Went to Greenwood on Saturday, Greenwood Mississippi… doesn’t that sound like the beginning of a blues song?

I was surely not singing the blues, though, as my first stop was the new Mockingbird Bakery, a lovely spot with cases full of sweet stuff… this pic above is schnecken and below is banana pudding! Master baker Martha Foose does it old-school style with the very best ingredients. Already, she’s famous for her strawberry cake and incredible molassas gingersnaps.

The bread kicks you know what! I came home with five loaves… (as much as I could stuff in the freezer…) It’s bread with substance, not pumped up with air… you can taste the rich character of the carefully tended sourdough mother. The crust is crunchy, but not too crunchy. It comes very close to a true French baguette.

I had an excellent piece of pecan pie… the crust was out of this world!! Tender, flaky, complex flavors… so beyond the typical flour and fat combo. Got into a big discussion about whether it’s pee-con or pee-can? What do you say?

More on eating adventures on the Delta in an upcoming travel piece in The Commercial Appeal.

I’m not a numbers person…. just ask my 8th grade math teacher. Still, I wanted to trot this figure out: 700. Seven hundred. Seven times 100…. and so forth.

Yesterday’s blog entry was my 700th since I started Whining in January 2004. That’s a lot of virtual vittles… and I’m hungry for more.

I’m also looking to update this space after the first of the year, introducing Podcasting, so y’all can come along with me on some of these magnificient eating adventures. Also, planning to add a community bulletin board component a la Chowhound to encourage more chatter.

Please let me know what you’d like to see in the new, improved Whining… links to local restaurants? A chance to participate in an online interview with celebrity chefs? More photos?
I’m wide open. Look forward to reading your thoughts!

Just got The Grateful Palate gift guide… and found quite a few things for my list: The BLT scented candles, the soap shaped like bacon… but tops on the giggle meter… bacon brittle!! Yup, brought to you by the same guy who makes bacon ice cream.

You can look at this stuff online by clicking here…

What edible goodie and/or kitchen gadget would you like to find under the tree?

Just heard that:

Le Montague is possibly moving… to the old Cockeyed Camel location on Poplar and I-240…

Restaurants downtown were slammed on Saturday for the pre-Stones concert crowd and that diners waited 90 minutes for their meal at some spots, so they missed Los Lonely Boys.

My favorite Memphis pasta makers are on the move… Look for Valenza Pasta to reopen on Union Avenue, near Deliberate Literate… will keep you posted on that. (Thanks to Jeff for this update: Valenza’s move - went by their current location this past week and was told that they had changed their future location to be at the corner of McLean and Madison (NE corner) and their new phone is 278-0078.

After I got the word, called and spoke with Shirley Dunavent, owner of Valenza… she said they’re open at the new location — 1329 Madison — between 10 and 4:30 on Tuesday through Thursday. It’s still available at Miss Cordelia’s and on the menu at McEwen’s on Monroe, as well as other restaurants. It’s great stuff.

The nice lady who runs the gift shop at the National Ornamental Metal Museum was raving about the Reuben at Alice’s Urban Market on Front, near the Corkscrew. It’s made with turkey instead of corned beef. I still think Yang’s Deli on Summer has the best Reuben in Memphis.

Anybody heard any good dish lately? Please pass it on…

Wood pile out back by the smokehouse is the first sign that something’s going to be good. Then, there’s all those pickups out front at Craig’s BBQ in DeValls Bluff, Ark., about an hour west of Memphis. (Take the Briscoe exit, follow the signs and look for the smoke.)

The sandwiches are thick and messy and have the best slaw, sweet with shredded apples. They have ribs and other items, too, but why would you pass up the best sandwich in the universe? (Barbecue buddy Dave Darnell turned me on to this hot spot, naturally. He has been known to run over there for lunch every now and then.)

What’s the farthest you would travel for destination dining?

…comes out of this humble kitchen, just across the road from Craig’s BBQ in DeValls Bluff, Ark., about an hour west of Memphis.

The menu is written out by hand at this one-woman operation… which has been featured on Jane and Michael Stern’s Road Food series on PBS. I inhaled half a small coconut pie, topped with airy meringue. It was the tender, flaky crust that made it really special, though. (Probably made with lard, a friend cracked. So? Fat is fat is fat… And did you see the recipe in The New York Times for gingersnaps made with bacon fat???)

I bought a very pretty pecan pie and slipped it into the freezer, hoping to have it after Christmas dinner.

Speaking of holiday feasting, I put out a call for easy appetizer recipes in The Commercial Appeal. Send them along here, too… That story will run Dec. 28.

Have some family in town, my ‘que loving nephew… so we went to Payne’s yesterday for lunch… and the sandwich was extra good… I asked why and Miss Flora said it was probably because she could take her time… that place has been busy every time I’ve been in there lately, but it was a little quiet yesterday…

My nephew liked the sandwich — though he wished he would have gone for the slaw on it — but he loved the fried peach pie… he had never a fried pie in his life! Those are the best I’ve tasted.

For dinner, we went to Central BBQ and he had ribs. I had the great portobello mushroom sandwich and some of those killer chips.

Today, I’m taking him for another first: He had never heard of a po’ boy! (It’s all part of my not-so-secret plan to get him to move here…) We’re going to Bluff City Bayou…

Speaking of things that remind me of New Orleans: Just had a great interview with chef John Besh, who has the outstanding August in the Crescent City… has been reopen for two months and had encouraging things to say about things picking up down there. He’s in Memphis/Tunica for an event at Horseshoe Casino, where he is a consultant at N’Awlins… Anybody eaten there? Any good?

Had the most amusing voicemail message from a reader who gushed about a new candy he tried at Williams-Sonoma at Saddle Creek… Top of the Pop

Chocolate and popcorn! What a cool idea… why didn’t anybody think of this sooner?

I used to eat boxes full of caramel corn called Screaming Yellow Zonkers… anybody remember that? I’m kind of partial to the caramel corn/cheese popcorn combo from The Peanut Shop on Main Street.

Keep those edible gift ideas coming!

Shopping at Wild Oats last night and I spy a nicely dressed older lady having a field day in the serve yourself olive bar, dipping her little plastic spoon into this container of roasted peppers, taking a bite, going back for another bite! That is so wrong!! THERE’S NO DOUBLE DIPPING AT THE OLIVE BAR!! Or at the produce… or the bulk candy section!

I immediately ratted her out to a store employee who seemed pretty non-plussed by the whole thing: “Yeah, we have to deal with her about once a week…” I did phone the manager and he said he was going to dump those peppers, but said it’s a problem they have to be constantly vigilent about.

What’s the world coming to!? What would you do? How would you get this woman to stop her freeloading and polluting the bulk offerings?

Quite a savory discussion in the comments below on the subject of salt, a seasoning that’s near to my heart.

Lately, I’ve been playing around with using a bunch of different salts with the idea of creating a more complex flavor… like a winemaker blends in a little merlot with cabernet. I feel a little like a mad scientist throwing in a pinch of Baja sea salt with a dash of Argentinian salt and a shake or two of salt from Hawaii. (Which gets its pale orange hue from the red soil of Kauai… a sight to see for sure. Gosh, I wish I was there right now!)

Last night, I worked the salt layering for a pretty tasty French onion soup. I used the bones from my Thanksgiving prime rib to make beef stock… in a cooking course I took at the Culinary Institute of America, I learned not to salt the stock until the end of the cooking process…. then you can reduce the stock to concentrate the flavors without coming up with something way salty. I enlisted the help of my nephew Brandon to cut up a whole bunch of sweet onions… sauteed those until they were soft and caramelized and added a generous couple of pinches of this gorgeous Kosher salt and cracked black pepper mix that a very nice person gifted me.

Those went into the seasoned stock and the final salt note was the shredded parmesano reggiano (from Fino’s) on top. Now that I’m writing it, it sounds like a big hassle, but it wasn’t. Especially with company in the kitchen.

Where’s the best place in/around Memphis to buy gourmet salt? Can you taste a difference? Does any restaurant make beef stock from scratch? (And are they willing to show us the bones?)