Lisa Jeffries Nobling – Raleigh, NC

Category: Food

  • 2010 NC State Fair in Review

    Went a total of four times this year – all four were fantastic, per the usual.


    http://www.flickr.com/photos/ncsulilwolf/sets/72157625109184059/

    Tuesday: The boys wanted to go for dinner. Saw a cow utterly object (nice play on words, right?) to practicing in the show circle any longer by hopping over the fence and running out of the building… with about 10 folks chasing her. Classic! Kicking myself for being too engaged in watching the action to take a video or get a picture of this.

    Thursday: We went again for dinner, dragged Little Sister along for the fun, too. It was Can Day, but we forgot to help out this great cause and just paid at the gate. (Darn it!)

    Saturday: Saw Hoooootie! (Aka: Darius Rucker). One of the best country shows I’ve seen in quite some time. Included Darius songs, a Toby Keith song (“God Love Her”), a few classic country hits, and three Hootie hits. Perfection!

    Sunday: Breakfast and lunch with the family – NC State fair style! Did the Turkey Shoot. I missed the entire paper target, naturally.

    Got a little education in under my belt, too – courtesy of this Deep Fried (NC State Fair) blog post:

    NC is ranked 2nd in egg production in the U.S.
    NC produces about 25% of the nation’s Christmas Trees
    NC grows 45% of the nation’s sweet potatoes…    Also, I found the following items to be newly-vegetarian approved at this year’s State Fair (in no particular order):Mt. Olive pickles, peanuts, fried pickles, fried Oreos, fried honey buns, Al’s French Fries, candy apples, egg biscuits, hush puppies, veggie plate at the Amran Shriners tent, etc.
    PS – I also just read that the NC State Fair had 1,000,000 visitors this year… a NC State Fair First!

  • Local Raves: The Produce Box

    Nick and I (and really mostly me in that equation) have a weekly CSA (community-sustained agriculture) service we can buy from and have delivered — The Produce Box. I totally forgot to login before 9pm tonight and pick out which Produce Box I wanted for this upcoming week. This girl certainly lucked out, however! Check out this week’s goodies:

    Box A (Double share of sweet potatoes)
    Lots of Sweet Potatoes
    1/2 # Salted “ready to eat”peanuts
    Tomatoes grape or cherry
    Assorted apples (6-8 depending on size)
    Cucumbers 4-5 (depending on size)

    SO excited. Those are probably my most favorite NC produce items! (Although I’d certainly take big tomatoes, too.) I case you were wondering, here are the other offerings I could have picked from:

    Box B (Fresh basil and cider!)
    Large Onion
    1.5 oz Fresh Basil leaves
    Local Muscadine Grape cider
    Tomatoes grape or cherry
    Butternut squash
    Sweet pototatoes
    Cucumber

    Box C (Oregano and Thyme)
    Sweet Potatoes
    One bunch Fresh Oregano
    One bunch Fresh Thyme
    Large Onion
    Peaches 4-6
    Cucumbers 4-5
    Tomatoes cherry or grape

    Add-ons
    1 case (12 jars) $56
    Tomato Salsa
    Jalepeno Pepper Jelly
    Spicy sweet dill pickles
    Pickled okra
    Pickled Habanero Pepper

    Shitake Mushrooms (larger portion this time: 1/2 #):$6.50
    John Toogood’s Chocolate Chip Bread: $6.75
    Garlic Ristra Wall Hanging: $11.00
    .50 donation to help with shipping all our donated shoes to Haiti: .50

    Mmmm… peaches would have been stellar, too. Wonder when the fall apple cider will show up?

  • Holy Crap

    This girl has the best idea EVER.
    I freakin’ LOVE sandwiches!
    (And love even more that she will downright bring it to you!)

    http://www.porchrockin.com/

    Essentially, she posts a menu on Sunday night. You email, call, or text to place an order. Lunch arrives at your location on sandwich day.

    How cool is that??

    The breads she offers and the creativity are downright appetizing.

  • If you’ve ever had lunch or dinner with me…

    … then you’ve probably observed that everyone who does not eat pickles will give me theirs. (Love my friends!)

    I am also a potato chip connoisseur. Not just any potato chips will do. I’m a big fan of the really crunchy ones – generally known as kettle-cooked chips.

    I picked up lunch from Durham’s Parker & Otis the other day and found something that was made JUST FOR ME (or at least it seems).

    You can order them in bulk on their website: http://www.rt11.com/cfmodules/ObjMgr.cfm?Obj=OrderHere.

    So much for that eating healthy thing! 😉

    PS – And don’t think that I won’t take a side trip on my next DC visit to go watch them make these small batch wonders of the potato chip world. That ok with you Adrianne?

    FTC blogger disclosure: I was not contacted by Rt. 11 to blog about this post or compensated. But I would SO not object to a box of dill pickle potato chips. Nom, nom, nom! 🙂

  • I Knew I Liked Her…

    Carrie Underwood just seems like my kind of girl. If someone was to ask me “Who would you like to be for a day?”… I think she’d probably make a good answer.

    From my pal Broadway on Air (we don’t actually know each other either, but Broadway also seems like my kind of guy and I used to love listening to him on 106.1FM when they were country):

    While chatting with media on the red carpet at the People’s Choice Awards, Carrie Underwood told People.com what she hopes to have for her wedding day.

    “[I want] a groom, good food and an open bar,”

    Carrie also plans to channel her deep southern roots when it comes to her wedding day ‘do.’

    “I’m Southern,” she says. “I like big hair and eyeliner. I want my wedding day to be me, so I’ll probably be rocking some big hair and some eyeliner.”

    Read the whole feature here!

    {Image: Baltimore Sun}

  • Be Good to Yourself

    …and that totally includes chocolate and champagne. 😉

    While posting an event for RaleighNYE.com (which was a smashing success, by the way… big thanks to everyone who visited or passed it along!), I came across a young professionals group that puts on some really cool social events around town to benefit the NC Museum of Art. They go by the name “The Contemporaries“. Clever!

    I took a brief look at their event calendar and they have some cool happenings for 2010. Among these, one coming up in a few weeks that I wanted to share. If I can round up a few girls and a few hours of “me time”, I’ll be there!


    Chocolate + Champagne

    February 4, 2010 | 7–9:30pm
    Cashmere, 414 Glenwood Ave, Raleigh
    Contemporaries: $8 online, $10 at the door
    All others: $12 online, $15 at the door

    Experience chocolate in its finest form—overabundance. The NCMA Contemporaries host this mouth-watering event at Cashmere featuring sweet treats from top Triangle Chocolatiers.

    Ticket price includes complimentary chocolate station items and champagne, plus food and drink specials including $5 martinis.

    For more information or reservations call (919) 664-6754 or buy your ticket now to save!

    Proceeds benefit the NCMA Contemporaries Art Purchase Fund.

    Special Thanks to our Sponsors:
    Cashmere
    The Cupcake Shoppe
    Escazu Artisan Chocolates
    Grape Expectations
    Hereghty Heavenly Delicious
    Hershey’s
    Miel Bon Bons
    Nahualli Trading Co.
    Peche de Chocolat
    Raleigh Chocolate Fountains


    Yummy!

  • Local Produce – YAY!

    Ok, it is terrible that I might need to rely on a delivery service to provide me with local, fresh produce when I pass the NC Farmers Market multiple times a day.

    That being said, this will still ensure I get to support local agriculture even with my “I don’t have time to grocery shop” schedule – The Produce Box.

    I would love to join any of the local CSAs, but I don’t have a few hundred bucks to shell out right for all of my seasonal produce in advance. This is a great pay-by-week alternative for me! I was so excited to find out via the Lineberry Alliance mailing list tonight that someone from our neighborhood is coordinating this for us.

    Image: The Produce Box

  • My Dear Boyfriend…

    …and I say this in the nicest way possible: SUCKS WHEN IT COMES TO DINNERTIME.

    Well, that’s as nice as I could make it. It’s downright frustrating. The man (boy in this situation, because it’s quite illustrative of the attitude of a 5 year old) is picky when it comes to food. I don’t even know if picky is quite the word, it’s not strong enough.

    He only eats meat (mostly red), potatoes, rice, bread, and sometimes fruit, but he’s not adventurous in the fruit category, either. NOTHIN’ green. Ever. (With the exception of his mom and aunt’s “Brocolli Casserole”, but that’s all cheese, really.)

    It’s is SO frustrating because I get very bored, very easily, and I like to get crafty in the kitchen. Not to mention the fact that I could live off of vegetables, fruit, and artisan breads.

    In discussing these frustrations yesterday, Lisa S. and I decided “Deceptively Delicious” is going to be my new tactic. I’m too busy (legimitately busy – although he’d tell you otherwise) to cater to his food whims and I refuse to have only a selection of 5 meals to choose from for 365 days out of the year.


    (Deceptively Delicious – by Jessica Seinfeld … also known as Mrs. Jerry Seinfeld, available on Amazon.com, etc.)    I’m pretty excited about it, actually… assuming he doesn’t decide to check up on my blog and foil this genius plan.

    Anyone done this before? Any well-favored recipes to share?

  • Great Giveaway for You Southern Chefs

    I received some delicious responses to yesterday’s post about Natty Light Chicken and cooking with beer.

    In honor of that, I’m posting a fantastic giveaway that everyone would be crazy not to enter themselves into!

    My favorite local gift and decorative accessories boutique, Swagger Gifts, has been hosting a Facebook Friday of the Week (see former giveaway items here) for a few months now where each Friday something special in the store will be given away to one (sometimes even two) lucky commenters who are fans of Swagger Gifts’ page on facebook. The winner is randomly selected and then posted to Swagger’s blog (which also, is SO worth following).

    This week’s giveaway is a monogrammed “Big Wood Board” cutting board. They are PHENOMENAL.

    All you have to do to be entered to win is leave a comment directly on the photo on facebook. It’s THAT simple.

    While you’re on Swagger’s page, you should obviously click on “Become a Fan” so that you get an update every week when Swagger offers up a new great giveaway.

    Biased much? Sure. But when you win a kick butt gift, I bet you’ll be thankful for my bias. 🙂

    PS – Regina and Randall, I’m formerly calling you girls out to enter to win because the sample photo has a “R” on it… how much more appropriate could it get?

  • Chef Todd Reaches 100th Episode – Contributes to Great Cause

    From a fellow Chix:

    100th Episode of “Cooking Coarse” Party to benefit Food Bank of NC

    Good Afternoon Ladies and Happy New Year!

    I wanted to let everyone know about a special event we are having this Thursday, January 8th at Savor Hospitality at 6:00 PM.

    This week, we will release the 100th episode of “Cooking Coarse”, the daily online video blog created by my husband, Chef Todd to provide free cooking instruction online.

    This is a milestone for the project and we are inviting friends, clients and fans to celebrate with us at a cocktail reception and live taping of the 100th episode (which will be released the next
    day).

    A$10 donation is requested, which includes beer/wine and light hors d’oeuvres. All collected money will be donated to The Food Bank of NC. Our goal is to raise $1000 at this event so we need your help!

    This is sure to be a fun, social event and I hope to see you all on Thursday!
    Register online today www.SavorHospitality.com/cart

    To view all 96 (and counting) episodes of “Cooking Coarse”:
    www.SavorHospitality.com/cookingcoarse

    Please feel free to pass along to anyone who might have an interest.

    Warmly,
    Heather Mohr
    Savor Hospitality
    Heather@SavorHospitality.com
    919.760.7599

    If you haven’t checked out Chef Todd’s videos… you are SO missing out!

    I have 849481 things to do on Thursday, but this is on my “I have got to stop by for a bit” list to congratulate them on such a job well done!