The other thing keeping me from posting lately is the birth of my dessert business, Dollop! I hope to be at area Farmer’s markets soon and maybe some local shops. I am currently raising finds to help me get this plan in motion. You can learn more about that here. It’s been going great and I really feel so lucky to be in this fantastic supportive community!!

Usually this month I am busy trying to fully embrace the creepy and Halloweenie. Cutting bats out of construction paper, making paper mache shark heads, you know, normal Ocotber activities. Watching weird movies and drinking hot cider, and yet here it is the 19th and October is half behind us! To remedy this, I will have a rainy, macabre morning moment listening to this wild Spanish version of the Misfits “Return of The Fly” which I am really getting a kick out of. Especially the “Oooh oooh ooh ews”

I am looking for part time work. I am great with people at all levels, friendly and fun. I can get things done. Give me a chance and you won’t be disappointed.
For a more traditional resume, drop me a line, at the link to the upper right, or click here.

Here in Hurriquake land, it’s hard to find time to make food, photograph it and then write about it, so I decided to do some spelunking on my flickr account and uncover some pics that I can yammer about, lest Food Punk slip into the land of the lost food blogs..(I am already there, I know)

What we are looking at here is an old flame of mine. This summer I revisited my love of Onion Dip but I took it back to the old house, if you will. I went out and I bought Lipton Onion Soup mix and sour cream and Greek yogurt and I made straight up 70′s style Onion Dip. Usually when I make onion dip, (Thanksgiving, BBQs, Easter, breakfast…) I lop off the bottom and top of a giant Vidalia or yellow onion and roast the thing for a good 30-40 mins. Then chop it up and further caramelize it awhile with some herbs and olive oil. The rest is what you would expect, add dairy and refrigeration while you decide how best to get the stuff into your mouth. Veggies? Chips? Crackers? A spoon? So the return to a packaged mix was sort of like dating the wild, bad boy older brother of your straight laced high school sweetheart. (I’m hypothesizing here)

I don’t recall why I strayed from this recipe these past few months but I think it had something to do with the shining sun, a pitcher of something cold and boozy and these new ultra thin “Ode to the Potato Chip” chips I saw at Trader Joes. I prefer my dipping chips on the razor blade thin side, no ridged chips for me, thanks.

So suddenly, I was trolling the market, looking for that bright blue box filled with MSG, dehydrated onion and other “spices”. To be honest, I did taste test a natural one, but it was so sharp, and had way too much powdered garlic. I was trying to recreate a childhood taste and high brow ingredients would not do!

Of course I do not want to subject everyone to my wanton ways, so if you are a guest in my home chances are you will be served homemade onion dip ala these pictures or if I am short on time a hybrid dip with both the packaged mix and some caramelized bits thrown in. Lucky you!

Just when we are packing up to head deeper into the East side of things, a restaurant I could not have imagined up in my best “If only a restaurant like this would open up in my neighborhood..” day dream opens it’s doors.
The Roosevelt happens to be the third in a family of wonderful eating establishments opened by a woman I am proud to call a friend, but this one feels extra special to me for reasons beyond the respect and admiration I have for the proprietor.

Chef Lee Gregory of the Roosevelt is a Southern boy and his love for his region’s cuisine shines clear and true on this menu. I tried just a few dishes and each was homey, yet refined and intriguing. The Pimento Cheese had something special about it..(remoulade?) and the squash fritters tasted fresh and of sweet summer squash, not of fry oil dredged in dipping sauce, which is so often the case. Pan fried(!) gnocchi in a cheese sauce was the bad boy (read: you love him even though you know he’s oh so bad for you) of the table.
The special of Mahi and boiled peanuts stole my hungry belly’s heart. The desserts we tried were made in house, comforting and deeply flavorful without being too fussy. The place is beautifully airy and inviting and I am sure it will develop a kind of upwards of 30something bar scene. It’s definitely the type of spot where I could sit and nurse a drink and graze on Southern influenced bar snacks. There have been quite a few places opened in the last month here in town and I have high hopes for the restaurant scene in RVA. It’s obvious The Roosevelt is escalating the standard of casual eating in our city, I hope many places take the hint and follow along.

Yesterday Whole Foods had a sale on (be still my heart!) CHERRIES. This never happens when I am there usually so I grabbed a bag and set to thinking about what to do with them. Cherry Ice Cream was in the lead (odd I have not made any ice cream yet this summer, I will have to remedy that!) with cherry lime syrup ( for rickeys, naturally) a close second. What did I ultimately decide on? On this 90 degree day?

Well I turned the oven to 500, of course and made a dough for cherry focaccia!
Pitting cherries is a real drag but after spending 20 minutes looking for a paper clip I went to the internet and read about using a decorating tip! Huzzah! Although in hindsight that was maybe not the greatest for the edge on my tip, but there is more where that came from. It was so easy, I have no issue making that particular tip designated cherry pitter.
I could write out a recipe but honestly all I did was make my usual dough, slather it in olive oil, lemon zest salt and some sugar and press in the cherries during the second rise.
Next time I will maybe add some ricotta and perhaps macerate the cherries in citrus a bit.

If you have not yet, get thee to some summer cherries, before their brief season is over!

Pimento Cheese meets Whoopie Pie

This past week the darling Caroline Nuttall of Read Charlie wrote up a piece about all of the Pimento Cheeses of Charleston and included a bit about the film. You can read it here. Pimento Cheese is popping up everywhere outside the South, these days. Better hurry and get this film made before the backlash starts in- I met a chef who was working on a Pimento Cheese foam ?!?

Charleston is such a vibrant city. We enjoyed filming there and really loved eating there. If you want to see my eyes roll up in my head and start drooling just ask me about our eating excursions while there, like the cocktails at FIG and the dinner at Husk.

Speaking of great dinners, here in Richmond, I was honored to help contribute to the last course of a Suds and Sow dinner at Comfort. Chef Jason Alley and his team created a multi course dinner around a suckling pig, matched with beers from Athens’ Terrapin Brewery. Have you tried the Hopsecutioner?! Don’t walk, RUN!
From the starters of pork fat fried peanuts, and housemade rinds to the tender ribs and crispy jowl salad.. not to mention the whole hog tacos, it was a bacchanal of porcine delights. I made bacon fat and ginger whoopie pies that were filled with peanut butter cream and served with a citrus bacon jam. (Alas, I have no pictures so we’ll make do with the above savory Northern/Southern hybrid- The Pimento Cheese Whoopie Pie!)
It’s such a delight that area chefs in our city host events like this. There is a food scene here in Richmond, and we are lucky to have it, but it needs to advance and grow. Events like Suds and Sow help spread the word in our own community and beyond.

I have heard word that there is also a fledgling secret restaurant scene on the rise here in River City. If anyone needs any dessert items for such events please be in touch – I can keep a secret!