Mountain Xpress Forums

Thanksgiving Dinner - dining out?

2009-11-16T13:55:39Z

Hi, I’m not new anymore, but is/are there restaurants who cater to those who don’t want to
cook, as usual, on T-day? No defense needed.

Tell me about local/regional coffee roasters

2009-11-10T18:37:00Z

Although I’m a total coffee addict, I’ve only recently started buying fresh roasted beans to make at home. This is because the closest thing to a coffeehouse down here in Spartanburg is actually a coffee roasters called Little River Roasting, and I always felt kind of bad buying a cup—really a glorified sample with a suggested tip of $1—and never really buying anything else. As it turns out, their coffee is fantastic, and I feel a little lame for not taking advantage of local roasts in Asheville.

I know next to nothing about the options for locally roasted coffee in Asheville. I’m looking for a little education.

What roasters are in town, and what do you generally think of their products? Do you have a favorite blend?

Favorite cheapo meals

2009-11-04T16:08:01Z

Any of you who have been to college or had hard times with money are familiar with cheap ways to make awesome food. My favorite dish back in the day was a bowl of Ramen noodles covered in leftover Taco Bell Fire Sauce. The total cost would be about $0.20. I still like to eat this just because it’s frigging good.

What kinds of cheapo meals do/did you enjoy?

What’s your best recipe?

2009-03-05T13:11:39Z

My best recipe is my world famous chicken enchiladas, and I’m not sharing it with you.

Here’s a clip of me on youtube creating these tasty treats.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u09f9nVkxCw[/youtube]

Pay no mind to me placing the enchilada on the counter.

Here they are before they go into the oven

And here they are on a plate with my spicey black beans and yellow rice.

It’s sloppy, so you know it’s good.

Ashevile leads in new online beer poll

2009-07-24T10:50:32Z

The AC-T‘s beer journalist Tony Kiss says Asheville is leading in an online poll about beer cities. Let’s examine.

Another online beer poll is searching for America’s best brew city – and again, Asheville is up front in the votes.

On Friday morning, Imbibe magazine’s beer poll had Asheville leading with 52.9 percent of the voting, and rival Portland, Ore., at 18.9 percent. Earlier this summer, Asheville and Portland tied for the title of Beer City USA in another Internet poll.

While Portland is famous as one of America’s beer centers, much smaller Asheville is gaining great fame as a brew center as well. Buncombe County is currently home to seven breweries, with two more under construction.

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090724/ENT/90724009

Sounds astonishing—Asheville in the lead?—until you realize that there have only been around 725 total votes cast. And, according to web-traffic charting service Alexa.com, Imbibe Magazine’s website is actually singificantly less visited than even BlogAsheville’s humble BlogSpot page, so do take the results of the poll with a grain of salt.

Boastin’ ‘bout Burritos!

2009-10-08T22:46:19Z

Who ya got?

Mead, Beer, and Wine!

2009-07-14T22:05:01Z

(I think of mead and beer as food, especially the home-made kind-that si why this is here in this thread)

I just made a batch of Mead yesterday, with Wild Clover Honey, Sage, Yarrow, and a few other odds and ends. Yum. Made a batch last week with some fresh St. john’s Wort. Both should be ready to rack in 2 months…

1 Gallon of Mead-
About a gallon of Clean Water
Just under 2 cups honey (15th a gallon)
Handful of Fresh Sage
Handful of Fresh Yarrow Flowers
pinch of lemon
yeast

Bring water to a boil, then bring down. Add honey to non-boiling water, stirring, then add herbs and let sit with the lid on until body-temp)

About that time (body temp) add a healthy pinch of champaigne yeast to a small cup of honey water (also at body temp). let yeast rise for about 15 min, then pitch into cooled gallon and add to carboy. cap with airlock and watch it fizzle! ready to drink in 2 months-2 years.

I really like the book “Sacred and Healing Beers” from Stephen Buhner. it has some amazing recipes and lore from many cultures over thousands of years.

I’d put some picts up, since my carboys are so pretty, but flickr hates me, so i’ll just post these instead…

best coffee in town

2009-02-10T16:50:23Z

Who’s got it?

On the days i need a coffee fix, i enjoy a shot in the dark from the original Dripolator in BM, or maybe one from Jason Buggs old coffeeshop. What was it called? anyway, i like those two spots for good coffee. I also always hear that the former Gold Hill has/had good cofee.

So, what do ya’ll think?

Where the good coffee in WNC?

Eating Roadkill

2009-07-22T20:09:47Z

A couple of weeks back I saw my first ever bear in NC. Dead on the side of Rt. 9. It was quickly tagged and covered (by Fish & Wildlife, I assume) and was absolutely monstrous. It sat there for a couple of days before it was, apparently, buried on the spot.

Which sparked quite a bit of conversation amongst myself and neighbors.

That thing coulda supplied a whole hell of a lot of meat. Not to mention how much grease could be rendered from it and used for frying.

There’s actually a great article about eating roadkill here and people at the Wildroots Collective(in Madison Co.) kind of specialize in it.

So, anyone ever eaten roadkill? Would you? Why or why not?

Local and regional beer, or online fisticuffs and discussion thread for honest citizens

2009-03-10T19:23:55Z

This is a great beer: RJ Rockers Bald Eagle Brown Ale. For me it’s local, for you it’s regional. You should weep that I’m even sharing its glory with you.

http://www.rjrockers.com/

Now its’ your turn. What’s your favorite local or regional brew?