Greetings from beautiful and warm North Carolina! I’ve been visiting our oldest son Doug for a few weeks and basically enjoying the sunshine, beautiful flowers everywhere, and of course, the food. And since it was snowing the weekend I left Pennsylvania, I have been enjoying the weather here more so.

There’s something weird going on here, though, and I think I understand, but I’m not quite sure…

I know that the majority of Asian restaurants I’ve been to over the years close for a couple hours in the mid-afternoon. Mainly, (I’m guessing), it’s not only for a break, but to help get ready for the dinner and evening crowd.

But here in High Point and the surrounding Triad area (which includes beautiful Greensboro and Winston-Salem), many other non-Asian restaurants do the same. And, on Sunday, a few do not even open until 3 p.m.

A couple years ago, my friend Nancy and I had visited the Coliseum for a Christmas craft show. We left around 1 p.m. and then drove for over 2 hours all around the area until we could find a place that was open besides McD’s. (Similar experiences have happened to my friend Dawn and me, and Doug and me as well.)

When Doug picked me up at the airport a couple Saturdays ago, he thought he’d surprise me and take take me to a new Korean restaurant he’d found. The red neon lights proclaimed “OPEN”, but the doors were locked. So we also had a tour of the country while trying to find a place to eat.

We ended up at Carrabba’s Italian Grill - which, by the way, was one of the closed restaurants that doesn’t open until 3 that Nancy and I tried to visit. <G> The food and the service were wonderful. The Pollo Rosa Maria was TDF - to die for. Two large chicken breast halves, boneless, skinless, stuffed with Prosciutto and Fontina cheese, with a lemon butter and sautéed mushroom toppingwas marvelous. Oh, great! Now I’m starving, and I know it won’t help since it is 4 a.m. and I am certain that virtually NO restaurant in the area is open!!!

Carrabba’s has around 100 restaurants in the South mostly (haven’t checked that out officially, just hear-say) so it qualifies as a chain. Most people tend to discount any chain restaurant. But this one is not your usual mystery meat server… Carrabba’s is a class act from start to finish.

I love the Triad. If we’d like to have oh, say, Indian food, there are several good places around, but my favorite is about 4 minutes from Doug’s home, depending on traffic. The Ceramic Grill offers Indian and Pakistani dishes. I have never had Chicken Makhani (chicken cubes roasted in the ceramic grill and served in a wonderful tomato sauce) better anywhere. From start to finish (usually with their Kheer (rice pudding)), every dish I have had there is phenomenal. The prices are reasonable, and their lunch buffet is a feast.

But back to Korean! Yes, Doug and I finally made it there when they were open. I enjoyed the traditional Dolsot Bibim bap (rice, vegetables and a little meat in a HOT stone pot), while Doug had the Bibim bap - rice and veggies with a fried egg on top. Small dishes came with the meal - traditional Kimchi (not my first choice because of the heat level), miso soup, broccoli florets seasoned with an unknown sauce and pepper, bean sprouts with slivers of red bell pepper, and an innocent looking red bean paste.

I quickly learned that the old adage “less is more” most certainly applies to the red bean stuff. We each had our own small dish - and Doug happily emptied all of his bean paste into his main dish. I was more sparing, but even so…my sinuses were clear for the first time in weeks. <GBG>.

Eating at home has been an adventure as well. One weekend, we had Doug’s version of Chicken Biriyani, which I love and his Jambalaya, which is a close second. Using beautiful pencil-thin fresh asparagus I’d found on sale at a nearby Harris Teeter grocery store, our meal that night was said asparagus sautéed in a little butter, with steamed shrimp added and heated through. The dish was topped with freshly grated Parmesan and served with rice pilaf.

Last night was another at home meal: baked Mahi-Mahi fillets (covered in Hellman’s mayonnaise, and topped with grated Romano). Side dish? I had two baked Idaho potatoes and two baked sweet potatoes left over from a meal a few days ago. I simply peeled them, cut them in small chunks and placed all the potatoes in an 11 x 9-inch baking dish. Fresh thyme was sprinkled over the dish along with 2 chopped garlic cloves and melted butter. The dish baked for about 25 minutes.

Sometimes the simplest dishes are the best. If you’ve never tried baked fish with mayonnaise, trust me, you will love it. And you really need to use Hellman’s - Kraft’s mayo is a bit too salty, I find.

It’s 4:41 a.m. now. I’m trying to stave off hunger with a snack pack of crackers, a bottle of water and a sugar-free piece of candy. It’s not working. I would commit a crime right now for a decent cup of coffee (speaking of which, Juice & Java serves up a phenomenal cup of coffee…their original and own recipe - Black Cat - is a secret blend, and their Harrah is magnificent). But Doug only buys coffee beans, and the grinder is loud and he has to leave for work in about 2 hours and wouldn’t be thrilled with me if he were to be woken up early….

One should never write a treatise on food unless said stuff is handy…but at least, writing makes the time go faster until I can have that first cup of coffee…

Food writing is hazardous to your waistline. There are so many wonderful places to eat and fantastic places to shop for food (The Piedmont Farmer’s Market is nearby and there are at least three Fresh Market stores we can go to…and Whole Foods in just minutes away in Winston-Salem, and…)

I only have thirteen days left…and there are so many dishes I want to make for us, and more places to see and restaurants I hope will be open…exquisite agony, someone once wrote.

I pop another piece of quasi-candy in my mouth and decide that sometimes, it’s good to be who you are - even if that is a starving food writer desperately seeking coffee and a croissant and trying to figure out the next column. So I continue on, and know that whenever the coffee appears or a restaurant opens up on a lazy late spring day, life is good.

May you also Enjoy! life for all that it is worth. Remember, you only go round once, but if you do that well, once is enough.

CYH - consider yourself hugged!