Recently in Odds and Ends Category
* Bold all the items you've eaten
* Strikethrough any items that you would never consider eating
* Italicize the items you'll eat if given the chance
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea - I'm with Saintseester on this, I don't know why I would
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare - ah, the "Cannibal Special" at Camellia Grill!
5. Crocodile - i'm saying yes here, because gator is close
6. Black pudding - yup, boudin is blood sausage
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush - there's a restaurant in San Diego, Sadaf, on 5th St. in Gaslamp, great Baba Ghanoush
11. Calamari - Drago's or Bacco...mmmmmmm
12. Pho - all the rage in NOLA
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi - i think i've eaten this
15. Hot dog from a street cart - well, duh, the guys in the red-stripe jackets in Da Quarters.
16. Époisses de Bourgogne
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - Orange wine from Plaquemines Parish, and Boone's Farm, of course.
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans - Buster Holmes!
25. Brawn or head cheese - yes, but I don't like it.
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters - believe it or not, Hooter's in Metairie usually is a good place for raw erstas. The ultimate are the Bienville at Antoine's, char-grilled at Drago's, or po-boy from Parasol's.
29. Baklava
30. Bagna càuda - now i'm very curious about this one.
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - does Cognac with a fattie count? :-)
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40.
41. Curried goat
42.
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whiskey from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal
56. Spätzle
57. Dirty gin martini - just how I like them
58. Beer above 8% ABV - "doubles" and "triples" in Europe, yummy
59. Poutine- it sure sounds like something bad, but the description is good.
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads - had some good ones in Den Bosch
63. Kaoliang - sure. If it's booze, I'll try it. ( love Saintseester's attitude)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs' legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake - Beignets are not something you get at a State Fair. They are an art form.
68.
69. Fried plantain
70.
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe - need to do another Absinthe meet-up, f'sure.
74. Gjetost or brunost
75.
76. Baijiu - booze, yeah...
77. Hostess Fruit Pie - only if there are no
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict - my preference is Eggs Hussarde, a Brennan's variation.
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a 3-Michelin-star restaurant - if I ever get to a 3-star restaurant, sure.
85. Kobe beef - had Kobe beef mini-burgers at Sammy's in La Jolla last week. Had for-sure-real Kobe beef at a teppanyaki place in Tokyo as well.
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89.
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft-shell crab - last ones were at Galatoire's
93. Rose harissa - this sounds interesting.
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor - not a fave, but i've made it
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake - - probably not for me
I'm not going to win the "plating" category on Iron Chef, either, mainly because family is hungry and wants food! They're only willing to indulge this blogging thing so much. :-)
xposted to yatpundit:
It's good to travel outside the city and drink microbrews with the knowledge that we have one back home that holds its own. Now New Orleans Magazine reports that Abita is having a 20th birthday bash:
Abita Brewing Co. will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the company’s founding with a birthday bash at the Contemporary Arts Center on Aug. 12. The band Better Than Ezra will perform, free Abita beer will flow all night and proceeds from the $20 ticket price will benefit the Louisiana Restaurant Association’s hurricane relief efforts. For ticketing information, go to www.Abita.com.
Good beer and a good cause!
Yesterday was the culmination of the FIFA World Cup tournament in Germany. France and Italy played to a 1-1 draw through 90 minutes of regulation time and 30 minutes of overtime. Italy won 5-3 on kicks from the penalty mark.
The boys and I were cheering for France, mainly because we're pretty partisan in terms of our support of team USA, and none of us are happy with Italy after DeRossi hit Brian McBride in the mouth in the two sides' first round match. So, no Italian food for lunch yesterday. :-)
Kevin (my 12-year old) wanted barbecued chicken, though, not something creative and French. I wanted to do something a bit special, though, so it would have to be a side dish. I had an eggplant in the fridge, which was perfect, since I had so many good eggplant dishes in France.
This was to be an on-the-fly sort of concoction, so I decided on a simple casserole. I peeled the eggplant (which was on the small-to-medium size) and sliced it thin. I made a little sauce: onion, garlic and green onion, sauteed in some olive oil, then added some flour to make a blonde-to-light-brown roux. To this mixture I added some white wine and chicken stock, keeping it fairly thick.
I put down a layer of eggplant slices in a 9" square pyrex dish, covered that with a bit of the sauce, then a sprinkle of bread crumbs to help absorb some of the moisture that was bound to be released in cooking. Then that was topped with some shredded mozzerella (OK, there's some Italian in this). This layering was repeated until the dish was full, and the rest of the cheese was heaped on top.
The dish was tossed in the oven at 350F for about 45 minutes. It turned out to be a tasty addition to the grilled chicken!
Today is National Voodoo Day in Benin.
but obviously they have a different idea of what an appropriate celebration is... :-)
satsuma oranges from Plaquemines Parish:
Excellent explanation of what's in the little yellow packet from Mr. Lake's forum.
Three years ago, my wife decided to re-model the kitchen. Fortunately for me, I was able to set up a three-week teaching gig in Tokyo, avoiding the trials and tribulations of ripping out the kitchen and getting all the new stuff in. When I returned, we had a lovely new cooktop, oven, microwave, as well as new cabinets, pantry, and new hardwood floors.
Hurricane Katrina changed all that. When the drainage system backed up in Jefferson Parish, that hardwood floor, appliances, walls, and the bottom cabinets in the kitchen had to be ripped out. Our general contractor, Homeland Construction, has the walls back in place and painted:
The upper cabinets (Quality brand, in their "Cathedral" pattern, "Champagne" finish) survived. Both my wife and I liked what she had done three years ago with the kitchen. We had the uppers and they saved the countertops when the kitchen was demolished, so we decided to go back to Mattix Cabinets and have them re-make the bottom cabinets.
My wife called the same salesperson we had three years ago. He still had all the specifications and measurements from the initial design and order, so it was a no-brainer to get this going. Or so we thought.
Three weeks later, wife called Mattix to check on the status of the order. When he took the order, the salesperson told us the cabinets would be ready in two-three weeks. That sounded optimistic, so we waited past three weeks. Mattix told us that they had no order for our kitchen. They had the order for the bathrooms, yes, but nothing on the kitchen.
The salesperson claims he e-mailed the order to the office and they either did not receive it or they did not process it. Either way, the company now says there's nothing they can do, and it will be another four weeks before we will get our cabinets.
There comes a point in many projects where things narrow to the "critical path," where the next step in the plan is dependent on the previous one. Installation of our kitchen cabinets is a good example of this. Without the cabinets, we can't have the kitchen floor installed. It's the same tile as we're using in the den, so that is all on hold for weeks. We can't take delivery on the new range, refrigerator, and dishwasher, because there's really no place to put them except their locations in the kitchen. Our home will not be back together before Christmas now.
When a business makes such a costly error, usually they try to make things right. Unfortunately, Mattix Cabinets is not that kind of business. They're not interested in expediting the order, and they don't want to give us any financial consideration for the inconvenience. They don't have too, of course. They're the only Quality Cabinets dealer in the metro area (the next closest place is in Baton Rouge).
So, our dilemma is whether or not to continue doing business with Mattix Cabinets. My immediate reaction was fairly colorful and direct--I suggested to wife that we cancel not only the kitchen, but the order for the two bathrooms as well. She pointed out that cancelling the kitchen would mean we would either have mis-matched cabinets in that room, or we'd have to rip out the upper cabinets and spend extra money on new ones. She also likes Quality brand cabinets. Either way, we'd be starting from scratch with another company and that would delay the reconstruction even further.
As of today, we're going to continue with Mattix, against my better judgement. It makes sense financially, even if it means giving a poorly-run company money they really don't deserve. They may be working overtime, but they're also charging full price for their cabinets. We're not getting a "hurricane discount" from them. If they lost our order because they're inundated with orders, that means they're making money hand over fist. If a business is charging full price, it's reasonable for a customer to expect full service. If the business doesn't give that service, it's also reasonable for customers to demand it, or some sort of compensation as an alternative.
To sum this up, we strongly suggest you avoid using Mattix Cabinets if you're rebuilding post-Katrina. They weren't a problem to work with three years ago, but clearly the storm has changed that. They've obviously got enough business already that they don't need yours or mine, so I suggest you take yours elsewhere.
We wouldn't be New Orleans if we ate that nasty stuff they make at Subway... :-)
the hole in that loaf is from where my thumb squeezed too hard. That's a good sign for a loaf of french bread. What they make at the grocery store or that nasty sandwich chain isn't "proofed" properly. La Louisiane Bakery is doing it right, just like Zip bread or Binder's. La Louisiane is a service bakery for Maurice's in Metairie, and they were able to get back up and running a lot faster than their competition. So far, I've had a po-boy at Radosta's in Metairie, cap bread at Maple Cafe', and tonight I picked up a loaf of their bread at Zuppardo's on Veterans.
It was pretty good, and made a great complement to the sirloin I grilled.
Here's the label:
