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Greetings from Carrboro, Yesterday, I saw a woman wearing a scarf. This on what was clearly the hottest day of the past month. My neck itched just looking at her. But on some level, I got it. I mean, the calendar does say fall, dammit. So, come on; cue the leaves and woodsmoke and crisp evening air. […]

Greetings from Carrboro, It always starts like this. Yellow leaves fallen from the Mulberry tree behind the restaurant swirl in through the kitchen door. Other leaves congregate in the patio fountain. The UNC-bound bus stop in front of the restaurant is again awash with backpack laden kids wearing hoodies. Our last delivery of flowers from […]

Greetings from Carrboro, It tries a bit too hard. To say the least. The AI generated emails that populate my inbox are littered with the entire lexicon of cool-kid speak infused with cringeworthy dude-adjacent compliments all too reminiscent of a new 8th grade student trying to fit in at lunch. Telling me that I’m “crushing […]

Greetings from Carrboro, Context matters. Case in point: my mother couldn’t tell a joke to save her life. A few words into her set-up, she’d start to laugh and then momentarily gather herself to adroitly deliver in a rush the one thing she did remember correctly – the punch line. Or, at least, what was always assumed […]

Greetings from Carrboro, There’s an old restaurant saying: anticipation is the sweetest sauce. And for the most part, it’s true. Whether waiting for your name to be called after ordering from a taco truck or counting down the hours before a reservation at a much-ballyhooed restaurant in Manhattan, the feeling is very real. I was […]

Greetings from Carrboro, We had to bring everything with us. Everything. Going to the beach was no culinary adventure for us. It was a week of hot dogs and frozen casseroles and spaghetti and cereal. Potato chips and popcorn and Kool-Aid were the rule. Because there wasn’t a grocery store on the island or air-conditioning […]

Greetings from Carrboro, I have a belt that I love. It was made by this guy in Brooklyn who works on the 5th floor of an old building that has no electricity. He does every single belt by hand – slowly and methodically – and sources his leather from an old rancher in Idaho. I’m […]

Greetings from Carrboro, Give me a “T”! Give me an “O”! Give me an “M”! Ok, I’ll spare you. Because I have a strong feeling that most of you know where this is headed – outside that group of you named Tom who just got a little, prematurely excited. The 24th Acme Tomato Festival is […]

Greetings from Carrboro, Here we go. Again. The 24th Acme Tomato Festival cometh. July 10th-13th. Hallelujah and pass the Duke’s. Honestly, I’m not sure what July in Carrboro would be like without our annual belly-flop into our southern summer’s most delicious bounty. It’s a smorgasbord celebrating the fabulous farmers that grow the tomatoes and, yes, […]

Greetings from Carrboro, The Himalayas soared around us, the morning sun just lighting the snowy peaks. In the middle of the village, women were cooking bread – roti – in a communal wood-fired oven and selling it slathered in hot butter and salt. We waited in line for ours like everyone else with cups of […]