Etouffe Brute?

I have been back from New Orleans for 2 days and I'm still stuffed! Oh holy rice Batman! As in rice in the jambalaya, etouffe, gumbo, and red beans and, d'oh, rice. And then you have the oysters, char grilled please!, beignets, pralines, and more liquor then Dionysus would know what to do with. So yeah, I am still stuffed.

It was an amazing long weekend full of good friends, partyin', food, and a wedding as well. (we cannot forget that). Can I just say that the wedding was amazing. The bride looked beautiful, the groom looked ecstatic, the scenery was gorgeous, I teared up a bit, and we danced the night away celebrating. And really, isn't what it is all bout? Well you know for me the food was a huge draw as well, but first and foremost it was about being with two special people as they promised their lives to each other.

But while I was there I was able to hit up some of the tourist hot spots:

1. Beignets and coffee at Cafe Du Monde

Which was sugary deliciousness and you must do it at least once when visiting New Orleans.

2. Checked out one the many beautiful cemeteries and gave my regards to Voodoo Queen Marie Leveau

Technically Marie Leveau is no longer in her crypt. They worried about overzealous followers stealing her remains so they moved her to a different location.

3. Went to a real voodoo spiritual center

The priestess of the center was, how do I say this.......a little strange. I'm just not very in tune to the voodoo spiritual beliefs so it really didn't make much sense to me.

4. Char grilled oysters at Acme Oyster House.

Oh my bivalve, these were so amazing. Cheesy, buttery, smoky, and yummy. I also had my first etouffe experience here, but it just does not look so pretty on camera.

5. Took a streetcar to the Garden District.

Such beautiful houses in this part of town. The wedding actually happened in a beautiful old mansion in this area as well.

The Garden District is also home to Nacho Mama, which I found just hilarious. If I wasn't so darn full I would have tried this joint so I could just yell out Nacho Mama as many time as I wanted and no one would judge me. Actually they would have judged me, they just would not have said anything, which is close enough.

There is still so much that I would like to check out/eat in New Orleans, but my first time there was an amazing experience. Hope you enjoy the pics and have a great week!

Is Cupcake Wars in My Future?

These cupcakes are actually a bit bittersweet for me. My co-worker Eric, who has been a tremendous friend to me since we met over 2 years ago, is moving away. He was offered a bigger and better job down in FL, and I am so happy for him but also so sad to be losing someone who has been one of my "rocks". Those kind of people are hard to come by, especially in DC, but I know that Gchat will keep us together.

Before he leaves, I promised him one last baked good. I should say that he may have hinted in a very obvious way and I went along with it. But what to bake? Something that I could easily bring to work and share with the "Lunch Bunch" was going to be ideal, so cupcakes immediately came to mind. When I came across this recipe for Chocolate Cardamom Cupcakes I was immediately intrigued. One of our local gelato shops makes cardamom gelato, which is my fav, and I just knew that I had to try to make these cupcakes.

The cardamom flavor is very subtle, but the scent as you bring these towards your mouth is amazing. Unless you don't like cardamom then you would think they smell pretty rank. I would love to try this recipe in a vanilla cupcake, as I think the chocolate is very powerful and is definitely the main character. I wanted a stronger punch of cardamom and I think with a basic vanilla cupcake I would get that. But despite that this was an awesome recipe for a beginner cupcake maker.
I just hope that my co-workers think the same thing!

A Secret Brunch.....

I have been reading all about these secret dinner clubs that have been popping up in DC and have been wanting to try one out for quite awhile. I'm not sure how it exactly happened, where I stumbled upon it, or read about but I somehow found out about Artisa Kitchen, which has been put together by Chef Bryon Brown whose aim is to "change the dining landscape of DC".

I convinced a friend to sign up for an upcoming 15 course brunch, as brunch is my most favorite meal, and it seemed like a good way to start my first secret dining club experience.

Blood Mary a la molecular gastronomy

Pumpkin pancake

Caramelized onion, sausage, and aged balsamic

Smoked salmon on a cracker made from pasta

Corn pancake with crispy beets and pomegranate seeds

Poached egg with a very fancy tomato sauce

Calf's Liver with grits

Tomato consomme

Mussels on toast

Grapefruit with burnt sugar

Potato cake with eggplant puree

Roasted yucca

A little dry ice magic

Mojito sorbet

Cheese plate with poached apricot

Nutella Crepe



And for the most part this secret brunch was a great experience. There were some misses for me: the tomato consomme was a bit watery and the crepe was average at best. But there were also some amazing dishes: the salmon "bruschetta", a perfectly poached egg, and the most amazing cheese dish. But I think what really made this experience worth while was the ambiance and people. It was wonderful to have a local art gallery all to ourselves and to meet so many people that share the same interests in food that I do. I definitely would love to try another meal some time soon to get another look at Chef Brown's style and to meet some more foodies that are as passionate about DC and the local food scene.

It's a Nectarine Crisp and Hot Tub Time Machine kind of day

There is an excess of fruit on my counter and every time I enter the kitchen they keep giving me the evil eye as they darken and begin to show their age. I guiltily turn away and pretend not to notice, but in my heart I know it may be too late. So what do I do? Damn myself for eternity or turn to Google for help? I pick the latter.

Another great Tasty Kitchen find! And I loved that I did not have to buy anything for this. I actually did not have enough of some of the ingredients, only 6 tbsp of butter instead of 8 and ½ cup of brown sugar, which is not quite the recommended amount. But I was still be able to make it work and I feel like I am really coming into my own in this whole baking business. High five for me!

So here is to a lazy Saturday and a wonderful Labor Day weekend. I will now be furthering my relationship with my crisp.

P.S. I cannot figure out how to remove those darn underlines in the first paragraphs! My apologies.

Infatuation

Friends I have become infatuated, and I am not embarrassed to admit it. I know that I focus on food on this blog but I am seriously enamored with music at the moment. Since hearing this band's video one morning I knew I had to hear more. And I have realized I am not the only one.

Band Name: Mumford & Sons

Style: Folk

Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLJf9qJHR3E

OMG!!! You need to watch and I hope that you enjoy as much as I do. I am seriously infatuated. I am making a trip to Boston in November just to see them live and I am more excited than a kid on Christmas day. Please enjoy because they are amazing. I mean what is a better combination than scruffy English boys singing about "feelings"? ;)

No Knead Bread

Why do carbs have to be bad when they taste so glorious! Bread has been such an important part of the human diet throughout food history, and I just won't give it up. Atkins be damned, I love bread and I will have it! Especially when I make it myself.

My first adventure into bread making was pretty damn successful. I chose a no knead bread recipe, which I thought would be the perfect intro into this new baking experience. After reading about it multiple times in many blogs and books I just took it as a sign that this was where I would start.

The hardest part is waiting. Waiting for the dough to rise, waiting for it to rise again, and then waiting for it to cool so you can have a taste. But you will not be disappointed. A crunchy crust with a nice chewy center, which is perfect for dipping in oil and vinegar or making into a sandwich.

I did a little bit of both as I had to test the bread properly. :) For my next experiment with this recipe I will definitely try putting in some herbs or maybe dried fruit, the possibilities are really endless. Hopefully this will inspire you to give it a try as well.

So lazy...

I have been inexcusably lazy lately. June, that was the last time I posted and we are well into August now. My only reason is that life is happening. The 9-5, the restaurant blog I write, travelling, and general debauchery have kept cooking projects at bay. And yet I have been sitting on this blog post for awhile. Back in July, 4th of July weekend to be exact, I had bought an exorbitant amount of cherries because they are delicious and were on sale. You can't really beat that combination.

I am serious when I say that the amount of cherries in my fridge that weekend was beyond ridiculous for one person. A snack for the fireworks show is why I had bought them, and we definitely did some some damage, but there was still a lot of left overs. Knowing I could not destroy these cherries by straight snacking alone, I knew I had an opportunity to try some recipes out.

First up was Cherry Brown Butter Bars that Smitten Kitchen had tried out back in 2009 from a Bon Appetit recipe. The hardest part of this recipe was removing the pits manually as I am without a fancy pit remover device. My suggestion is to just turn on the tunes and just get your groove on while you do a bit of mundane work. But it is so worth the effort, because this recipe is delicious. It is also a relatively simple recipe to make. I could have browned the butter a bit more to bring a bit more nutty flavor into the bar, but I was so worried about burning it that I may have stopped just a minute short. No matter, because the results were amazing. I know that my co-workers agreed as I brought my baking efforts into work and they cleared the pan in no time flat.

With one baking success under my belt I decided to continue on this baking kick. This time I took a look at the member recipe site Tasty Kitchen that has been put together by Ree, The Pioneer Woman. This is a great site to find a multitude of different kind of recipes that are thought up by cooking enthusiasts. I also like that you can search the site by ingredient, so when I entered "Cherry" a multitude of ideas were presented to me. Wanting to pick something I could again bring to the office I decided another bar recipe would be ideal, and the Cherry & Crystallized Ginger Crumb Bar, by cookincanuk, immediately caught my eye.

Another clear success. The ginger in the title is no joke. Where a lot of ginger treats leave you with just subtle note, this is a very strong and prominent ginger flavor. This is definitely a recipe for ginger lovers. I ended up passing on the recipe to a few of my co-workers as they really loved it, and now I am spreading the word to you as well.

So for now that is it, but I do have a couple more posts in the works. A little synopsis of Montreal and a break down of my first bread making experience. Until then have a great weekend.