Slaw Abiding Citizens: A Quest for the West Virginia Hot Dog →

We arrived at the small country store at dusk, giddy for our first hot dog. The hand-painted sign outside Buddy B’s in Sissonville, West Virginia, advertised fresh produce, pinto beans and cornbread, and “Best In Town Hot Dogs.” Inside, bulk seeds, bags of peanuts, and jars of penny candy lined the red gingham–papered walls, and a cash register and food counter stood on either side of the door. We gawked like tourists at the hot dog clock and hand-painted hot dog sign, outlined by the triple-underlined text, try our hot dogs they are go-o-o-o-d. As the cashier-cook prepared our dogs, we surreptitiously took pictures.

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Pop Culture: Southern Soda Vinegars →

Travis Milton greets me at the door of his Richmond, Virginia, house, bearded and burly in a plaid shirt, horn-rimmed glasses, and a “Virginia is for lovers” ball cap. Peeking out from his rolled-up shirt sleeve is a tattoo of his great-grandfather’s farm logo surrounded by vegetables. He offers me whiskey before I’m through the door, and I spy his collection of Star Wars and Ghostbusters action figures in the next room. As we cross the hall, he reverently points out his grandmother’s last written recipe hanging in a small wooden frame among family photos and album covers—Rick James, Hank Williams, and Thin Lizzy.

In the living room, he’s piled at least a dozen notebooks of varying sizes on the coffee table, their open pages revealing scrawled handwriting and sketches of kitchen layouts. I’ve heard about these notebooks before. When I first met Travis at Comfort, where he was executive chef, he told me that he keeps 19 journals in various locations—restaurant kitchen, home kitchen, glove compartment, and nightstand. When ideas strike, he records them before they flit away.

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Gas Station Delights →

Goin’ on a road trip across out East? Pick up a few cheap regional snacks on your way. If you’re headed west though, you better pack your own—it’s wild out there.

Moon Pie

Region: Across the South

Price: $0.89

A Tennessee icon, Moon Pies—the classic s’more sandwich of marshmallow & graham cracker cookies, coated in chocolate-- can be found in gas stations, bars, and juke joints across the South. Best enjoyed with an RC Cola, additional flavors include vanilla and banana. Do Moon Pies only come as “Double Deckers” these days? OPEN QUESTION.

Read on in The Runcible Spoon

How to Make Pie *Inside* a Gas Station →

Or maybe you want to make something on your trip? Here’s how to make a pie from gas station treats IN the gas station itself. It’s the next frontier in hobo-dom.

For the plate: Use the bowl from a Macaroni Bowl, or fashion one out of a Slurpee cup or nacho box.

For the crust: Using a hard dull object like a soda can or bottled water, crush up your desired crust. Suggested crust ingredients: honey roasted nuts, Utz potato chips (any flavor), cheddar & peanut butter crackers, Cliff bars, Pop Tarts, Cheez-its, Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

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Fresh Out of the Coven: Pentagram Pie →

Pentagrams are an ancient symbol, but lately they’ve been popping up everywhere from forearms to TV shows to um…bikinis. I too seem to have been caught under the pentagram’s spell; I've recently developed an affinity for the encircled, five-pointed star.

The pentagram carries different spiritual meanings depending on the cultures in which it appears (from Mesopotamia to Freemasonry, Christianity to the occult), but in the Tarot, the "pentacles" correspond astrologically with Taurus, along with the other Earth signs Virgo and Capricorn. In general, the symbol is associated with Mother Earth, craft, the accumulation of knowledge, physicality, and tradition. It also represents stability, grounding forces, and feminine power—ever noticed the 5-pointed star on Wonder Woman’s projectile crown? And if those weren’t enough reasons to start brandishing a pentagram medallion, there's also the British folk-rock band Pentangle, one of my favorites, whose name comes from the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Night, and whose album covers sport some of the best pentagram designs I’ve seen.

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The Long Lost Recipes of Fergus "Flask" Shaw

It was in the year of 1831 when the Jolly Gnosher, the great whaling ship of considerable note, went down. It had been on campaign through the Pacific seas, rounding the northern tip of the Isla Isabela in the Galapagos, when it met its match in the very beast it was hunting—an old bull whale of ponderous size and unfathomable strength. If these traits had not already been enough to instill fear into every sailors’ heart, the monster also boasted skin of an uncanny hue that shone like a silver coin, momentarily blinding any soul who cast his eyes upon him.

Retaliating against his attackers’ harpoons, the great whale bucked and with all his force, launched head-on into the vessel, an action which in one motion, launched the crew into the frigid waters, holed the ship, and when it promptly filled with water, sunk it to the ocean floor. There were no human survivors. It is believed, though that the awful silver beast still swims those waters to this day.

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Which Came First, The Chicken or the Egg Cup?

The humble egg cup—that cute little soft boiled-egg holding device-- is perhaps not the most frequently used piece of dishware, but it is one of the oldest! Examples of it were found at the Knossos archaeological site in Crete, and dated as early as 1700 BC. Silver versions were also found in the ruins of Pompeii.

The Dark Ages were apparently also dark for the humble egg cup, until it sprung into popularity again in the Elizabethan age (perhaps Shakespeare used one?). The holder was also favored by King Louis XV of France, who was known to show off his “egg beheading” skills to guests. A bit ironic, considering the guillotine legacy of his grandson…

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Lardass Returns!

Prior to the mid-20th century, lard, the rendered fat of a pig, was America’s preferred grease. In the 1950s, however, the Procter & Gamble company had a lot of excess oil on their hands, and developed Crisco, marketing it to housewives and cooks as the better, healthier lard. Then we all watched the movie Stand By Me, met the character Lardass, and lard was officially pronounced dead.

But recently lard has waddled its way back to our tables, as pork-based Southern dishes are all the rage and nutritionists tell us it's more about unsaturated vs. saturated than the fat itself. Don’t get me wrong, lard is nothing but 100% pure unadulterated FAT (butter compares at 81%), but in this pie crust recipe, a little goes a long way for a flaky, fluffy, beautiful crust. Throw in some potatoes, chilies, cheddar, and bacon, and you’ve got yourself a perfect pie for a hot summer day at the beach. After all that fat, you’ll be a pro at floating along on those ocean waves!

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The Best Time My Civil War Soldier Came Home

My boyfriend, let’s call him Eli, fights for the Union Army. Sometimes Confederate, but mostly Union. He uses the excuse “I don’t have enough ammunition” as a reason for not going away for a weekend, and he once gave me a piece of hardtack, saying “Something to remember me by — it’ll last longer than I will.” Yep, dude’s a Civil War reenactor. And though my parents and friends may have guffawed a little when I first told them, dating a reenactor is pretty great.

For one, it means he’s most definitely a history nerd. Now maybe this is not a plus for you, but for me it’s a major pro. You’ll have flirty email correspondence in Morse code, and you can spend an evening together geeking out over early color photographs from the Russian Empire. It also means he will most likely love to cuddle up over an episode or two (or three, or four) of Downton Abbey, then engage you in conversation over the implication of Sybil’s harem pantaloons or Branson’s Irish radicalism.

Read on via The Hairpin