Bull City's best hotdog

It's official. I've now tasted the best hotdog in Durham. Seth Gross just celebrated his restaurant's grand opening this past Thursday. Bull City Burger & Brewery in downtown Durham is a farm-to-fork style restaurant that features gourmet burgers and hotdogs and "works closely with North Carolina beef farmers who raise the grass fed, no hormone added, antibiotic-free beef that [the restaurant] grinds daily to make [their] hamburgers and all-beef hotdogs."  

Hubby, Caleb and I were anxious to be some of the first customers to taste what Seth had cooking - and we walked away very satisfied.

 
I ordered the build-your-own hotdog with relish and caramelized onion while hubby ordered the Green Monster specialty burger - complete with gruyere cheese, raw onion and roasted poblano peppers. We got a side of duck frites and deep fried pickle chips with pretzel crust. My hotdog was so deeply satisfying and I can honestly say it is the best I've ever had. Knowing the philosophy behind the food at this restaurant made me feel good about eating it. And let me not forget to mention the housemade bun. Perfection. So worth the carbs!

Our meal was accompanied by a Fullsteam IPA and a petite syrah to quench our palates.

There is even a children's play area for our little angel. He made friends immediately, playing in the toy kitchen, as hubby and I took in the scene around us. 

From our point of view, it looks like Bull City Burger and Brewery has filled a vacancy in Durham - and has done so in a most delicious way.

Dining out for a cause

There is still time to participate in the annual Dine out for Kids event here in Durham. Organized by Communities in Schools, the Dine out for Kids event allows patrons to visit participating restaurants; those restaurants in turn donate a portion of their day's sales to benefit CIS of Durham. By dining at any of these restaurants (list below), you will help empower at-risk youth to succeed in school and in life.

• Blue Seafood and Bar
• Blue Corn Café
• The Broad Street Café
• Carino's Italian - Fayetteville Road
• Carino's Italian - Brier Creek
• Carolina Ale House
• Elmo's Diner - Durham
• Joe Van Gogh
• Local Yogurt
• Mad Hatter's Café & Bake Shop
• Mez Contemporary Mexican
• Parker and Otis
• Pop's
• Rick's Diner
• Rue Cler
• Saladelia
• Satisfaction Restaurant
• Sitar Indian Cuisine
• Spartacus
• Toast
• Torero's - W. Main
• Torero's - Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd.
• Tyler's Taproom Durham
• Watt's Grocery

I used this event as a good excuse to eat a good dinner. Hubby and I got our favorite dishes from Mez and felt great about supporting a fantastic cause. This event is only today - so hurry up!

Happy 1st Birthday Sofia

Happy 1st Birthday to sweet Sofia!! She celebrated with a bumblebee-themed party this weekend. All the kids were buzzing around as the adults ate delicious cake. Yum!

Melon's the name

I recently had the pleasure of accompanying a group of parents and preschool teachers to the General Assembly to talk early education with our legislators. No, I don't love politics, but I do love people. Talking with these women and men was fascinating and I was able to learn so very much.

One thing I learned was that many young children enter kindergarten and continue on through elementary school not knowing the real names of their parents. These kids logically know their parents as "mom" and "dad," not Melanie and Jed. Many parents - myself including - do not consider the importance of teaching children our names and our addresses at such an early age. But how critical would it be if, God forbid, your child got lost on his or her first day of kindergarten and when asked by authorities, "Where do you live? What are your parent's names?," your child couldn't provide an answer...you might be in bigger trouble.

Moving forward in my enlightened state, I decided that this morning at the breakfast table I would engage Caleb in a conversation over cantaloupe/melon.

It went something like this...

"Caleb, how is your morning toast?"

"Mmmmmmm."

"Mommy is eating melon. It is yummy. Here, have a bite."

"Melon!" Cries out Caleb as he kindly refuses a bite. "Bread."

"Melon is so delicious. You know, mommy's name sounds like melon. My name is Melanie."

"Melanie. Melanie. Mmmmmmm," his eyes fixed on the melon.

So now the juicy fruit formerly known as melon will be referred to as "Melanie." Sigh. It was worth a shot.

Our very own bear hunt

One of my nephew's & niece's favorite books is "We're Going on a Bear Hunt."

It has quickly become one of Caleb's favorites as well, as it leads a family of five, plus beloved dog, on a bear hunt through grassy fields, dark forests, muddy riverbanks, and treacherous snowstorms.

This morning as Caleb and I were wandering around the yard, he took off running toward the woods behind our house. I have never ventured into these woods in the six years I've lived in this house.

Because I love my son so very much, I followed into no man's land. It felt just like a scene from this children's book, when the family enters a dark forest and stumbles and trips over broken limbs.

I repeated the lines from the beautiful story over and over and over to make the tale come alive for Caleb.
"We're going on a bear hunt. We're going to catch a big one. What a beautiful day. We're not scared."
"Uh-oh. A forest, a big dark forest. We can't go over it, we can't go under it. Oh no. We've got to go through it."
And we stumbled and we tripped over branches. Caleb loved it.

Until finally he realized that our make-believe adventure wouldn't end in us finding a bear (thank goodness). And with that, he got bored so we headed on home.

What a beautiful day.

Photo of the Day

Everyone assumes that chefs eat gourmet cuisine on a constant basis. My chef husband is non-discriminatory when it comes to food. He eats McDonalds, he eats Domino's Pizza, he eats what I cook. The above photo shows hubby's bedtime snack one evening this week. He craved all three sandwiches: Ham/Cheese/Pickles, Pimento Cheese/Jalapeno, and PB&J. How precious!