Jujyfruits and Poppers

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This weekend I found myself on some misadventures in Raleigh, NC with two good friends who live down that way. After entering a bar where I was branded with the over enthusiastic "BEST OF LUCK!" I hunkered down for a night of fun. 

Things I Learned This Weekend Traveling In The South: 

1. There is a gay bar with carpet, urinals that literally put you face to face with your future maybe baby daddy, and a gift shop specializing in underwear, leather goods and sells Jujyfruits nexts to the poppers. Giving you the opportunity to chow down while you bear down. 

2. In the span of 7 hours you can experience the roasted chicken at the James Beard Award winning Poole's Diner (here for information), and the fried chicken at Burger King. Both are excellent. 

3. A larger than life drag queen sporting a cheeseburger pill box hat and corresponding cheeseburger printed peplum blouse further validated my theory that no one ever looks bad in a peplum top.  

Grilled Cheese

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Grilled Cheese.jpg

Ooooo Lord it has been a hot minute since my last book review and I apologize. Please don't judge. I have been reading like a fiend since my last contribution over at Yes and Yes but as you know I have been wrapped up with some Southern Learnings. 

But I am back at it! 

This week I finished Buffering by Hannah Hart. You may recall eons ago back in my blog baby infancy I introduced you to Hannah Hart and her genius YouTube show called My Drunk Kitchen. Walk down memory lane here.  

Well like a YouTube wet dream come true, with a little hard work Hannah grew her show into something pretty amazing. With over 217 million views, Hannah has covered such topics as how to make boozy mac and cheese pasta (click here) or letting us in on something as intimate as her first lesbian kiss (click here).

In her latest book Buffering Hannah walks us through everything that lead up to her current tube-tastic life. Fighting to survive some pretty tough moments (starting with a mother with mental illness) she worked hard to create a brand reaching millions and whose ultimate goal is to spread good (check out Have A Hart Day for volunteer opportunities near you...click here).

In honor of Buffering I chose to make a grilled cheese. In her very first video Hannah attempts to make a grilled cheese while enjoying a bottle of red and oddly not cheese. Instead of my usual recipe I will provide you with her video in hopes you can learn from her.  

French Quarter Beignets

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Beignets

New Orleans seems to be very en vogue this season. Within one month's time roughly 8 people I know will be traveling there to partake in a variety of festivities. From bachelorette parties to drunken hairdresser conventions, The Big Easy will be getting a solid taste of North Carolinians this month.  

I blame Sara. 

Sara moved to Winston Salem just over a year ago. We met the usual way. Through our mutual leasing agent. 

When asked, "where did you move from?", her response is always a resounding "I'm from New Orleans baby!"

Split between the Metairie neighborhood and NOLA you will never meet a more die hard fan of a city. At any given point I would bet money that Sara has beads and/or a Mardi Gras mask in her handbag. Just in case.

She is a walking encyclopedia of information about her home town. She is the dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Able to linguistically trace all words back to New Orleans. 

She can give you a heartfelt and eye opening first hand account of living with hurricanes that leave nothing behind. She will passionately speak of hometown food as if it were a first born child (that is when I knew we could be friends). And if you are ever so lucky to be next to her at a bar, there is the inevitable moment when just enough wine takes her accent to 11 and you have ask her to repeat herself. 

And with that, for Sara's birthday this year I attempted to make the New Orleans classic, beignets. After a few hours of scouring the dark net for a bootleg copy of the Cafe Du Monde recipe I had to settle on what I felt was the next best thing. Paula Deen. I know, I know. I really didn't want to. But it really was a good recipe.

So with my deep fryer revved up and rolling pin greased I got to making my first ever beignets. Super easy. Super tasty. And though I know many cultures have their own version of this wonderful sweet fried dough. I will only credit New Orleans for giving this to the human race.   

French Quarter Beignets

RECIPE FROM PAULA DEEN/FOOD NETWORK

Homemade Brownie Brittle

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Homemade Brownie Brittle

Things I Learned This Week Living In The South: 

1. There is no shame in standing by your friends as they take a pregnancy test in the bathroom of a funeral home. If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen. 

2. If you have ever thought to yourself, "I wonder if there is a way I can procure a bag of weed AND a puppy at the same time?" there is.  And no, I do not have a puppy now.

3. Sometime when you eat way too many sprinkles they don't completely dissolve when you digest them. And the next morning after your coffee and constitutional you turn around and think, "OMG I am so gay my shit is rainbow colored!" 

This weekend I made homemade brownie brittle. With sprinkles. See #3 above. 

HOMEMADE BROWNIE BRITTLE

RECIPE INSPIRED BY STORE BOUGHT BROWNIE BRITTLE

Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Bread

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Girl Scout Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Bread

This weekend I stepped out of my box and took a road trip with two friends, two strangers, and a cross dressing Scotsman. Which of course meant I had to make Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Bread. A road trip necessity.  

With swimsuits in hand and sunscreen freshly applied we drove 5 hours even deeper into the south to watch a friend perform in drag for the sake of theatre. But before that poor sun burned Scotsman got on stage to open the eyes of Hilton Head's elite to the world of farce we made Hilton Head Island our bitch.   

Things I've Learned This Week Living In The South (Beach Edition):

1. A last minute road trip with your hairdresser can lead to some of the best seafood you've ever had in your short sea food eating life. The Hilton Head Island Seafood Festival proved to be the best $29 spent in a long ass time. Why was everyone keeping the beauty of the Oyster Shooter from me all these years?

2. The South is home to some very friendly people. As seen by the community of women at the food festival who rallied together to share what few unused napkins they had to make sure all women in line had toilet paper as there was none left in the shitter.  

3. When told that the person getting in the car with you once crapped himself wearing an adult dinosaur onsie, don't judge. He may be the only other "Ben" you'll meet that is worthy of the name. And as he played soccer on the beach in a newly purchased shark onsie, his girlfriend looked on with what I feel was a mix of lust and love. We all need a partner who can can admire us in our onsies.  

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE BANANA BREAD

RECIPE ADAPTED FROM THE GOURMET COOKBOOK (2004 ed)