Sweet Corn and Biscuit
by David Cecelski This is the first basket of sweet corn that I’ve got out of my garden this summer. I’m not going to have a whole lot of sweet corn this year, probably only 75 or 100 ears, but I’m grateful for what I have. So far I’ve had enough to feed everybody at […]
Wild Plums
by David Cecelski When my cousin Edsel pulled his pick-up into my pasture this morning, he told me that he had seen a wild plum sapling sprouting in a meadow on the back road to Core Creek. The day was hot, we’re in long drought—our field corn is only 3 or 4 feet high and […]
Saxapahaw General Store
by David Cecelski Last night my wife and children and I went to hear my son’s guitar teacher perform at the Saturday evening outdoor music series in Saxapahaw, an old textile mill village in southern Alamance County. Our neighbor was great, as always, and we also got to enjoy some good food. Saxapahaw has changed […]
Davis Shore Light Rolls
by David Cecelski On my way to a family reunion this week, I found homemade light rolls at the Davis Shore Provisions General Store in Davis Shore, an old fishing village on Core Sound. I couldn’t believe my eyes. When made right, those soft, white yeast breads are as warm and sweet as a baby’s […]
Colington Island Crabs
by David Cecelski On Colington Island, just west of Kill Devil Hills, you can get a glimpse at what the old fishing villages on the Outer Banks were like when I was a child. A lot has changed there, of course. But in between the luxury condominiums and gated communities, you’ll still find a lovely […]
Brenda Avery’s Preserves
by David Cecelski This week I found the prettiest homemade preserves at a produce stand in Jones County. The stand is on US 41, three miles west of the county seat, Trenton. The artist behind the preserves is a charming, 59-year-old woman named Brenda Avery. She’s been running the stand for 15 years, mostly selling […]
Styron’s Fish House
by David Cecelski These are photographs of Quality Seafood’s fish house on Cedar Island, 35 or 40 miles east of Beaufort. Bradley Styron and his family run the business on Cedar Island Bay, a secluded body of water surrounded by endless miles of salt marsh and inland seas. I’ve heard plenty of jokes about Cedar […]
La Rosa de Saron
by David Cecelski I was about to pass out from the heat the other day when I found a lovely Salvadoran place called the Tienda y Restaurante Rosa de Saron. Named for a flower mentioned in the Song of Solomon, the Rosa de Saron —Rose of Sharon—is in the little community of […]
The Stockyard
by David Cecelski The Stockyard—really the Wells Stockyard Flea Market—has been an institution in Wallace, in Duplin County, for decades. At first light every Thursday and Saturday morning, hundreds of vendors gather at a lot on US 117 that’s shared with a hog market. Everybody goes to the Stockyard: young mothers pushing strollers, local farmers […]
Griot et ragoût
by David Cecelski Today I visited a Haitian eatery in Mount Olive, a quiet little town surrounded by fields of tobacco, corn, and truck crops. A Haitian couple has recently opened the Haitian Caribbean Restaurant there, in a downtown building that they share with a thrift shop. It’s the only Haitian restaurant in the state, […]
Mi Molcajete
by David Cecelski Tonight I’m all excited because my sister and her husband just gave me my first molcajete, one of the most important cooking tools in a Mexican kitchen. Molcajetes are heavy stone bowls that stand on three legs. They’re used like a mortar, in combination with a tejolote, a sizeable stone pestle. Molcajetes […]
Melvin Gales’ Produce Stand
by David Cecelski One of my favorite produce stands anywhere is on US 182 in Lincoln County. A very friendly farmer named Melvin Gales operates the stand in the North Brook #1 community, 10 or 12 miles west of Lincolnton. The community’s name comes from a local schoolhouse, one of a trio of old North […]
Warren Wilson College Farm
by David Cecelski Last week my son and I visited Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa. I hope these photographs capture at least a little of the campus’s extraordinary beauty. Nestled in a river valley east of Asheville, the college covers 1,350 acres, including a 300-acre working farm and market garden run, like everything on campus, […]
Mole de Olla
by David Cecelski My brother-in-law and I enjoy cooking Mexican dishes together when he’s here, but we also like to visit a little restaurant in Durham called Los Comales. It’s one of a dozen taquerías, cafes, and bakeries in the city’s old Braggtown neighborhood that cater mainly to Mexican and Central American immigrants. Braggtown is […]
North Asheville Tailgate
by David Cecelski My son and his pal and I visited UNC-Asheville last week. Our timing was good. We arrived on campus on a lovely morning: the dogwood were blooming and the North Asheville Tailgate Market was having its spring opening day in one of the college’s parking lots. Probably 40 farmers, craftsmen, and bakers […]
Jamesville Herring Festival
by David Cecelski This weekend I was at the Jamesville Herring Festival in Martin County. My wife, son, and a group of friends and I went down there to explore the cypress swamps and to do a little fishing along Devil’s Gut, a wild, remote waterway that flows into the Roanoke River just west of […]
Livermush, Grits, & Eggs
by David Cecelski This morning my son, his pal Andy, and I are at Granny’s Country Kitchen in Icard, a few miles east of Connelly Springs in Burke County. This little country-cooking diner is home to a popular gospel music shows on Friday nights, but we’re here for a Saturday morning breakfast: livermush, grits, and […]
The Skylight
by David Cecelski The thing I like best about Pete Jones’ Skylight Inn in Ayden, in Pitt County, is its stubborn clarity of purpose. On my way to the farm yesterday, I stopped at the legendary ‘cue joint probably for the first time in 20 or 25 years. The menu hadn’t changed a bit: […]
Lenten Fish Fry
by David Cecelski Tonight I was happy to stumble onto a Lenten fish fry at St. Thomas More Catholic Church and School in Chapel Hill. I had just visited a friend at UNC Cancer Hospital and was on my way home. Almost immediately after I turned north onto 15-501, I saw the sign for the […]
Railroad Cafe, Eden
by David Cecelski Yesterday my daughter and I visited the Railroad Cafe in Eden, in Rockingham County. It’s on the corner of North Main Street and NC 770, next to a concrete plant and an abandoned textile mill. It’s one of the last relics of the old mill village of Draper and I just fell […]
Prison Farm Tomatoes
by David Cecelski Today I was on US 61, 15 miles east of Greensboro, when I saw a hand-scrawled sign for a plant sale by the side of the road. The sign pointed to the right. I made a quick turn onto County Farm Road, drove about a mile, and stopped in front of a cow pasture. […]
Yellow Cabbage Collards
by David Cecelski This is a garden full of yellow cabbage collards at the Collard Shack, a produce stand in Ayden, in Pitt County. Operated year-round by Bennie and Vickie Cox, it’s the only place I know that sells yellow cabbage collard seeds or bedding plants. Yellow cabbage collards—we usually just call them “cabbage collards” where I’m […]
Hood Swamp
by David Cecelski I visited Stonewall’s Grill & Restaurant on my way back from the farm today. It’s in the Hood Swamp community, in Wayne County. When I got there, everybody was talking about the big dinners that their mothers and grandmothers used to prepare during tobacco harvests, a topic of conversation inspired, I imagined, […]
Bailey, NC
by David Cecelski This morning I drove to Bailey, in Nash County, to find a pecan tree. A gentleman in Bailey, Bill Bunn, has the finest pecan nursery I know of. I wanted a particular kind of pecan tree, an old variety called Stuart, and Bunn’s nursery, Lakeside Pecans, is the only place I know […]