inspiration

Excited about Eating by Dora Hiers

/ Dora Hiers / 7 Comments

Yep, you read that right. Today’s Excited about Eating post was written by Dora! I gave Ernie the day off. Plus, he doesn’t like to talk about himself, so I’m going to do it for him. 🙂

Since we’re all probably rolling from eating too much over the holidays, I decided on a different type of post for today. You all know how much my guy likes to eat. But did you know Ernie’s a certified Kansas City BBQ judge? Many Saturdays during the season he travels to judge BBQ events. When he exceeds a four-hour radius from our house, we usually make a weekend of it.

But he’s also a backyard smoker. When he cranks up that smoker, I swear our son in DC can smell the ribs. Yum! 



Over the last couple of years, he’s been pining for a new smoker, one that doesn’t require constant babysitting and feeding of wood chips. He finally decided on a pellet smoker. Load it with pellets, turn it on, put your meat in and voila! The smoker does all the work for you. Well, almost. 🙂

So this year Santa bought him a pellet smoker for Christmas. 

This puppy arrived in a semi! 500 pounds of smoker, yet-to-be-installed, a few hundred nuts and bolts, and bags and bags of pellets.

Thankfully, Little Man volunteered to help assemble. 🙂

Little Man even read the directions for Grandpa.

And he volunteered to crawl into those hard-to-reach spots.

What’s a lot of work with no play?





The assembly process was a family affair. My part involved a camera. 🙂

Hopefully, we’ll enjoy the goodies coming from this smoker as much as the last one. But no matter. We’ll treasure the memories just the same. ❤
What was your most treasured gift this year?

Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

/ Dora Hiers / 3 Comments

This week’s edition of Excited about Eating visits Restaurant X in the college town of Davidson, North Carolina. This bistro-type restaurant offers an international menu featuring pub fare, seafood, and upscale beef dishes.

Restaurant X Bistro

Dora here. It’s easy to see why they’ve been nominated six times for the Open Table Diners Choice Award (click link for reservations). Food choices were great, but they also offer several seating alternatives. We chose the covered patio. The plastic screen makes it nice and toasty for winter diners. 

We visited on Saturday during Brunch, so I chose Shepherd’s Pie, meat, vegetables, and gravy blanketed with mashed potatoes. We visit a lot of pubs and I have ordered Shepherd’s Pie many times, but I have to say, this was the best ever! The meat and gravy, with deep flavors and just the right amount of juice, blended very well with the mashed potatoes. It was the type of dish that you just couldn’t stop eating until it was all gone, and that happened quicker than usual because my wife enjoyed it also.

Shepherd's Pie
Shepherd’s Pie


Dora here. Guilty! I confess my fork kept digging in to that wonderful goodness! I was powerless to control it. The flavors popped and it wasn’t overloaded with unnecessary vegies like some. Warm and perfect for a cold day!

Fish & Chips
Fish & Chips

Good thing you also enjoy Fish and Chips, Ernie. Phew! And the fries were just the way hubby likes them, thin and crispy, the kind you can gobble down a ton and not feel heavy or bloated afterward. The fish batter was nice and light, not greasy, with generous portions.

Restaurant X is located on Main Street, along with many other quaint local restaurants. It’s a beautiful area, one I imagine we will explore more fully soon. 

Not sure how they chose Restaurant X for their name. What’s the most unique named restaurant you frequent?
We rate this restaurant 5 fork out of 5 for a family friendly restaurant serving outstanding food.
Restaurant X Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato