Puff Puff Pass on the Pimento...

Latest inspiration for a blog post…LUNCH at Dean & Deluca

I have made zero blogging progress in the past several weeks which were filled with a busy Labor Day weekend in San Fran and then a joyous period of no-life while I studied for the series 7. Luckily I emerged alive, with ONE passing grade (brush ya shoulda’s off), TWO lost cents (slight sanity beating), and at least THREE clogged arteries from all the twizzlers that were consumed in a failed attempt to fill the hole caused by the wine hiatus. Celebrations at Press Wine Bar with Alicia and Amanda last night certainly quenched my thirst (thanks to a $$$ treat from daddy francoz), and I finally feel like my French blood is flowing again.  

My apt. building conveniently houses a local wine bar!! YUMMM.

SOOO with an added kick to our step and boost of confidence from being LICENSED muni bond-peoples, we headed to D&D today to grab lunch, which I consider a fairly ‘normal’ place. Soups, salads, and sandwiches should have relatively few surprises right? Not in the south. Nothing is normal here. And I mean that in the best of all ways (where else do people actually treat you like a human!??! Abnormal…but wonderful nonetheless...).

After going through the normal ping pong of decision-making (soup vs salad, salad vs sandwich, sushi AND soup??) I finally settled on sandwich and saw pimento cheese. Though there wasn’t a description, I just ordered it (I love pimento olives in my martinis and obviously I love cheese…). When I saw the woman behind the counter start to spread something all over the bread, I stopped her: 

Me: ‘umm no I don’t want that…'

(fancy face looks back at me….)
Fancy Face: ‘but you ordered that…' 

Me: ‘no I ordered pimentos and cheese on a sandwich….'

FF: ‘no you ordered a pimento cheese sandwich….' This is when I realized that I had once again hit a cultural wall. Fail, fail, fail again.

To make the best of the situation, I then proceeded to get the sandwich toasted (thought it would taste more like a grilled cheese or bagel)...Amanda and Alicia just started laughing at me and informed me that pimento cheese is apparently a real ‘SOUTHERN THING’ sold in mass quantities and on every menu here. After googling it, I also learned that the top producer in the NATION (Ruth's) is based here in good old Charlotte, manufacturing more than 50,000 cups of cheese per week, which are distributed throughout the South. I have included a recipe below (a la Paula Dean of course) but all you need to really know is that oh well, hmmm, basically I spent $7.50 on fancy wheat bread spread with cream cheese and mayonnaise. Awesome.

  

Anyways, the only other thing I have to say is that I’m off to New York this weekend to celebrate the sissy’s bday…hopefully I will make it back alive and have good updates for all five of my readers (southern girl moves back to city for the weekend?) Have a good one!!

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PIMENTO CHEESE RECIPE

Ingredients

• 1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup grated sharp cheddar
• 1 cup grated Monterey Jack
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon House Seasoning (1 cup salt, 1/4 cup black pepper, 1/4 cup garlic powder)
• 2 to 3 tablespoons pimentos, smashed
• 1 teaspoon grated onion
• Cracked black pepper

Directions: Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add all of the remaining ingredients and beat until well blended. Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months. It can be used as a dip for crudite or as a sandwich filling.

Rating: In the words of the desk, my rating on this one is one is that I am a SELLER (for all you common-folk who don’t understand bond-speak being a buyer is a good thing).