a bean counter's food blog
Recently, Keia Mastrianni of Charlotte’s Creative Loafing magazine asked me how I define the word “foodie.” Admittedly, I was a little frazzled by the question. Define foodie?! Let me counts the ways… For me, “foodie” is all encompassing. It’s me. It’s my world. It’s my everything.
Check out Keia’s article below, or click here to view a PDF version.
Update: the article is also posted to the creative loafing website.
Living in a city has its perks, and one of my favorite things about Charlotte is our local markets. During the week, I often stop into the 7th Street Public Market for lunch at Pure Pizza and to wander around the vendor booths (and drool over the wares). Another gem in Charlotte is Atherton Mill and Market, which is just outside of uptown in South End. This week, I stopped in for a visit and spent some time chatting with the folks at Atherton. Every time I visit the market, I’m surprised by just how much it has to offer–it’s so much more than fresh produce. It’s local foods, local farms, and local artisans. Where else can you find nuts roasted that very morning and bread made with local brewery starters?
Atherton Mill and Market
2104 South Blvd
Hours: Tuesday 10am-7pm, Wednesday – Friday: 10am-2pm, Saturday: 9am-2pm
Just for fun, here’s a list of 9 awesome things I found at the market:
#1 Simply Local – a retail grocery within Atherton Market that offers goods from local producers and farmers. This is where I nabbed the Big Spoon Roasters Peanut Pecan nut butter for my foodie penpal!
#2 Pickleville – kosher style pickles plus fresh salsa and Cajun creole food. My favorite is the HOT GARLIC pickle.
Fervent Foodie is a contributing writer for the official Urbanspoon blog.
Whether on a hot first date or trying to impress the bigwigs at a business meeting, ordering a bottle of wine at a restaurant can be quite intimidating for a wine neophyte. A successful attempt requires balance: ordering with confidence, not looking like a cheapskate, and above all else selecting a wine that actually tastes good. With all the stuffy jargon and wine lists that include dozens, if not hundreds, of varieties, wine is often seen as a complex beverage only enjoyed by snooty oenophiles. If you don’t even know what an oenophile is, this article is for you, my friend.
(continue reading about how to order wine on the Urbanspoon blog)
Fervent Foodie is a contributing writer for the official Urbanspoon blog.
Dear Mr. President,
Forget the state of the economy, medical insurance issues, and the never ending tax-rate debate–politics just isn’t my cup of macaroni and cheese, if you will. As a fervent foodie based in Charlotte, the host city of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, I am writing you to advise you on the Queen City’s culinary scene. North Carolina is the birthplace of Cheerwine, Bojangles‘, and Texas Pete hot sauce and there’s much more to our food than collard greens, pimento cheese, and sweet tea.
(continue reading on the Urbanspoon blog)
Fervent Foodie is a contributing writer for the official Urbanspoon blog.
From solitary slices of orange to giant lettuce doilies, plate garnishes have perplexed diners for decades. Garnishes are typically used to quickly and simply fill a perceived void on a plate or inject a bit of visual interest, like the dramatic pop of color a single sprig of parsley can bring to twenty ounces of beef, a pound of steaming potatoes, and a thick pad of melting butter. In what remains a culinary mystery, kitchens across the globe have chosen to fill the visual and spatial voids with unappetizing embellishments, leaving most diners unsure…
(continue reading about the microgreens trend on the Urbanspoon blog)