suzy's birthday

This past week we observed the national holiday that is my wife's birthday (at least, that's typically the way she thinks about out). On Thursday, we decided to celebrate said holiday by eating as much of the most delicious food we could find. So here's a quick recap of our - I mean "Suzy's" - day.

Lunch at The Lazy Goat, one of our favorite restaurants, although we had only been there for dinner. Good decision to try lunch. Suzy's parents split a kebob and Mediterranean salad; Suzy had a Muffaletta panini; but I won the day with this beauty:

This is (was?) the Lamb Burgesa, a hamburger patty of lamb tucked inside a pillowy soft warm pita, with a feta spread, a minty yogurt, lettuce, tomato, and red onion. Out.of.this.world. If you like lamb, this is about the best lunch you could hope for. It had the rich warm flavor of the lamb, cooled and muted somewhat by the yogurt and feta. 

These are pomme frites (a fancy French word meaning "freedom fries"), but The Lazy Goat has their own take on this side dish. They're thin cut and fried crispy, giving them great texture. Then they get hit with some truffle oil, giving them almost a savory but sweet-ish kind of flavor, offset by the saltiness of the finely shredded asagio cheese. They were fantastic on their own, but dip them in the chipotle ketchup? Magnifique!


Amazingly, I was able to return to work for the rest of the day, before our dinner out at American Grocery.

This is the same place we went for my birthday, which you can read about here. We ordered very similarly, but because the seasons had changed, so had the menu. Instead of apples with our pork belly appetizer, we had peaches (a great switch!). The braised beef tongue was now a braised corned beef tongue, giving it a little extra bite. The fresh fruit cobbler, instead of apple with cinnamon ice cream, was strawberry with vanilla.

An amazing day of eating at (arguably...and I'll defend this) the two best restaurants in Greenville.

But one of the best parts of the day was getting to feed our almost-eight-month-old. He takes after his daddy in that he LOVES to eat. He goes zero-to-screaming-hungry in 6.3 seconds. He makes "mmmmmm..." noises when he takes a spoonful of baby food. And he can put away some food. This was his lunch (probably not as good as ours):

Stage three macaroni with butternut squash. Yum!

I really enjoy getting to feed him, not only for the entertainment value, but because it seems like we're connecting in some way. It's like table fellowship with any adult - I get to watch his reactions, "talk" with him, and share a bit of life together. All in all, it makes me really happy...and apparently him, too.

third sunday in lent

Friday was my birthday.

After our morning delivering Meals on Wheels (which you can read about here), Suzy gave me my present:

A framed collage of photos of family members holding Happy Birthday signs, posing in food pantries with their donations.

She had planned this for weeks, getting my family and hers to take the money they would have spent on a gift that I didn't really need, and instead to donate food to United Ministries and other food pantries. And not just donate food, but deliver the food, see the facilities, meet the people. Even Suzy's German sister, who's only in the country for a couple of weeks, participated.

I know it sounds overly pious and cheesy to say this, but I did not care one bit that this was my only present. It was all I needed, to know that about 100 people could be given a bag of food, and all because the people that closest to me care enough to care for others.

Fast forward to that night...

Suzy knows that to show how much she cares for me, all she has to do is take me out to eat at a fancy restaurant (I'm easy like that). I've eaten some amazing meals at some really nice restaurants in major cities in the US, but my birthday dinner Friday night topped 'em all.

Suzy and I went to American Grocery, my favorite restaurant in town. It's a farm-to-table restaurant serving American seasonal cuisine, owned by a husband (the chef) and wife (the sommelier). The food is outstanding, and the atmosphere was made for me. The exposed brick walls, unfinished woods, and dish-towel linens, balanced with the industrial-style ceiling and contemporary accents, give the place a modern-rustic feel I love. And when I heard Ray LaMontagne, Coldplay, and Ryan Adams on the playlist, I knew this was my kind of place.

So here's what we had:

Negro Tinto, a Malbec from the Mendoza region of Argentina.  Dark, flavorful, and smooth, it was a great pairing with our meal.

Starter: Flash-fried pork belly and grilled apple slices over creamy grits with a pecan-bourbon maple syrup.  Perfect combo of savory, fatty, tart, nutty, and sweet.

Suzy's entree: Wild striped bass, green garlic (mild) risotto, fiddleheads (taste like asparagus), chanterelle mushrooms, lobster nage (cream sauce). Light but rich flavors.

My entree: Braised beef tongue (don't be grossed out...it's delicious, super tender and juicy), black pepper gnocchi, arugula, smoked tomato cream sauce. Meaty, peppery goodness.

Dessert: seasonal fruit (apple) cobbler. The cobbled part had to be 2 inches thick, the top covered with packed raw sugar. Served hot with two scoops of melting cinnamon-vanilla ice cream.

I'm aware how hypocritical it is for me to advocate giving food for people in poverty and going out to one of Greenville's best (and more expensive) restaurants. Believe me, I know. But it does make me feel a little bit better that the restaurant helps to support local farms and farmers, since almost every ingredient comes from farms and artisan food producers in South Carolina. Even as we enjoyed this delicious, extravagant, and completely unnecessary meal, I was reminded that food justice does not only concern how it is consumed or distributed, but also how it is produced - with care for the environment, the food itself, and the consumer in mind.

Care. Food. Culinary care. This day had it all.

day fifteen: meals on wheels

“I'm embarrassed we haven’t done this before.”

Suzy’s words as we finished up our route echoed my own thoughts of disbelief and shame.

This morning we made deliveries for Meals on Wheels, something I hadn't done since I helped Grandaddy, now deceased, on his route when I was a young boy. It's certainly something I never thought I would do on my birthday! (But more about that on Sunday's post...)

Meals on Wheels might be one of the most efficiently run non-profits in the city, if not the state.  They provide meals Monday through Friday to thousands of homebound senior adults in the county, and rely almost exclusively on volunteers—some help prepare food starting at 6:00 a.m., others help package the meals, and of course, there are those who make the deliveries. And all of this happens at NO COST to the clients.

We arrived at the office and, after a short conversation/orientation with the volunteer coordinator, we were given a detailed list of clients, including what kind of meal and drink they received. We got in line and picked up our drinks, and then were given the exact number and type of meals for our route. After that, all we had to do was just hop in the car and go.

Waiting to pick up our meals. Notice the assembly line making meals in the kitchen... Clockwork.

Our boxes of meals, ready for delivery.
Meals change on a 4 week rotation, and all are diabetic friendly and offer 35-40% daily nutritional value. Some meals are frozen, for clients who need meals over the weekend.

We were given detailed directions to each person’s house, and from house to house, and even instructions for each individual. For instance, for one man it said to knock and speak loudly, and to give him extra time to get to the door. So I banged on the door with my fist and shouted in a voice I thought was loud but apparently was also menacing…because he opened the door almost immediately (he had been waiting) and looked terrified . He did say “Thank you,” but I don’t know if it was because we brought him a meal or because we were not attempting a home invasion.

Waiting outside after banging on the door and shouting, ready to see the look of terror on another unsuspecting elderly face.

(Actually, all 11 of the clients we saw were very pleasant and extremely thankful.)

From the time we stepped in line to pick up the meals until our last delivery was less than an hour and a half. In that time, we delivered about 16 meals to 11 clients. We needed no special skills, apart from the ability to drive, and the people at the office did most of the work for us.

I think the most shocking realization this morning was not the system MOW uses, but the different types of people who are in need of food. Many, if not most, of the organizations that we will be working with during these 40 days provide food aid to the homeless and extremely poor. But the people we saw today live in neighborhoods we knew of...their houses were (usually) well-kept...many of them could have been our grandparents!

So why haven’t we done this before? Were we scared that it would be too dangerous, or too difficult, or take up too much time? Did we think that we couldn't do it with a baby (which is false...the baby went with us, was a hit at the office, and slept the entire route)? Was it just too much trouble?

Cutest. Volunteer. Ever.

What was it that kept us of from making this minimal sacrifice? I don't know what it was that kept us from helping out with Meals on Wheels, but I'm embarrassed that we haven't done this before, too. Because there are so many good reasons to do it...eleven of whom we got to meet today.