This weekend I headed south to Julian, NC for an oyster roast at my friend’s Stephanie and Alex’s home. Getting out-of-town, even just twenty miles, is always refreshing especially when it includes fresh foods and friends. Additionally, their chickens, “the girls”, and pups, Wyatt and Maggie, make their home that much more fun.  Stephanie and Alex entertained a crowd with large steaming pots of oysters picked up at the Greensboro Curb Market with abundant sinus clearing sauces, a variety of “fancy” (as the guys called him) toasted cheese sandwiches, Margaret’s humus and creamless tomato soup and a cast iron skillet apple and dried cherry bread pudding from Mendenhall Street. By the end of the night, I was stuffed with good food and saucy gossip. I’ll post a few recipes this week from our evening.

Our sunny late-January weekend feels much like a dream on this cold and wet Monday morning. Warm 60 degree days in North Carolina filled with friends, food, cookbook brainstorming (more to come), and excursions from Figure Skating Championships and West African Dance classes made this weekend hard to beat.