Tip of the Month, January 2012: Take Advantage of Triangle Restaurant Week

Posted on January 16, 2012 by kelleychisholm

Triangle Restaurant Week this year is January 23-29. What exactly is Triangle Restaurant Week? According to its Website (http://www.blvd.tv/trw/), “TRW is a weeklong celebration of culinary excellence designed to incorporate the entire premier Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and surrounding area restaurants. Restaurants will be offering a special fixed price, 3-course meal each and every day they are open during the event. Due to varying restaurant operations, not all restaurants can/will adhere to appetizer, entrée or dessert format.

Prices
$15 Lunch (optional)
$20 or $30 Dinner
***Price is for each person and does not include beverages, tax or gratuity***

Reservations
Although not necessary, reservations are strongly recommended! There is no guarantee of seating for Walk-ins. Make reservations via the OpenTable.com link under the restaurant profile (if applicable), or call the restaurants directly to avoid crowds.”

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Best Meatball Sub in Raleigh? Comment for a Chance to Win

Posted on January 13, 2012 by kelleychisholm

OK, so where’s the best meatball sub in Raleigh? I’m talking about delicious, homemade Italian meatballs with spicy marinara and lots of gooey cheese. The kind that comes on a freshly baked roll that’s crusty on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. The kind that requires at least two napkins.

The last time I asked for people to recommend the best place to get a burger in the Triangle, in exchange for a chance of winning a Visa gift card, I got a number of wonderful suggestions and had a blast trying out as many as I could (oh, the things I do for this blog!)

This time, all of you who make recommendations by commenting to this post automatically will be included in a drawing to win a $25.00 gift card to Harris Teeter. So please let me know where I need to conduct my next round of market research, before I go meatless for the summer. You never know, you may be like my coworker Trina, who won the drawing last time!

The deadline to be eligible for the gift card drawing is Sunday, 1/22/12!

Eat, drink and be merry!

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Food of the Month, January 2012: Soup

Posted on January 10, 2012 by kelleychisholm

January is national soup month, which makes sense since it is normally cold outside. What better way to get nice and warm than with a nice bowl or mug of hearty soup? For those of you who have followed my blog, you know that I love soup (see the end of this post for some of the soup recipes I’ve already included.)

While I prefer homemade soup, luckily there is a vast variety of prepared soups (canned, frozen and fresh) that are quite good and readily available at your local grocer. I still enjoy a bowl of Campbell’s tomato soup with lots of black pepper, accompanied by a grilled cheese sandwich. It’s comfort food that happily reminds me of my childhood and is so easy to prepare and easy on the pocketbook, too.

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Raleigh’s Best Burgers

Posted on January 3, 2012 by kelleychisholm

Give me a choice between a cheeseburger and a steak, and the burger will win nine times out of 10. In fact, the burger will usually be triumphant over most meat, with the notable exception of bacon.

Earlier this year I asked my readers to tell me where to get the best burger in the Triangle and had numerous recommendations (click here to see the suggestions, and congrats to Trina for winning the gift card!) I have been quite busy conducting market research since then and have come up with some of my favorite burgers in the area. In order to narrow down my list, I am only including places in Raleigh that grind their own meat so I can order to my personal preference (usually medium – medium rare.)

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Drink of the Month, December 2011: Bubbly, of Course!

Posted on December 30, 2011 by kelleychisholm

“I drink champagne when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it – unless I’m thirsty.” ~ Madame Lilly Bollinger

The term “Champagne” is used to refer to sparkling wine produced exclusively within the Champagne region of northeastern France, from which it takes its name. Period. Everything else should be referred to as sparkling wine (for a more thorough explanation, click here.) Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about one of my absolute favorite drinks – bubbly.

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Pear and Bleu Cheese Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette

Posted on December 26, 2011 by kelleychisholm

I like to make this salad in the late fall/early winter when pears tend to go on sale. The cool and sweet pears mix well with the creamy avocado and bleu cheese, crunchy pecans, the peppery and slightly bitter spring greens and the zesty Dijon vinaigrette.

If you cannot find ripe pears, do not despair – pears are one of the few fruits that do not ripen well on the tree. Place firm, unripe pears in a bowl or paper bag and leave them at room temperature for a couple of days. To check for ripeness, gently press the neck of the pear – when it gives in to gentle pressure it’s ready to eat. Once a pear is ripe, it can be refrigerated for four to five days.

If I serve this salad as a meal, I like to add roasted chicken. As a side salad (or when I’m not eating meat), I omit the chicken. This salad rocks either way!

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Close to Home: Hereghty Heavenly Delicious

Posted on December 22, 2011 by kelleychisholm

Tucked away in the corner of Glenwood Village Shopping Center (2603 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, N.C. 27608) is a small but wonderful French-inspired bakery, Hereghty Heavenly Delicious. Opened in 2005 by the Hereghty (pronounced “har-a-tee”) brothers Chris (a Swiss-trained pastry chef) and Brian (a former architect), this little gem offers an assortment of exquisite specialty pastries, chocolates and baked treats, which go well with its excellent coffee. Or check out the Café lunch menu, which offers homemade soups, quiches, salads, flatbread pizzas and sandwiches that are served from 11:00am until one hour before closing (9:00 pm Mon.-Thur., 11:00 pm Fri.-Sat., and 6:00 pm on Sunday.) Hereghty also offers wine by the bottle and glass and a handful of decent beers.

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Food of the Month, December 2011: Gingerbread Cake

Posted on December 19, 2011 by kelleychisholm

I usually don’t think about making gingerbread until December, probably because I associate it so closely with Christmas. Gingerbread cookies are so cheerful and happy and I love gingerbread houses, even though I’m not very good at making them.

If you ever get the chance, check out the national gingerbread house display at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, N.C. The winning entries will be featured December 23rd on ABC’s Good Morning America. What a treat for young and old alike! I’ve been lucky to see this dispay a few times, and am consistently amazed at the talent of the artists. The pictures of gingerbread houses in this post are from the competition in 2010.

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Slow Cooker Boneless Sirloin Pork Roast

Posted on December 15, 2011 by kelleychisholm

Sirloin pork roasts were on sale the other day, so I picked one up to fix in my slow cooker. This recipe is big, big, big in flavor and so easy to prepare with just a handful of ingredients – throw everything in the crockpot and let it do the work for you! Use the leftovers for yummy sandwiches.

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Tip of the Month, December 2011: This One’s For the Birds

Posted on December 12, 2011 by kelleychisholm

My Mom introduced me to bird watching when I was seven or eight years old. We lived in northern Virginia at the time and one of Mom’s librarian friends got her hooked on watching our feathered friends, and occassionly she would let me come along on her bird walks. I remember going to the Potomac River and seeing kingfishers, herons and other water fowl as well as walking in the deep woods behind our house and coming across colorful Baltimore orioles and red-winged blackbirds near the creek.

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