself out...moohhahahahahhaha." For our second course we both had the Caesar, it was by far the most interesting presentation ever, and I loved that they give you a whole anchovy on the side...I could have done with another 3 or 4, but since most people don't like them, I could see how they would mostly go to waste. I had the chicken, The Boy had the steak, both were phenomenal.

As a Carolina gal I have had my fair share of BBQ, and yes, I have been to Memphis, and had it there too, but THE BEST BBQ on the planet, as far as I'm concerned is at Dinosaurs in Rochester NY. NY BBQ you say?! No way...YES WAY, and it's worth the trip. Fly up for a weekend (preferably in the summer so you don't have to deal with the absurd snow or wind), stay at the Sheraton Four Points, and walk over to Dinosaurs. You will know the direction to head upon walking outside cuz you can smell it in the air. They cook the meat outside and it makes you want to come and eat it. Get the Carolina plate, which laughably is not even close to Carolina BBQ, but is the best none the less. They pair it with the most amazing slaw (again, nothing like Carolina slaw, but awesome) and baked beans. Orgasm on a plate, happy times.

Regarding pork...there is one other way that I love it, on a Cuban sandwich. Usually my notorious clumsiness brings me nothing but misery and embarrassment. Strolling through the streets of South Beach, it scored me a sandwich. I stumbled upon a little hole in the wall Cuban joint...literally stumbled, on a crack in the pavement, and bit it. As I was picking myself up and dusting myself off I looked to my left at the assorted Cubans staring back at me from what appeared an outdoor bar, only inside. I know that sounds crazy, but it was one of those places with the big open window and lots of fans, and a dirty floor, and SOMETHING smelled incredible. To this day, I don't think I could find my way back to it, or even if it still exists, but I was hungry, and tired, and had just eaten the sidewalk, so I figured a beer and a bite of some real food was needed. My graceful gringo ass was the only white one in there and no one spoke English but me...I somehow managed a beer ("uno, dos, cerveza, tequila, gracias" pretty much sums up my Spanish, but comes in incredibly handy) and their special, which as it turned out was the Cuban. Just the sandwich, no fries, not fancy. It was the most perfect combination of pork, ham, mustard, pickle, and cheese on to die for bread. I'm sure at any little Cuban place in South Beach you can get a great Cubano, but for me, that was the best, and if I am ever stumbling around in Florida I hope to get another one.

I couldn't possibly write about food without mentioning doughnuts, now could I? No, of course not...for the record, the best I have had came from Duck Donuts in Kitty Hawk, NC. They make them fresh when you order them and you pick the topping. They are cake style, so if you are a Krispy fan, you probably won't like as much, but I LOVED them. Last, but not least, well before my travel days, back in the day when the only cheese we had in the house came in a big white box and resembled Velveta, but wasn't, if you grew up in the 70's and were poor you know all about government cheese. When spaghetti was a half of a box of noodles, a can of tomato paste and water...yeah, I shudder when I think about too, and we only had eggs if the chickens laid some and we stomped our happy asses outside and collected them, we got one treat, once in a blue moon, that I MUST share. This is one of those treats that you must not think about, read the labels on the ingredients, or monitor your intake...it is junk, plain and simple, it is terrible for you, and it is terrible for your kids, but they were a little taste of heaven as far as I was concerned, back in a period in my life when food was not in abundance, and I was hungry all the time, and we rarely got anything sweet, and they made my little heart sing.

Go to your nearest, local neighborhood, grocery. Buy one can of whompom biscuits, you know, the ones that come in a can, that you whomp on the counter to open, they are like 3 for a dollar. One little thing of vegetable oil, the cheapest they have, it will probably be like 85 cents, and a small bag of confectioners sugar. Make sure when they bag them they put it all in a small PAPER bag. Take it all home, heat up the oil, get all the biscuits out of the can and cut out the centers with a tiny cookie cutter, or knife if you don't have one. Fry up those bad boys, the outer rings and the little centers, and when they are golden brown dump them in the paper bag with the sugar and "shake 'em like a Polaroid picture." There you have it, my mama's doughnuts, and my mama has a hard time boiling water, so you know they are easy.

Oh wow, now I am hungry again, and I just had dinner and need to go to bed. Sweet dreams.