Apparently, April is National Plan Awesome Events at 3CUPS Month

As a Chapel Hill native I am so used to the high level of culinary awesomeness that we have available to us in this area that it is surprising to be reminded how remarkable our community is in a broader context. The James Beard awards come around every year to demonstrate to me the boundaries of my bubble. This year, 3CUPS congratulates Chef Bill Smith of Crook's Corner for the restaurant's America's Classic award and Chef Andrea Reusing of Lantern, a nominee for Best Chef in the Southeast (the winner in this category will be announced in May). How lucky we are to be in a town of 50,000 with such a concentration of talent and such high-quality local ingredients for them to use.

 Now with expanded wine by the glass offerings, including two special Sherry cocktails by Noel this week! Local farmer-chefs (and spouses) Austin and Dani Genke are back in the new year serving up small plates built from the flavors of their farm in Cedar Grove.  This event will now be on first Fridays of every month. 

• celery & potato soup with crispy onions
• mixed green salad with parsley, radishes, croutons, herbed goat cheese, buttermilk dressing
• charcuterie plate: lonza, trotter rillettes, smoked pork loin, toast, mustard, pickled vegetables
• spring vegetable tart with asparagus, kale, Hickory Grove cheese, herb salad
• spaetzle with sausage, rapini, pecorino
• grapefruit panna cotta with citrus segments

Come to a meat-and-three buffet-style dinner with @3CUPS with special guest host John T. Edge. John T. is rolling into town from Oxford, MS to talk about traditional barbecue pit masters and to help raise some cash for the Center for the Study of the American South. After his discussion up on campus is finished we'll start serving great barbecue made by Edge's friend Rodney Scott, and sides & desserts prepared by a team of great local cooks and friends. Bill Smith, April McGreger, Sheri Castle, and many others will be providing food for this informal, awesome dinner.  And We'll be pouring great natural small-farmer wines. Contact Lisa Beavers (lbeavers@email.unc.edu) at the Center for the Study of the American South to buy tickets. See you here!

Cool France: A Big Free Tasting, or How I came to love wine that’s more north than south.

Featuring 10 wines from the Vintage '59 Portfolio

High quality. No compromises. Awesome organic wines. Small estates.
 

10% off all bottles purchased during the tasting. 15% off all cases, mix or match.

You’ll taste a lot of wine. You’ll hear a lot of facts. You’ll leave happy, praising the virtuous wine folk at 3CUPS who kick-started your Saturday.

Featuring a version of Shrimp & Grits that you probably have not had before, a collaboration by Austin of Boxcarr Farms and Lex Alexander, evolved from a looser and more rustic plate than the classic beloved at Crook's Corner. This dish was served to Lex years ago in Pawleys Island and he has been playing with it ever since; now, Austin adds his own twist to this satisfying bowl. $35 gets two servings of our Shrimp & Grits Simple Supper and a tasty bottle of wine paired to match, for dine-in or take-home.

Your house will be a better place with a copy of Andrea Reusing's new book in it. We'll be hanging out with Andrea, selling wine by the glass and shiny new copies of Cooking in the Moment. She will be signing books and serving snacks including 18-month ham from Chapel Hill Creamery's whey-fed pigs and pickles, plus the Farmhand Foods Sausage Wagon will parked out front.

Interested in traveling to Italy? Don’t miss this delightful Taste of Italy. Sample wines from the Cinque Terre, Tuscany, and the Veneto selected by Jay Murrie. Enjoy a program of Italian opera and American musical theater favorites from UNC faculty soprano Terry Rhodes and tenor Stafford Wing. Meet Second Journey tour guide, Stefania Ball, and learn about two exciting Slow Travel tours to Italy this fall, including an 18-day tour to the Cinque Terre, Lucca, and Venice and a 10-day painting and drawing workshop in Umbria and Tuscany.

This fun event is by reservation only. Get more information and reserve your space now: SecondJourneyTours.com/May15.htm.

The ground coffee to me smells like fragrant magnolia and sweet red grapes. The brewed coffee has a definite sweet toasted nutty component (you smelled toasted marshmallow!) and I got some hot berry jam in the aroma.  It is a great morning coffee with your favorite bread toasted and smothered in Bauman's Apple Butter.  Flavors are intense and balanced with vanilla/cocoa, blueberries and a nectarine-like brightness.  There is a soft nutty earthy element, and a more substantial body (Medium+) than you would expect from a coffee with such delicate floral sweet flavors.  The finish is long and lively with a bit of an earthy/nutty tea finish type quality.

The surprising aspect about this coffee pointed out by Counter Culture Coffee's Kim Elena Bullock (that I happen to buy into) is that it has qualities that are usually only associated with a natural sundried coffee (intense fruit, bigger body, rich creamy quality) like those traditionally coming from Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia when it is in fact a washed coffee.   The folks at CCC are currently working with the over 1,000 farmers to figure out what it is about the growing and processing that make this coffee so special.  This is a coffee that in the cup challenges what we understand about terroir.