david-old

by David Cecelski First established in 1927, Hux Grocery in Rocky Mount is a shrine to chitterlings. Preparing, cleaning, and cooking pig intestines is just about all this little store does in a big way. The sign painted on the brick wall next to the parking lot says it all: “Hux Grocery—the Chitterling Capital.” You can buy… Read More →

by David Cecelski When my sister and my brother-in-law arrived yesterday, I had the chicken broth ready for them. Following my brother-in-law’s instructions, I had boiled a chicken with onions, garlic, carrots, and cilantro. As soon as he took off his coat, he removed the chicken from the pot, put it in the oven to… Read More →

by David Cecelski I was picking up pecans in our front yard this morning and I got to thinking about the old trees that dropped them. My grandfather planted those trees when he was a young man in the late 1910s or early ‘20s, soon after he returned from the First World War. They’ve been… Read More →

by David Cecelski Around dusk last night, when I got out of the Black River swamps, the only place I could find a hot meal within 15 or 20 miles was Tienda y Restaurante Doña Mary, a Mexican store, pool room, and café at the corner of US 210 and US 701. From the outside… Read More →

by David Cecelski Julia’s Talley House is an old and much-loved restaurant in the little town of Troutman. I stopped there for the first time when I was in IredellCounty the other day and now I understand why it’s so popular. It offers good old-fashioned Southern fare for one thing—fried chicken, country ham, chicken and pastry, country fried… Read More →

by David Cecelski Durham ’s Latino bakeries were filled today with the aroma of anise seed, the traditional flavoring for pan de muerto, the bread of the dead. They are getting ready for the Day of the Dead—El Dia de los Muertos— and anticipating shoppers looking for the sweet egg bread that has been part of the holiday… Read More →

by David Cecelski The other day I was driving through Enfield, a small town 25 miles north of Rocky Mount, when I saw a sign for “Aunt Ruby’s Peanuts.” I had a little time to spare, so I made a quick turn off NC-581 and found the A&B Milling Company’s office, warehouse, and retail shop at the… Read More →

by David Cecelski A hot meal isn’t easy to find near the Great Dismal Swamp if you don’t know your way around the back roads of Camden, Pasquotank, and GatesCounty. It’s wild, remote country, with only a few villages anywhere nearby. Fortunately, I got help from a crowd of rangers and swamp rats at the Dismal SwampCanalVisitorCenterwhen I… Read More →