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I Heart Food

Sharing our experiences eating out and what we cook at home--everything related to food and drink
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Image courtesy of Need Supply Co.

Image courtesy of Need Supply Co.

Palourdes au beurre (thanks Need Supply Co.)

May 22, 2015

The title is the fancy name Need Supply Co. gave my clams recipe they posted on their site. My daughter, who is a graphic designer at Need, asked if I would be interested in cooking something for her to document on their blog.

(Edit: It is now also featured on Food & Wine too!!!)

Sure!

I'm was going to be cooking a lot that weekend anyways since it was Mother's Day and she said the clams would be good. The day before Mother's Day I went out to pick up all the groceries I would need for the clams dish and what I was making for Mother's Day - which was Beefteki if you wanted to know. So good! Anyways...

I want to mention that apparently clams are hard to come by these days, especially in the evening...when you really need them. I ran to four different stores before I found a standard, 50 count bag. It was at Whole Foods Virginia Beach and the bag was ripped open. The woman behind the counter was super nice and patient while I poured out the clams so I could count them. She re-bagged them for me and charged me by weight, excluding the iffy ones that had cracked open shells. She let me keep those too, I don't throw out clams with cracked shells if they're still alive.

How do I know if they're alive still? 

Easy, gently poke the clam in the shell through the crack or missing piece. If it's alive, it will move. I sniff everything too, you'll know if it's dead doing that.

Shelby came out to check on us, Marleigh scared her away with the camera.

By the time I collected everything I needed to make the dish it was starting to get dark. We put off cooking till the next day so we would have have natural light for the photos. In the morning I got everything in order (mise en place!) and we took everything outside to cook (I cook outside on the grill side burner a lot.) While I cooked Marleigh took photos. I explained how they were made and went through the instructions with her. After they were done I made the Mother's Day meal and put everything out on the table. The secret bonus clams were a hit, they're always good and they're easy to make!

The next weekend Marleigh told me the post was up on Need Supply Co.'s page so I followed it and linked it on my social media blast. It's exciting to see the feedback and I wish I could see how it went for anyone who decided to try the recipe themselves. I always enjoy it when people send me a snap of their finished dish after using one of my recipes.

The recipe seemed popular on Instagram too, I have my own little thing going on here so seeing the number of "likes" there, more than I get on my feed at @ihearfoodvb.

Oh, thanks for the new name for my recipe too: Palourdes au beurre. I think I'll steal that.

The recipe was featured on Need's Instagram too!

The recipe was featured on Need's Instagram too!

In Life, seafood, recipe Tags clams, recipe, Need Supply Co., Marmite, Palourdes au beurre, butter sauce
2 Comments

Beer BBQ Sauce

May 20, 2015

One of the first recipes I ever used to make something was BBQ sauce. It was from a Betty Crocker cookbook my grandparents gave us in a care package while we were stationed in Ft. Bliss, TX. Being a young, enlisted couple we didn't get out much at all. Getting a box full of dry goods and a cookbook was great. My grandparents were once a young army family and they knew what would be useful for us, they were very practical. Oh, I gotta write about the time I was trying to use the book to make biscuits but I read the recipe wrong. We didn't eat biscuits that night.

Fast-forward to the present time and we're still cooking! It's actually been a while since I made BBQ sauce but it's the first that popped into my head when I was asked to submit a recipe to the latest HR Growler. The theme was "Summertime", grilling! Who doesn't love to cookout over the summer. Fire-up the grill, open a good beer and take in the experience.

I wanted my sauce to have a little heat and, of course, beer! I made four different recipes before settling on a delicious, balanced sauce that goes great with chicken and pork. Just about any beer will work, I liked the Blue Mountain Brewery A Hopwork Orange and the Enjoy By 4.20 by Stone Brewing Co., stouts would work well too. Try it out, mix it up, add or remove what you like.

Go to HR Growler for the recipe, here's the link.

In beer, recipe Tags BBQ, sauce, recipe, HR Growler, iheartfood
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May 1990

Happy 25th Anniversary Shelby!

May 19, 2015

I can't believe it's been 25 years. I'm very lucky to have Shelby in my life, through thick and thin she's been there and hasn't strangled me yet!

Love you baby.

Credit: Marleigh Culver, 2015

In Life Tags wedding, anniversary, 25 years, silver
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Malia Paasch, owner of The Birch is flanked by Sara and Kyle Sherrer of Millstone Cellars

Millstone Cellars at The Birch

May 17, 2015

Millstone Cellars from Monkton, MD visited Norfolk, VA recently to help kick-off The Birch's debut of five new taps dedicated solely to cider and mead. Representing Millstone were Kyle and Sara Sherrer, brother and sister who run the cidery/meadery with their father Kurt. 

Love their cards. Sara said they use a little "shire map" to show their location.

Sara and Kyle Sherrer

The Birch's owner, Malia, tapped four Millstone ciders:

Farmgate #5, Cobbler, Hopvine, and Gingeroot

We've never tried anything from Millstone before, so the idea of buying a flight to sample a few of them was very exciting.

This is serious stuff - yes were excited.

Trevor preparing our flight

Shelby enjoying her cider flight

I introduced myself to the Sherrers and chatted a bit about their operation, where they were from, and the fact that Shelby had just finished her first cider at home. Kyle offered me a glass of their Farmgate #6 batch he brought down in bottles. We got to compare the two Farmgate batches which was pretty cool. The ciders were dry, not too sweet and refreshing. I loved how the Hopgate smelled, it reminded me of a light spearmint.

Sara come over to our table and chatted with Shelby, going over some of the events they hold at the cidery. There is one coming up in the Fall that sounds like something we'll do, Shelby loves autumn and hanging out in an orchard drinking cider and mead sounds like a good time.

Swing by The Birch to try Millstone on tap. I know Grape and Gourmet sells bottles of their product too.

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In Craft Beer Tags Millstone Cellars, cider, mead, The Birch, Norfolk
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Mother's Day Weekend

May 9, 2015

Marleigh is home this weekend for Mother's Day and she brought up 8 & Half pizza from Richmond! If you haven't had it, you need to the next time you're in Virginia's capitol city. The shop used to be an old bakery (form what I was told) and when you walk in it smells like sweet, roasted garlic. Love it.

Shelby and Jasper (that little blur behind the car) greeting Marleigh

Pizza!

Marleigh arrived home with three pizzas! We ate about two of them, I had three pieces even though I already had dinner at Lynnhaven Pub earlier. Brisket, a beautiful brisket sandwich from The Pub.

Yeah, I ate this then three pieces of pizza later. This is why I've over my weight goal

After eating some pizza we remembered we needed to drop off Marleigh's car for a service so we drove to the dealership and dropped the car off. On the way back home we saw a fox, she was fast and darted behind bushes and cars, avoiding my attempts to get a photo of her. We heard a bunch of yelling down the street while we were trying to find the fox, so we drove around the neighborhood and found a bunch of cars parked on the street.

Some kind of party was going on down the street and we saw a girl sitting on the corner looking creepy, it's been a while since I've seen anything like that happening around here. We headed home and ate more pizza and went to bed eventually, the Old Beach Farmers Market was in the morning and I needed to get up and try to make there before it closed. I have a bad habit of showing up right before it shuts down for the day.

In Life, family Tags 8 & half, pizza, Marleigh, Mother's Day, fox
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Old Beach Farmers Market - 2 May 2015

May 5, 2015

Love making it out to the Old Beach Farmers Market in Virginia Beach, VA. It's only till noon and since I like sleeping in on Saturday it kinda cramps my style but it's worth it. Shady Goat Farm is there too...and they have baby goats! I've been creeping around the market for a while now and I've seen a several generations of goats come and go. Love them!

Hashi Food Truck has become a staple too. If you're in the area you need to try it! Seriously.

Tags Old Beach Farmers Market, Virginia Beach, goats, Shady Goat Farm
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Time for another edition of...

May 2, 2015

It's been a while but checking out today's event list I had to do a quick post about all the drinking that is going to happen on this fine day in May!

Big Brew Day at HomebrewUSA

9th Annual Spring Town Point Virginia Wine Festival

Fearnought Release and Derby Party

Town Center Craft Beer Festival

Ironclad Series Debut Bottle Release: Bourbon Barrel Aged Robust Porter

The Mariner's Museum Craft Beer Festival

I'm sure mint juleps (blech) will be downed by many and not to mention all the fight parties tonight!

Be safe out there!

In event Tags beer, wine, events
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