Cafe Papillion, 530 Lincoln Road—I arrived late on Tuesday evening and this place looked reasonable for pasta and a glass of wine. The gnocci was fairly tender, just okay, but the four cheese sauce...
Blog posts from Food & Drink
deep dish pizza
I am almost over the outcome of the game... on one hand I am happy to have a vested interest in the Big Game, while on the other hand I want to throttle Rex Grossman. So there you go. Anyhoo, the...
a recap of wineries in South Africa
Categorized by region, but in no particular order... Somerset West Morgenster—lovely olive oil and wine tasting (three bordeaux style red blends). Vergelegen—the wine tasting was impersonal with a...
mmm, gravy
I started planning for this years Thanksgiving feast by asking all parties what three things they couldn't live without for the big dinner. We skipped the green beans and yams this year, but there...
bad service made worse by insanely spicy tuna
While my family was visiting, we picked a few good restaurants for our dinner meals. Starlu was an absolute hit (as usual) while Penang was a terrible miss. We've eaten at Penang before and I...
BBQ
A hotly contested topic here in the state of North Carolina to be sure. Even the state is split on styles, the east coast is defined by plain meat (whole-hog) with a slight wetting of vinegar and...
how to brine a turkey
I was unemployed for four months after we moved to North Carolina, giving me plenty of time to not only get a load of scrapbooking done, but also attempt a lot of new recipes. There would always be...
a whimsical blend
We opened up this bottle of white wine tonight—a tasty blend of nine varietals. We particularly liked the message on the cork. Sounds like a good recipe for a relaxing evening.
curry cooking class
I have been looking forward to this class for weeks and I was, unfortunately, sorely disappointed. The instructor did nothing of the sort and the recipes were so easy, all I really needed to do was...
delicious popcorn
A few weeks ago, I found a deal for Dale and Thomas popcorn on Mir's site. Well, we just received our sample bags and I am being completely honest when I say it is taking every ounce of restraint I...
cinnamon rolls
I was feeling domestic last night, so after laundry and picking up a little around the house, I started Alton Brown's overnight cinnamon rolls recipe. I woke up early this morning to get the buns...
an evening out on the town
After spending most of the day yesterday hanging out with gram, we decided to try a few new places near our hotel for appetizers, drinks, and dinner. Before heading out, we enjoyed the free happy...
who doesn’t like free wine?
While Eric was waiting for the DISH guys to show up, I went to a free wine tasting sponsored by our favorite resturant in Durham. Eric marked a few whites on the list that he wanted me to try in his...
tapas galore!
Before the Pacific Northwest wine and cheese tasting last Tuesday at april&george, we had a light dinner one block away at the Red Room in Raleigh. Eric chose the Salsa Duo (verde and roja) with...
a perfect end to any evening
While taking pup on her nightly walk yesterday, Eric suddenly remembered we had talked about having wine and dessert at Starlu that night because of their 1/2 priced wine bottles and delicious...
in chocolate heaven
My birthday dinner was at Restaurant Starlu in Durham, a place we'd recommend highly to anyone. The best part was their signature chocolate dessert plate. White chocolate bark with lavender seeds,...
mmm, peppers!
Before picking up Riesling at her foster home, we visited the Raleigh Farmers Market to purchase some corn (for Eric), okra (for pickling), and key largo sweet peppers (for roasting). Because we...
the real reason I can’t quit my job
free veg! My supervisor has been bringing in bags full of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers for weeks now. Our garden is still a few weeks away...
Our Itinerary
2025 Trips
Tampa Bay, FL (Jan)
Buenos Aires, Argentina (Feb)
Villa la Angostura, Argentina (Feb)
Bariloche, Argentina (Feb)
Iguazu Falls, Argentina + Brazil (Feb)
Miami, FL (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Mar)
Boston, MA (Apr)
Kathmandu, Nepal (May)
Bhutan (May)
Doha, Qatar (May)
Bristol + London, UK (Jul)
Long Island, NY (Jul)
Slovenia (Sep)
Treviso, Italy (Sep)
Bologna, Italy (Sep)
Turin, Italy (Oct)
2024 Trips
San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Madrid, Spain (Mar)
Valencia, Spain (Mar+Apr)
Palma, Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Long Island, NY (July)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Puglia, Italy (Sept)
Matera, Italy (Oct)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Mosel Valley, Germany (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
London + Manchester, UK (Dec)
2023 Trips
San Diego (Jan)
Orlando (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Apr)
Northern Italy (Apr)
NC Mountains (May)
Long Island (Jul)
Wisconsin (Aug)
Chicago (Aug)
Oak Island, NC (Sept)
Brooklyn, NY (Sept)
Bordeaux + Rugby World Cup (Sep)
Castilla y León (Sep)
Seychelles (Nov)
Willamette Valley (Dec)