Local Eats: Nettie's Bakery & Tea House

If you follow the Endlessly Delicious Life facebook page - which, you should, of course - you may have noticed multiple mentions of Nettie's Bakery & Tea House. I am not in any way affiliated with or sponsored by Nettie's (a girl can dream), but I just enjoy their business so darn much.


Next week, I'm having a mother-daughter 
birthday date (it's the big 3-0, y'all!) at Nettie's and I'm so looking forward to it. In my reading and re-reading of the menu, I've reflected upon previous Tea House joy - which I have to share with you. 

Nettie's doesn't deliver; but occasionally
The Hubs will deliver their goodies to me at work.

Nettie's is just as adorable as it sounds. It's on the cutest little street in a tiny Western North Carolina town, a breath away from Waynesville. Hazelwood's Main Street is just what you'd expect in a quaint Southern block - a local soap company, a meat-and-potatoes brew pub, thrift stores, a Chip and Joanna Gaines-style home decor store, gun shop (welcome to "Home of the Plott Hound" hunting dog), locally owned pharmacy, and this adorable sweet spot. Nettie's is a small bakery with what appears to be an ample kitchen and cozy dining space. You order at the counter, indecisively lingering at the bakery case, and can have a seat at one of few antique tables. Tea house that it is, Nettie's is filled with tea sets - unique, fragile, antique, and miniature. Not unlike so many of our Southern grandmamas' parlors, it's full of "breakables," floral prints, and lace. 

Their regular menu offers a variety of cutesy sandwiches like you'd expect at a ladies auxiliary meeting - such as grape-pecan-chicken salad or homemade pimento cheese; and a rotating selection of fresh pastries. I've never gone to Nettie's for lunch, but we often pop in while visiting Robin Blu next door. Their variety of pastries is ever-changing and always delicious. The cinnamon rolls are huge, the scones are crumbly, the cookies are dappled with big chocolate chunks, and the cakes are beautiful layers upon layers. Personally, I go straight for the more nuanced desserts. Great British Baking Show watch out, because these ladies know how to wow with items like macarons, Viennese whirls, and petit fours. 

The showstopper here is the tea parties. Afternoon and High Teas are available every day (24-hour notice required) and special seasonal tea menus are available throughout the year. Last month, my mom and I attended a Mother's Day tea and I don't think I can do justice to this experience. It was so much fun, completely delicious, and a great adventure to share with my Mama. 

When I was little, I had a pink and white plastic tea set that we'd play with. I vividly remember sitting in a pillow fort, drinking sweet tea, eating the worst tuna salad ever (Peas, mom? Really?) and watching "Anne of Green Gables" together. We were pretending to be fancy, polite and delicate ladies; but Nettie's almost convinced us we were grown-up and elegant. 

The tea events have a set menu with savory and sweet items. The seasonal teas are more high-end with a few additional items. At Mother's Day we were treated to: a salad with oranges, almonds, (fresh!!) croutons and cinnamon vinaigrette; waldorf chicken salad tea sandwiches; pimento cheese and bacon puffs; berry jam scones; doodashes (an eleveated version of your Mamaw's cheese straws); chocolate ganache macarons; bonbons and Viennese whirls. 

Tea Treat Tower!

#SoFancy

It's a tremendous spread, not to mention the tea! A variety of teas are available and you can choose as many as you like. The owner must understand the unsophisticated palates of us low-brow sweet tea drinkers, so she mentioned "if you don't like the flavor, we'll pour it out and try a new one!"  We drank a whole pot of berry tea which required a little experimenting with milk and sugar. Pro tip: un-stirred sugar cubes will sink to the bottom of your cup and give you a final shockingly sweet sip...or so I'm told... 

Basically doing this giddy wiggle
until our next Tea Party

The food was spectacular, but I'm literally giddy trying to describe the experience. They make a real effort for guests to feel special and pampered. From the lace tablecloth (onto which I IMMEDIATELY spilled salad dressing) and napkins, to the real, delicate china tea set, to the silver serving utensil (from which I launched a doodash at my mother) to the tea tray the rolled to our table (IS THIS REAL LIFE?), every detail is curated to develop an authentic, luxurious treat. Downton Abbey, eat your heart out. 

My husband, y'all. #HappyWife

If you're ever in Hazelwood, it's imperative you stop in for a snack. But really, I'd recommend making a trip just for a bakery case treat. Also, be sure to follow them on Facebook where they share upcoming events - like seasonal tea schedules - and exciting deals - like this fancy Valentine's Day goodie box with shortbread, chocolate-covered strawberries, champagne cupcakes and macarons. 


And folks, this place can save you the heartburn of trying to find a unique way to show someone in your life that you love and care about them. Fellas and kiddos: brush your hair, wash your hands and take your lady and/or your mama out to tea. And gals, this would be the place to get in some super sweet girl time with your friends, the expectant mama who needs to savor quiet time, or a stressed out soon-to-be bride! 

Big, obnoxious hats are optional. 

Caribbean Fare - Conch & Cocktails

For the vacation we've been planning since before we got married, J and I and a couple from church (our Wednesday Game Night buddies) went on a four-day Caribbean cruise. Last Saturday, we drove to Port Canaveral, Florida, got on the Carnival Sensation ship on Sunday, hit Freeport Harbor and Port Lucaya (on Grand Bahama Island) on Monday, Nassau on Tuesday and spent a day at sea on Wednesday. This was an amazing trip and I want to tell you all about the fun we had!

This trip fulfilled so many firsts for us - my first trip to Florida, our first cruise, first international excursion, and first double-date vacation.

Even with all the new adventures, we stuck to some of our best vacation traditions, including exploring the local food scene.

In Freeport, we were running from Tropical Storm Bertha who descended upon us as we arrived at the beach in Port Lucaya. It was a torrential downpour with taxis not returning to the ship for three hours, so we took a Bahamian "alcove tour" as we searched for shelter from the storm. After being soaked to the bone, we happened across a candy shop where I bought a favorite Caribbean soda - Goombay Punch.

Note my sopping wet shirt!

Goombay Punch is a fruity, yellow soda with the most prevalent flavors being pineapple and lemon. It's a bold flavor bursting with fruitiness and sugar. I tried a sip and was blown away with how shockingly sweet it was. For perspective: a can of Coke has 39 grams of sugar, a can of Goombay Punch has 54 grams of sugar. That's almost 1.5 times as sweet as a traditional Coke!! The bright flavor and sugaryness overwhelmed me but I couldn't quite put my finger on why it tasted so familiar. Then I got a whiff of the bright yellow, bubbly liquid and I figured it out: if you took a bag of gummy bears, melted them down and added a touch (only a touch) of carbonation, you'd have Goombay Punch. I think this could be a good base for a Caribbean cocktail - think rum and Coke, but with Goombay - or in teeny tiny servings, but there was no way I could drink 12 ounces of this in a sitting!

Next, we headed to try a Caribbean staple - conch. Conch is the seafood item from the beautiful, curved pink conch shells (you know, the big, cliche shells you put to your ear to hear the ocean). It is an "edible marine snail" that is illegal to harvest in the United States, so it is rare to see on American menus (since it must be imported from the Caribbean). We knew we had to seek out these critters while we had the chance!
After going into sugar shock from my soda, we stopped in at After Dock, a restaurant in the center of the shopping district for conch fritters.

The fritters were like a mix of a crab cake and a hushpuppy. They were fried bread fritters with hearty chunks of conch inside with a spicy seasoning and a bold dipping sauce, like a zesty thousand island dressing. The conch pieces were chewy but the flavor was great and the breading was fluffy and light. I imagine that like most invertebrate seafood items - scallops, calamari, mussels - conch can easily develop into a tough, rubbery meat. I enjoyed the dish and would certainly eat this again, and would love to try different preparations of conch. 

J and I also toasted our adventure with Bahama Mama cocktails. These drinks are fruity, usually made of pineapple and orange juice, and rum-filled. The After Dock's version was heavy on the grenadine and ruby red grapefruit juice giving it an acidic bite to match the rummy burn. Being constantly vigilant to avoid heartburn, I'd prefer a more traditional cocktail with a little less citrus and more "gentle" fruit juices.

If a trip to the islands isn't in your future, here's a more traditional Bahama Mama recipe to give you a refreshing taste of the Caribbean. 

Ingredients:

1/2 fluid oz. rum (Tortuga is made in country, if you're going for authenticity)

1/2 fluid oz. coconut rum (Captain Morgan's Parrot Bay has been a favorite of mine for many years)

1/2 fluid oz. of grenadine syrup

1 fluid oz. orange or grapefruit juice

1 fluid oz. pineapple juice (I'd go heavier on the pineapple, lighter on the citrus)

1 c. crushed ice

Method:

Blend all ingredients in an electric blender until at a slushy consistency or mix rums and juices, pour over ice and pour over grenadine for the "sunrise" ombre effect.