Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

After a fun drive westward to some North Carolina vineyards with Jake, Kelly, and Andy (thanks for planning the trip, Andy!), we all stopped at Southern Season in Chapel-Hill for dinner. After dinner, we wandered around the massive foodie heaven to do a little shopping. Kelly was very interested in getting some chocolate for her new beau, so we hit up SS’s MASSIVE chocolate counter. I’ll interrupt myself to post a picture of the cutest offering I saw:

At the chocolate counter, Kelly and I met a man named Reginald Savage. He is a chocolatier and owns a chocolate shop called Chocolate Truffles By Azurelise. He had a sign next to him advertizing his upcoming appearance on Food Network, which I thought was kind of cute. Man, sign for man, 1 foot apart. Anyway, we got to talking, and I took this picture. I will definitely put the show into my TiVo, and then no doubt that I’ll be noshing on his truffles later this week! Gorgeous food visuals… fuggetaboutit. I’m powerless. The show is Road Tasted With The Neelys at 9:30pm and 12am. I’ll be watching – or at least TiVo-ing!

I saw Dottie had posted the Manga version of herself on Flickr yesterday, so I made one of myself, then a few others did, then a few others. Last night, Jake and I were looking at the Face Your Manga Group pool and cracking up at how this has spread in the last day. Well, this morning, I woke up and logged in to the Raleigh Social Group, and I thought I had gone to the wrong pool. Check this out:

Here’s mine:

I love the internet! Here’s the link to make your own.

@hughlh – I have tried, I really have. But I just cannot dig the NC B-B-Que. But then again, I am from Memphis, where Que is a religion.

@jessmartin – @hughlh until you’ve had Texas BBQ, you haven’t had the real thing. Why do east coasters even use the same word?

@BrianR – @jessmartin Blasphemy Sir! 😉 NC BBQ is THE one true holy pork!

@hughlh – @jessmartin You mean the yellow sauce variety? It has 2 problems: It is yellow, and it is not pork. I am just saying.

@hughlh – @BrianR You, sir, are deluded.

@BrianR – @hughlh my tummy & taste buds are quite content thank you! I’ve tasted it all Sir! 🙂

@abbyladybug – My BBQ pref = pulled pork, with either yellow mustard-based sauce or Memphian “wet” red sauce. Vinegar-based stuff is OK, but not my fave.

@logicblue – @abbyladybug…”Vinegar-based stuff is OK, but not my fave”…back on my shit list 😉

@snoopdave – @jessmartin Where is Texas anyway. Is it up near Asheville?

@hughlh – I am pretty sure they serve Memphis style bbq in heaven, ’cause if they did not, it just would not be heaven.

@abbyladybug – @logicblue Yeah, live it up, local boy. Like you’ve even HAD the other kinds. @hughlh BBQ Spaghetti sounded so gross, but OMFG. SOOOO good!

@jessmartin – Real problem w/ using BBQ to refer to several meats/sauces/processes is it violates expectations. BBQ is a giant bait-and-switch.

@jkreesnc – I learned I really DID NOT KNOW true BBQ until I moved to NC – nom nom. NC BBQ is the only BBQ for me 🙂 #BBQ

@waynesutton – It looks like @jessmartin @dayers @danlondon @hughlh @abbyladybug on team 1 of NC #BBQ haters vs everyone else!

@abbyladybug – @hughlh knows all about the best BBQ ever. Bar-B-Q Shop on Madison in Memphis. That’s BBQ heaven to me. Better than Rendezvous. No kidding.

@BrianR – @smalljones help me out here defending tha NC BBQ

@hughlh – http://tinyurl.com/5oegcv The best que in Memphis (IMHO) and thus, the world.

@hughlh – @jessmartin I ate some yellow sauce que in north TX once, thought that was what u meant. Pork, and occasionally bologna are the only meats.

@jessmartin @hughlh @brianr And why would you destroy the meat by *pulling* it into little pieces. You know in Texas we have these things called knives.

@jessmartin @hughlh Yellow? It’s made w/ tomatoes and is therefore the proper color for BBQ sauce which is RED. And it’s the proper meat which is beef.

@dayers – @jessmartin @hughlh @abbyladybug this is tough, I’m from TN, living in NC, and had an awesome TX BBQ experience at http://tinyurl.com/5nv2pg

@jessmartin – @hughlh the fact that you can say BBQ and spaghetti in the same 140 characters tells me just how confused you are 😉

@jessmartin – @dayers Salt Lick is some damn fine BBQ.

@jessmartin – @hughlh is bologna even a meat? seems like some sort of frankin-meat. like vegan chicken.waynesutton Only in NC that you’ll see a twitter BBQ tweet war! I’m watching the convo on summize/search here http://tinyurl.com/5ln7fv lol #BBQ

AND THE DEBATE RAGES ON…

By the way, I have to disagree with Wayne. This is a debate that could easily rage on in Memphis, and I bet Texas as well.

For those not in the know, to see any of these individual Twitter streams, the URL convention is http://twitter.com/username. For example, my twitters can be found at http://twitter.com/abbyladybug

Barbecue Spaghetti from The Bar-B-Q Shop in Memphis

When I moved to Raleigh, I knew one person: Christopher Thurston. He and I dated in 1987/88 when I was living briefly in Athens, GA (Which is why I always call him “my ex from the 80s.” I left Athens for Oberlin College in Ohio, and as these things often go, he and I broke up soon thereafter. We lost touch for years, but reconnected when online social networking was young – I think on Friendster, if memory serves. Back in the day, music was a huge part of our relationship. I was young and interested, and he was a little older and knew stuff, and in our short relationship, I soaked up a lot of new information and favorites. He’s the one who turned me on to The Velvet Underground, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and my favorite band of all time, Throwing Muses. He and I have both changed in lots of ways, but we are both still VERY into music. I went and got that degree in Vocal Performance at Oberlin Conservatory, but that’s not what I’m really talking about. I’m talking about myself as a music fan. I’ve never stopped listening to new music and going to gigs. “Gig girl” has been a central part of my identity since I was about 12, and not much has changed. It’s the same for him. He’s continued to participate in musical projects of all kinds playing both bass and double bass. He does some DJing, too. Xopher is the one who hosted me when I came to check out Raleigh as a potential place to live, and when I got here, I lived at his place for the first few weeks. He’s one of my best friends now – as is his mom, as a matter of fact!

Back in the day:

Now:

Me and Xopher’s mom, Margaret:

The day after Valentine’s Day last year (2/15/2007), I stopped into King’s Barcade (R.I.P.) to see a performance called Love Hangover. There were pairs of performers – usually a man and a woman – singing duets. A friend of mine named Billie sang that year with a guy named Roger Gupton. Their performance that night really blew me away, and I was so happy I’d decided to stop by before heading over to The Pour House to see The Old Ceremony. I met Roger that night. After some months and another performance or two, Roger became a regular reader of (and commenter on) this very blog. He dropped in around the time of the baby birds on the back porch and a period of illness, when he introduced me to the neti pot. He and I became friends, and we decided to spend some time together rehearsing. He sings and plays the guitar. I do both as well. He has more guitar experience. I have more voice experience. That project has been a little backburner lately, but I’ve not lost hope that we’ll get it done.

And so anyway, a little while back, on the day of Katy’s wedding, I ran into Roger at The Borough during the wedding’s reception/after party. He told me that he was trying to get together a new band and was looking for a bass player. I looked across the table and said, “Roger, you need to meet Christopher.” And apparently, Air Croatoa was born. I got to see them for the first time weekend before last. What a success! I’m so pleased that the world remains so small.

And so let me present to you Air Croatoa:

• Roger Gupton – guitar & singing
• Gina Dalmas – guitar, singing and assorted instruments
• Jubal Creech – percussion
• Xopher Thurston – double bass

(Speaking of small words, check this post by my friend Hugh from yesterday.)

I was interviewed about blogging by NBC-17 at the Blogger Bash: