We arrived late on Thursday night. Friday after some coffee, Nancy and I headed over to Osage (link), which has fresh produce. I spotted this bin (actually three bins) of heirloom silver queen (!) corn and bought a dozen to take home. I would have bought more but people seemed to think I was crazy buying a dozen as it was.
I didn't realize we would be there again on Saturday, or I might have waited so that my corn was fresher.
We also stopped off at Tomlin's BBQ (link) which has apparently won some awards. Anyway, Nancy picked up some brisket for Mike. I bought a jar of sauce the next day to take home,
Here is some of that Tomlin's brisket with the vinegar bbq sauce. I don't eat a lot of brisket, more due to happenstance than by design. This was pretty tasty, tender, and peppery in bites!
Since it was just the three of us for a short time while we waited for the rest to show up and Nancy and Mike seemed busy dealing with house items, I went down and sat in a chair on the boathouse and caught up on blog reading. With a tasty and very large bloody mary that Mike made me, of course.
Our friends brought the makings of BLTs so we made our own for lunch. I opted for a generous portion of avocado. This is why you make your sandwich last. In retrospect, I only wish that I had toasted my bread.
In late afternoon, we prepped to go out on the boat. Going out on the boat always involves a selection of wine and then food, usually cured meats and cheeses. I brought along the genoa salami that I had gotten from Spotted Trotter. I had my doubts, but it was pretty awesome.
here's what the boat snack tray looked like. Those brown crackers with the blue cheese were wonderful! I also really enjoyed the brie with bread. Both other couples there really shop a lot at Costco. After seeing it all weekend, I kind of feel like I should maybe branch out more with my shopping there myself.
The meats you see are from Patak. All the cheeses are from Costco.
Shelley made lamb burgers for dinner, which have olives and stuff in them. Then they are wrapped in prosciutto. I opted for bunless.
Mike had fried the fries already and then frozen them. We took them out and fried them in duck fat. Yum.
There is also some arugula and a watermelon/feta salad. Lastly is a HUGE ear of that Osage silver queen corn. It was delicious. We all learned that the corn has a lot of corn on it. Shelley also made a chipotle butter to put on the corn. That was awesome.
Breakfast on Saturday: black cherry ice cream from The Creamery, which is past Osage, just over the NC line. We all stopped for ice cream to eat there. Mike also bought some to bring home and some buttermilk. I was tempted to buy some also, but I ended up not since if I don't have specific plans for it, it often goes to waste which is bad.
Later in the afternoon, we girls headed out to Hickory Flat Pottery (link) because Nancy wanted to pick up something she had ordered. I was in need of spoon rests and I also saw these cute vases, so I picked them up.
Then we headed over to Mark of the Potter because I had never been there. This is the view from their back deck where you can buy food to feed the fishes.
Before we headed out on the boat, I made my contribution to the weekend: ricotta gnocci and nonna's sauce, Michael Chiarello style. I wrote about making this ricotta gnocchi recently, and it was very light but also pretty loose. you can see that several of them broke apart when cooking. Since Josh wasn't at the lake with us, I divided into five instead of six. The portions were kind of big.
We still brought snacks on the boat even though everyone was kind of full from the gnocchi. I didn't eat much this time.
That morning, we had gone to a small farmers market to check it out. Nancy had read that they would have padrons and I mentioned that Josh loved them, so we planned to pick some up. I did see them at the first stand I saw, but, trying not to just buy whatever I see at the first stall, I continued wandering around.
At the end, I reached Mike and Nancy who bought the padrons. The woman at the tent was surprised they had asked for them since so few people know them. And she said, "wait! if you like those, I have some other peppers for you." That was when I walked up. She brought out a handful of shisitos. And I said, "oh, shisitos!" And she said, do you know them or did you read the email? Haha. I am apparently a pepper geek.
I fried the peppers in olive oil and topped with salt for dinner. They did not seem to be a big hit.
All day Mike smoked the ribs. This is a pretty sweet smoker.
For dinner: Mike's ribs with Nancy's chipotle bbq sauce, more duck fat fries, the peppers, and some oven-roasted okra (not pictured) that didn't turn out that well.
We were able to sneak in a last boat ride on Sunday which really makes you feel relaxed. Well, when you don't have to drive anyway. We finished off whatever was left.
Here is the loot I came home with. The tomatoes I had originally bought from Osage for the BLTs, but they weren't completely ripe. The butter beans and pink-eyed peas were vacuum-sealed and frozen and we'll eat those this winter. You can also see the Tomlin's BBQ sauce and a jar of peach preserves that I got at the farmers market.
We also stopped at Jaemor Farms (link). I couldn't really distinguish what things they grow locally and which were imported (but I did see kiwi...) so I stayed safe and bought a few beautiful peaches that ended up being local. I also got these muscadines that smelled great and some of the darkest wildflower honey I've ever seen.
All I did that evening after I got home was shuck, parboiled, cut the kernels, pack up, and freeze the silver queen corn. I hope it's as good in the winter as it was over the weekend!
I packed one ear per bag, except one that was small after I cut off part of it, so a couple bags have a bit extra. I guess eleven bags is enough, even though I wanted more.
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