Hey all! I'm glad you've been reading my North Carolina road trip blog. It was fun to write and even more fun to hear from all of you. I have a new blog for my June 2009 road trip to Boston and then D.C.. Click here Beantown/Potomac Road Trip to find that. I also have another blog based on 1971, the year I was born. You can find that one at Nineteen Seventy One. It's going to be mostly a photoblog, but we'll see what happens.
Thanks for reading and be in touch, will 'ya?!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Monticello, and the Feral Cat
You should know that we haven't had much of a plan during any part of this trip. We try the night before to figure out go, both scenically and gastronomically. Sometime it's worked, but most of the time, I've just been busy blogging and playing with the cats and my brother's been watching American Idol and Dancing With the Stars. So then we get up in the morning, and just climb into the car. Between a $12 atlas bought in a Jersey rest stop and my 9 Southern food books, we figure it out.
So you can imagine that when both my dad and my brother's niece mentioned Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's estate, in separate conversations, we felt it was destiny. We'd previously planned to drive out to the Cape Hatteras, check out Kitty Hawk, do the nature/birthplace of flight thing, but the numbers didn't work out. We needed to go north and east at the same time, not north an
d then east. So it was off to Charlottesville, VA (no relation to Charlotte, NC - except in this blog). Halfway through the five-hour trip, we pulled off to grab some 'cue at a roadside general store. Turns out that the pulled pork was cooked by a local woman, who drops it off in the morning in a crock pot. We got the last delicious sandwich. I have to point out that I (inadvertently) made a 'Dukes of Hazzard'-style exit. This involved a gravel parking lot, a local gentleman in a soiled wife-beater and my hitting the gas way too hard to get back on the highway. Far as we could tell, the gentleman and the windows on the general store were still intact. The feral cat outside the store too.
Monticello (the latter half of the name sounds like the musical instrument - a topic of much discussion during the ride there) is the home of our third President. Our 35th, President Kennedy, famously said at a dinner for Nobel Prize winner in 1962, that '...probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in this house except for perhaps those times when Thomas Jefferson ate alone.' Good stuff.
There's just way too much to talk about with regards to T.J., so I won't attempt to. Suffice as to say that Ivan and I chose the plantation tour over the garden tour because it's hard to reckon the fact that the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence was the sam
e man who owned over two hundred slaves at one point in his life. Our guide provided us with a realistic depiction of slave life, as well as the economics of slavery. It was a stark contrast with the brilliant man who designed his own home and essentially worshiped intelligence and wisdom. We all need to talk more about this, despite its being such a difficult topic to discuss. Please make it a point to visit this national landmark (click here for Monticello's official site).
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So you can imagine that when both my dad and my brother's niece mentioned Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's estate, in separate conversations, we felt it was destiny. We'd previously planned to drive out to the Cape Hatteras, check out Kitty Hawk, do the nature/birthplace of flight thing, but the numbers didn't work out. We needed to go north and east at the same time, not north an
d then east. So it was off to Charlottesville, VA (no relation to Charlotte, NC - except in this blog). Halfway through the five-hour trip, we pulled off to grab some 'cue at a roadside general store. Turns out that the pulled pork was cooked by a local woman, who drops it off in the morning in a crock pot. We got the last delicious sandwich. I have to point out that I (inadvertently) made a 'Dukes of Hazzard'-style exit. This involved a gravel parking lot, a local gentleman in a soiled wife-beater and my hitting the gas way too hard to get back on the highway. Far as we could tell, the gentleman and the windows on the general store were still intact. The feral cat outside the store too.Monticello (the latter half of the name sounds like the musical instrument - a topic of much discussion during the ride there) is the home of our third President. Our 35th, President Kennedy, famously said at a dinner for Nobel Prize winner in 1962, that '...probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in this house except for perhaps those times when Thomas Jefferson ate alone.' Good stuff.
There's just way too much to talk about with regards to T.J., so I won't attempt to. Suffice as to say that Ivan and I chose the plantation tour over the garden tour because it's hard to reckon the fact that the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence was the sam
e man who owned over two hundred slaves at one point in his life. Our guide provided us with a realistic depiction of slave life, as well as the economics of slavery. It was a stark contrast with the brilliant man who designed his own home and essentially worshiped intelligence and wisdom. We all need to talk more about this, despite its being such a difficult topic to discuss. Please make it a point to visit this national landmark (click here for Monticello's official site)._
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Tippecanoe and Bar-B-Q (day 5)
Well - after that rather obvious sop to baser instinct in my previous post (pardon the double entendre), we're back to the history portion of the trip. My brother and I chose to actually go in to Charlotte to check out the city and found it really beautiful. Called 'The Queen City' after Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg who became the consort of King George III (remember him? think ass-whooping, Concord, Lexington, Mel Gibson in 'The Patriot'), it's one of many rocking towns in NC.
There's a great museum in the middle of the downtown area called the Levine Museum of the New South. By 'New South', they're referring to post-Civil War. There current exhibit on the history of Charlotte is riveting (no, really). It's a microcosm of the South and all of America really, especially in terms of the history of poverty, racial politics, resurrection, achievement, religion and resilience. We can only be ennobled and emboldened by learning our history and this museum does a wonderful job of taking us there.
After that
, we headed to the President James K. Polk State Historic Site in Pineville (just south of Charlotte). Now this blog has established that I'm a history buff (freak?), but my knowledge of President Polk, is up there with Millard Fillmore and Martin Van Buren. Which is to say, not that much. However, now I'm all up on our 11th president. Did you know he started the Mexican-American War? And that he was known as 'Young Hickory' because of his association with mentor, Andrew Jackson ('Old Hickory'). What really makes this all fascinating is to see how people lived. They actually 'made' things. It's not that I'm not proud of what I do or what my friends and family does, but which one of us really 'makes' something? Something that, if we didn't make it, might endanger our very survival. OK - too deep maybe.
_
There's a great museum in the middle of the downtown area called the Levine Museum of the New South. By 'New South', they're referring to post-Civil War. There current exhibit on the history of Charlotte is riveting (no, really). It's a microcosm of the South and all of America really, especially in terms of the history of poverty, racial politics, resurrection, achievement, religion and resilience. We can only be ennobled and emboldened by learning our history and this museum does a wonderful job of taking us there.
After that
, we headed to the President James K. Polk State Historic Site in Pineville (just south of Charlotte). Now this blog has established that I'm a history buff (freak?), but my knowledge of President Polk, is up there with Millard Fillmore and Martin Van Buren. Which is to say, not that much. However, now I'm all up on our 11th president. Did you know he started the Mexican-American War? And that he was known as 'Young Hickory' because of his association with mentor, Andrew Jackson ('Old Hickory'). What really makes this all fascinating is to see how people lived. They actually 'made' things. It's not that I'm not proud of what I do or what my friends and family does, but which one of us really 'makes' something? Something that, if we didn't make it, might endanger our very survival. OK - too deep maybe.
Here's something interesting from Wikipedia. It says, 'scholars have ranked him 8th to 12th on the list of greatest presidents for his ability to set an agenda and achieve all of it'. What?!
You Asked For It - Food Porn
Note: children and vegetarians should be asked to leave the room
There has been some comments that there should be more 'food porn' on this site. I think that I've struck a near-perfect balance with the combination of historical adventures, road trip hilarity and food photography. However, I realize that a great communicator needs to react to his or her audience within reason. Believe me, if I could get a picture of James K. Polk eating pork at a truck stop, I'd put it up in a second to hit all the demographics. In lieu of that, here are the money shots. Enjoy!
_
Considering Name Change to Bubba (day 5)
No - I'm not drunk. I'm just really pleased to have yet another great BBQ experience. Turns out that the owner of Bubba's Barbecue in Charlotte, NC is actually named Bubba. A man as funny as his food is spectacular. My brother had the ribs and chicken and I had the ribs and pulled pork. I have to admit that I was sold on going to this place because they actually had ribs on the menu. After five days straight, I wanted a little more than just the pulled/chopped/minced pork. That said, the pulled pork was at the top of all the 'cue I had this trip.
Bubba was then graciously enough to show us the kitchen and 'cue accoutrement. He got into the business almost two decades ago and really has the business, as well as the artistry of barbecue, down pat. It was a great last Carolina stop.
He's got a wicked sense of humor, which is the only dry item he serves. Witness the rather intimidating set up he has in the men's room. All I can say is that we all need aspirations.
Bubba was then graciously enough to show us the kitchen and 'cue accoutrement. He got into the business almost two decades ago and really has the business, as well as the artistry of barbecue, down pat. It was a great last Carolina stop.
He's got a wicked sense of humor, which is the only dry item he serves. Witness the rather intimidating set up he has in the men's room. All I can say is that we all need aspirations.
_
John T. Edge
In the adjacent post, I mention the Southern Foodways Alliance. I've also mentioned the bookmobile I've put together to facilitate this road trip. In addition to the books specific to North Carolina and specific to barbecue (and those specific to both), there's a great book out there that gives a broader, more cultural outlook to this amazing thing called Southern food. It's Southern Belly, by John T. Edge (click for his website). The Miami Herald called him 'the Faulkner of Southern Food'. I don't quite see it, as I can pronounce most of the geographical areas that he writes about. However, it's quite possible they meant it in a more literary sense, at which point I'd agree. In addition to his books and magazine contributions, he's the director of the Alliance. I've also had the pleasure of making his aquaintance and getting a picture with him at last year's Big Apple Barbecue Block Party in NYC (yeah - you read right...kick-ass 'cue in Gotham).
This photo is bittersweet for me. The great part is that I'm getting a picture with Mr. Edge, who looks like he might have found something I said funny (or my facial hair). The bitter part is that I lost that great Yankee hat
soon thereafter. There's been no evidence that JTE had anything to do with that.click here to buy Southern Belly on Amazon
click here to buy Southern Belly on BN.com
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Blogger = Sexy (day 4)
I know there there's a perception that bloggers are totally hot people who choose to sit in front of a computer to share their B.S. with the world. Hate to say it, but it's true. This is me in action. The cat is Shoshanna, the shirt is Porkway and, if your look hard, there's a Southern Foodways Alliance sticker on the cover of the laptop. Here's your pin-up, ladies.
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