Brandon Eats

Email Updates

On a tip from John Sarvay of Buttermilk & Molasses, I've added email notification to my site.  If you'd like to receive an email whenever there's a new post here, enter your email address into the box  in the upper right-hand corner of the page.  The folks at FeedBlitz have sworn not to share addresses with spammers or other evil-doers.

The Avalon

Read all about the newly redecorated Avalon in this week's Style Weekly.

Food-Induced Amnesia (or how to cook Asian in 324 easy steps)

If ever there were a coffee table cookbook, it would be Hot Sour Salty Sweet by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid.  Its oversized pages are full of the most jaw-droppingly gorgeous photos this side of the last Nobu cookbook, as well as lots and lots of recipes interspersed with white space and information about the Mekong Delta.  The beautiful, semi-glossy pages scream for protection from sauces and seasonings, and while imagining the feast to come, they long to be caressed lovingly--far, far away from the kitchen.  Plus, the thing takes up a lot of frackin’ counter space and it’s really hard to prop up.

I don’t do a lot of Asian cooking because all that chopping exhausts me and the last-minute, high-heat dance you have to do with the wok (or in my case, the wok-like pan) frazzles my nerves and annoys my family when I start shouting for them to come to the table now, NOW, it’s READY NOW and y’all ARE RUINING IT if you don’t get in here RIGHT NOW!  WHY ISN’T ANYBODY IN HERE?! DAMN IT, I just burned myself!  CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, THIS IS NOT A RESTAURANT AND I’M NOT YOUR WAITRESS!!  A FAMILY IS A GROUP AND A GROUP WORKS TOGETHER AND WHERE IN THE HELL IS EVERYONE??!  I WILL NOT WATCH MY LANGUAGE THE CHILDREN HAVE HEARD IT BEFORE AND THEY’LL HERE IT AGAIN IF YOU ALL DON’T COME WHEN I CALL IS IT REALLY SO MUCH TO ASK ONCE IN A WHILE IF YOU WOULD JUST COME INTO THE KITCHEN WHEN I ASK YOU TO??!

Harvey Family Memorial at Fox Elementary

Today at 2 pm, the children of William Fox Elementary School will dedicate their new Children's Garden in honor of Stella Harvey and her family.  The children embossed butterflies on stainless and copper to rework the school fish in the front yard.  Butterflies were chosen because it is believed in Mexico that when the Monarch butterflies migrate there in the fall, they are bringing the spirits of children.

All are welcome.

Goochland Farmer's Market

It's not as hard to get out to Goochland as you think, and Saturdays at the Goochland Rural Market are a great excuse to grab an hour in country that hasn't completely fallen victim to the first enterprising developer that came along.  Plus, Grandpa Eddie's Alabama Ribs & BBQ is just about a half a mile down the road and you were looking for an excuse to eat some peanut butter pie weren't you?

s'kat and the food

Congratulations to fellow blogger friend Sk'at of s'kat and the food--she's moved to the Daily Press in Hampton Roads as their official restaurant critic and food writer-at-large:

A local cornerstone of food-writing and restaurant criticism has finally decided to lighten her load, and hop on up to the upper tier of newspaper editorialism. Good for her- not so much for the public at large. I received a call from the newspaper, wondering if there may be an interest in picking up some of the detail. My blog, my love of food, had caught their attention. And since I was writing about food and restaurants any way.... the answer was unabashedly yes, yes, yes!

Check out her newly redesigned blog for lively writing, incisive observations, and beautiful pictures.  Brandon Eats raises a virtual glass of vinho verde in your honor today, Shelley!