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?

I saw the moon on the leaves of the moss covered trees.

We took a bike-ride picnic for supper tonight to City Park. On the menu: a bottle of red, leftover roasted chicken, whole wheat pasta with pesto, garlic dip with carrots & cucumbers, a perfect honey-crisp apple with cheese.  I had such a great time.

This garlic oil from New Mexico makes great dip!  thanks K., you were right!

Ya-ka-mien

So, I took that chicken stock and turned it into my version of Ya-ka-mien.  It's just a souped up ramen really, usually prepared with beef, but I had leftover roasted chicken, some chinese curly noodles(I have only had the soup with spaghetti noodles) and veggies.  Always topped off with a boiled egg.

Breadcrumbs, Chicken Stock & Bay Leaves

I know ... BORING, but practical and thrifty! My dear friend, K., brought me those just picked bay leaves from the Truck Farm this week.  Lucky me!

Late Night KarmelKorn!!

Yes, it was wrong.  I always thought karmelkorn was wrong in general, but my brother and I used to love to get it in the mall growing up.  Now, having seen the list of ingredients & made up a batch of my own -- it is confirmed.  Oh!  ...and it was so delicious and super easy!

KarmelKorn
1 c. butter
2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda
6-8 qt. popped popcorn

In heavy saucepan, over medium-low heat, combine butter, brown sugar, salt and corn syrup. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Then add baking soda. Pour over popped popcorn, mixing well. Bake for 1 hour at 250 degrees, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool. Break into pieces.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHAZ!

Peanut Butter Cups for our friend Chaz aka Washboard Chaz. M. & I thought that he deserved a special treat today in honor of his 60th birthday!  I made peanut butter cups and they were much easier than I thought! The dogs agreed, but still did not get any!

I used this recipe from Life in a Peanut Shell.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHAZ!

Shrimp Fried Rice before M.'s Gig Uptown

I attempted Shrimp Fried Rice tonight before M.'s gig Uptown.

M.'s comments:
"The cilantro ruins it."
"Fried Rice doesn't have squash."
"It doesn't taste like fried rice."

OK ... I get it, not his favorite thing I've ever made, but I thought it was delicious!  Me and Chinese Junk Food will one day be best friends!  (and he was wrong, it did taste like fried rice.)

Fried rice reminds me of Alvin, the Cook at Feelings when I worked there, who would make the wait staff fried rice on a slow night without any effort.  I wonder what happened to Alvin as he never returned to New Orleans after Katrina -- I heard he lives in Arkansas and I have a really hard time picturing this big guy from the Treme in the country.  Here's to you Alvin, hope you are still cooking and enjoying life!

If you are getting out tonight in NOLA, please drop by the Box Office on Freret Street after 8pm.  The Hot Club of New Orleans will be performing the musical stylings of music for moderns in their new weekly Wednesday installment Uptown.  Hope to see you there! www.hotclubofneworleans.com

Made some Pizza Dough for some Dough Today.

I made three batches of pizza dough today because I am filling my first ever "order". That's exciting for me!  Please let me know if you would like a sample.

Pizza Dough Recipe -- see Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.

I also changed the stem on the kitchen faucet today which is not about food or cooking ... or is it?

Enjoyed visiting and a drink with C. at the dba.  In the background, the swinging sounds of the Cottonmouth Kings of New Orleans.  Wish you were there.  Aaahh ... New Orleans!

Matt's Bar in Minneapolis

In August we visited Minneapolis & Matt's bar, home of the "Jucy Lucy", a cheese stuffed yummyburger.  Here's the menu. I do hope to return one day. 

Shrimpballs...Better than Meat Balls

A friend told me about a shrimpball recipe in the Times Picayune this week. Tonight we tried Shrimp Balls over rice. A take on the classic meatball, the balls were moist and delicious and M. says better than meatballs. He went on to say that we need not go back to the classic meatball. Basically, I followed the recipe in the link above. I used the veggies and just spiced it up my way. I didn't have any french bread, but had whole wheat breadcrumbs in the freezer. I soaked some in a little unsweetened soymilk. My red gravy is the sauce I use for everything that calls for red sauce.

"Best ever honey," is what M. said after his second plate.