I'm Finally Going to Pepper Fest!

I have wanted to go to this event for years, but something has always come up that's kept me from snagging tickets ($30 here)... until this year, y'all! Can you imagine how excited I was when my girl Cherith from Clairemont Communications gave me a buzz to ask to me to volunteer as a beer judge? Well dang, Cher... twist my arm, why don't ya? (PS: Thanks for the invite, giiiiiirl!)



Billed as, "(The Amazing Pepper Festival is) a celebration of sustainable agriculture, farmers, renewable energy, and the creativity of the Piedmont’s chefs, brewers and artisans. An afternoon of fun, food, children's educational workshops, breweries, distilleries, music and entertainment!", I'm pumped to make the 20 minute trek over to Chapel Hill for my first taste of the fest. Be sure to tune in on Instagram and see just how much heat this girl can sample in one afternoon.

So here's what you need to know - especially if you might be able to find yourself in Chapel Hill on the afternoon of Sunday, September 27th!

Tickets get you:

• The most delicious pepper-themed dishes from some of the Piedmont’s best chefs and food artisans using locally grown and produced food.* (Alcoholic drinks not included - bring some extra $$.)
• Live music - The Stacks are playing! Tania Elizabeth (of the Avett Brothers) and Andy Stack.
• Participation in fun activities for kids and adults about local farms, renewable energy, and the abundance of great local food in and around the Triangle!

In addition to spending the afternoon enjoying flavorful, and occassionally spicy, dishes and drinks, you can feel pretty darn good knowing that all proceeds benefit Abundance NC, 

Who is Abundance, you might ask? They're "About Us" page reads: "At Abundance, we aim to be a hub of community resilience in central North Carolina, sourcing out the abundant local opportunities for us all to live and act sustainably, and bringing people together to exchange ideas and build the communities we want to live in." Quite simply put, the group believes: "We don’t have to rely on goods and services brought in from elsewhere to eat well or to live fulfilling lives. We have everything we need to create a flourishing and interdependent community, right here at home."

Local and sustainable. I am definitely down with that. Add peppers and afternoon cocktails? I'm in.

Hope to see y'all there! 

What's in your perfect Bloody Mary?

Last week my family and I took an impromptu vacation (our first in 8 years according to Little Sister) to Topsail Island and I ordered a few Bloody Mary cocktails to take full advantage of the beachy state of mind.

An extra spicy Bloody Mary at Beach Shop was a tasty start:

We found ourselves at Beach Shop in search of breakfast until 11am and a wifi (I mistakenly booked the one house on the island without internet access... which is the reason I got a real vacation in for four days!), but stayed for finding the bottom of the glass. Two thumbs up. (Note: If it had been a bottomless cocktail special, it would have taken us MUCH longer to find the bottom of the glass. We found the bottom of bottomless Mimosas at Carter's Kitchen in Charleston a few months ago. More on that at another time...)

For a Sunday afternoon early dinner, we made it to Rick's, where sorority sister and beach joiner DG joined in on the Bloody Mary action. We ordered them "extra spicy" (notice a pattern here?) but at Rick's, that meant extra horseradish, rather than extra Tabasco sauce and/or black pepper. While they were good, DG and I agreed we'd be more specific about our next "extra spicy" request.

Fast forward to tonight - Wednesday. I'm back from the beach and busting my hiney at work (per the usual) and decided I deserved a cocktail with dinner. I had Ketel One in the freezer (is there any other kind of vodka?), V8 in the fridge, pickled okra, pickles, and giant olives stuffed with pimientos. Oh, and cracked black pepper. It all went right in the glass with ice. #nom

So that brings me to the question of the day... how do you make for or ask for what you consider to be the perfect Bloody Mary? I like 'em spicy and the more pickled vegetables you can fit in the glass, the better. #vegetarianlife

My WRAL.com cohort Jodi recently published her Five Faves: Best Bloody Mary article about places to get a good version in the Triangle. You know, just throwing that out there for your reading pleasure while we're discussing the reddest of vegetable cocktails.