ABOVE: On the Podcast - I spoke with “Brewstiller” Jonnie Knowles from Rye Knot about his unique job, his path to Asheville, & what’s up at The Knot!
BELOW: In the Newsletter (may contain adult language) - GMF, Staycation, More Pizza Fighters!
GOOD MORNING, FRIENDS
Hi Y’all! Apart from the bitter cold, the near constant darkness, and perma-frost on the ground, winter is over! LOL! I wish it would stay winter forever. I dream of mini-ice ages. Riding on a mastodon. The moon cracked in half. Mutant armies roaming the barren wasteland. Only myself and a rag-tag band of warriors and wizards standing between chaos, madness, and the birth of a glorious new world. Something like that.
STAYCATION
WNC is frickin’ gorgeous, so Dawn & I like to take staycations in the area. Why travel when the mountains are, like, right there? We recently booked two nights at the Sourwood Inn (Bed and Breakfast), for our 17 year anniversary, and man-oh-man, we sure did have a great time! The Inn itself is really nice, built in the 90’s, but in a retro, “Arts & Crafts” style. The grounds are very pretty, covered in moss, not trampled to death, with nice pathways through the woods, & human-made features, like a pond & a “tea house.” The Inn, on 100 acres just 25 mins outside of downtown, feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere, it was so quiet & peaceful. And then there’s the food, good lort, the food. It exceeded our expectations by miles.
We had two breakfasts, two mid-day snacks, & dinner at the inn, plus there was a box of Asheville Chocolate truffles waiting in our cabin. (There are 12 rooms at the Inn, plus a cabin, we opted for the cabin.) At the first buffet-style breakfast I took several bites, and then looked up at Dawn, and said, “okay, this is really really tasty.” She agreed. The delicious bacon & sausage were both from Hickory Nut Gap, the taters, as well as the fruit salad both had unique and notable flavors, and the crustless quiche was super moist, savory, & delish. Dawn loved the house made granola and had it both mornings. We also got pancakes and grits too. Both great!
If breakfast was impressive, dinner was truly outstanding. It started with OWL Bakery bread, then a very nice salad & some seared scallops, followed by a surf ‘n’ turf entree of fillet mignon (from The Chop Shop Butchery), shrimp, taters & veggies, all cooked and seasoned perfectly. It was a high quality, incredibly enjoyable dining experience, that was topped off with ice cream and cake at the end. Holy moly, Y’all! Every single bite of this food was juhhhst right.
I want to give super high recommends for locals to book a room, or the cabin, at the Sourwood Inn, and be sure to eat in the dining room. Thank you, Chef Casey, and crew for an excellent food experience, and thank you to the inn keepers and staff for a great time from start to finish! ❤️❤️❤️
To see more pictures of the food, posted on Facebook, click HERE.
2022 PIZZA FIGHT: FEATURED FIGHTERS
The 2022 WNC Pizza Fight is less than a week away! Here are four more of the Pie Fighters…
🍕🤜 WNC PIZZA FIGHT! FEATURED FIGHTER! 🤛🍕 Grata Pizzeria in West Asheville combines locally sourced, made-from-scratch ingredients, with traditional Italian artisan cooking methods to come up with their unique pies! They've been around since 2020, and are excited to prove themselves to Asheville and WNC at the 2022 Pizza Fight! Do they have that certain something that the judges will be looking for? We'll find out on February 23rd!
🍕🤜 WNC PIZZA FIGHT! FEATURED FIGHTER! 🤛🍕 Y'all, let's welcome Harvest Pizzeria Asheville to town! They just opened their doors not even six months ago, and here they are throwing down with some of the heaviest hitters in our local pizza scene! I've had their pizza, and it was excellent! How will the judges feel about it? It's impossible to say until it all goes down! Stay tuned, the 2022 WNC Pizza Fight is just about a week away!
🍕🤜 WNC PIZZA FIGHT! FEATURED FIGHTER! 🤛🍕 Let's hear it for The Original Papa Nick's Pizza! They've been doing longer than just about anyone else in Asheville, and I am personally a fan of their product! This is their first time competing in the Pizza Fight, and we wish them the best of luck with the judges! Stay tuned to see and hear the results of this JUDGES ONLY throw-down on February 23rd! There will be 16 judges, with back-up eaters to help them go through the enormous amount of pizza they will be required to sample. 32 pies in all! 16 competitors will each be submitting two pies: 1 cheese, 1 specialty. We'll see who wows the judges, and who wins the glory!
🍕🤜 WNC PIZZA FIGHT! FEATURED FIGHTER! 🤛🍕 I have not tried every single one of the 16 competitors in the 2022 WNC Pizza Fight yet, but I have tried Pizza Daddy & it is excellent! I'm excited to see what they bring to the Judge's Table on the 23rd! They're super-nice people, new to the pizza game, and I know they feel confident in their product!
Pizza Daddy is one of 4 mobile pizza makers in this year's Pizza Fight. I think that's pretty cool! Maybe we can get some of them to set up downtown on the day of the Pizza Fight, so that everyone can try them! I'll ask. 🙂
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Good Morning, Friends...