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With great cheese, bread, and olives

chocolate marquise

With great bread, a little bit of soft cheese, and olive oil.

Allen & Son, outside Chapel Hill, NC.

I have had the 5 qt. Kuhn Rikon Duromatic for about 2 years now and absolutely love it! It is especially great in the winter for making soups and stews -- I would say that I use it at least twice a week for quick hearty meals once the weather gets chilly. It's also great for rice -- and I know that rice doesn't usually take that long, but 5 mins. for a batch of jasmine rice is pretty amazing.

I think the fear of pressure cookers is a rational one, but they are made differently now than they used to be. The main things is to always make sure that you have enough liquid in the pot.

The Dogfish would be respectable...and it comes from Joe Biden's home state, so it could be justified.

@ccbweb -- Have you had any quality control issues with Starr Hill lately? I also live in C'ville and usually love their beers, but the last couple of six packs we've gotten at the grocery store have not lived up to my expectations! Bought some amber that tasted like a homemade dopplebock and some pale ale that tasted like pilsner...not sure what is going on! Maybe my tastebuds need to be recalibrated?

My hubby and I visited New Orleans last year during the first week of June, and the weather was miserably hot and humid (and we're from the South, so that's saying a lot) -- since one of our favorite things to do on vacation is to walk everywhere, this made for some sweaty and tiring days. At the time, we chalked the heat and humidity up to NOLA, but it turns out there was a heat wave all over the Southeast that week. In any case, I guess I am saying that weather is always variable, but there is definitely the potential for very warm weather in early June.

Our favorite meal while there was at Jacques Imo's...followed by Sno-balls from a stand nearby (Williams-Plum Street Sno-balls, I think).

Enjoy your trip!

dark chocolate and almond
dark chocolate and coconut
dark chocolate and salted caramel

It's definitely a different style of pizza, but it's yummy! Here in Charlottesville, Mellow Mushroom is always busy with a good cross-section of folks. Plus they have great beer selection and specials!

Porterhouse, for sure!

Ribeye or flank...

Any salty cheese and some cranberry chutney.