RDU On the Rise: Tar Heel of the Year, holiday guide and a frigid Christmas

Hey there merry-makers!

‘Tis two days before Christmas and I’m Drew Jackson, the News & Observer’s food and dining reporter, delivering this week’s RDU On the Rise.

Let’s start with the must-watch movies over the next 48 hours. I’m not here to say these are the all-time greatest holiday movies, but these are the ‘Musts’ for our house every year. Also, Dante’s Peak is becoming a Christmas night tradition.

▪ Christmas Vacation: Hilarious and sappy. I didn’t like this one for years and now it’s my favorite.

▪ Home Alone: Honestly, kind of a food movie. It’s always bothered me that Kevin doesn’t eat his mac & cheese dinner before the mayhem.

▪ The Family Stone: Okay, kind of a sad one, but it captures everyone coming from far off places to be together on Christmas.

▪ The Holiday: I know, not a good movie at all and weirdly long, but it’s got that something this time of year..

▪ Muppet Christmas Carol: This is the definitive Christmas Carol for me. Studio execs take note, more movies please with Michael Caine, Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat.

Since the last time we met here, my wife and I added a son to our family. Despite being here seven years, we all went to our first Durham Holiday Parade.

A highlight, the famous Two Guys and a Banner:

Here’s how the world looks in the Triangle this holiday week.

The ultimate holiday soundtrack ▶️

I’ve listened to Christmas music since the stroke of midnight Thanksgiving night, hours of the classics, of playlists like “Indie Christmas,” and “Sad Christmas” for those melancholy holiday moments. The Nutcracker, it must be said, is full of bangers.

But there is no playlist as great as the one assembled by N&O staffers and readers, hitting the high and lows of holiday music from Phoebe Bridgers to Cheap Trick. There’s still time to make this playlist even more perfect. To suggest a song, fill out this Google form.

The list currently stands at 89 songs and it shouldn’t take a Christmas miracle to top 100.

Tar Heel of the Year ⭐

I went to New Bern for the first time this fall to meet up with Ricky Moore in his hometown, to tour the spots where he went crabbing and fishing and see the place that launched North Carolina’s latest James Beard-winning chef.

Moore is the News & Observer’s Tar Heel of the Year, the biggest honor we’ve got, meant to spotlight someone who celebrates and impacts North Carolina in profound ways.

I still think about a plate of fish I ordered from Moore’s Saltbox Seafood Joint in 2015: a giant grouper collar, fried golden and crispy, which I devoured on a picnic table with oyster shells under my feet. I ordered it as a sandwich, but ate it with my fingers, picking the nooks and crannies of the bony collar for luscious bites of flaky fish so pristine and fresh, you’d swear they were from some luxurious seafood restaurant.

Here’s my profile of Chef Ricky, with some stunning photos from Kaitlin McKeown.

For a seasonal portrait of Moore, local food writer Brigid Washington penned a feature in the New York Times this week sharing the chef’s secret ingredient for Kwanzaa dishes. Saltbox will be serving peanut fish stew starting Dec. 27.

Ding dong: Guide to Christmas Weekend ☃️

I love that classic Target ad where Santa is running in slow yet frantic motion towards a store while “Carol of the Bells” plays, ding-donging away the last few possible moments of Christmas shopping. Well, if you still have some shopping and planning to do, as I do, those bells toll for us.

Here are the answers to the big Christmas questions this weekend, gathered by reporters Kimberly Cataudella and Korie Dean:

▪ What restaurants are open? Here’s a list.

▪ Where can I get a last minute (as in Christmas Day) gift? Check out these stores.

▪ The nutmeg smells like sawdust, which grocery stores are open? Here are your options.

▪ We’re running low on Christmas cheer, how early do ABC stores close? A few hours early, and they’re not open Monday.

Since we’re back on Christmas tunes, it needs to be said that “Carol of the Bells” is so spooky it’s basically a Halloween song, which is why it’s my favorite.

A special Santa

On Christmas Eve 2016, I covered an appearance by Black Santa in Durham and met two-year-old Sabina Johnson, whose mother Meisha scoured a 500 mile radius to find a Black Santa.

The Johnsons returned to Durham this year and Aaron Sánchez-Guerra has a wonderful story to share.

Crabtree Valley Mall

I don’t do much mall shopping beyond the food and drink pairing of kings: Auntie Anne’s pretzel and a cherry Coke. But I still love a mall around the holidays, it’s like an adrenaline injection of Christmas spirit.

The future of one of the Triangle’s biggest malls is still uncertain. Real estate reporter Chantal Allam had a good story this week on the Raleigh mall and Kane Realty apparently walking away from a possible deal to buy the property. Chantal goes even deeper and looks at the state of malls Triangle-wide.

Best New Restaurants ☕

The Best New Restaurants bracket wraps up today at noon, with diners picking between the French bistro Bluebird and Lechon Latin BBQ Joint. I think voters managed to find two distinct and special additions to the Triangle dining scene and it will be interesting to see if upscale or casual ultimately wins out.

Some really marvelous restaurants joined the Triangle dining scene this year, but the one I seem to return to the most is Bright Spot Donuts, which manages to tap into my airy introduction to doughnuts, a perfect and warm Krispy Kreme glazed, but update it by delivering a satisfying chew to pair with the sharp sweetness.

DAMN, it’s cold ❄️

I got a headache thinking about how cold it’s going to be this week.

Korie Dean has the best tips on cold weather prep and Kristen Johnson has the latest on how the extreme arctic chill will impact holiday travel plans.

There’s also a need for volunteers and donations at shelters to help keep folks warm as temperatures drop. Kristen shares how you can help.

Make sure you know about this

Masks might be back: Sorry to be a bummer, but a fresh pack of face masks might be the perfect stocking stuffer. Kimberly Cataudella spoke to a UNC doc, who advised people may want to consider masking up when visiting family you don’t live with, plus the latest on where we are with COVID, RSV and the flu.

Love at the Biltmore: Pop culture expert — and my boss — Brooke Cain reports Asheville mansion The Biltmore will star in a new Hallmark movie, which features a time-traveling romance.

Rev. Barber’s new gig: Prominent North Carolina activist and minister the Rev. William Barber II is retiring from his church in Goldsboro to lead a newly created Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale University.

Long COVID: Health and sciences reporter Teddy Rosenbluth has an excellent explainer on new research looking at why some patients lose their sense of taste and smell.

Time for eggnog and a farewell

Among the things that get better with age, eggnog doesn’t naturally come to mind.

There’s a two-year-old jar of eggnog kicking around in the back of my fridge, mixed up in 2020 with lots of booze, eggs, sugar, dairy and spices. We dipped into it that Christmas and then the next, the flavor softening and the alcohol losing its bite, and kept it another year (it’s a very large jar), putting our faith in the Internet’s general consensus that, sure, it should be fine.

Now a year later, I’m not sure how things are inside the jar, that boozy time-capsule, but outside our lives are so different than when that nog was first whipped up.

It’ll be our son’s first Christmas, which at three months won’t mean much to him, but has been a special one for us.

Yesterday, we added his first ornament to the tree — a beluga whale — in honor of our most effective lullaby: “Baby Beluga” by Raffi, a certified jam.

Anyway, it’s time for some nog. Thanks for reading this edition of RDU On the Rise. Take care and happy holidays!

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