Hooray for pomegranate season

Pomegranates were once an imported Middle Eastern delicacy [grown in Turkey & elsewhere], about the size of a small orange, available every fall for about a month.When I was growing up, my mom would buy them for us from the A&P--this was in the Northeast. I wowed the kids at snack time once when I opened up some tin foil filled with the ruby jewels.

Today pomegranates are grown in California and right now Costco has "6-packs" for $12.99. A good deal, as California farmers have managed to create large grapefruit-sized fruit--without sacrificing the flavor.

On Chowhound [aside from pomegranate recipes, which I'm not into] peeps are talking about ways to split and pit them more easily--underwater, presoaking, etc. But--something to do w/pleasures of my youth--I find I enjoy scoring, cracking open and gobbling the fruit w/juice spritzing the counter, my clothes and staining my fingertips.

Chinese Kitchen at Quaker Village Shopping Center

Had some good takeout from Chinese Kitchen & Asian Cuisine a few times recently--after not going there in years.

The owner is of Chinese descent but came to the U.S. from India. There are quite a few Indian dishes and Indian-inspired items on the menu.

We had an excellent red chicken curry. Also tried the pakora in "Manchurian" sauce. I liked the authentic Indian flavor of the dish, but the pakora balls were too doughy. Generally, I've been pleased with the traditional Chinese dishes on the menu, too, and like that they don't overdo the cornstarch in their sauces.

Chicken curry and pakora in sauce
Quaker Village Shopping Center [in the weird, empty & depressing interior corridor]
5607e W. Friendly Ave
Greensboro, NC 27410
336.852.0827

Five Guys Burgers--I liked it

A bacon cheeseburger at Five Guys at Friendly Center in Greensboro--a new location for the chain--includes 2 patties and all the toppings you want--no extra charge. Meat tasted the freshest I've had in these parts. Price: $5 and change. A "regular" fries was too much for two people.
3124 Kathleen Ave in Friendly Center mall
Greensboro, N.C. 27408
336.856.2201

Chorizo, Asheville, N.C.

This plate of lamb empanadas--can you find them?--at Chorizo in downtown Asheville came with mashed potatoes, black beans, multiple salsas and a dozen more garnishes. I'm picky abt lamb--it tasted a bit too strong for me. I wished they had traditional pork empanadas.
1 Page Ave
Asheville, NC 28801-2382
(828)350-1332

skip the OJ?

aw, shoot, I read this in the Los Angeles Times while sipping my calcium-fortified orange juice this morning: "It's time fruit juice loses its wholesome image, some experts say"

Too much fructose in one gulp isn't good for you.

Harpoot kufta, almost as good as grandma used to make

At Costco, we bought a package of "kibbe" balls -- Armenians called these cracked wheat meatballs with meat and pine nut stuffing kufta, Syrians and others call it kibbe. They're shelved near the entrance to the refrigerated produce room. The kufta were excellent though a little too salty even when simmered in homemade unsalted chicken broth seasoned with extra allspice. On the side, some buttery pilaf with egg noodles, yogurt, and a big pot of sauteed mixed greens fresh from the Farmers' Curb Market.

Nor any drop to drink: atrazine

The city of Greensboro--or maybe it's Guilford County--asks homeowners to sweep weed & feed that falls onto sidewalks or into gutters back onto the lawn, so that it is not washed into our waterways. Why? Primarily because weed & feed contains atrazine, a common broadleaf herbicide.
Here is a portion of atrazine's Wikipedia entry:

... an organic compound consisting of an s-triazine-ring is a widely used herbicide. Its use is controversial due to its effects on nontarget species, such as on amphibians, and because of widespread contamination of waterways and drinking water supplies. There are also thought to be implications for human birth defects, low birth weights and menstrual problems. Like many commercial products, it is sold under numerous trade names. Its use is banned in the European Union but is still one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States with 76 million pounds applied in 2003.

And here is a recent expose on atrazine: "Debating How Much Weed Killer Is Safe in Your Water Glass" in the NY Times

'Liquid Assets' is worth watching--A 2008 Penn State public broadcasting documentary on nation's deteriorating water infrastructure

It's great that the Greensboro government access cable channnel 13 broadcast "Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure," last night. I hope they rebroadcast it every week. It's a 90-minute 2008 Penn State public TV production:

... that seeks to inform the nation about the critical role that our water infrastructure plays in protecting public health and promoting economic prosperity.

Combining a ninety-minute documentary with a community toolkit for facilitating local involvement, Liquid Assets explores the history, engineering, and political and economic challenges of our water infrastructure, and engages communities in local discussion about public water and wastewater issues.

I am very concerned about the consequences of reduced federal gov't funding and involvement in maintaining the nation's water infrastructure--a legacy of the Reagan era--and our water future.

Will the U.S. end up a patchwork of good and bad water systems--like our public schools? Is that acceptable? Before moving to a new area will you be checking the quality of the schools and the potability of the local drinking water and availability of a good sewer system?

Just another issue to consider when you hear foment about no new taxes, ever. If we don't pay now, the future is bleak when it comes to the nation's water infrastructure. Maintaining it shouldn't be a matter of popular vote, it's a necessity.

Full Kee Chinese restaurant in North High Point

If you love fried dumplings, then it's worth trying to find Full Kee, a Chinese restaurant tucked into yet another boring, sun-baked commercial development off 68 in North High Point, south of the Wendover/Skeet Club intersection.
The moo shu pork was tasty enough but the [very dark inside] "red tablecloth" restaurant does something really weird--they serve it w/flour tortillas instead of Chinese "pancakes". Never seen that before. Never hope to again. The hot & sour soup was blahsville.

Table 16, flavorful New World fine dining--in Greensboro!

A tuna tartare "poke" with wasabi puree was my favorite
Table 16 in Greensboro, a fine restaurant serving *New World cuisine, on South Elm Street--chef/owner is Graham Heaton, a Johnson & Wales grad whose past includes stints with three James Beard Foundation award winners--is where I was fortunate enough to be invited to dine last night.

I love Table 16's intimate storefront setting [formerly the home of Undercurrent, whose owner Ben Roberts has a stake in Table 16] where you can watch the Greensboro world drift by through the large South Elm-facing windows.

Unhip, untech-savvy moi along with less than a dozen nimble-thumbed digital natives and all-around social media mavens were treated to a free degustation menu in exchange for social commentary. It was the Triad's first "tastecasting". Thx for including me, Scott & Adam.

Even keeping in mind that free food tastes better, I can honestly say that every morsel served was flavorful and artful.

* New World is a relatively new cuisine--or at least the official definition is new. It's a fusion of flavors from the Americas, esp. those near the equator, whose roots are also in Nouvelle and in the best cuisines of the Old World.

Pan-seared halibut with tasso ham, creamed corn flavored with pernod, & truffles:
Interesting sparkling red dessert wine was one of many--too many!--wine pairings thru the meal:
Heaton & crew in the kitchen

Natty Greene's for some fresh seafood

The cajun calamari appetizer made with really fresh, tender calamari:
For $18.95, two crab cakes that were solid crab, simple but good. Served with a remoulade. Pasta pesto salad not so great, but is it ever great? Good slaw:

Lunch at the Village Tavern in Winston-Salem, 2000 Griffith Rd

This very pretty lunch salad lacked flavor--how about toasted nuts? fresh basil? a vinaigrette made with citrus juice and good olive oil? (instead of what seemed like thick tasteless bottled dressing).
The desserts were the best part of the meal. My chocolate torte was warm and so was the weather; the ice cream melted on the way to the table.
The doubledecker cheesecake was big enough to serve four.

July 4th performance of the Astanza Project

There were some good musical performances to be heard at Greensboro's Fun 4th, yesterday.

The best was at Center City Park in the pavilion. That's where we sat and listened to fabulous guitar playing with a Latin to gypsy vibe.

Accomplished musicians and composers Jim Boitnott and Lubo Astinov of the Astanza Project have definitely mastered their instruments. Check out their resumes at the group's website

Thanks for recycling, Greensboro

Photo credit: EcoFriend.org

I'm glad Greensboro has a good curbside recycling program--They take a variety of plastics, cans, bottles, newsprint, corrugated, gray chipboard, etc. The last 2 towns in 2 states we've lived for the past 20 years all offered residential curbside recycling pickup along with the trash pickup.

So it's a shock to drive north to Fredericksburg, Va. right outside Washington D.C. and find there is no household recycling pickup. Right next door to our nation's capital! Instead, residents can choose to take their recyclables to a recycling center. That works really well. It was so painful to watch garbage bag after garbage bag filled with soda bottles, beers cans, etc. tossed into the regular trash at a party we attended there.

I wonder how many elephants' worth of plastic bottles--and cans and newsprint--Fredericksburg, Va.'s sends into landfills each week?

Now I understand why nationally the U.S. is only recycling about 10% of its plastic bottles. In Europe, it's 90%.

Annals of Medicine: The Cost Conundrum: newyorker.com

This needs reading:

Annals of Medicine: The Cost Conundrum: newyorker.com

Shared via AddThis

ANNALS OF MEDICINE about health-care costs. Writer contrasts the high-cost health-care system in McAllen, Texas, with the lower-cost systems at the Mayo Clinic and in Grand Junction, Colorado. McAllen, Texas is one of the most expensive health-care markets in the country. ...

Article's conclusiont:

As America struggles to extend health-care coverage while curbing health-care costs, we face a decision that is more important than whether we have a public-insurance option, more important than whether we will have a single-payer system in the long run or a mixture of public and private insurance, as we do now. The decision is whether we are going to reward the leaders who are trying to build a new generation of Mayos and Grand Junctions. If we don’t, McAllen won’t be an outlier. It will be our future.

El Camino Real, new Mexican restaurant on Spring Garden St. in Greensboro

... opened on Spring Garden recently at Taqueria el Azteca's old location. They have $1 tacos on Tues., Thurs. [and I think Sunday, too]. They're authentic style w/corn tortillas, bits of meat, avocado, cilantro, etc. I think the best meat is carnitas.
And they have agua frescas. My favorite is horchata made with almonds, rice and cinnamon:
4131 Spring Garden St
Greensboro, NC 27407
(336)632-0003
[If you order the taco platter, though, you'll get soft flour tortillas, tomatoes, shredded cheese--boring American-style tacos. fuggedaboutit, don't order that.]
And PS: National Healthcare Now!

Single-payer national health insurance NOW

Access to the right medication, a specific treatment or operation, or regular visits to your physician to monitor your condition are the difference today between dying at 45 and living into your 90s.

Healthcare has become miraculous--compared to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution when they were as likely to kill you as not if you ventured into a hospital or a doctor's office--And when the modern health insurance system was born

Having a layer of industry whose goal is to make billions in profits off of our healthcare no longer makes sense. It is driving up healthcare costs astronomically and excluding more and more people from affordable coverage--and these are the people who need it most.

Ever lose your group coverage and have a pre-existing condition--but can't get back into a group plan right away? Just wait.

Try making those COBRA payments! Plus COBRA is only temporary. If you don't find a job soon, you and your family are screwed by the health insurance companies. They'll be happy to sell you a private plan that is absolutely unaffordable, even to a working person. At least in North Carolina, BCBS/NC MUST sell you a plan--but there are no rules about whether the plan must be affordable. And in other states, there are no stopgap measures--ALL health insurers in the state can simply refuse to cover your family.

Our lives and our health are unprotected.

That's immoral.

Then again, the health insurance system isn't immoral, it's just amoral. There is no altruism involved. They just don't care. It's all about profits--and your health and the health of those you love is really no concern of theirs--And they're in control. I'd much rather have a non-profit government entity in control. Now, if the health insurer's actuaries decide your family poses too costly a risk--i.e., one of you is sick or may get sick soon. Tough. You're out in the col.

We can't go on like this.

Single-payer is government run -- just like the VA's program, Medicare and the healthcare plan that covers all members of congress. It's time that millions of Americans stop avoiding going to the doctor or filling needed prescriptions--AND live longer, healthier lives.

I'll take calling a federal 800 number any day versus dealing with the friendly "customer service" representatives at Cigna, Blue Cross, United Healthcare et al who are "so sorry" but but "there's nothing I can do."

Mellow Mushroom in downtown Greensboro

I'm very happy that the Mellow Mushroom regional pizza restaurant chain opened a location on South Elm St in downtown Greensboro. It is really helping to bring some excitement and life back to lower Elm.

Despite its bizarre name, the restaurant doesn't sell hallucinogens, but the food we ordered was OK. Far from great, but OK. The spinach salad [a 'large'] was small [I wonder what the small looks like?], but full of bacon and came with a good vinaigrette on the side.

The pizzas are also OK, but I was far from captivated.Since I'm a pizza purist -- I don't want meats and veggies all over with insufficient tasteless mozzarella and heavy sprinkling of domestic parmesan[which seems to be MM's forte]. I want good mozzarella, a bit of fresh tomato sauce, a sprinkling of imported Parmesan Reggiano and above all a fabulous crust.

I can get high onBrooklyn's Brick Oven Pizza chain in Northern Jersey--I know, you'll never go there. And I even enjoy the small, lightweight pies at L'Italiano, a few blocks up on Elm St., but best to eat it there. Put something like that in a box to steam, and you're cooked.

Still pre-rinsing dishes before putting in dishwasher?

You shouldn't:

Pre-rinsing dishes is 'actually triple bad' according to a 'senior dishwasher design engineer,' because dishwasher detergent exists to attack food, and when it doesn't find any, it instead attacks your glasses. It also wastes electricity and water. 

Read the rest of these very important dishwasher use tips here at The Consumerist.

In Cologne

they drink a lightweight brew called kolsch in tall narrow glassesund I had pork knuckle w/sauerkraut and potatoeswhite asparagus was in seasonI even tried blood sausage--mushy, but the flavor vas good.

Bagel Station: just a schmear of cream cheese, and I'm smiling

I didn't have to toast it. The texture and freshness I craved were there.
Nice to know there is at least one place in our region where you can buy a tasty, well-made bagel:
Bagel Station
129 Oakwood Dr
Winston Salem, NC 27103
(336)724-3959

You don't need to be gay be very angry at the calculated lies of Rep. Virginia Foxx

I think it's loathsome that someone who holds public office could lie like that. Read about her "it's a hoax" speech on the front page of today's News & Record,"Foxx irks gays with comment on killing."

Matthew Shepherd who was brutally beaten and left to die tied to a fence in Wyoming in 1998 because he was GAY -- was not "killed in the commitment of a robbery," as idiot Virginia Foxx said yesterday. Lady, it's time for you to retire--perhaps to South Beach?

The American Odyssey Relay -- 'A race through history'

Photo credit: www.americanodysseyrelay.com

The American Odyssey Relay, "A race through history," starts tomorrow at Gettysburg, spans 3 states, and several other Civil War sites including Antietam and Harpers Ferry and finishes on the Mall in Washington, D.C. on Saturday.

There are over 1,000 runners from 30 states, D.C. and Canada signed up in teams of 12to run the 200-mile, scenic but strenuous 36-leg event. Runners include at least one team of Iraq War veterans as well as the mayor of Washington, D.C., Adrian Fenty, an avid runner.

The local connection: Greensboro photographer Scott Nelles is the official race photographer.

Press coverage of the race:
The Washington Post "200-MILE RELAY RACE:On the Long Road to Washington, Running Into 'So Much Fun'"
Runner's World, "Operation Relay Run"
The Evening Sun, Hanover, Pa., "Inaugural relay race begins in Gettysburg"
Washington Business Journal "Bob Fleshner passes the baton"
Press release--Gettysburg Convention and Visitors Bureau "200-mile race to Washington, D.C., will bring teams in touch with history"
The News-Sentinel, Ft. Wayne, Ind. "200-mile ‘Odyssey' lived up to its name"
The Washington Examiner "Mayor relays cross-country"

good food at Da Reggae Cafe in Greensboro

I forgot my camera, but will get a shot next time. We had a tasty, inexpensive meal at Da Reggae Cafe at 815 W. Lee St in Greensboro. I had a beef patty, something I wouldn't order ordinarily, as an appetizer and enjoyed the lardy, flaky crust and even the goppy meat filling.

But the main course really hit the spot -- Irie Mon Curried Chicken ($8.50). It was hot but not too hot for me. And comes with steamed cabbage which was crispy and flavorful, plus a big helping of rice & peas (kidney beans).

Greensboro blooming with azaleas, dogwoods

I think it's at its prettiest in spring.