"Savor the South" book signings in Charlotte, Raleigh and more

We interrupt our usual newsworthiness to bring the list of book signings.

Yes, I have a book out, "Pecans: A Savor the South Cookbook" (UNC Press, $17.95). In case you missed last week's story, this is a series of books on Southern ingredients. It debuted last week with my book, "Pecans," and Debbie Moose's "Buttermilk."

The series will continue with at least 10 more, released a couple of books at time; I have a second book coming in fall 2013, "Bourbon: A Savor the South Cookbook." I'm tickled to be a part of this series, which includes all kinds of writers I know and admire, including John Shelton Reed on barbecue, Virginia Willis on okra and Andrea Weigl on canning and preserving.

Since this is the start of a long series, Debbie and I will be making the rounds of bookstores all over the state, favorite pens in hand, for book signings. Here's what's on the list so far:

Thursday, Sept. 20 (yes, as in tomorrow night), 7 p.m., Park Road Books. I'm delighted to start the signings here. Sally and Frazer are terrific supporters of local authors and cookbook authors.
Sunday, Sept. 23, 3 p.m., Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. I've heard so many great things about this independent bookstore. I can't wait to visit.
Saturday, Oct. 6, Chapel Hill Farmers Market, 8-11 a.m. This is the one in front of A Southern Season. This will be just me.
Saturday, Oct. 6, Parker & Otis, Durham, 11:45 a.m. Love this store and the deli. If no one buys a book, I have to make sure I don't shop up all the profits.
Saturday, Nov. 3, 2 p.m., Barnes & Noble, Greensboro. Debbie and I will be back together at this one.
Saturday, Nov. 10, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Atherton Market. Yea, back in my hometown.
Saturday, Nov. 17, 7 p.m., Malaprops in Asheville. Not only will you get three UNC Press authors -- Debbie and I will be there with Fred Thompson and his new book "Fred Thompson's Southern Sides" -- you also get an excuse to hang out in one of the best independent bookstores in the country. I was so happy when they asked us to be there.
Saturday, Dec. 8, 1-4 p.m., Old Salem in Winston-Salem. I haven't been to Old Salem for the holidays in several years. I'm hoping to get at least one bite of hot sugar cake.

There are a few more still being scheduled, but that covers the fall. I hope you'll stop by one of these and say hello, even if you don't buy a book.

Debbie Moose leads a family cookbook workshop

You've got piles of old family recipes, you know you need to organize them and you'd love to put them together into a book for your friends or families. (And yes, I know you do -- most of you have asked me how do it.)

Here's an option for you. Raleigh cookbook author and food columnist Debbie Moose is leading a class on that very subject, "Cooking Up Family History," on April 14 at The Farm at Weathers Creek in Cleveland, N.C. (that's in Iredell County, Mecklenburg's neighbor to the north and about 35 miles from uptown Charlotte).

The workshop begins at 10 a.m. and ends around 3 p.m., it includes lunch and it costs $75. Moose plans to cover options for organizing your recipes, how to get recipes from family members, and how to write recipes in a way that's readable and useful to other cooks.

To get more details on the class, including requesting a registration form, go to the farm's web site, here.

In addition to her column in the Raleigh News & Observer and her books, including "Fan Fare" and "Deviled Eggs," Debbie blogs about food and cooking in her life at www.debbiemoose.com. And you can follow her on Twitter, @debbiemoose.

A win for Mooresville's Race City Sauce Works

My colleague, Raleigh food writer Debbie Moose, is an annual judge for the N.C. Hot Sauce Contest in Oxford, N.C. Tough duty, but good news for a local saucer: The winner of Critics' Choice this year is El Verde Sucio -- The Dirty Green, from Race City Sauce Works in Charlotte.

Winner of hottest sauce was Bhut Jolokia, made by Bailey Farms, while Most Unusual went to Smoking J's Jamaican Ginger.

Read about the contest and the painful duty of Hot Sauce Judge at Debbie's blog.

Food trucks are ready to roll

Has the food truck phenomenon finally rolled in to Charlotte? You can check it out tonight at 5, in the parking lot on 7th Street across from Seventh Street Station, at the Chow Down Uptown Food Truck Rally. At least eight trucks are signed up to be there, but that may grow.

I wish I could be there, but I already had a tight schedule between the end of the work day and the start of the Neko Case concert in Knight Theatre. I’ve also had my share of food truck experiences lately.

Last year, when I was in New York for the James Beard Awards in May, I had gotten a bead on a food truck rally at the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market. Fellow food soldier Andrea Weigl and I set out nice and early. But the Web site was unclear about the actual address – happens a lot in N.Y. social media, I’ve learned. By the time we found the right spot, the rally was well underway and the lines were stretching roughly from the Hudson River to Long Island. We stood in line for 40 minutes just for the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. It was worth the wait for a Salty Pimp (chocolate and caramel and soft-serve ice cream sprinkled with sea salt) and a Bea Arthur (hard to explain but it involves very tall soft-serve and crushed vanilla wafers). But that was all we had time to try.

This year, I was in the same place at about the same time. And now the Hell’s Kitchen Food Truck Rally is happening every other Sunday through the summer. This time, fellow food soldier Debbie Moose and I set out early with very good directions. We were almost too early: The trucks were still pulling in. But that meant we only had short waits to gather a full picnic.

Big Gay wasn’t there, tragically. They’re getting ready to open their own bricks-and-mortar store, the true food truck measure of success. But there were plenty of others: I counted Rickshaw Dumpling, Luke’s Lobster, Gorilla Cheese (grilled cheese sandwiches and deep-fried macaroni and cheese balls), Lloyd’s Carrot Cake, Kimchi Taco, Cinnamon Snail vegan food, and Kelvin Natural Slush.

Debbie grabbed a spot in the line at Gorilla Cheese and I fanned out to hunt and gather from the trucks that didn’t have lines. We met up at the curb and sat in the shade, spreading out a picnic while a street musician with a portable keyboard played jazz. New York food came to find us for a change. We had pork and chive dumplings, carrot cake, grilled muenster with proscuitto on challah, a big lobster roll ($15, but big enough to split), and spicy ginger slushies. My favorite thing was the deep-fried mac and cheese bites, which were crunchy and hot and tasted particularly good with a sweet onion dipping sauce.

If you’re in New York this summer and you're interested in something different, check www.hellskitchenfleamarket.com to see if it’s a food truck Sunday. Don’t get confused by the addresses – you want the flea market at 39th and 9th Avenue. And you need to get there by 10:30 if you want to miss the worst of the lines.

And if you’re at the Charlotte food truck rally tonight, drop me a line, kpurvis@charlotteobserver.com, and let me know how it went. If you send me a jpeg, I’ll try to post it here next week. Have fun, kids.

Race City Sauce Works brings the heat

Charlotte-based Race City Sauce Works won the title as the hottest hot sauce at the N.C. Hot Sauce Contest, held Saturday in Oxford. The reason: Their '98 Octane Ghost Pepper Reserve, which contains bhut jolokia chile, also called Ghost Chile. They also won for Most Unusual Sauce, for their Victory Lane Jalapeno-Sour Apple Pepper Sauce.

Debbie Moose was in the hot seat as a judge for the hot sauce category (the contest also looked at barbecue sauces). Read about it this morning on her blog, http://debbiemoose.com/wordpress/.