Currituck BBQ Company North Carolina BBQ- Road Trip Part II

To read Part I of our road trip click here: Antique Road Trip Post.

Now as my cousin would tell you, "You simply can not come down South and not have some good old Fashioned North Carolina Bar-B-Que."  I love that road trips allow you to get a taste for local culture, instead of just a view of the tourist hot spots.  So when my cousins told us we would be stopping at the Currituck BBQ Company for lunch I was one happy camper.  Its right off of the main strip heading down to the Outer Banks so it makes a great stop for family's traveling to and from the beach. 

The menu has a nice selection of BBQ favorites along with southern sides like green beans, potato salad, and fried okra.  The prices were very reasonable for the serving sizes too. After much debate I ordered a regular sized pulled pork platter with baked beans and mac and cheese. Once you decide on what you want you can either grab a table in their dinning room or a bench right outside.  Since it was raining when we stopped we opted for the dinning room with the great cozy country kitchen feel.  There are booths as well so don't worry about coming with a large group.      

Despite the constant flow of people the staff was very polite and managed to keep up well with the rush.  We received our food quickly and it was everything my cousins promised it would be.  The pulled pork sandwich comes without BBQ sauce so you can choose one of the six they provide you with on the table and customize the sandwich to your liking.  There were too many good options to just pick one so I decided to split my sandwich up and give a few of them a shot.  Of the four I tired (North Carolina, Brisket, Sweet Brisket, and Larry's Original) I thought the Larry's Original was the best.  The mac and cheese was creamy and flavorful and the baked beans were the perfect combination of smokey and sweet.  I loved everything I ordered but I think my favorite part of the meal was the fresh hush puppies.  I didn't order them because in the past I found most places serve mushy oily corn balls.  I decided to take the word of a local when they said these were the best hush puppies around and give them one more try.  Wow were they right! These tiny little snacks were perfectly crisp on the outside and bursting with moist rich flavor on the inside.  They were so good you don't even need the butter they give you.






















This BBQ joint will be a definite stop on any future North Carolina road trips.  I may not be an expert on down south BBQ but I do know that this food tasted great, there was a constant line of locals looking for their regular BBQ fix, and the large map by the door shows that people have traveled from all over the US just to get a taste of this North Carolina BBQ. What to do if you fall in love with the food but don't think you will be back anytime soon? Not to worry they have a shelf just for you filled with their BBQ sauces and other goodies.  Just because you don't live in the south doesn't mean you can't take a taste of North Carolina home with you!

Antique Road Trip

O'Neil's Antiques

I know when I set out to write this blog I wanted to focus on crafts, family, and life in NYC. Well I can't help it is my love of crafts and family are also tied into my love of travel. This Thursday (yes during the blizzard) my family and I started out on a road trip from New York to North Carolina to visit some family. Since the weather was bad we decided to drive about half way and spend the night near some of our favorite antique stores around the Delaware/Maryland border on Rt. 13. If you haven't figured it out already I am infinitely interested in tradition. I am a firm believer in understanding your roots before you can grow and spread your branches. So I guess it is no surprise that antique store amuse me. Walking through an antique store is like walking through a mini time capsule.

Loving all the books I found

One of our family's favorite antique stops is O'Neil's which is a few miles before you hit Maryand.  We have been coming here for years and absolutely love the big collections of estate jewelry, antique furniture, and treasures spanning a few centuries worth of nostalgia.  We were saddened to see that within the next few weeks the store will be closing.  The lovely couple who owns O'Neil's have decided after over 25 years they will be retiring.  On the bright side appointments can still be made to view their jewelry at their home.  Since everything was pretty much on clearance I went to work digging through each section looking for treasures. (Yes that is me sitting on the floor exploring craft books... the owners did say to make myself at home :)

Maybe I'm addicted, but at least its a healthy addiction

While there are so many beautiful things I would love to buy I decided I would focus this expedition on finding craft books, patterns, tools, and supplies.  I love looking through books to get ideas.  Many of the crafts I grew up with in my family seem to have faded as video games and computers have become the way to entertain so its pretty difficult sometimes to find resources.  Antique stores are a great place though to find these lost treasures.  Usually I feel lucky if I find a book or two but this trip I guess I was rewarded for braving the winter weather.  I  found so many craft resources that I actually had a hard time picking which books to buy and which I had to leave behind. With just two antique store stops I had literally piles of new craft goodies.  If you are looking for a cost effective place to load up on supplies antique stores, thrift shops, and yard sales are a good place to start.

Holding some of the new craft stash!

As for our followers, you can look forward to many new items in our Etsy Shop within the next few months.  The hardest part is going to be deciding where to start!  There are so many good ideas that inspire new items for my personal collection as well as the shop.  I even found some patterns I remember my Nannie working on when I was a little girl.  I love when we find little trinkets that remind us of our past.  Nannie was such an important part of why I am the crafter I am today so those things that remind me of her are extra special.  Antiquing turned out to be a successful part of the trip but we still had a few hours drive until we could begin our weekend getaway with some of our Southern relatives so we once again hit the road.  While flying is definitely a faster way to travel I wouldn't give up our road adventures for the world.  There is nothing like meeting new people, discovering hidden sight seeing gems, and spending time with your family.

We continued driving down south and decided to take a route that would bring us over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  For those of you who have never traveled this strip it is a combination of tunnels and bridges with a beautiful view of the water.  We were lucky enough to hit it just as the sun was setting.  The view was so colorful that we decided we couldn't just quickly pass it by.  Instead we stopped at their rest area.  There is a restaurant there with water views as well as a gift shop and convenience area. It is also a great place to stop and take a few family photos or just enjoy the spectacular view.

After all the snow we have had in New York this year it was incredibly refreshing to stand by the ocean on a warm day, listen to the seagulls and the churning of the water, and watch the sunset.  On that note, I will update our readers next post on the rest of the trip!

A sunset so perfect it almost doesn't seem real

For Part II of our road trip adventures click here!

 

Marshall's Farm Market

This past weekend I had the pleasure of selling some of my crafts at a yard sale in East Stroudsburg, PA.  Even though it was incredibly hot, the time flew by and I met some very interesting people.  I had so much fun at the PA sale that I can't wait for my next one in the Catskills this weekend.  Anyway, after a long weekend my family and I began our trip back from PA to NYC.  The traffic on I-80 was bumper to bumper so we decided to take Route 46.  It has been years since we have taken this back route home and we were pleasantly surprised when we came across Marshall's Farm Market.  

There is something special about out fashion farm markets and stands, a magic that is lost in the big city.  We pulled over at first to take a look at some of the beautiful wood yard decorations and furniture but once we saw the wide selection of fresh produce, we had to explore further.  The fresh harvest colors welcome guests to the farm stand.  Everything was ripe and it is clear that these farmers know their produce.  While the outside is  quaint the smell of just picked fruits, vegetables, and herb mixed with the homemade pies and baked goods draw you into the traditional market.

Inside the market, customers are taken back to a time when homemade, made by hand was valued.  The wood floors, shelves and barrels at a cozy feel.  It is easy to forget that you are so close to a modern interstate filled with trucks delivering mass produced goods.  If even for just a moment it is nice to feel a connection with your roots.  I loved the large selection of canned goods dips, jams, jellies, vegetables etc.  Not only was there a nice selection but there was a table filled with free samples, encouraging guests to be a little adventurous.

While exploring the store I came across a few shelves filled with items from the Irondale "Whistle Stop" Cafe.  For those of you that are unfamiliar, this cafe inspired a book which later was translated in the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes."  This movie about friendship and the families we make has been a favorite of mine since I was a teenager.  I thrilled to see that I could now take home the Whistle Stop's famous fried green tomato recipe and taste the signature dish.  I grabbed a box right away and headed back out for tomatoes (buying green tomatoes from my local supermarket just wasn't going to cut it if I wanted that true country taste).  My family had never had green tomatoes before and we had no idea how to pick them.  After debating back and forth for a while one of the employees explained to us what we were looking for a why.  (For those who are as clueless as I was: firm with an even green color- no spotting of white or pink because this means they are beginning to ripe and the colors represent growing sugars in the tomatoes.  Green tomatoes are not suppose to be sweet).

In case you bought as much as we did and needed some help carrying all of our farm market treats home there is a lovely room to the side filled with baskets of all shapes and sizes.  Along with the baskets is a selection of some other country favorites (soaps etc).  And don't forget before you leave to wave goodbye to the adorable puppy that "guards" the back door.  While I was not happy about the traffic on I-80 and the resulting added time to my travel time home, I am happy that I found this family owned farm market.  If you are ever in the area, stop by and get yourself a taste of the country. And yes, we made the fried green tomatoes last night and they were perfect, every bit as delicious as the book/movie says they are :)

For more information about the Marshall's Farm Market visit their website at:

http://marshallsfarmmarket.com/

Veslo: Croatian Restaurant Review

When I started this blog I decided that I was going to focus on crafts, family, and my life in New York City. I know I have been lacking a bit on the New York City part, seeing as how I've enjoyed my country getaways quite a bit lately.  It is about time that I start sharing a little piece of my amazing city.  New York is known for so many different things and one of the most important things to me is diversity.  Cultures from around the world are all living together.  While New York is often referred to as a melting pot, I can not agree with this reference.  Yes people from around the world are all here in one place but they are not melded together.  Instead they find a way to hold onto their culture and traditions while sharing in the cultures and traditions of those around them.  I like to think on New York as a mosaic.  Each tile is beautiful in its own right, but when put together they form something even more special.

One of my favorite ways to get to know another culture is through their food.  (Yes, I know this may just be my Italian family food=love philosophy shining through, but I think there is more to it than that)  The food a culture serves can teach you about their location, their industry, and their traditions.  Living in Queens, the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world, I have been blessed with easy access to so many amazing cultures.  Recently, I had the chance to eat at a Croatian Restaurant in Queens.  If any of my readers are anything like I was you may be asking what is Croatian? Until a few years ago when I became good friends with a Croatian I didn't even know a country called Croatia existed. The geographic area has been under the control of other countries and cultures for a long time.  It is not until recently that Croatia has begun to show the world all that it has to offer.  And as I recently discovered, I was missing out on Croatian food!

Veslo is a little Croatian restaurant in Astoria Queens.  The second I walked in the door I was taken by the decor.  There is a modern bar in the front (with plenty of TVs to show the soccer games on), yet the rest of the restaurant speaks to rustic Croatian culture.  The world Veslo means ore in Croatian.  This is a fitting tribute to a culture strongly based on their relation with the sea.  The ceiling of the back dining room is lined with ores brought from Croatia.  The wooden tables, shelves lined with actual Croatian tributes to the past, and back patio all make it easy to imagine you are sitting in a foreign land away from the modern New York hustle and bustle.

The menu has a wide array of options, sure to please even the fussiest eater.  For a quick bite to eat you can sit at the bar and order classics like fish and chip, mini pizzas, and chicken wings, or you can be a little more experimental and Ćevapčići (a personal Croatian favorite) or truffle fries.  If you are looking for a sit down meal with friends there is an extensive lunch and dinner menu.  There is a large selection of seafood (once again referencing the nautical presence in Croatian culture) as well as many other meat, poultry, and pasta options.

Thanks to my friends sharing a little from their plates I was able to try a number of things from their menu.  While everything was good there were a few things that stuck out as a must try for any new comer.  Growing up in an Italian family pasta fagioli soup has always been one of my favorites.  Croatian food in many ways mirrors Italian cuisine (Croatia is in close proximity and was at one point under the Roman Empire).  Though pasta fagioli soup is often thought of as an Italian dish this restaurant served it with the tasty Croatian addition of barley along with the pasta (I was told Croatian's peasant roots mean nothing is wasted so it is not uncommon to find a wide array of ingredients in Croatia dishes).  Along with the soup, the stuffed cabbage was the best I have ever tried ( and I am not a big cabbage fan).  And for those of you who are fans of Goulask (also a peasant dish) you must try Veslo's.  It comes over homemade gnocchi and it is out of this world.  We were lucky enough to met the woman who was making each and every piece by hand, adding to the authentic feel of the meal.  My phone died so unfortunately I do not have pictures of the food, but I hope you enjoy the pictures of the decor.

I had a great time at Veslo, enjoying the decor, the staff, the food, and the company.  I would recommend if you ever find yourself in Astoria, Queens that you stop in (32-11 Broadway Astoria, NY 11106) and enjoy a taste of Croatia.