Cornbread & Fish

I made cornbread in my eight inch cast iron skillet.  Light and crumbly -- delicious bread with a little honey!  I used this recipe from Bake or Break, but added in a little pepper jack cheese, just because I wanted to!  Served it with a small salad and sesame crusted gulf fish -- I believe the vendor at the farmer's market referred to this fish as seabream, but no-one I know has ever heard of this fish???  Big hit with M.!!  

Popsicles

Friday was mine & M.'s 5th wedding anniversary.  The traditional gift is wood.  We had the best two popsicles ever made.  These most delicious icy treats sat atop wooden sticks!  Lemon Ginger and Hibiscus Lemonade.  Please visit Meltdown located in the French Quarter at 508 Dumaine Street in New Orleans!

Vinaigrette, Persimmon, Author & Pupusa

A coffeecake Monday morning led right into a guilty salad lunch.  I do like to make my own salad dressings and it is so easy and great tasting!  Those are my ingredients on the left for the vinaigrette -- olive & sesame oil, soy sauce, lemon juice & zest, cayenne, parsley & sesame seeds for the top of the salad.

Tuesday I spent a little time uptown running around and visiting at the Crescent City Farmers Market.  I was looking at these beautiful persimmons and wondering what one might do with the fruits when I overheard the vendor talking to another customer and I had a true star sighting -- I was shopping at the farmer's market right next to Sara Roahen!  I was too excited and shy to tell her how much I enjoyed her book -- that it made me cry and inspired me so!  So, I will admire her from afar and share her book with you here and recommend it to you all -- if you love New Orleans, if you love to cook, if you love to eat in New Orleans, if you -- well I could go on, but it is a MUST read!  For those of you that live here, it will make your heart feel good and for those of you who don't know about living here, I would love to hear what you think.  I checked the book out at the Alvar Street library (so small & cute) right around the corner from our house!  I had forgotten about the library, you know, they let you borrow books!  Amazing!

I had lunch this week with my dear friend, K., at Pupuseria La Macarena -- it was delicious!!!  Pupusias -- I didn't know!  Really... sthis is a dish  I had not tasted before and pupusa's -- what a deliciously sinful treat!!  Everything about the restaurant: the condiments, presentation, freshness, quality and the character of the foods were so easy to understand, not to mention digest!!
Yummy, yum yum!

Coffeecake Monday!

M. wanted a coffeecake.  Because I rarely say no to a sweet treat request, i took this recipe from smittenkitten.com and made it with blueberries.  After having toured a friend's recently acquired old Bakery in the Marigny today which has been repurposed as two living spaces, I thought it particularly appropriate to bake.  YEA!! -- it turned out great (& super suitable for punching out a cute shape with a cookie cutter!)  My cute shape was a circle.  

Street Shrimp

This afternoon there were two ladies (girls really) selling shrimp out of the back of a pickup truck on Broad Street between Esplanade & Orleans on the Bayou St. John side ($2.50 a pound).  One of the girls held out a shrimp in her bare hand allowing each passerby to judge the quality for him or herself.  As far as selling tactics go -- I like it!  I bought ten dollars worth and ran on home.  

Peeled some shrimp.
Made some shrimp stock for the freezer.

Not sure what to make with the shrimp tomorrow -- any suggestions?