2008 Fall Tour

First concert was at the beautiful Manship Theater in Baton Rouge, LA. The theater provided a fabulous hotel, amazing Whole Foods snacks, and we had cajun eats for lunch.



















On the roof at the Shaw Center/Manship Theater, overlooking the Mississippi River.


At Poor Boy Lloyd's, around the corner from the theater.

Awesome read beans & rice, poor boys, and gumbo! A no-nonsense Cajun diner, and judging by the lunchtime crowd, a neighborhood favorite.

Poor Boy Lloyd's
201 Florida Street
Baton Rouge, LA






Second stop: the gigantic Walton Center (yes, as in Wal-Mart) in Fayetteville, AR.


There's really nothing but fast food on our drive from Baton Rouge to Fayetteville. So we stop for dinner at a Sonic.

Most of us have never been to one before. We're a little confused.








Alex is pointing to a menu item called "Ocean Water."

???

















Walton Center, Fayetteville.

Our old poster is still in the green room...



...and our new poster is outside the theater.

Plum Bars

The task: Make snacks for the tour team (because there's no edible food served on the plane) and the kitty sitter (because she likes nice snacks).

The item: Plum bars, made with Britt's mom's plum jam.















8 oz butter (2 sticks)
10 oz brown sugar
10 oz AP flour (2 cups)
4 oz oats (not instant)
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
one 12oz jar of plum jam

Paddle everything but the jam around in a stand mixer until the mixture looks like wet sand. Set aside about a cup and a half. Press the rest of it into a foil-lined 9"x12" pan and bake at 350 until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

When the crust has browned, remove it from the oven and let it cool a little. Spread enough jam on it to cover. You don't necessarily have to use the whole jar.

Now crumble the remaining crust mixture on top of the jam. Put back in oven and bake until the top is a lovely golden brown, about 10-20 minutes.

Cool to room temp. Cut into squares. Eat with tea. Or milkshakes.

If only.

See. I'm not the only one fantasizing about this.

From the Times:

Aaron Sorkin Conjures a Meeting of Obama and Bartlet
by Maureen Dowd
published Sept 20, 2008

Headin' Out

On the road again!



Short trip, this time. Just going to Louisiana, Arkansas, Maryland, and Virginia. Leaving Sunday.





Looking forward to some good eats, especially in Louisiana. However, I'm running the Silicon Valley Half Marathon in a month, so I won't be able to eat with as much abandon as usual.

Stay tuned...

You need this machine.

My microwave went kaplooey a few months ago. Instead of replacing it, I put my ice cream machine on the counter in its place.




Who needs a microwave? When you can have homemade ice cream & sorbet ALL THE TIME?






And I would not get this excited about an ice cream machine unless it's the kind with the freezer unit built in. Mine is a hand-me-down, and I LOVE IT.


Blueberry Lychee Sorbet
- one bag o' Trader Joe's frozen blueberries, thawed
- one can o' lychees in syrup
- pinch salt
- maybe an additional 1/4 cup sugar

Buzz together in a blender. Strain, if you must (I don't). Pour into machine. Serve to friends. Be declared a sorbet genius (um, my friends are easy to impress).

Recipes

In order to keep my cooking/writing chops up, I've decided to post recipes. This will be original stuff I either make for myself or for my usual catering gigs, and they're not the most earth-shattering recipes, but I think they're pretty tasty.




Lettuce Wraps You Can Eat With a Fork (or hashi)

In a large pan, saute together:
- a little veg oil
- 1 shallot, sliced
- 1 Japanese eggplant, chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Then add:
- ground turkey (1 package from Trader Joe's - I think I had a pound and a half?)
- a small shot of booze (I used marsala.)
- a shot of one of those spice mixes from TJ's (Yes, I know it's ghetto, but I had some left over from a catering gig.)
- sriracha, fish sauce, asian sauce of your choice (I used kecap manis*), & salt to taste
- Aji No Moto to taste (Hey, don't be hatin'. It's in everything you eat, and you're not allergic to it. Ask Jeffery Steingarten.)

Cook until tasty. If you feel like it, you can add some frozen peas & corn. I did.

So you can take lettuce leaves and make wraps. Or - if you're reading stuff online while you're eating and trying not to get your computer all greasy, you can serve it in a big bowl on top of shredded romaine. A salad, instead of a wrap.

*I had some left over from a cooking class. And yes, I was the teacher, but no, I have no idea what this stuff is.

Gahhh!

Bad, bad blogger...

New posts coming soon, I promise. Can't right now, 'cuz I'm busy watching this on PBS:













In a few weeks, we'll be going to Louisiana, Arkansas, Maryland, and Virginia.

I know, I know.

Bad, bad blogger.

Watch this, though. It's awesome.

New posts added below!

But first, watch this:

Grouchy-Cold

Houghton, Michigan -

Today's high: Ten degrees.
Average yearly snowfall, 2000-2007: 18+ feet




This is the hotel's lakeside deck.

It's not so cold at first...












... but it's not as much fun after the first few minutes.











Houghton has an annual snow sculpture contest/festival.


















Amazing!






This is our drive from Houghton to Grand Rapids, MN.












Britt considers joining the Yoop branch of the Hell's Angels.













Grand Rapids, Minnesota: MINUS TWENTY-ONE DEGREES.

Brrr...

Green Bay, WI

They are serious about football here.

Madison, WI

We stop and say hi to Dr. Mike and Chandra!





It's cold here.











To keep ourselves warm, we try some Madison snacks.

The highlight: Michael's Frozen Custard!














Their specialty: the turtle sundae. Vanilla frozen custard, hot fudge & caramel sauces, and warm, salty, roasty whole pecans.

Mmmmmm...

Chicago, IL

In Chicago. Lots of snow...

































... and two dogs, belonging to our hosts, Elaine & Ron.





Jamie!

















And Einstein.

Noshville, TN

Lots of good snacks in Nashville. The local thing to have is a "meat 'n three," which is a meat (fried chicken, bbq, ham, whatever.) with three sides (usually a veggie covered in bacon fat). Yummo.

Since we're here for a whole week with a light schedule, we do lots of exploring.

Country Music Hall of Fame!



Anyone recognize that?

Grandpa Jones was my favorite.







I wish I had my own brand of flour...


















The snacking highlight of our Nashville stay was our trip to Monell's.



If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing. So instead of finding a meat 'n three place, we find a meat 'n twelve.
















Everyone sits at large tables, and the food is served family-style. All the home-cookin' you can eat! Fried chicken! Pot roast! Ham! Biscuits and cornbread! Cheesy potatoes and creamy mashed! Vinegary cukes! Corn pudding!

It was good. So good, we went twice...






















... and ate a little too much. So we head here:
















Go to Nashville and go to Monell's!


The snacking lowlight: White Castle.

I've never been to one of these. Thought I should give it a try.






It was terrible. Wet, tasteless little burger-things.

Bah.






To make it even less appetizing, look what's on the menu:





Exactly what part of the chicken is the ring?

Greensboro, NC

Snacks from both Carolinas:








Biscuit from Smith Street Diner.













Cheesy grits, eggs, & bacon from Ganache Bakery.

This was awesome. Nice, thick-cut wheat toast and salty, cheesy yellow grits.








Stamey's Carolina BBQ.

So Carolina BBQ seems to be primarily smoked, chopped pork shoulder, served with vinegary sauce on the side.

Good. Different.

Stamey's had great hush pups.

Return to Greenville

Ten-ish years ago, when I was still attempting to tweet for a living, I played one season with the Greenville Symphony. I also got runner-up for a spot in the Knoxville Symphony around the same time, so I was on the sub list there. The plan was to move to Atlanta, commute once a month to Greenville, and to freelance in Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee.

But I realized that the south was not the place for me, and as it turned out, neither was the depressing, insanely competitive classical music scene. The odds of getting an orchestra job is about the same as an actor getting a gig, except an actor doesn't have to practice four hours a day, every day. I'm glad I hung in there as long as I did (hey, at least I won an audition before I decided to quit), and I think I could have been moderately successful, but going to culinary school in Boston was much more fun, as is the world music - er, world.

So there it is. Had I zigged instead of zagged, I might still be in the south, or even worse, stuck in New Orleans (that story is much too long and boring to tell).

Anyway - the food:

Ten years ago, Greenville was not nearly so diverse. There are quite a few pho, sushi, and Mexican places, and Alex and I just saw quite a few Asian people at the Whole Foods, and there was even a Japanese woman at the Petco, who had a crazy-cute Jack Russell puppy dressed in a rhinestone-studded green hoody. But I digress...

Island Blend Jerk & BBQ Grill, downtown Greenville - a mom & pop hole-in-the-wall Jamaican lunch place; mom was front of the house, pop was back. The beans & rice had a nice kick, the jerk chicken was yummy, and the beef patty was salty, HOT, and awesome. It was crowded, and the regulars were quick to recommend their favorites. Loved it. Would totally go back.

Sticky Fingers BBQ, downtown Greenville - a chain, but yummy. Unremarkable but solid eats.

R.O.'s BBQ, Gastonia, NC - 50+ year old local institution, the type of place that Alton Brown would go to on his motorcycle tours. Great onion rings, but the hush pups were a little dense. The bbq was just chopped pork (no rub or sauce) with a pickley, mayonnaisey, ketchupy sauce on the side. We got there at 11:30, and the parking lot was already filled with pickups. And one Prius.

Whole Foods, Greenville - the shrimp & grits from the prefab food bar is by far the best thing I've had here. More butter than grits, and with sausage, to boot! I would've taken a photo, but the WF people get angry if you take pictures in the store (really, they do).

Photos later (but not of the grits)...

Food. And a dog.

Loyal readers will have noticed that there have been no photos posted of our Santa Barbara performance. And by 'performance', I mean 'food'.

So here are some:

Cinnamon roll from Tuttini Bakery, downtown Santa Barbara.

PJ got this and was very, very pleased. It was buttery, perfectly flaky, and had just the right amount of cinnamon and sugar.






Nutella and peanut butter panino on brioche.











Tuttini is awesome! It's tiny, homey, and the food is amazing. I had a glass of freshly squozen Granny Smith apple juice, and it was just fabulous.



Luna, the Lobrero Theater dog! Every theater should have a dog!

Reminded us of a certain other bull terrier/lab mix.









Snacks from a recent catering gig:


Crudite with white bean & garlic dip, roast beef, arugula, & fig mayo on baguette, balsamic couscous & hummus on english cukes, and crab salad with chives in mini-pitas.



























Those are Meyer lemon tarts and fruit tarts on butter cookies (no, those aren't Ritz crackers, and yes, of course I made them). Because I was too lazy to make tart shells.

Hm. Should I post recipes?

Watching material

African American Lives (parts 1 & 2) is one of the most amazing documentary series I've ever seen. I miiiiight even say that this one tops Frontier House. Watch it!

Also - coming soon! Food news! I promise!

Reading material

New favorite blog.



I must confess I didn't like Kitchen Confidential, but I looove his show.

VOTE

Happy Super Tuesday!













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