The Land of Milk and Honey

CHAPEL HILL ~ Southern Season is as close to the land of "milk and honey" as possible for the foodie in the family or party host. This place is both specialty food store and gift shop. The National Association for Specialty Food selected Southern Season as its Outstanding Retailer of the Year.

The 59,000 square feet of retail space is broken up into different sections—from flowers to candy, chocolate, cheese and meats. You can break up your visit and enjoy a cup of joe or have a sandwich made to order. There's a tasting bar in the back for wine and beer lovers and an ice cream parlor for kids of all ages.

Say "cheese!"

Kale is not only great in soup, but apparently, also in a floral arrangement.

Honestly, it's hard to wrap your head around just how big this place is. Hopefully, this gives you an idea. Southern Season offers more than 80,000 items in their store and on their website. 

It's getting hot in here. Did someone say, "Salsa!" Every day there are products you can taste before you buy.

This store is not only great for adults, but the little ones as well. Kids will go nuts here. 

I suggest they drop the "s" in the signage above, and just call this corner of the store, the Chocolate Bar.

As a graphic designer, I love the packaging almost as much as I love the products here.

If wine and beer are your thing, you have more than a few choices. I could only fit so much in each photo, but this should give you an idea of how much they offer.

I kept gravitating back to the floral department. I think this was my favorite place in the store. Was it the stunning colors, fresh scent or the unusual selection of exotic stems? There's a designer on staff assembling stunning arrangements for customers.

Southern Season has gifts for friends, family or yourself.

I love the displays that greet you around every corner. They DO know how to highlight their products in the best light. I visited during the holiday season, so you can only imagine the visual feast.

Le Creuset, in its rainbow of colors, is featured here—the largest selection I have ever seen in one place. Don't know how to cook? No problem. Southern Season offers classes. For a schedule, click here.

Candles and candy in every color.

Sweet tooth?

Every gadget you could ever want (or thought you needed) is here.

There's an area devoted to products made in North Carolina. Chef Vivian Howard from the PBS's Series, A Chef Life, has a wall devoted to her favorite holiday picks (not pictured).

We're out the door. If you want more information, or want to see the store in 360 degrees, check out the Southern Season's website. But I suggest taking a trip in person to find out why the late New York Times food critic Craig Claiborne described this place as, "wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling... a visual and gustatory delight!"

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

High Design in Chapel Hill

CHAPEL HILL ~ I try to visit several art museums and galleries every year. It's a chance to slow down, be still and reboot, creatively. I always wrap up these excursions with a visit to their accompanying gift shop. To be honest, it's often the highlight of my trip. One of my favorite shops is here, on the corner of Franklin and Columbia streets in the heart of Chapel Hill (UNC)—the Ackland Museum Store, an offshoot of (obviously) the Ackland Art Museum. 

The store is bright and airy. The walls, ceiling and shelving are all white—a blank canvas if you will—allowing the products to shine. Natural light streams in from two walls of windows. The store showcases the talent of local, national and international artisans and crafters.

A great range of products are sold here: wooden bowls and gift wrap to checkerboards and winter hats; plates, paper, prints and pottery; cups and cards; stationery and stoneware. And if that's still not enough, check out their everyday objects like tape dispensers and water bottles, which are all taken to a new (higher) level of design. Just because something is functional, doesn't mean it can't be beautiful! 

Some of the products here are whimsical. There are stuffed animals throughout the store, each with their own personality. Picture books, for both kids and adults, line cubby shelves; intricate painted deer heads (made from cardboard) emerge from walls; and delicate paper lanterns and slow moving mobiles hang from above. 

The curators of the store do a wonderful job seeking out unusual products made with impeccable craftsmanship. In a day and age where it seems everything is mass-produced, it is nice to be reminded of the talented artisans that live among us. The prices are reasonable as well. Everything in here gets high marks from me. I love this place! Go check it out.

For more information on the Ackland Museum Store, click here.

PHOTOS BY KELLEY ALBERT

A Day at the Vineyard - Muscadine Grapes in Zebulon

ZEBULON - No, I wasn't sipping wine at a vineyard on Friday morning, but rather picking grapes for the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. (More about them in a moment.) The kind farmer who opened his vineyard to us was there on site, helping us navigate the various fields, answering any questions we had, and offering his first-hand knowledge on all things Muscadine. 

We were there to "glean" the excess harvest after the commercial picks were done for the season. Picking in late October was quite an anomaly since harvests are known to wrap up in September. There was more than enough left on the vine though, enough to fill the back of a pickup truck. And with the help of a couple dozen volunteers, ages 5 to 55, we did just that. 

We picked the Nesbit variety when we were there. I had never tried ANY Muscadine grape before, I had only seen them in the grocery store. These were the color and size of black olives. There was definite discussion on how one goes about eating these fruits. I got a first-hand lesson in the field. The "guts' are similar in texture to an oyster or hard jello, semi-sweet and full of tiny seeds, which you need to filter out - like a watermelon. Most spit out the outer skin, which can be tough. The grapes are used in wine, juice and jams.

The Inter-faith Food Shuttle is a non-denominational, hunger-relief organization headquartered in Raleigh, NC. I checked them out online a couple years ago after seeing their box trucks all over town. Although I personally focus my energies on the gleaning aspect of the organization, they do so much more—from recovering millions of pounds of food that would have otherwise gone to waste, to educating and training individuals in the kitchen and on the farm. The following video explains all that the Food Shuttle does -- why and how -- much better than I ever could (Click here.) I couldn't be more honored to work with these folks. Not only are these good people, they are clearly making a big difference in the community. 

Find Your Cool!...in Durham

How does one approach a blog post about Durham, NC? The same way you approach the city itself. Carefully. With eyes open and with an open mind. I find I can't pin down a city's personality until I've met with it at least three or four times. (I should probably apply this same logic to meeting people, since my initial impressions have often been proved wrong).

I still have so much left to explore. The city has captured my attention for sure. It remains a mystery even after a half dozen visits. These photos were shot in downtown Durham, but do not include images from the famous Tobacco Campus and Durham Bulls Stadium. That will come at a later date.

Historic mills are being converted at a swift pace into posh condos, office space and commercial hubs. Brightleaf Square is one such hub (click here for more info).

The architecture of the Durham County Human Services buildling is in stark contrast to the historic brick tobacco mills all over town. It's a hint of what's to come in Durham.

Where the nine-to-fivers go, Monday through Friday.

Murals can be found all over town, highlighting its passion for baseball, its pride in racial diversity, or just replicating the advertising of yesteryear. 

And fish...Sometimes a blank wall calls for giant painted fish.

One does not need to make much of a leap to imagine what Durham looked like fifty or...

one hundred years ago...

...but block-by-block the city is being transformed into this current century.

I end this post with a photo of this one lone city block. If the painter Edward Hopper were alive today, perhaps he would find inspiration here. (Early Sunday Morning, 1930.) Perhaps he would even find "Durham Cool." 

Pisgah Covered Bridge

ASHEBORO ~ The Pisgah Covered Bridge is one of only two covered bridges still standing in North Carolina. I drove quite a ways, down several country roads, following the signs for this historic landmark. And there it was, standing humbly in the middle of nowhere—on the outskirts of a forest, below a two-lane road, above a babbling creek, the likes of which we all played in as kids. It's within a tiny park with walking trails and a few picnic tables. There's room for 10 or so cars to park. A neighborhood dog walked around freely, checking out the day's visitors. I wasn't sure whether or not it was happy to see me.

I found out later that this bridge was built for $40 in 1911. It was washed away in 2003 by a flood, but volunteers were able to retrieve 90% of the original structure, and rebuilt it. 

I took a few photos (pretending to be Robert Kincaid in Bridges of Madison County, on assignment for National Geographic). I took shots from every angle and made my way back and forth through the 54-foot long bridge. On my way back through, I looked up to admire the woodwork and found something hanging from the rafters. (You can barely see it in the photo). I guess I have yet to embrace the country girl in me, because I distinctly remember asking myself, I wonder how a kid got his rubber snake up there? AND THEN IT MOVED! How soon I had I forgotten that I was, in fact, in the middle of the woods in North Carolina. The largest snakes we'd see in CT were garter snakes and those were nothing to write home about. This certainly was NO python : ) but the idea it could have dropped down on me, gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.
I wouldn't necessarily make a special trip to see this bridge, but if you're near the Asheboro Zoo, and you have half an hour to kill, check it out. If you'd like to find out more about the bridge online (sans snake, of course), click here.