The Gourmez

My bragging series has finally brought us to the publication of my first book, Maya’s Vacation!

It is a romance novella, reaching just about 50 pages in all, and it was published by Astraea Press in March of last year. The whole process of having a book published was so exciting, from perusing the editor’s suggestions, seeing cover art for the first time, and watching as the reviews come in. Maya’s Vacation is available in e-book only, but you can get it for your kindle, nook, or in basic PDF form — however you want it! Here are the buy links from Astraea Press (direct from the publisher is where I get the biggest cut, hint hint), Amazon, and Barnes and Nobles. The novella will cost you a whopping $1.99. And if that’s too much, I’ll be giving away 5 $0.01 copies in next Thursday’s post!

We’ll be on Maya’s Vacation in the bragging series for a while, because it brought me much to brag about! I plan to repost the recordings of myself reading from the book, highlight a few of the reviews, and highlight a few of the interviews at other author blogs to promote its publication in the next few weeks on Thursdays. For this first post on my book, I’m including an excerpt from it. I hope you find your romantic leanings intrigued!

At 4:45, the three of them made their way out of the cabin. Opal led them on the trail to the dining hall. The smell of sap on the pine trees made Maya smile, and she wondered if anyone had ever made a sap-based paint. It would be dreadfully hard to work with, but the smell would be so much better than oil ones. Dean used to smell of nothing but oil paints and sweat.

It was strange how being here made her think of him when she hadn’t in ages. He had come back those many years ago, but it was a year after she’d accepted her parents’ check, and by then she was already engaged to Chuck with their blessing. Dean had found her at her parents’ home in New Rockford. She didn’t know how he found the house — she’d never mentioned which development they lived in — but she wasn’t surprised when she saw him striding up the walkway, holding a large, polished conch shell that must have been for her. Maya wanted to run to him then, everything within her screamed to go, but she’d made her decision months ago. Read the rest of this entry »

Maniña Cabernet Sauvignon 2011
Valle Central, Chile

The Maniña Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 tastes prominently of cigarettes. Leather and smoke may be a better approximation. Think of it that way— it’s more appealing. On drinking, piquant berry is the first flavor. Apricot, gooseberry, and sandalwood are also present. The smoke is dominant; I’d wager that it’s aged briefly in charred barrels. Frankly, I think it’s almost as smoky as Fullsteam’s Hogwash Ale, which is made from hickory-smoked barley.

The wine mellows some with airing, transforming the smokiness into more of a grassy or floral quality. It’s too big of a wine for me, honestly. But I’m drinking it anyway.

Chicken

Other Bloggers’ Thoughts:

Apparently, I’m the only one who’s thought about this one.

Reviewed 27 Mar 12.

b. a. b. c.
Revolution, Downtown Durham
Restaurant Review
$9

The b. a. b. c. is a delicious cocktail made by the talented folks over at Revolution. Many people love their drink list, but it’s been hit and miss for me. File the b. a. b. c. under hit. It’s made with bourbon, mole bitters, Cointreau, lemon juice, and ginger beer.

The two most prominent elements were definitely bourbon and ginger beer, and that ginger tanginess cut through the bourbon effectively. This further cements my opinion that bartenders should give up on soda water or club soda and just use ginger beer instead—it brings so much more to the carbonated table. The Cointreau smoothed the cocktail’s edges. I can’t say I tasted the mole of the bitters, but the bitterness provided the perfect underlying element to brighten the other flavors in contrast. It’s well worth ordering.

Reviewed 23 March 2012.

Doolin’s Irish Pub
3211 Shannon Road
South Square, Durham
Website
Entrees: $8 — $15

Doolin’s Irish Pub is the newest restaurant in the same office building that houses G2B. This building has been notoriously harsh to its restaurants — the location is off the beaten path across the street from the Bank of America on Shannon Road. Doolin’s has the advantage of being in the front of the building so you can see it as you drive by, so hopefully that will help them with traffic. I was surprised that they were mostly full on a Thursday night.

The atmosphere is all Irish pub, and it has an interesting layout with the main bar taking prominence.
The rest of the tables are set up around the edges of the restaurant, and there are some pretty cozy spaces like couches arranged near a bookshelf and a cathedral-like corner.


It’s been open for a month now. They are still working out the kinks, mostly in the service and delivery of food. Our waitress, busser, and the manager (I think!) were super friendly, but somehow they would all drop by within the same few minutes to check on us then disappear for a while. Our food came out pretty slowly, and when food was ran out to tables, the runner often wasn’t sure what table was supposed to get it or all the dishes didn’t come out at once. But I bet they’ll get the timing down better with a little more experience.

For drinks, they have about eight red and eight white wine options, a full bar, and roughly eight beers on tap. I saw Guinness, Blue Moon, and Magner’s Cider, but I didn’t catch the rest of the draft selection — food blogger fail, I know.

My friend and I were very happy with our entrees. The menu is a mix of standard pub fare like smothered fries and buffalo chicken wraps and Irish options that included corned cabbage, boxty, and shepard’s pie. I went for the bangers and mash.

It was delightful, especially the Guinness gravy in combination with both the sausages and the mashed potatoes. The sausages were grilled to the point of having a nicely charred skin, and the mashed potatoes were delicious and covered with a thick layer of cheddar cheese.

My friend went for the half portion of fish and chips, and I honestly can’t imagine wanting a full portion, which would be twice as much fish.

The French fries had a bubbly coating, which I love, and my friend enjoyed the fish. It looked nice and moist from where I was sitting, and I was happy to see that they served them in stick form — I don’t really like the full fried fillets more common to the East Coast.

The dessert options could use some work, however. My friend had the apple turnover on special.

She said the turnover itself was fine, but the apples were scarce and didn’t have any spices that she could taste, just plain apple flavor. The ice cream was the best part of her dish.

I had the Bailey’s cheesecake, which I assumed would be an Irish cream cheesecake.

I think I assumed wrong. It tasted like plain, but good, cheesecake to me. The problem was the gummy crust that tasted like graham crackers crumbs mixed with shortening — not my idea of a good cheesecake crust.

The desserts and service can definitely use improvement, but our entrees were great, and I liked the restaurant atmosphere a lot. We’ll be back to check out trivia night soon.

Reviewed 19 April 12.

It’s been a few weeks since the last installment in my Thursday Bragging series. We are now almost caught up to a year ago in my published works. This one is a fantasy flash fiction piece that happens to be one of my favorites, likely because it stems from my love of poetic prose and abstract plots. Enjoy the first few lines of “Apocalypse,” published at Yesteryear Fiction. 

Corena sits on a bench in a field of marigolds and cement. She sits and watches the people walk past her in the same direction, which is away. They tread on the endless sidewalks lying between the rows of marigold planter boxes. Their expressions are serene as they stare ahead, wearing shapeless clothes the color of corn silk. Some of the people turn and look at her; they turn their heads but don’t stop walking. Most continue onward, focused on the path that is the future. Corena sits. She records the sky’s markings in her notebook. There are many clouds, dark and light grays swirled together like mixing paint. They give her comfort, though the wind is strong today. She fears the time is near, but she hopes the clouds will stay.

You can read the rest of “Apocalypse” for free here. And because I’ve developed a habit for adding a possibly scene-setting photograph, here is a potential view of Corena’s bench as she waits for the world to end.

And here might be the sky on this fate-filled day.

Enjoy!

Straw Valley Café
5420 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd.
New Hope Commons, Durham
Website

You may not have heard about Straw Valley Café from the Independent Weekly, Herald-Sun, or Carpe Durham articles on this coffeehouse, bar, and art gallery, but that shouldn’t stop you from visiting it. What might is its difficult-to-access location. It’s right off of Business 15-501; you can see it on the side of the road, but you can’t access it without turning onto the surface road right behind New Hope Commons. Take that first road past the Barnes and Nobles and Jason’s Deli, then follow it until you see the sign pointing toward the café’s gravel driveway. Then park and follow the signs to reach the coffee shop proper.

You’ll pass a fence on the way that obscures the hidden jewel of the rest of the property. But I’ll get there in a minute.

The main wares Straw Valley Café offers are coffee (no crazy drinks, just the regular brews and espresso options), beer (about 10 bottles, nothing local but a good range of Dogfish Head, Founder’s, Arrogant Bastard, etc.), and wine (about 15 by the glass, probably another 15 by the bottle only). The mix of sandwiches, tarts, and baked goods changes daily and is supplied by Mark Day Catering and Zen Cat Bakery. There wasn’t a huge selection of nibbles, but you’ll find something interesting, and there are options for vegans as well. I chose an orange-rosemary scone, and it was delicious.

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Les Portes de Bordeaux 2009
Bordeaux, France

The nose of this French red wine contains copious amounts of mocha. Deep, rich blackberry is also present, but the chocolate dominates the nose. It’s very smooth when drinking. You hear the term jammy a lot when talking about wine, and this one fits that bill. I’d describe it as jam-filled like a fig newton. It’s thin for a red wine, but sweet and bready like a newton that’s been chocolate dipped.

Pleasant fruit, pleasant everything. And FYI, it goes remarkably well with chocolate-covered pretzels.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last Thursday, I was invited with a bunch of other Durham food bloggers and lovers to sample the new spring menu for the Fairview Dining Room at the Washington Duke Inn.  We were treated to a four course lunch, and it was absolutely gorgeous on their patio.

View from the patio.

Quite the lineup of food bloggers and Washington Duke Inn staff.

I’ve dined at the Fairview Dining Room once before and I loved it, but I hadn’t been outside. The grounds are incredible, especially on a warm spring day like this one was. And the food lived up to the setting in every way. Plus, they made my life easy and gave us printed menus.

Bonus points for not having to write down the ingredients.

You’ll notice in my descriptions how much I love Chef Jason Cunningham’s expertise mixing up tastes and textures—I adore having contrasting elements come together in a dish. You’ll note as well that I said four courses, but we actually had eight dishes. The kitchen prepared small versions of several menu items and served them together for most courses. The first one, however, was on its own and dubbed the Bloom course, an ahi tuna tartare.

It was delicious; raw fish is growing on me, especially when it is cured like tartare should be. The cure was a cumin and lime vinaigrette, and I loved it. I loved everything about the zing and vibrancy of lime that ran through the whole dish. The fish cubes were served over an airy avocado mousse and a sprinkling of fennel, chick peas, cucumbers, and tomato. I especially liked combining the buttery texture of the fish with the singular pita chip.

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Corner Creek Reserve Bourbon Whiskey
Bardstown, KY

A bourbon in a wine bottle? Why not? It’s enough of a novelty to make me interested, at least. Plus, the label art is pretty—I find simple ink or pencil drawings best for selling me wine or liquor, with three to four colors at most. Yes, I just offered up a bunch of tips for the advertisers among you on how to market me alcohol. You’re welcome.

But back to the bourbon. The nose has a mellow heat. It smells of light molasses and orange blossom. It tastes thin, smooth, and a bit oily. Nutmeg and black pepper dominate the first sip. There is sweetness, but it’s closer to agave in flavor than molasses. The orange remains, but it’s less dominant than it was in the nose.

I find it very similar in principle to a light-bodied rum I reviewed a few months ago, the Bacardi Ron Solera 1873. Both are thin but full of layers that make them more interesting than their base spirits generally are with that sort of body. Enjoy experimenting!

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Comique Revolution Blanc 2010
Central Coast, CA

Look at this — another wine that won me over with its label artistry! I’m so predictable. This time, that art is an alluring blend of golden tones with black lines portraying some odd lords and ladies along with exclamations that they had to “cut the fluff!” apparently leaving nothing behind but flavor notes. It’s all rather confusing, but that generally only serves to heighten my curiosity.

The Comique Revolution Blanc smells like crème brulee, or rather, it smells like cream, butter, vanilla, and a bit of peach for kicks. It tastes like crème brulee as well but a dry version of it with no overwhelming sweetness. Oak is definitely present, and it’s nicely balanced with that rich buttery flavor. For fruit, green apple comes out swiftly, taking dominance, but peach rounds out the sip.

It’s a pretty tasty white wine. Don’t be afraid of nonsensical labeling; give it a try!

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