Sclafani Balsamic Vinegar

I have not been using balsamic vinegar for a while, but I want to remember a brand that I liked. It is “Sclafani Balsamic Vinegar of Modena.” You can take tomatoes, that do not have that good tomato flavor, and halve them and pour some balsamic vinegar over them… Then bake them in the oven, and the vinegar reduces to a sweet syrup and the tomatoes are delicious as a side.

NOTE [ 11/04/23 ]: I see that the Sclafani Foods site has changed address.

Actually, I have found that Roma tomatoes, which have almost no flavor raw, can take on a good tomato flavor when they are cooked. I wouldn’t bake them now, but put them in a pot on the stove top and cook them down until they have that sweet syrupy texture. Maybe even add some chopped onion and make a “tomato chutney.”

Several years ago, while visiting “the Blue Willow Inn” in Social Circle, Georgia, I was walking along their U-shaped main buffet bar and in one, inside corner, I saw they had fried green tomatoes. But, to my surprise, beside them in a small bowl was what they called “tomato chutney.” The chutney had a sweet, vinegary tomato flavor and was red. They were suggesting putting the tomato chutney on the fried green tomatoes. The fried green tomatoes had a savory flavor and the chutney a sweet flavor. What a perfect combination!

It appears from the current [ 11/04/23 ] Blue Willow Inn website that this restaurant is closed, and has been closed for a while. From their Facebook page it looks like the fear of the Corona Virus caused the closure.

Donna Gibson, my half-sister, took me, my first time, to the Blue Willow Inn for their buffet. She was living in Stockbridge, GA with dad & Sara, his wife. I think dad and Sara, were also along. It might have been a sunny Sunday and the place was packed. I have been back several times through the years, mostly by myself. *I just checked my Timeline on Google Maps and it actually had my visit for lunch on Thursday, September 13, 2018. As I recall, I sat in the front dining room, just to the right of the main entrance.

NOTE: I just found a few photos from this visit. The photo from the dining room is blurry, but definitely shows where I was sitting. The buffet room would have been to the right, just across the small hallway where the receptionist was located.

I just realized from some other photos on this date that this was my adventure to escape Hurricane Florence that was coming through North Carolina. I had stayed at the Red Roof Inn in Augusta the previous night, and this was a “round about” way of getting to the Days Inn by Wyndham in Milledgeville, Georgia that afternoon/night. After lunch, I visited the Newton County Library in Covington and later had dinner in Milledgedville at Lieu’s Peking Restaurant (permanently closed). I don’t recall how many days I stayed in Milledgeville, but I think it came close to a week because the hurricane had caused much damage & flooding and returning directly to Fayetteville wasn’t possible. In fact, I tried to come back a day or so earlier, and had to turn around and stay in Siler City. Ate at Lam’s Buffet (Chinese). Eventually, I returned to Fayetteville by the circuitous route of going from Siler City to Pinehurst/Southern Pines and then Raeford and coming from the west back to Fayetteville, which was the only open route at that time.

I enjoyed my stay in Milledgeville. There was a much renovated Burger King there, very modern in their 1960s homage. Had a good breakfast at the “Local Yolkal” restaurant. On another day, I went to “the Old Times Country Buffet” in Macon and had some delicious Zipper peas for the first (and maybe only) time.

Another realization is that I had eaten at an Old Times Country Buffet in Savannah, Georgia on Sunday, January 8, 2017. Not so sure that they didn’t have “pig’s feet” on the buffet in Savannah.

Pig’s feet? Well, I love the flavor and the experience of eating pig’s feet, but the last couple of times (not recently) that I fixed them at home, they tasted great, but afterwards the fat made me feel awful. This is something I shouldn’t eat again, but I will have fond memories of the flavors & the sticky fingers.

As I think about it, a cooked pig’s foot has multiple textures. There is the slightly tough skin, sometimes still with little stubs of hair. There is edible cartilage and a small amount of tender meat in some of the crevices.