Sunday, June 17, 2012

A Foodie Love Affair

One of our favorite things about living in Durham is the foodiness of the town (check out the proof here and here). I am a girl who loves to eat no matter who is doing the cooking and our new home really reflects this trait. This weekend Steve and I had a very foodie weekend, which in our opinion is the best kind. One of our good friends from Arkansas is living in Durham for the summer and we have taken it upon ourselves to take her to the best places to eat in town (we know, what a hassle!). Friday night we went to one of our absolute favorites in downtown Durham: Dame's Chicken and Waffles. When we first moved to Durham we had no idea the city was so diverse in its culture and it's cooking. Growing up in the Midwest we were exposed to totally different kinds of restaurants; date night would be spent at Chili's and a really fancy occasion would be celebrated at P.F. Chang's (for friends back home, here's a mind-blower: Durham doesn't even have an Olive Garden!). Since we've been living here we've tried everything from Singaporean to Mediterranean to Harlem's own chicken and waffles, a delicacy that is loved by many in our food-obsessed town. Dame's is always packed when we go but we will gladly wait the half an hour for the BEST macaroni and cheese I have ever had, accompanied by juicy fried chicken atop a moist sweet potato waffle. I know, sounds terrible, doesn't it? Steve had been asked to judge Durham Central Park's Chili Challenge this year, which I gladly tagged along for on Saturday morning. For $4 I got to try 5 different kinds of chili, along with some of our favorite salsa they decided to throw in the competition as well. Waiting for Steve to finish his judging duties I was given the opportunity to hang out in Central Park while the weekly Farmer's Market was winding down. Durham is surrounded by small farms and many of the restaurants around the area are committed to using local ingredients. Living in Durham has given us the opportunity to really think about what we are eating and where it is coming from, and while we can't always afford to eat local and organic the Farmer's Market at least gives us the chance to substitute some of our store-bought choices with locally grown ones. Again, this is something that we did not have the chance to do where we grew up. While the small farming community I grew up in had some roadside stands selling corn and peaches in the summer, almost all of our grocery shopping was done at the local Wal-Mart. We did the best we could with what was offered, but we had no clue that all of your food shopping could be done outside of the grocery store until we moved to Durham. Today we culminated our foodie weekend at the Food Truck Rodeo, another popular event that is hosted by Durham Central Park. About 5 times a year the food trucks from around the area line up in one place and visitors to the Rodeo are offered just about every kind of food you can think of (except funnel cake). Steve and I always find out about the Rodeo the day after it happens, so we were very prepared for this one. It was like the best State Fair you can imagine, without all of the deep-fried milkshakes and weird stuff served on doughnuts. At first we just walked from truck to truck checking out the menus and enjoying the smells that were wafting from the windows, but then we really dug in. First we tried a chocolate chai doughnut from Monut's Donuts (divine), followed by a pepperoni pizza slice from Pie Pushers (delectable) and a meatball hero from Valentino's (delicious). We couldn't decide on where to round out our meal with dessert, and by the time we got in line for The Parlour ice cream the line was stretched a half mile long and Cafe Prost was out of pretzels. So we drove to Cook Out and got some Coke floats instead (dang good). At this point Steve and I would prefer not to eat for a good long while (probably at least another hour or so), but it was an excellent weekend celebrating what Durham does best--cooking and eating! 
A look at Durham's Food Truck Rodeo

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