Food from Durham, NC

Helloooooooooo!!

I still have a lot of food adventures from the summer to tell you about, but it occurs to me that it might take a while for me to get to those posts... so these posts will no longer go in chronological order.  But I think that's okay!  Because I have two exciting other food adventures from Durham.  Not Durham Region, where I'm originally from, but Durham, NC - the land of Blue Devils (booo!), Bulls Minor League Baseball, and pretty awesome food!

On Wednesday, we celebrated the glorious birth of Kristen, one of the contributors of this blog.  She invited us out to the patios on Geer St. Garden in Durham, NC.  If you sit on the picnic benches on the patio, you can bring your dog! :) From what I understand, the restaurant tries to use local, in-season ingredients to ensure a fresh and delicious meal.  I ordered off the special menu and got the tostadas with sweet potatoes and a whole bunch of other stuff on it.  It was delicious!

My tostadas with sweet potatoes.

Kristen's new arm tattoos!

Happy birthday Kristen!!! :)

Okay, next...

Yesterday, we decided to get burgers.  Our friends Lisa and Evan had informed us that the best burgers in the triangle could be found at Bull City Burgers in downtown Durham, NC.  I'll let the experts decide on what's "best", but this place certainly did not disappoint!  

I got a beef burger with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, jalepenos, Bull City Burger's hot sauce, and aioli.  And ketchup.  Also, if you have foursquare on your phone, your first check in will get you a free side order of Dirty Fries (which are just regular old potato fries)!  It was delicious!  The beef patty was really tasty and I'd definitely go back! :)

My Bull City Burger :)

There are lots of great food options in this area, so I hope you can try it out too!

Bye!!

Yuna

Cooking After 8 - Episode 1 - Calzones

Hi again!

Our new contributor, Mysha, has created a new cooking show for all y'all.  Needless to say, we were in a silly mood this evening; but what's the point of life if we can't be a little silly, right?! We think the video speaks for itself, so we hope you enjoy!!!

P.S.  Here's the recipe we used.  The calzones were delicious!  Click here now!  Doooo iiittttt!!! :D

Guys, I'm not gonna lie... This pasta salad is amazing!!!

Today, Mysha (one of my new roommates) invited me to join her at a little bakery in Durham, NC called Daisy Cakes.  Long story short about Daisy Cakes - it was awesome!!!

I had the fennel, zucchini, and something or other sandwich, seen here.  It was so delicious.  But actually, the most memorable thing on that plate was that little scoop of pasta salad.  I don't know what was in it, but it was deeeeee-licious!!!  

Sandwich with super amazing awesome pasta salad.

I was told the dressing for the pasta salad was a balsamic vinaigrette.  Which seemed like a huge lie, but y'know, what do I know.  It also had fennel in it, but it was kinda soft and not too crunchy, which made it even better.  And it also reminded me of how I actually kinda like fennel!

So I went home... And I was committed to making this happen.  Making what happen, you ask?  Making that gosh darn delicoius pasta salad.  So Mysha was kind enough to take me to the grocery store and I bought me some fennel.  I also bought me a tomato.  and some arugula.

I got home and I started cooking.  Here's the breakdown:

- boil water, make pasta (i used whole wheat pasta)

- thinly slice fennel.

- pick basil from Mysha's garden - like 10 leaves or something.  Chop that up real thin.

- chop up that tomato into bite size pieces.

- just before i throw in that pasta, blanche the fennel.  for like 30 seconds.

- mix together some olive oil, and (wait for it...) a MIX of red wine vinegar AND balsamic vinegar.  aw yeah.  (I did like 1/3 balsamic, 2/3 red wine vinegar).  I'm usually pretty cheap when it comes to salt, but I put in a relatively generous amount of salt and some pepper.

- arugula.  wash the arugula, put it in a bowl with the fennel and tomato.  A bit of salt on the arugula seems to help too.

- once the pasta is done, wash it down with cold water.

- mix EVERYTHING together!!!!!!!!

the result: don't wanna toot my own horn or anything... but you get deliciousness.  gloriousness.  something worthy of Zeus' dinner table.

My not-so-modest pasta salad.

Something else you should also know about Daisy Cakes: they made a gingerbread cookie that had bacon in it.  Surprisingly delicious.

Bacon Gingerbread Cookie.  You can really taste the bacon!

Hope you enjoy the pasta salad as much as I do!  And if you ever find yourself in Durham, NC, get yourself to Daisy Cakes!

Love and exploding props, 

Yuna

PS - asian glow.

exciting news!

Friends... I have excellent news.

Soon, we shall have a guest contributor to our food blog.  She may even become a permanent contributor.  If we're lucky. 

Stay tuned. 

:)

- Yuna