Beta Verde Preserves and Homemade Ice Cream

While not a local restaurant, last night's dessert was compliments of locals. Beta Verde is a local treasure that can be found at the Cobblestone Farmer's Market on Tuesdays. Last week I stopped by the market with tomatoes on my mind. However, I stopped by the Beta Verde tent and tried their variety of blueberry preserves. Is owned and operated by Beta Verde, Margaret and Salem Norfleet Neff, a mother-daughter team who have a local farm and create some of the most creative and delicious foods you can think of. After trying samples on fresh baked bread, I chose the blueberry mint preserves. I am not a huge jelly/jam/preserves fan but I thought it would be something that my husband would enjoy. Margaret and Salem suggested that I try it over ice cream and I was sold.

Something this good deserved homemade ice cream so I broke out the machine (easy peasy and idiot proof) and waited the 30 minutes it takes to have creamy, homemade ice cream. I topped it with some of the blueberry mint preserves and oh-my-heavenly-goodness it was amazing. So hopefully they will have more next week so that you can try this for yourself. Seriously, if you could taste summer, this is what it would taste like.

Hey Windsor, do you wanna go to...

Windsor is our furry kid and we love to take him as many places as possible. One of his favorite places is Old Winston Social Club, where he can sit outside and enjoy a breeze or take a nap on a lap on one of the large black leather sofas. They have a large water bowl and are very welcoming of well-behaved pets.

With so many furry kids in our area, we need to know the places that accept them on their patios or have special events just for them. We are adding a "Pet Friendly" tab to all of the Local Dish locations that allow our furry friends to enjoy a dining experience out and about in the community.

So Winston-Salem, where can Windsor go?

Note: Just because a place is listed as Pet Friendly, it is up to the owner to make sure that you have a Friendly Pet. Please only bring well-behaved pets to a restaurant, bar, or event.

Mozelle's Firecracker Salmon Salad

Today I had lunch with the #BWT (Broads Who Tweet) group at Mozelle's. We had a lovely lunch, catching up with each other in real life, rather than following each other on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. (It was also nice to communicate in more than 140 characters.)

It was a warm day, but very comfortable on the covered patio, still getting to enjoy the fresh air. A variety of dishes were ordered, but I decided to break from my norm of Tomato Pie and try the Firecracker Salmon Salad. The salad included a lot of my favorite ingredients: salmon, baby greens,  soba noodles, and a ginger dressing, but it also included cucumber kim chee (thinly sliced cucumber and onion in a sweet vinegar, ginger, and garlic) - which I had never tried before but will now add it to my list of favorites. Great blend of flavors in this dish and great for a late spring lunch.

I love a salad but hate that sometimes I am still hungry after eating one. This salad was the perfect blend of flavor, and sustanance and is highly recommended.

Cobblestone Market is Open for the Season!

Today is a very, very happy day. Today the new Cobblestone Farmer's Market opened across the street from its former location at Krankies on Patterson Ave. The Cobblestone Farmers Market is operated by Cultivate Piedmont, a program of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (www.carolinafarmstewards.org). The Cobblestone Farmers Market is an all-local, producers-only market that brings fresh, healthy foods into downtown Winston-Salem. Vendors are invited to participate on the basis of their healthy, sustainable, and humane practices.

Today I stopped by to look around and see what they had to offer. It is a little early in the growing season but there were several farmers out with "greens," eggs, and breads. I will also be bringing my dull knives next week as they have knife sharpening on site! It's awesome.

Each week, a local restaurant has a chef on hand for a cooking demonstration. The Screaming Rooster was the local restaurant of the week and chef Kevin Fisher was showing how to cook greens, which was very timely considering the bounty of greens available. (This just in: New Hours at the Screaming Rooster! Tues-Thurs open 9am-8pm, Friday & Saturday from 9am-9pm serving brunch, lunch, and dinner. Breakfast and lunch items are served all day. Brunch on Sun. will be from 8am-2pm.)

The Triad Community Kitchen was on hand serving their hot meal of the market. I got the Pasta and One Meatball special for $6. ($8 gets you two meatballs and Momma Mia, whatta meatball!) I am calling the pasta squiggly tube pasta, for lack of knowing the real name. Fresh marina (the best that I have had in a really long time) and a giant meatball makes this an amazing lunch. Fresh parmesan was an option, but I decided to have mine nekkid. I was the envy of all Cubetopia.

Add the Cobblestone Market to your Tuesday To Do List until November.

Local Love,
Susan

Waldo's Wings

Before I moved south to NC, I had never been a fan of wings. In fact, I don't know that I ever had one prior to a few years ago. I tried several of the chain wing joints all of which were ok, but it wasn't until I found Waldo's that I entered my first support group to limit my wing intake. Waldo's has a good ol' mom & pop atmosphere with a sports bar theme, so I always feel at home when I stop in for lunch. Never being one for insanely hot things I started with the medium wings, but over the years have progressed to hot. It's not 'burn your taste buds' hot, but it's got a great flavor with a good kick to it. In fact, I have yet to try a wing sauce from anywhere that rivals Waldo's. I usually find that wings are either undercooked or overcooked, but not here - perfect every time! So next time you're out Reynolda Road, stop in for some Hot Wings w/ ranch and cheese bread and a sweet tea. You won't be disappointed!

Sweet Tooth Cupcakes

I know, I know, it's been a while. But we are BACK, so I will get on with it...

Recently I won a dozen cupcakes from Sweet Tooth, a local business that makes wonderful baked goods from an in-home kitchen. (So when they say that it is "home made," they mean it!) One of the wonderful things about Sweet Tooth is that they "specialize in sweets and treats for vegetarians, vegans, or people with allergies; Basically anyone who wants to have their cake..and eat it too!!!" I mean, how great is that. With food allergies becoming more prominent these days, it is nice to have options.

I got to choose my cupcakes from their selection on their FB page (go "Like" them while you are there) and I chose chocolate carob cupcakes with a chocolate/peanutbutter frosting. Delicious!

Not wanting to kill the diet, I shared these with my office and became an instant Rock Star! Check them out and get some sweets. Custom orders are available.

Take a Walk on the Dark Side

Is it time for your annual review? Do you need to leave early one day this week? Do you want to be a hero for the day for being the one who brought the doughnuts? Do you want to distract your coworkers from something stupid you may have done?*

Krispy Kreme has released their new seasonal doughnut and it’s dark. Dark Chocolate Kreme doughnut that’s filled with dark chocolate KREME, then dipped in dark chocolate icing and drizzled with milk chocolate.

While I think that it is great that Krispy Kreme can be found in many local convenient stores and grocery stores, there is something about heading to the “doughnut factory” when I see that neon “Hot Doughnuts Now” sign glowing in the distance. The people who work there are always nice and can get you in an out in just a few minutes.

It was like Christmas morning when everyone saw the box of assorted and box of hot doughnuts in the break room this morning.

*I forgot to empty the metal coffee thermos before brewing a new pot. Coffee overflowed and went everywhere. We got it cleaned up quickly and since there were doughnuts, no one really cared.