Jumbo Jimmies from Jubilee

July 9, 2016

That title was a tongue twister!

For a couple years now we've primarily buying our crabs from Jubilee Seafood Company out of Knotts Island, NC. They have a booth setup at the Old Beach Farmers Market in Virginia Beach on Saturdays and I'm always at the market on the weekend because Jasper would kill me if we didn't go. That's his social time and he even makes me go to Back Bay Brewing and buy him a beer sometimes. He never drinks it, he doesn't even like beer, so I end up having to drink it for him.

Jasper thinks it makes him look cool when he has a beer.

Anyways, back to the crabs. Jubilee has a beautiful crabs, they're usually selling jimmies, but they can do females sometimes too. The prices aren't bad either, on average you can get a bushel of #1s for $130. That's a great deal.

In addition to crabs they sell oysters, shrimp and clams...here let me just cut and paste they weekly letter with the prices:

Hard crab **Please pre-order by Thursday

Jumbo size - $40 dozen or a bushel for $180
# 1 size hard crabs for $25 a dozen or a bushel for $130
# 2 size hard crabs are $20 dozen or a bushel for$70
# 3 female hard crabs $15 dozen or bushel for $65

Littleneck clams - from the Eastern Shore
**Please pre-order by Thursday - we recycle clam/oyster bags.

$35 for a bag of 100 clams
$18 for bag of 50 clams
$10 for bag of 25 clams

Seaside Oysters - from the Eastern Shore **Pre-order by Thursday- we recycle clam/oyster bags

$50 for a bag of 100 oysters
$30 for bag of 50 oysters
$18 for bag of 25 oysters

Live Soft shell crabs** size & costs will vary- haven't seen many in the last few weeks

East Coast Shrimp $14.00 lb

The prices are comparable to what you'd find at the grocery or cheaper but you're also buying from fine folks that locally put the work into bringing a fresh product to the table. Jubilee has their own boats and have been doing this work for over 30 years.

I like to cook them shell down, keeps the juices in, I like to sip it out when I pick. — I like to cook them shell down, keeps the juices in, I like to sip it out when I pick.

Next time you're in the area and want some crabs (while in season of course) check out Jubilee Seafood Company. You'll be happy you did. Here are more photos from our recent Blue Crab dinner with delicious Jubilee jimmies.

Feisty action shot! I've been pinched a few times by these things when catch them. It feels how you imagine it might - not good lol. This kinda reminds me of the Barrel of Monkeys game.

Shelby likes butter when she picks crabs, I love the mud and stuff in the head :)

Sabai - Thai Street Food in Richmond

November 22, 2015

We were recently in Richmond visiting with Marleigh. She told us that a guy we met at Rappahannock Restaurant was opening a new restaurant with with some partners serving authentic Thai food.

When we met Jason Lough at Rappahannock last year he told us he was from Virginia Beach, and we actually knew some of the same people. Jason runs the bar at Sabai putting together creative mixed drinks and cocktails. He's also part of the creative force behind what the restaurant is doing. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to talk to the kitchen because they were packed the night we went.

There was about a 40 minute wait, which wasn't a problem because the drinks at Sabai are soon to become a staple for the bar crawlers in town. Check out some of the drinks we ordered:

I got to sip everyone's drink but we were heading back to Virginia Beach later so I only wanted a taste. The drinks were put together well and the flavors complemented each , giving you that exotic feel and packing a punch. They might look frou-frou but they will lay you out if you're not careful. Once we got our table we had a chance to order. We tried a few appetizers and the four of us ordered different entrees.

We had the Larb Gai and Sai Gok appetizers first. Larb Gai is a basically a meat salad, Gai translates into chicken. The ground chicken is heavily spiced with thinly sliced vegetables. It can get eaten by wrapping or pinching it from the plate with lettuce or endive. The Sai Gok is a variety of sausage made is Thailand and surrounding countries. It's pretty spicy too and we loved it. Dipped in the dipping sauce made up of fish sauce, vinegar and sugar, it was even better.

Pad Krapow Moo Sap Kai Dow (Spicy Basil Pork)

Our entrees were great. I had the Pad Krapow Sap Kai Dow that is a spicy ground pork and mine came with a fried egg on top with a side of rice. i mixed it all up together and ate that way. I love this stuff. Shelby got the grilled chicken that tasted as good as the way it looked. The Pineapple Fried Rice was served in a the hollowed half of a pineapple was great and Ethan's Pad Thai was pretty good too. I definitely want to make another trip and try some of the other stuff on the menu. I would love a chance to talk to the chef too, he apparently is from Thailand and if trying to bring the Thai street food experience to Richmond. So if you're in Richmond, and looking for good Thai food, you'd do yourself a favor by visiting Sabai.

Check this out...

September 18, 2015

The UCI Road World Championships will be held in Richmond this month and a nice little video was put together to showcase the Virginia state capitol. Oh and my daughter is in it too ;)

Virginia Craft Beer & Wine Festival 2015

September 10, 2015

We're going to the Virginia Craft Beer & Wine Festival this year for the first time. I'll be honest and say I can't remember the last time I've been to an event in Portsmouth. I guess it would have to have been the Portsmouth Dishcrawl over two years ago! Here is more info from the event's Facebook page:

This Saturday's event will be held from 12:00pm-5:00pm and will feature some of the finest selections of craft breweries and wineries, all hand picked and selected from right here in the state of Virginia.

Tickets are just $35 and include unlimited sampling, a commemorative festival glass, tons of great food options and live entertainment all afternoon featuring Mike Profitt & Dana Silver Cloud.

Breweries include: O’Connor Brewing Company, Smartmouth Brewing Company, Back Bay Brewing Company, Young Veterans Brewing Company, St. George Brewing Company, Larry’s Lemonade, Ale Works Brewing Company, Legend Brewing Company, Devils Backbone Brewing Company, Bold Rock Hard Cider, Starr Hill Brewing Company & Center of the Universe. Each brewery will feature multiple selections of some of the finest craft beers in the state of Virginia for guests to enjoy all afternoon.

Wineries include: Rapidan River Winery, Prince Michel Vineyard & Winery, Barboursville Winery, Trump Winery, Williamsburg Winery, Horton Vineyards & Lake Anna Winery. Each winery will feature multiple selections of premium wines from right here in the state of Virginia for guests to enjoy all afternoon.

Tickets are on sale now at the nTelos Wireless Pavilion Box Office and at all Ticketmaster locations. You can also purchase online at www.ticketmaster.com.

For more information on The Virginia Craft Beer and Wine Festival, visit www.PavilionConcerts.com, or call 757-393-8181.

The Virginia Craft Beer & Wine Festival is proudly sponsored by nTelos Wirless, Hoffman Beverage, Republic National, Rick Hendrick Cadillac, Coastal Limousines and is produced by Integrated Management Group. Proceeds from this year’s event benefit the Virginia Legends Walk Foundation.

Blue Crabs

July 31, 2014

I've been craving Blue Crabs ever since our anniversary dinner in May when I had some soft shells at Terrapin. Afterwards, I couldn't wait to cook some at home. Problem was, we had to wait till they were in season. They are now! I finally made it out to a couple of shops to grab a few dozen to steam.

Unfortunately, though this year's haul looks like it'll be a bad one again. At least that's what I heard from the area's watermen. It's a shame, I remember being a kid and easily filling up a bucket near the house and taking them home for dinner. The day I was looking, I found a couple of spots that had them in stock.

I first checked G Mart in Virginia Beach, VA. G Mart is one of our groceries that carries hard to find Asian and Latino items. I love these places and I remembered that when Blue Crabs are in season they'll carry them for a decent price. When I walked in headed to the back where they keep the seafood I found what I was looking for--apparently so did everyone else. There was a line to pick live crabs out of a large metal bin. They were priced at $3.99 a pound which was great, but they were all female crabs. I always feel bad eating the females because I figured they should be out in the water making baby crabs. I noticed none of them had egg sacs and they were a decent size. While I was checking them out a man from the back dumped more in the bin. I left to check out another place.

Bonney & Sons Seafood in Sandbridge has been around for a while and probably not a place I would have visited when I was younger because it was far from where I lived. Walking into the shop I noticed a couple of old dogs hanging out, obviously comfortable, knowing they belonged there. The staff was running around filling orders, steaming crabs, and checking the trucks behind the shop that delivered fresh seafood. It was very busy with people coming and going picking up orders of shrimp, fish and crabs.

They have a tank with crabs skittering around running water. There was a huge crab in there that had to be 10 inches from point to point--the biggest I've ever seen. Along the back wall were bushels you could choose from: #1 Jimmies Jumbo and regular and #2s too. The #1 Jimmies (jumbo) were going for $120 a half bushel! I thought about getting them, but that would have been a ton of money to fill a craving. The lowest they had were #2s for about $74 a half bushel. I decided to grab some of them but when they checked the back they were all out of bushels and halfs. Really? They didn't have any available in the large either. By the dozen the crabs were going for $30+ and I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

I want to state that I believe they are worth every penny you pay, but I was feeling how light my wallet would feel walking out of there I decided against it.

I ended up going back to G Mart and picking up about 6 dozen crabs at a pretty good price. I took them home and started cooking them. I usually use come cheap beer and Old Bay seasoning, cooking them about 24 minutes in a large, covered pan. While they were cooking I got a pot ready for a shrimp boil and cooked about 1 1/2 lbs of shrimp we could peel. As a bonus, my mother brought over some egg rolls she made! We just about ate everything and the ones we had left over, Shelby and I ate for dinner the next day.

Peel the Love!

June 27, 2014

Dole has set out to remind everyone that bananas aren't just for brown bag lunches or looking good in the fruit arrangements. “The Peel the Love" “Banana Cabana” Tour is traveling around the county in custom food trucks that will offer recipes, samples and even swag—t-shirts, sunglasses, etc... using Dole bananas and other fruit. They've also reached out to regional bloggers, like myself, to help put the word out. In the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area, they'll be visiting the following locations within the next few days:

Sunday, 29 June - Norfolk Naval Commissary, 1588 Mall Drive, Norfolk, VA, 11:00am – 5:00pm
Monday, 30 June – Oceana Naval Commissary, 1300 Oceana Blvd, Virginia Beach, VA, 3:00pm – 6:00pm

If you're outside of the Hampton Roads area, they'll be stopping at these spots too:

Saturday, 28 June – 7Th Annual Chesty Puller Memorial Bridge 10K and Kids Fun Run, Historic Downtown, West Point, VA (Town Square), 7:00am – 10:00am
Thursday, 3 July – Fort Lee VA. Commissary, 400 Shop Rd., Fort Lee, VA, 11:00am – 5:00pm

The events are free and ID cards are not required to visit the NOB and Oceana cabana stops. Grilled, blended, sliced—however you might like them, delicious treats made from bananas will be available for visitors to try. You can grab a merch item if you bring by a receipt displaying a purchase of 3 lbs. of Dole bananas too! You' might possibly see a walking banana if you stop by the food truck—who wouldn't want to see a huge walking banana?

Dole selected cities that have shown to have a great appreciation for the yellow fruit when planning out stops on the Peel the Love tour. In all, 26 banana-loving cities will be visited by the Banana Cabana Memorial Day through Labor Day.

To help celebrate the banana, make a cold, refreshing smoothie using the recipes my wife and I use here at home. Click the photo below:

Follow this link for more information on Peel the Love

Here is the official blurb from Dole:

Peel the Love is a year-long Dole campaign that celebrates the fun, irreverence and whimsical side of bananas and other tropical fruit. The program includes everything from delicious new banana recipes, serving, pairing and entertaining tips.

About DOLE Bananas

DOLE® Bananas are the top-selling banana in America and the world — in both conventional and organic product categories. From its founding by James Drummond Dole, the company has built its reputation on a ceaseless commitment to quality. Today, the DOLE® brand stands for more than 150 years of quality produce — and the world’s largest supplier of fresh fruits and vegetables, including bananas. Dole strives to grow, produce, harvest, transport and distribute its bananas and other produce in the most environmentally and socially conscious way possible. Dole Fresh Fruit Company is based in Westlake Village, Calif.

About Dole Food Company, Inc.

Dole Food Company, Inc., with 2013 revenues from continuing operations of $4.5 billion, is one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of high-quality fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. Dole is an industry leader in many of the products it sells, as well as in nutrition education and research. For more information, please visit www.dole.com.

O'Connoroo!

June 5, 2014

The new O'Connor Brewing Company facility is huge, especially compared to the old building the next street over. Standing on top of the roof you can see for miles over the low rooftops of the industrial area, past the neighborhoods and beyond. Taking in everything around the building, getting a bead on the location. What caught my interest was the old coffee roasting plant a couple blocks away. It used to house First Colony Coffee & Tea, the 109-year-old business closed it's doors in 2011. I asked brewer Skylar Sickles what he thought about the new place.

“I love it.” he said.

I stopped by O'Connor Brewing Co. to check out the new spot before the huge grand opening dubbed “O'Connoroo.” I was greeted by their marketing director, Hannah Serrano, who gave me a quick tour around the warehouse. She then handed me off to the brewers, James Moriarty, Brian Mandeville, and Skylar Sickles who were there getting the new tanks hooked-up. The 211 W. 24th Street location started out as a food processing plant, then furniture warehouse before being converted into a brewery. The wide, open space allowed O'Connor to triple the annual output to 15,000 barrels. The building houses a cooler and docking area too; this will allow them to produce and hold more beer in addition to convenient shipping. This all equals higher product output.

The extra space will allow the brewers to experiment with small batches. They've done this in the past, but they'll have more to share and they can test out barrel aging. Barrels are going to be brought in from distilleries in the surrounding area. The brewers said they're going to love the extra space and the large windows that line the brewery's walls can be opened to let air in. I remember spending a couple hours with the brewers in the old location a few years ago. It was summer and it was hot, damp—the new space will be a lot more comfortable. The old spot on 25th Street has been shuttered up and the tanks there will be going to Midnight Brewery outside of Richmond, another craft brewery that started in 2011.

Kevin O'Connor, said, “I just love the way the place looked, architecturally, and how the place felt.” I can understand the feeling. The space allows the brewery to add a lot more the O'Connor experience. There is a mezzanine “VIP” area above the taproom bar. The bar is housed in what was formerly a refrigeration area—you can still see the large doors that was used to access the units. Twenty-one taps will be behind the warmly lit, wood-worked and corked lined walls. For the curious, the cork walls are original to the building, insulation for refrigeration units. As I was leaving I couldn't wait see how this place would be put together in a week for O'Connoroo!

The weather was perfect. We showed up to O'Connoroo around 3:30 PM, this was the official grand opening of the new location. We missed the 2:00 PM kick-off—pipers, ribbon cutting and the small crowds. The place was packed already with lines for beer tickets winding out of the gate! The docking courtyard was lined with food trucks and pop-up restaurants. The trucks included Karnage Asada, CXB BBQ and Eats, Granby Street Hot Dogs; the pop-ups were from Waffletina, Belmont House of Smoke (the brisket was very good!), Cogan's Pizza, 80/20 Burger Bar and Colley Cantina. In the center were spots to hang out and play cornhole. Speaking of games, if you go inside, there is a gameroom. They still have their oversized Jenga from the old joint and there is a shuffleboard court to boot. More games will be added in the future.

A proper stage has been built in the brewery to host their weekly performers. The O'Connoroo had four bands to check-out: The Framers, DJP and MrT, The Dahus, Big Virginia Sky. Between the stage and taproom are long tables and a bar with stools that runs the length of the lined-up tanks. The seating allows patrons to check out the brewing area and equipment in addition to anyone on stage. We moved around the facility a bit and made our way up to the mezzanine. A smaller bar was up stairs to cater the VIP area. A good number of people from the area's craft beer scene were there to help celebrate O'Connor's big day.

Approximately there were 5,000-6,000 people who walked through the gates to attend O'Connoroo. This made for long lines for beer and the brewery posted an apology and promised to make good in futures events. They will definitely honor any beer tickets people held onto. So if you have some, don't throw them away! All the tickets O'Connor had available were sold by 8:15 PM that night. 42.5 barrels of beer was consumed, which roughly translates to over 10,500 pints poured! So much beer was pulled that the tasting room will only be open Friday and Saturday the week after O'Connoroo to allow them to refill the kegs.

Even though there were lines for drinks, everyone took it in stride. It was great seeing the community come out and support the area's spearhead unit into the craft beer scene. They've come a long way since opening in March 2010. Here's a little traditional Irish toast to close:

May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, beer beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire.

I changed that a little bit, hope you don't mind. See all the photos from the event here.

(Special thanks to Michael Palfrey Jr., OBC Tasting Room Mgr., who let me ping him for information.)

Oysters...I need them

November 3, 2013

I don't know what it is, but I've really been craving oysters lately. Patrick Evans-Hylton said I could be pregnant. Oh, thanks again Patrick for the offer to attend the Virginia Wine & Oyster Classic this past Saturday. It pained me to turn down those tickets!

Oysters! Shelby and I talked about it and we thought we should try to buy a couple from several different regions and do a little write up about it. I think it's going to happen, just need to put a plan together.

Check out this chart and page from Virginia Tourism page. Lays out the different regions and what you can expect from the oysters you eat from them.

Nice!

Taste of the Region - Part 8

October 17, 2013

Taste of the Region - Part 8

Well known regional chef Patrick Evans-Hylton asked me to be one of the judges in Taste of the Region at the Parade of Homes in Cypress Creek, Smithfield, VA. We got to check out several beautiful homes and try delicious food from the Smithfield area easily accessible to those moving into the area.

Last stop was at Just Cupcakes gave us dessert with a chocolate cupcake. Afterwards we made our way back to our starting point to hand out awards. We met Blanche there, her son was the builder for that particular house, and she had this amazing Chewy Bread. I need to tell more people about that stuff—caramel with nuts, melts in your mouth. She sells the bread and other sweeties from her business Blanche’s “Legendary” Chewy Bread & Sweet Treats.

After it was all said and done we made our way back to our cars and drove home. Shelby and I saw a green shooting star and a couple of young deer on the way out. Fun night.

i<3food

Taste of the Region - Part 7

October 17, 2013

Taste of the Region - Part 7

Seventh stop was at Smoke BBQ with the following:

- Smoked Beef Brisket with Bleu Cheese and Bacon Mac

I took a lot of photos, so I’ll post in segments.

i<3food

Taste of the Region - Part 6

October 17, 2013

Taste of the Region - Part 6

Sixth stop was at Smithfield Station with the following:

- Peppered Goat Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Sour Tomato-Red Onion Jam

I took a lot of photos, so I’ll post in segments.

i<3food

Taste of the Region - Part 4

October 17, 2013

Taste of the Region - Part 4

Fourth stop was Captain Chuck-A-Mucks with the following:

- Unisex Crab Soup

Captain Chuck-A-Mucks was featured on an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. I didn’t ask what the name was about, I’ll have to look into that later.

I took a lot of photos, so I’ll post in segments.

i<3food

Taste of the Region - Part 3

October 17, 2013

Taste of the Region - Part 3

Third stop was Vintage Tavern ~ Seasonally Southern (winner of the Critic’s Choice Award that night) with the following:

- Pulled pork layered with Chow Chow on a bed of grits.

Even though I’ve lived most of my life in Virginia, this was the first time I’ve ever had Chow Chow in my life! Patrick took away my “Virginian” card. I think he said he’ll give it back to me later.

Vintage Tavern also had a great lemonade outside which was great…we were all very thirsty at this point.

I took a lot of photos, so I’ll post in segments.

i<3food

Taste of the Region - Part 2

October 17, 2013

Taste of the Region - Part 2

Second stop was Country Boy’s Barbeque with the following:

- Burgoo Stew, their play on Brunswick Stew, this one with brisket and smoked pork shoulder

- Pulled pork on top of Beer Bread made with Yuengling beer

- Cracklin’, this stuff was so good, fried pork skin, great seasoning and a little chewy, loved it!

I took a lot of photos, so I’ll post in segments.

i<3food

Taste of the Region - Part 1

October 17, 2013

Taste of the Region - Part 1

First stop was The Plaid Turnip (winner of the People’s Choice Award that night) with the following:

- Shrimp & Grits & Greens. Shrimp sauteed with onions, green peppers, mushrooms and country ham served

- Pulled Pork Barbecue with Turnip Slaw on a Cornbread Crostini

- Mini Pumpkin Waffles with homemade maple ice cream and candied bacon drizzled with maple syrup. Finished with sprinkled sugar and cinnamon

I took a lot of photos, so I’ll post in segments.

i<3food

I-Heart-Food Contest

April 13, 2013

ATTENTION!!! I-Heart-Food’s first give-away! A ticket for the 30 April Dishcrawl in downtown Portsmouth, VA!

Chynne from Dishcrawl Hampton Roads will take a group of hungry trekkers on a tour of four selected restaurants in a highlighted area of the city. The ticket includes food and gratuity (drinks not included). The meals will be prepared especially for the tour.

Meet new people, eat some good food—you can’t beat it! AltDaily.com posted a run-down of their Norfolk Dishcrawl if you want an idea of what’s in store:http://www.altdaily.com/features/food/ghent-dishcrawl.html

To qualify for the ticket you must do the following:

1. “Like” I-Heart-Food on Facebook
2. “Like” Dishcrawl Hampton Roads on Facebook
3. Post on I-Heart-Food’s wall your favorite local nosh.

That’s it! Tell your friends, family—whoever to join-in. I’ll pick a winner 16 April after verifying they meet the requirements and post the person’s name on the wall. Read more about Dishcrawl at http://www.dishcrawl.com/norfolk/.

I’ll also mention that you must be able to attend the Dishcrawl (traslate: live in the area.) I know that’s probably obvious, but I wanted to toss that out there anyway :)

Good luck! Start posting!