Washington The Magazine January/February 2023

ALSO INSIDE

MOSCATO

DELIGHTFUL WINE TO DRINK

SCRUMPTIOUS SNACKS FOR SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

Local food favorites

Publisher

Ashley Vansant

Editorial

Steve Barnes

Holly Morgan

Contributors

Richard Andrews

Clark Curtis

Mary Mehlich

Vail Stewart Rumley

Karen Thiel

Marketing & Sales

David Singleton

Kristen Smith

Distribution

Kim Riggs

Art Direction

Ryan Webb

Contact information

Washington the Magazine P.O. Box 1788

Washington, NC 27889

Advertising inquiries 252-946-2144 Ext. 221

Subscriptions & change of address 252-946-2144

BCCC MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. COMMUNITY EVENT

PHOTOS BY CLARK CURTIS

Beaufort County Community College held its’ 5th Annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration Monday, January 16. This year’s event was dedicated to the memory of Mr. Cornell McGill, a member of the College Board of Trustees from 1982 until his untimely passing on October 13, 2022. The featured guest speaker was Mr. Evan Lewis, Esq. Lewis practices law in Washington, specializing in non-profit and small business creation and compliance, consumer protection, social security claims, and civil litigation. Musical numbers were performed by Pastor Antwan Horton and the Kingdom of Life Community Church Praise Team. Dignitaries from around the community.

Leesa Jones, director of the Washington Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum and her husband Milton

Washington Police and Fire Chief Stacy Drakeford

(Left to Right) Beaufort County Manager Brian Alligood and Beaufort County Commissioner Ed Booth

Kingdom of Life Community Church Praise Team: (Left to Right) Pastor Antwon Horton and his wife Quisha, Latonya Nixon, Quinten Hill, and Pamela Sherod

Faye Windley and Octavia Spencer-Brewington

Washington Mayor Donald Sadler and Alice Sadler

Beaufort County Commissioner Franklin Walters and his wife Kathy

Marlene McCabe

(Left to Right) Rev. Katherine Mitchell, Carla Bass and her husband Daryl

(Left to Right) Wali Saleem, Dr. Laura Staton, Mitchell St. Clair, Belinda St. Clair

Patricia Daniels and Vicki Gorman

(Left to Right) Guest speaker Even Lewis, Esq, and Dr. David Loop, President, Beaufort County Community College Dennis Campbell

Family and friends of the late Cornell McGill, BCCC Board of Trustees, 1982-2022

‘NOW THAT’S A BISCUIT!’

STORY AND PHOTOS BY HOLLY MORGAN

Drivers pump the breaks for these gas station cheese biscuits

Just how good is a cheese biscuit from Mom’s Grill? If you put a biscuit on top of your head, your tongue would beat your brains out trying to get to it.

What makes the biscuits so delicious is the sharp cheddar cheese, according to Helen Keyes, a Washington native who has cooked at Mom’s Grill for about 36 years.

“The sharper the better,” she said. “You cannot make cheese biscuits with mild cheese. You have to use sharp cheddar cheese. No exceptions.”

Time and effort are two key ingredients that make biscuits at Mom’s Grill some of the best. “[I’m] not saying we’ve got the best around, but I think it’s the best and I can brag on it, because we put a lot of time and effort,”

Keyes said.

Sharp cheddar cheese, time and effort is all “Ms. Helen” (as she is affectionately known) will say about the ingredients used to bake the biscuits. The rest is a secret stored in her mind.

Mom’s Grill bakes between 10-13 pans of biscuits every morning starting at 6 a.m. when Keyes arrives. Each tray has two dozen biscuits which means the gas station kitchen serves up

Everyone is welcome at Mom's Grill where Helen Keyes and staff prepare breakfast and biscuits every morning.

to 312 biscuits every day. During the Christmas season, Mom’s Grill serves around 18 pans amounting to more than 430 biscuits.

“I know I made 18 pans one day,” Keyes said, “My hands told me I made 18 pans in one day.”

Crowded around the counter and lined down the snack aisles - hospital employees, farmers, business men and more pour into Mom’s Grill each morning to get their daily breakfast or cheese biscuit fix. Regulars can count on Keyes knowing what they’re going to order and sometimes she’ll have it prepared by the time they arrive. She knows whether they like egg, ham, bacon or sausage on their biscuit or if they like it with just cheese.

“My customers - they come in, in the morning - I know exactly what they want, give it to them - if I don’t say anything they say, ‘Ms. Helen, are you sick? What’s going on? Then they want me to start cutting up with them.”

Keyes has worked at Mom’s Grill long enough for adolescent customers to grow up and bring their children in for their first cheese biscuit.

Keyes doesn’t plan on retiring any time soon; however, when the time comes she says she’ll take with her the memories of customers and employees she connected with over the years.

Mom’s Grill is located at 1041 John Small Avenue in Washington and opens at 6 a.m.

Helen Keyes poses with a box of her beloved cheese biscuits at Mom's Grill.

A good neighbor has your back.

A good neighbor has your back.

Mauri F Evans Ins Agcy Inc

Mauri Evans, Agent 521 W 15th Street

Mauri F Evans Ins Agcy Inc

Washington, NC 27889

Bus: 252-946-5114

Mauri Evans, Agent 521 W 15th Street

Washington, NC 27889

Bus: 252-946-5114

Life’s a combination of good days and bad. I have your back for both. And who has my back? The company more people have trusted for 90 years. CALL ME TODAY.

Life’s a combination of good days and bad. I have your back for both. And who has my back? The company more people have trusted for 90 years. CALL ME TODAY.

1606040

CHICKEN & WHAT?

AN OLD-FASHIONED RECIPE FOR TENDER STEWED CHICKEN IN A RICH STOCK WITH SOFT DROPPED DUMPLINGS OR USE THE SAME RECIPE FOR ROLLED, CUT AND “AIR-DRIED” – CHICKEN AND PASTRY – WHICHEVER YOU PREFER!

The first Christmas we were together, my fiance and I spent it apart, because we were only a few months into a long-distance relationship. (He lived in the Fayetteville area and I lived near Charlotte.) Over the phone, we thanked each other for the gifts we had gotten each other and shared how we planned to spend the holiday with our families.

While describing his family’s Christmas dinner spread, my fiance said, “we’re having chicken and pastry.”

What in the world is chicken and pastry, I thought. His family is Southern who sticks to tried and true home cooking recipes. This perplexed me, because I am Southern too and thought I was familiar with just about every regional dish.

I asked him if the peculiar dish was anything like chicken pot pie.

“No, no, no,” he said. “Chicken and pastry is like chicken and dumplings.” Ding! Something I was very familiar with. Chicken and dumplings is one of my favorite meals especially on a cold night.

Chicken and pastry I have come to learn has shredded chicken, but it has more of a broth rather than sauce like I am accustomed to seeing in my grandmother’s recipe. It also uses longer, thinner strands of dough instead of pillowy pieces of dough my grandmother would mold with her hands.

A native North Carolinian, I’d never heard of this Eastern North Carolina-specific recipe.

According to Southern Kitchen, what we know as chicken and dumplings (or pastry) is a

recipe that has evolved over the centuries from Europe. The earliest American recipes date back to the 19th century and mostly consist of boiled dumplings in a broth with shredded meat. In 1879, a recipe with chicken was published in a cookbook called “Housekeeping in Old Virginia” by Marion Cabell Tyree.

“In ‘Housekeeping,’ you’ll find two recipes for stewed chicken, one of which is simmered with ‘dumplings, made like biscuit but rolled thin.’ The stew is finished with a round of butter, rolled in flour and spices, which is used to thicken the broth,” according to Southern Kitchen.

Whichever name and recipe you decide to use, chicken and pastry is the ultimate comfort meal that can bring loved ones together for a hearty and delicious meal.

STORY AND PHOTO BY HOLLY MORGAN

HOMEMADE CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS (OR THIN ROLLED, CUT AND “AIR DRIED”- CHICKEN AND PASTRY)

RECIPE PROVIDED BY

LOUSIE HINSLEY

Ingredients

Chicken & Stock

1 whole chicken

4 cups chicken broth

4 cups water

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 bay leaf (optional)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup finely diced celery

1 cup finely diced carrots

1 medium onion, diced

1/2 cup flour

Dumplings (pastry)

1 1/8 cups milk*

6 tablespoons butter, melted

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

SOURCE: NC EXTENSION FOOD AND NUTRITION, NCSU SAFE PLATES EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE FOODS AND NUTRITION PLEASE CONTACT LOUISE L. HINSLEY, EXTENSION

AGENT, FAMILY CONSUMER SCIENCE AT THE BEAUFORT COUNTY CENTER OF NC COOPERATIVE EXTENSION, 155 AIRPORT ROAD, WASHINGTON, NC 252-946-0111.

NOTES

You can absolutely cook the chicken faster than the directions but the secret to tender, flavorful chicken and delicious stock is to slowly bring everything to temperature and to never allow it to reach a full, rolling boil. If you have the time, the BEST way is to cook the chicken

Instructions

Cook Chicken & Prepare Stock

1. Add chicken, broth, water, salt, pepper, garlic powder and bay leaf to a wide stock pot or Dutch oven. Cover then bring to a slow simmer over medium heat. Once broth is bubbling, reduce heat to low then cook, covered, for 2-3 hours, or until legs and thighs are pulling apart from the body and the chicken is very tender. See notes.

2. Remove chicken from broth; set aside. Strain broth into a large bowl or pitcher, discarding bay leaf and loose bones and skin; set broth aside.

3. Melt butter in the (now empty) pot then cook celery, carrots and onion over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add flour, stir well, then continue cooking for 5 minutes.

4. Slowly stir reserved broth in with vegetables. Continue stirring until completely smooth. Reduce heat to low and cover.

5. Remove skin and bones from chicken then shred or cut chicken into bite size pieces.

6. Prepare dumplings.

7. Heat pot with broth over medium-high heat until it starts to boil. Add chicken. Gently drop dumplings, one at a time, into gently boiling broth. Take care to drop dumplings away from other freshly dropped dumplings as they will stick to each other before they have a chance to cook.

8. Once all of the dumplings are in the pot, sprinkle with additional pepper then cover pot. Reduce heat to low then allow to cook for 10 minutes or until dumplings are cooked through.

9. Serve immediately.

the entire time over low heat.

Bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts or thighs can be substituted but I don’t recommend boneless, skinless chicken. If you simply must use them anyway, omit the water and broth then use 8 cups chicken stock instead and add a stick of butter.

If you don’t love the idea of the finely chopped vegetables, feel free to just rough-

Yield: 8 Servings

Prepare the Dumplings

1. Place milk in a wide, shallow bowl in the freezer for about 10 minutes to separate the melted butter when we pour it in so that our dumplings are very much like actual biscuits without the fuss of actually making biscuits.

2. Melt the butter then set aside.

3. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and thyme in a mixing bowl then whisk to combine; set aside.

4. Slowly drizzle melted butter into chilled milk, stirring with a fork until combined. The mixture should look like curdled milk or cottage cheese.

5. Add milk mixture to flour mixture then stir with a spoon or rubber spatula until just combined.

6. If making Drop Dumplings: scoop portions of dough with two teaspoons or use a cookie scoop (I use a 1” cookie scoop) then drop into gently boiling broth.

7. If making Pastry: turn dough out onto lightly floured surface then sprinkle with more flour. Roll into desired thickness about 1/8 inch thick. (anticipate they will double in thickness when cooked). Cut into squares, strips or rectangles (however your granny did it) and allow them to dry while the chicken cooks. When ready drop into gently boiling broth. Cook as you would dumplings.

chop a few carrots, stalks of celery and an onion then throw them in the pot when the chicken cooks. If you decide to do it this way, still cook the butter and flour for 5 minutes over medium heat. This just makes a little roux to thicken the stock a bit. You’ll see a lot of recipes that call for a can of Cream of Something soup – this is the homemade equivalent to that.

ORDER UP

Family is the heart and soul of Dairy Palace

DAIRY PALACE IS A FAMILY-OWNED AND OPERATED RESTAURANT THAT HAS SERVED GENERATIONS OF CUSTOMERS FOR 37 YEARS IN DOWNTOWN WASHINGTON.

THE EVANS FAMILY

Thomas Herald (also known as T.H.) Evans purchased Dairy Palace in 1986 and worked there until he passed at the age of 90. The walk-up restaurant was placed into the charge of his son, Tim, who runs it with his sons Timothy and Nathan.

Tim said Dairy Palace has been a great place to work at, because “we get to know a

lot of people in the community and when you go places, people know who you are.” He said the camaraderie between family members, employees and customers is what makes the walk-up restaurant special.

Tim said working with his sons has been a great experience because they are close. He shared how as children, Nathan and Timothy were asked to remove stems from a large order of cherries. They removed stems for hours until

their father told them they could quit, but by that time cherry juice stained their hands red. Their hands were red for weeks, Tim said, chuckling.

Nathan said he “loves” working at Dairy Palace and being around his father and brother. “There’s going to be one day where I’ll probably be here and he won’t be here and that’s hard to imagine because this place is like family to me.”

Dairy Palace is a family owned and operated walk-up restaurant located on Bridge Street in downtown Washington.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY HOLLY MORGAN

From left to right: Nathan, Tim and Timothy Evans. Dairy Palace has been a staple in Washington since T.H. Evans', the late patriarch, purchased the walk-up restaurant in 1986.

Timothy works at the Dairy Palace, but wants to transition into full-time ministry work. He is active at Peace Chapel Free Will Baptist Church in Washington. The memories Timothy will take with him of working at Dairy Palace are mostly of his grandfather and his vigorous work ethic. He recalled watching his “85-year-old grandfather out work” him, a man at least 65 years his senior.

“Kind, gentle, hardworking and a gentle spirit,” were words Timothy used to describe his grandfather. He was a man who “lived purposefully, wanting to work hard to provide for his family and loved his grandchildren.”

EXTENDED FAMILY

Dairy Palace is open seven days a week beginning at 5 a.m. It closes at 4p.m. Monday through Thursday, but 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Evans arrives at 2 a.m. to prepare for each day.

In the mornings, regular customers arrive half expecting their usual breakfast sandwich order to be ready for pickup. Non regulars have to take a minute to decide if they want eggs, cheese and/or meat on their sandwich. At lunch, customers order freshly prepared hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecue, chicken or steak sandwiches with fries or chips and a milkshake with Simply Natural ice cream.

Some regulars forget what their routine orders are, because they rely on Angela Jones (also known as Miss Angie) to remember. She has regular customers’ sandwich and coffee orders memorized. Should anyone else be at the register taking orders and they don’t have a regular’s order memorized, they have to ask her.

Jones has worked at Dairy Palace for 18 years as a cashier. Over that period of time, the Evans and the customers have become like family members to her. She even calls Tim’s mother, “Mama” and says Nathan and Timothy are like sons to her.

“We’re just family,” Jones said. “I’m real close to them, and that’s how they make me feel like I am family.”

Miss Angie is like an extended family member to the Evans and regular customers. She loves brightening everyone's day with a smile and a laugh.

Socializing with customers is what Jones enjoys most about working at Dairy Palace. “I like joking with people,” she said. “I love having fun with people.”

Jones said customers will even ask her for advice because she is very relatable and can empathize with them. “They can really talk to me, and I understand where they are coming from. I have been through so much when they are telling me stuff I can relate to what they are talking about.”

The Evans, Jones and regular customers are one large family that is not connected

by blood, but by a restaurant that has been a Washington staple for decades.

WHAT TO ORDER

If you’ve never visited Dairy Palace, the Evans and Jones have provided their typical orders to help you decide what to get.

Tim: Anything on the menu. “I eat it all. There’s not one item that I like more than anything.”

Timothy: Ham, egg and cheese sandwich with extra, extra Duke’s Mayonnaise.

Nathan: A bacon, egg and cheese sandwich with mayo for breakfast, but at lunchtime he’ll eat a double cheeseburger all the way with slaw.

Angie: A cheeseburger or a chicken sandwich.

Tim and Nathan said Dairy Palace sells a lot of Cokes, because the restaurant reduces the carbonation but increases the amount of syrup in the dispenser. This creates a smoother and sweeter drink. Nathan and Jones said coffee is another popular drink item.

The Evans family recommends ordering the cheeseburger and a Coke to first time customers which are enjoyed either to-go or in your very own car parked at the restaurant.

EAT TO RIDE. RIDE TO EAT.

Barbecue and inspiration just come easy for the Dennis Family

STORY AND PHOTOS BY DAVID D. SINGLETON

Most anyone with a thesaurus and a keyboard can write about barbecue, and there aren’t too many writers that haven’t. Major newspapers, upscale magazines and network television executives have all, at one time or another, sent a savvy wordsmith, with a suitably edgy photographer in tow, down to eastern NC to sample our proudly regional take on roast pork, send in 700 words, upload a few shadowy photos and get on the next plane back. So what’s left to be said? I mean the

big city writers and producers have surely covered it all; and they pretty much have, except perhaps to say that all that publicity has turned barbecue, specifically whole-hog pork barbecue, that flavorful and endlessly curious mélange of disparate roasted pig parts, chopped and chopped again until their origins lose all vestige of their former identity and reformed homogenously and yet gloriously to serve a higher purpose; a gestalt of porcine pulchritude, not to mention a real gullet tickler, has lifted this humble staple of funerals and family reunions to a regional

icon here in the East.

It’s one thing to write about barbecue, and it’s something else entirely to wrangle 200-pound hogs over smoldering oak and pecan, day after day, and create a cultural benchmark from a staple commodity. I’ve personally dabbled in the fine art of the pigpickin’, but I don’t have the back to make a living out of the trade. It’s hard work, where you get up early out of duty. If for no other reason than it’d be a shame to keep your customers waiting.

Living as we do in the buckle of the pig

Cutline

belt, there are several notable pitmasters to hone in on as the subject of these particular 700 words and, if I can keep this gig long enough, I’ll get around to each. But the road on this day takes me down Hwy. 17 and then west on the once-desolate state highway 102 in to the quintessential crossroads known as Ayden- to enjoy a nap-inducing sized portion of pork, paired up with a ultra-low specific gravity corn pone and locally grown but world-class collards, cooked to a mulled mess and chopped so fine that it practically enters the fourth dimension. Add it all up, and it means I’m headed to Bum’s Restaurant.

It’s been over 20 years since I first met Latham “Bum” Dennis, and the introduction was as memorable as the fare. Walking in the venerable eatery and, pausing to check

out the long line of well-worn steam tables, I ordered a barbecue plate with slaw and, not wanting to make a mistake, went for a generic description and in so doing, made a guffaw that got me mocked by the man himself. I asked for ‘greens.’

“Son, if they’re green and you’re in my place, they’re collards!” He wasn’t trying to be smart, but he was emphatic.

I looked back incredulously at local newspaper publisher, Justice-of-the-Peace and general man about town Mitchell Oakley, whom I was having lunch with. Ineffectively holding back a chuckle, Mitchell quietly told me that these were his collards, meaning they come from his farm. For Bum Dennis, it was personal affront to the very vegetable that is celebrated annually here in Ayden. There’s

Bum's unassuming facade on Ayden's Main St. welcomes customers with their iconic pig signage. Previous page, customers order from a variety of vegetables to pair with their fried chicken and barbecue.

actually a collard festival in this town, and my tourist self walks right in the front door and calls them ‘greens.’

All of a sudden I felt like Pee Wee Herman at the Alamo. It felt like the whole bustling lunch crowd was howling and slapping their thighs; everyone shout-whispering to each other “he didn’t know what collards were.”

The room settled down as I did with Mitchell and the plate. For me, barbecue has never been about superlatives. I assume all barbeque is good until my taste buds tell me otherwise. While there is much one can speculate with respect to barbecue’s consistency, flavor, smoke, spiciness and moisture, I leave the competitive rankings to the other guys. All I can tell is that the barbecue, and the collards on this day, hit all the right notes.

I’ve been back to Bum’s a few times since, but it had been a while. That’s why when I recently learned of Bum’s recent passing, it seemed only logical to make another pilgrimage to the town, legend holds, that was named after a den of thieves.

It’s hard to tell where Ayden ends and the Dennis’ barbecue lineage begins. Going back to the early 19th Century, when Skilton Dennis first pulled in to town with a horse and wagon toting that first pig, some six generations have been in the business in some form or another.

The latest is Bum’s son, Larry who has managed the pit and the operation for the last few years as the Patriarch’s health began to fail. I order my plate and look around and there’s Larry, trading salutations with practically every customer that walks through the door. It’s an overused expression, but this is a man who’s never met a stranger.

Larry graciously shows me around, including the cinderblock cookhouse out back where two pits are still smoldering. “I’m done cooking for today,” he says. After all, it was almost noon.

We share some notes on the history of the place, but eventually put the note pad down. Sometimes a conversation is so easy that even with a stranger, documentation seems awkward. What I gathered was his dad

Larry Dennis is a sixth generation barbecue man; shown here in the cook house where top hogs get slow roasted daily. Below, Rhett and Scarlett peer down on unsuspecting guests while cords of pecan and oak stand guard behind the pits.

opened up Bum’s in 1963 and moved into it’s current location on Main St a couple of years later. In addition to the lineage that includes Bum, Skilton and Otter Dennis, there’s some relation (a cousin perhaps) that owns the Skylight Inn, Ayden’s more auspicious barbecue house, located about a mile down the road. I bet if you stand halfway between the two, you could smell the smoke coming from both. I reeked to hog heaven after a few minutes in the smoke house.

We talk barbecue (Bum’s only uses ‘top hogs’ that grow to full weight) hush puppies (when to pull them at the exact moment the dough turns to fluff) and of course about the aforementioned collard greens (I’ll never make that mistake again); occasionally interrupted with well-wishes for an exiting customer, he turns his natural curiosity to me.

“So you just ride around and eat and write stories?” Larry asked about my assignment. I replied that about summed it up and he’s quick with his rejoinder.

“You need a motorcycle. You see all those guys riding around on Harleys? That’s what they do. Ride around and eat…. And they get home by dark. Just like your column says.”

I felt inspired. After making a quick stop at a local car show, I plied my way over the back roads of Southern Pitt County, losing count of all of the far-flung subdivisions popping up out of the old tobacco fields and contributing to Greenville’s relentless suburban sprawl. Maybe Larry’s right, I think to myself. Perhaps I should get me a motorcycle. Maybe make some new friends to go ride around and eat. That sounds great. Maybe they could tip me off to a destination that hasn’t been covered by ‘Our State’, a real hole in the wall that no one’s ever heard of. Maybe like a place that, I don’t know, serves Clams Casino and plays reggae music; or maybe to try and find the best gas-station-hot-dog in Jones County. How hard could that be? Just like his Dad some sixty years ago, Larry Dennis seems to be on to something.

Dennis' Harley-Davidson is perfect for riding around and discovering new places to eat.

The nearby Dog House Tavern sponsors a Classic Car Show, featuring a 1930's hot rod Ford, a turbocharged Buick Regal, Indy Camaro Pace Car and the unmistakable AMC Gremlin (complete with matching three-speed banana bike).

Moscato, the wine that’s a delight to drink

BY MARY MEHLICH

Moscato. For many people, this word brings up an image of sweet, bubbly wine that they’d rather say, “pass” to. But they’d be missing out on a wonderfully fresh, easy-pairing wine that’s a delight to drink if so.

Moscato is a grape grown all over the world and known by several names, creating various kinds of wine from sweet and sparkling to dry and still. Moscato d’Asti is the most famous iteration, a low-alcohol, semi-sparkling (frizzante) wine made in Piedmont, Italy. This is what most people think of when they see the word “Moscato,” and it’s what we’ll be looking at here.

Moscato d’Asti DOCG is known for its aromatic bouquet with luscious, fruity notes of peach, apricot, and orange and heavenly floral scents of honeysuckle, orange blossom, and elderflower. It has a rich, bright palate with a delicate mousse and a small amount of acidity that, together with the bubbles, helps balance the sweetness.

The Moscato grape was one of the first grape varieties ever to be cultivated by humans.

While many grape varieties, especially in Europe and the Middle East, can be traced back hundreds of years through historical documentation, Moscato (Muscat, Moscatel, Muskateller) stands out because of its extensive genetic mutation. It has 200 clones spread all around the world, which points to thousands of years of evolution to obtain this many genetic variations. A bit of wine with your history?

When left on the vine and in the right conditions, Moscato d’Asti grapes will raisin, not rot, and can then be made into a concentrated, aromatic dessert wine called passito.

While we’re on the subject of grapes… Moscato is one of the only wine grapes that doubles as a table grape (perhaps the only).

Table grapes and wine grapes are not the same. Take a guess: which one do you think is

sweeter? Imagining crunching down on a juicy, fat grape from the store, you might be surprised to learn that wine grapes contain significantly more sugar—and that’s a good thing, because grapes need those sugars to convert into alcohol. They are also thicker-skinned, juicier, seedier, more acidic, and quite more complex than table grapes.

Table grapes are tasty, but are made for munching and for show. Wine grapes fall into one family called Vitis vinifera, but there are 15-20 families of table grapes, such as Vitis labrusca, Vitis rotundifolia, and others.

Moscato d’Asti comes from caves.

Not exactly caves, but some of Piedmont’s Moscato d’Asti wines are fermented and stored in historical caves that span over 11 miles underneath the city of Canelli, making it a veritable floating city—on sparkling wine!

Starting in the late 17th century, producers began excavating caves from the calcareous tuff rock underneath Canelli in order to store their wines. Today, casks and pupitres line the long, bricked tunnels and fill large, arching rooms. There was no plan to grow these cellars to such cavernous dimensions, but they were enlarged chip by chisel as the wineries above them grew in number and size. The caves have the perfect natural thermal insulation, maintaining a constant temperature of 12-14 degrees C

(54-57 degrees F). They are called Underground Cathedrals and today are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Pairing Moscato d’Asti with food is easy and a lot of fun.

Because Moscato d’Asti is sweet, it pairs best with bold, savory, spicy flavors. Bitter and sour also do well with Moscato d’Asti—and it’s a lovely dessert wine. It’s hard to go wrong when pairing it, and very easy to discover fun combinations! Just keep in mind that it is an intensely fruity wine, which might be a flavor note that you do not want to combine with, say, your steak..

It is great with brunch and lunch, mixed in for an exquisite cocktail, and paired with highly spiced and hot-spicy foods, giving it bonus points because pairing wine with spicy food is difficult: alcohol increases the perception of spicy in the mouth. Therefore, its low alcohol content at 5-7%, sweet notes, and semisparkling texture make it ideal for Mexican and Thai cuisine.

With desserts, Moscato d’Asti shines: pair it with pastries, pies, and gelato. In a historical bar in Piedmont called Caffe Fiorio, they serve large portions of gelato doused with Moscato d’Asti (or other wines), sprinkled with hazelnuts and topped with whipped cream and a wafer, a concoction they call simply the coppa, “cup.”

The Moscato d’Asti cork isn’t like a Champagne, Prosecco, Cava, or other sparkling wine cork.

The cork sealing a bottle of Moscato d’Asti is a normal, straight-edged, straight-laced guy as opposed to the mushroom-shaped corks that seal other sparkling wines, and which are kept in place by the little metal cage that you twist off before opening called the “muselet.” This is because Moscato d’Asti is subjected to just about 1 atmosphere of pressure compared to 5-6 found in Champagne and other sparkling wines. Thus, a normal cork will not be pressurized to pop out of the bottle.

Score big with simple, scrumptious Super Bowl snacks FIRST DOWN!

All eyes will be on the gridiron come Super Bowl Sunday. Since 1958, when the Baltimore Colts took on the New York Giants in what’s been called the “Greatest Game Ever Played,” the sport has flourished, and its championship game has become a centerpiece for the gathering of friends and family, all rallying around their chosen team.

Whether you’re engaged in the action from kickoff to the clock’s fourth-quarter countdown, only during the half-time show or the wildly entertaining commercial breaks, food to accompany football ranks just as high as the evening’s entertainment. It’s a “loadyour-plate-up-and-find-a-good-spot” kind of event, and these recipes from some of the best cooks, and cookbooks, Beaufort County has to offer, will put the odds in your favor for the big win.

Betty Cochran’s Party Tortilla Rolls and Marilyn Eales’ ABC Dip with crackers are always a good bet, or you can sweeten up the championship deal with Ashley Wahlkamp’s delicious Monkey Munch or Madelyn Higby’s Date Bars. Spice up your game with Black Bean Salsa or make your own winning version of Tex-Mexi-Pies.

Whether your team is vying for glory or biding time for another chance at the title next season, score big this Super Bowl Sunday with some festive finger-food for football’s most fabulous event of the year — Go, (insert the name of your team here)!

FOOD PREP, PHOTOGRAPHS AND STORY BY VAIL STEWART RUMLEY

BLACK BEAN SALSA

RECIPE BY VAIL STEWART RUMLEY

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained; 1/2 cup green onions, chopped; two cloves of garlic, minced; 2/3 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped; 1 fresh jalapeño, chopped; 1/3 cup cilantro, chopped; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 teaspoon cumin; 1 teaspoon salt; juice of one lime.

Mix together all ingredients and serve with tortilla chips.

MONKEY MUNCH

RECIPE BY ASHLEY WAHLKAMP

“COUNTRY COOKIN’, FAVORITE RECIPES FROM THE HEART,” CHURCH OF GOD OF PROPHECY, WASHINGTON

9 cups Chex cereal; 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips; 1/2 cup peanut butter; 1/4 cup butter; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar.

Measure cereal into a large bowl and set aside. Heat chocolate chips, peanut butter, and the butter over low heat until melted. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour the mix into a 2-gallon, zip-top bag and add powdered sugar. Shake bag until everything is well-coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Refrigerate in an airtight container.

TEX-MEXI-PIES

RECIPE BY VAIL STEWART RUMLEY

1 pound of ground beef; 1 packet of taco seasoning; 1 can of refried beans; 1/4 cup salsa; 1 small can green chilis; 2/3 cup Cheddar cheese, grated; 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped; 1 package of Pillsbury mini-pie crusts (makes 14).

Cook ground beef until done, then add taco seasoning, following directions on the packet. Heat up refried beans. Place mini-pie crusts in muffin pan and cook according to directions (go for the lower end of the times range). Let cool. Set oven on 300 degrees. Mix salsa, green chilis and half the Cheddar cheese with ground beef. Layer a spoonful of refried beans, the ground beef mixture, then top with more cheese. Bake until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro. (Cook’s note: I made this recipe up on the fly — so yummy! Feel free to add toppings of your choice: guacamole, sour cream, more salsa, etc.)

CHEESE BISCUITS

RECIPE BY JOHNIE SHAW

“TRADITIONAL TREASURES,” WOMEN ACTIVE FOR CHRIST, FIRST FREE WILL BAPTIST CHURCH, WASHINGTON

1/2 pound sharp Cheddar cheese; 2 sticks butter, softened; 2 cups Rice Krispies; 2 cups all-purpose flour; 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Grate cheese and mix with softened butter. Add other ingredients. Mold into small balls. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Flatten with a fork. Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes.

PARTY TORTILLA ROLLS

RECIPE BY BETTY COCHRAN

“COOKING WITH GRACE, VOLUME II,” BATH CHRISTIAN CHURCH, BATH

1 package white flour tortillas; 2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese; 1 cup sour cream; 1 small package cream cheese, softened; 1 small can black olives, chopped; 1/2 cup green onion, chopped.

Mix cheeses, olives and onions. Spread a thin layer of cheese mix on tortilla and roll up tightly. Place tortillas in a covered container and refrigerate up to two hours. Slice in 1/4-inch slices, place on a service dish and serve as an appetizer.

(Cook’s note: add some diced chipotle peppers to this to really spice it up!)

ABC DIP (ALMOND-BACON-CHEDDAR)

RECIPE BY MARILYN EALES

“WITHOUT A DOUBT ST. THOMAS’ BEST,” ST. THOMAS EPISCOPAL CHURCH, BATH

1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted; 6 strips of bacon, crumbled; 1 1/2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded; 1 tablespoon onion, finely minced; 3/4 cup mayonnaise; 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Toast almonds at 350 degrees for five to eight minutes. Combine all ingredients and serve with crackers.

DATE BARS

RECIPE BY MADELYN HIGBY

“TERRA CEIA COOKBOOK NO. 2,” LADIES

AUXILIARY OF TERRA CEIA CHRISTIAN SCHOOL, PANTEGO

1 1/2 cups sugar; 1 cup flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla; 1/2 cup shortening (can substitute butter), melted; 1 cup dates, chopped; 1 cup nuts, chopped; 2 eggs; powdered sugar.

Sift first four ingredients together; add remaining ingredients. Press mixture into a 9-by-13-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. When done, cut and sprinkle with sugar.

Winter fishing offers enthusiasts plenty of options

STORY AND

Winter fishing on the Pamlico is a wonderful way to offset the cold winter weather, short days, and awkwardness of wearing heavy clothes. All winter long, anglers can catch species such as striped bass, redfish, largemouth bass, white perch, and others. Many of these fish live in our estuary year-round. Their behavior and feeding habits may change in the colder water temps, but they still must eat to survive. The striped bass are northern fish and more adapted to cold water, the stripers tend to be more active during the winter months than the other species. While speckled trout can be caught all winter, they are far more active on warmer days during high pressure and clear weather. Cold fronts and arctic blasts creating cold nighttime temperatures tend to slow their metabolism and their feeding. Winter fishing (for any species) can be tough during cooling trends in the weather and the water temperature, but if you play the weather and fish during the warming trends, the fish are more active.

For the speckled trout, look for baitfish concentrations in the backs of the deeper creeks and on adjacent mud/muck flats near those areas. Most of the visible baitfish will consist of finger mullet with menhaden, bay anchovies, and other minnow species in the mix. Soft plastics such as paddle tails and jerk baits fished very slowly on light jig heads should get a bite. Any suspending/sinking twitchbait such as a Mirrolure worked slowly will also be effective for the trout.

Our resident striped bass population seems to be very abundant and healthy. An excellent indicator of a fish stock's overall health is a mixed age class. For the past few years, striped bass anglers have been encountering juvenile fish in the 6-12 inch range, 25-30 inchers, and every size in between, often catching small, medium, and large fish on

BY CAPT. RICHARD ANDREWS

consecutive casts. Although topwater fishing is my personal favorite, winter water temps do not facilitate a consistent topwater bite, so subsurface tactics such as casting shallowdiving crankbaits or weedless swimbaits along bank structure or jigging soft plastics on the deeper ledges and breaks in the river channel.

In the winter, stripers are usually located in deeper water near the bottom. They are often associated with ledges in the creek or river channel or around deeper structure where they can ambush their prey. Because we are typically fishing in deeper water and in places where we are likely to get hung up on structure, we primarily fish 3/8 to ½ ounce jig

heads rigged with soft plastic baits such as 3-5 inch paddle tails or 4-6 inch jerk baits. Using braided fishing line is important because it is more sensitive than monofilament, enabling you to feel the bottom. Maintaining contact with the bottom is important. Once you allow the bait to hit the bottom, lift it up off the bottom a couple of feet until it hits the bottom again. Just repeat this process until you feel a fish pick the bait up as it’s falling back toward the bottom. When you detect the bite, set the hook and enjoy the rest!

Richard Andrews captains a private fishing boat and knows all the best spots in Eastern North Carolina.

PHOTOGRAPH

82 year old Lou Hannan from Richmond Virginia enjoying some winter striped bass fishing on the Lower Tar River (Richard Andrews)

APPETITE for fresh food and waterfront views

WRITTEN BY LOUISE HINSLEY

Washington has many attractive features like friendly residents, waterfront views and a variety of restaurants and retail shops; however what I love about Washington lies not above the soil and water, but below it.

I loved growing up in Swansboro, North Carolina. My father was a hog farmer, and we had a garden that was way too big. The large garden yielded both vegetables for my family and lessons on canning and food preservation (canning, freezing and dehydrating) which I now share with students at the Ag Extension office off of Airport Road.

Washington and Beaufort County have rich farmlands that can produce vegetables and leafy greens for a hearty and healthy diet, but in addition, I am fortunate enough to live on the coast which has healthy waters providing an abundance of seafood - my favorite kind of food. I love a jumping mullet! Those with good eyes can spot one leaping out of the water in front of the waterfront.

The beautiful waterfront is one place I frequently bring company to enjoy a walk and views of the boats. Guests always say, “you’re so lucky to live here.” Washington residents, me included, are blessed to be able to go to the waterfront whenever we want whether we have a waterfront property or not.

We’re blessed to be nourished by rich farmland and strong waters where fresh food can be harvested, preserved and prepared in healthy meals for well rounded diets. And as a bonus, we’re lucky enough to be able to take in the beautiful sights of the Pamlico River just steps from our home or downtown.

BY HOLLY MORGAN

PHOTO

Louise Hinsley, NC Cooperative Extension

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