Looking through my kitchen drawer I did find the recipe, but what I didn’t find was the source of recipe. My culinary skills are not to the level where I can make my own recipes from scratch. I rely heavily on recipes and I then tweak them to my tastes, or skill, whatever the case may be. After much googling and searching in my usual haunts, I can’t seem to find the recipe that I use. Granted, I have tweaked it a bit, but by no means can I lay claim to it being My Recipe — it’s just the one I use.

So all caveats and disclaimers aside, here is the recipe that I use for when I make Madeleines. I hope you like it.

[NULL]

Ingredients:
½ cup Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1 Stick of Butter (melted)
¾ tsp Baking Bowder
¾ cup All Purpose Flour
¼ tsp Salt
Zest of 1 lemon (or Vanilla Extract)

Instructions:
01. Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
02. Beat sugar and eggs togeher until throughly blended.
03. Add lemon rind (or dash of Vanilla extract) and melted butter.
04. Mix to blend
05. Sift together dry ingredients and add all at once to egg mixture
06. Stir just to lend
07. All mix to sit at room temperature for approximately 10 minutes
08. While mix is resting, generously butter Madeleine molds
09. Spoon mix into molds, filling approximately ¾ full
10. Bake appriximately 15 minutes, or until edges are golden brown
11. Turn over immediately onto cooling screen
12. Wide out each mold cavity, re-butter and fill again until desired number, or all of mix is used.
13. Store in airtight container until ready to serve, after the Madeleines have cooled

Notes:
I’ve had success using a variety of flavors. Vanilla extract, almond extract and even lemon rind and Vanilla together. All taste great. I typically use just vanilla extract, since it’s the easiest and I always have some on hand.

You can also dust the Madeleines with powered sugar if you like. It’s an ornamental effect, but it also adds a little bit of sweetness which may be needed if you’re using lemon rind for flavoring.

I’ve had great success with this recipe and it’s been given the thumbs up by many friends and family. If you end up using it, I hope that you’ll post a comment, or send me an e-mail to let me know how it turned out.

Happy cooking… and eating!

Me: Let’s think about this for a second.

Myself: There’s a Starbucks at Nipper’s Corner.

Me: Yeah, but it’s kind of small and crowded.

Myself: Well, then there’s the Starbucks at Hickory Hollow.

Me: Yeah, but I’d prefer something new.

Myself: Umm… There’s a new Starbucks coming up at Nolensville and Concord.

Me: That would be fun, but only because it’s new and different (its not open yet).

Myself: You want different? We could go to the Starbucks in the Target at I-24.

Me: Again with the Starbucks. I’d prefer better coffee than that.

Myself: …

I: Too bad Perk Central couldn’t keep their customers and had to close.

So the only option I really had before me was which Starbucks I wanted to go to. There are no mom and pop coffee shops anywhere near where I live in Brentwood/Antioch, which sucks. Is that to say that there are no independent coffee shops in Nashville? No, not at all! There’s Caffeine, Bongo Java, Frothy Monkey and Sam & Zoe’s, just to name a few. My problem is that they are all located in more central Nashville and not out here in the ‘burbs.

With no competition, this has left the market wide open for Starbucks to setup shop where ever they want. They’re the 800lb gorilla of retail coffee and can put up shops anywhere they please, but it’s been easy pickings here in Brentwod/Antioch. There’s a lot of development out here in our area and all the Starbucks locations I’ve mentioned have been around less than 3 years.

I was entertaining the idea of opening a coffee shop at Nolensville and Concord. Of course I have neither the experience, time, not to mention money, to be able to make this fantasy a reality, but I knew that it was a prime location. 3 weeks ago a sign popped up saying “Starbucks coming soon” and *poof* there went my fantasy. No way an independent coffee shop could hold their own against Starbucks. At least not here in Nashville.

So if you think about it, Starbucks has really become the new McDonalds. I know this analogy isn’t new or revolutionary, but think about it from a competitor’s standpoint. If you were a local small business coffee retailer and you wanted to move into an area where Starbucks is located, how could you compete?

If you made hamburgers and were going against McDonalds, then you could open a restaurant. Provide a higher quality burger, better dining experience, etc. You’re not competing with McDonalds at the fast food business — they are the experts in the fast food delivery systems management game — but you could compete from other perspectives. In the coffee game though, there doesn’t appear to be as many perspectives. Other than wi-fi, or expanding to a cafe business, Starbucks seems to have the market cornered. At least here on my corner that is.

So here I am sitting at the Hickory Hollow Starbucks sipping on an Starbucks Anniversary Blend french press and lamenting about the state of coffee in my neighboorhood. “Wah, I have nothing but Starbucks coffee shops around me” How bourgeois. Is it just me, or is this article sounding like a scene from “Sex and the City”

“When is a coffee just a coffee? Or is it all just a lot of shuckin’ and java?”

Man, I’ve got to lay off the Tab Energy!

I gave up Diet Coke a week ago Thursday and I went cold turkey. Why the sudden change? Well, Patty, a co-worker of Holly’s, said that aspartame can mess with your brain chemistry. When mixed with MSG, which is found in more food than you’d imagine, can really do some freaky stuff to your head. I knew that Diet Coke wasn’t a health drink, due to the aspartame sweeter, but hearing that it could monkey with my brain chemistry was the final push I needed to give it up.

This wasn’t the first time though, several times since college, I’ve been successful in quitting the brown bubbly demon. For six months I was cycling in Europe and only had Diet Coke on rare occasion. Then there were the diets that I took on from time-to-time where I would steer clear of it as well. Inevitably though, I would find myself in need of an energy kick, or a time of stress and Diet Coke was always there waiting for me.

It wouldn’t take long to get back into the habit either. It’d start with one or two cans and the next thing I knew, I had the monkey on my back again. So do I think this time will be successful? I don’t know. History has shown that I have a weakness for it, but it’s been a little more than a week and I’m doing pretty good. I’m hoping that this time it will stick.

One of the interesting things during this process has been learning what else there is to drink. I’ve been on a bit of a beverage safari as I try different drinks. Tab Energy was pretty good, but at $2 a can, it’s a little expensive. In fact, last time I was buying groceries, I noticed that it was more expensive than many imported beers! I opted for a six-pack of Grolsch instead that day. I’ve also begun brewing Luzianne Tea for iced tea and that’s become a good staple, along with good old water.

Because one of the things that has become clear is that regardless of my choice of liquid libation, I tend to drink a lot of it. Coke, tea, water, it doesn’t matter — I’ll drink a couple of liters of it every day. So finding an affordable alternative has been almost as important as finding a heathy alternative to Diet Coke.

As of this writing, it’s been a little more than a week since I’ve been off the syrupy sauce. Unfortunately, I don’t notice a huge difference in my mental aptitude, or dexterity. I was dragging ass for the first few days, but that’s over with and things feel like normal. Will cutting “the juice” out of my diet make a huge difference in my life? Well, I haven’t seen the evidence of that just yet, but only time will tell. It certainly can’t hurt.

So this morning, I made my way to Starbucks and ordered up a French Press to go. It yielded enough coffee to fill a Venti (their large) and a tall (their small) cups and I’m enjoying every single sip. Then the thought ocurred to me that I should probably purchase a new press. So I headed over to Amazon.com to do a little “research” and I came across the Bodum Columbia 8-Cup Stainless-Steel Thermal Press Pot .

It looks like great press, and all the reviews seem very positive, heck there’s even a video of the product, but I thought I’d ask those of you reading this blog to see what you think. So if you have any thoughts, or recommendations regarding french press pots, I’d love to hear it.

With Thanksgiving coming up my thoughts have been centered around cooking and one of the things that I’ve been wanting to try are Grandma’s biscuit recipe. So this weekend I thought I’d give it a shot. I have never made biscuits before and I’ve never seen them made either, so I didn’t have high hopes for the results of my labor. As long as the biscuits came out edible, I would be happy.

Everything was going smoothly until it was time to add the lard. That stuff is a gooey mess and my Grandmother’s recipe said was “Sift dry ingredients ^cut until mixture resembles coarse crumbs” The “cut” appeared to be an addition that was made at a later date. Using a fork, I tried to mix everything together, but it wasn’t going so well. I re-read the instructions and seeing “Sift” made me think that I had to use a sifter, which I didn’t think was a good idea. I couldn’t imagine lard going through a wire mesh very well.

The add-in of “Cut” didn’t help things either because I didn’t know what “cutting” was in relationship to cooking. The only image I could come up with is that of a knife fight in some back alley of a 70′s B movie where some punk threatens the hero by saying, “I’m gonna cut you sucka”. So I did the only thing I could think of, which is to use by old standby of diving in head first. I dove both hands into the bowl and began working the lard into the flour by hand. Yeah, not such a good idea. I think there was more lard on my hands than there was in the flour, but I finally saw a few crumbles and decided I was done.

Next was the buttermilk. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any buttermilk. All I had was 2% milk and some cream, so I added a little cream to the milk and used that instead. Everything seemed to go as planned from that part forward. I mixed in the milk, rolled out the dough and cut out the biscuits. I greased the baking pan and began baking about 18 biscuits. I checked their progress and in about 10 minutes they were done.

Well, “Done” is a relative term isn’t it? Allow me to clarify. The biscuits were as browned as I wanted them to be, however they didn’t look so much like biscuits as they did cookies, so I can’t say that explicitly that the biscuits were “done”. Anyone walking up and seeing me pull the tray out of the oven wouldn’t have said “Oh yum, biscuits”, but rather “What are you cooking?”, or “Oh yum, Andalusian flat bread skipping stones!”

Pouring them onto a plate, I picked up the phone and called my Mom to ask her expert advice on where I went wrong. My first question was “what the hell is cutting?” She explained it to me and that helped a lot. Knowing that I needed pastry blender, or could have stayed with the fork if I had known what the heck I was doing, gave me some clue as to where I went wrong. When I described the fact that my biscuits looked like they needed some Viagra, Mom instantly said, “You probably worked the dough too long.”

That’s the thing about cooking – it’s not all about the recipe. Part of the process in learning how to cook, is picking up the little nuances and techniques that come along with it. Of course that only comes from cooking itself and having others help you along the way. Having Mom explain to me a little bit about how you don’t work the dough too long was the real key to why my biscuits were so flat. I’m sure my handling of the “cut” didn’t help either, but I kneaded the hell out of that dough, so I worked out all the gluten and that’s all she wrote.

So how did they taste? Not so bad surprisingly. I ate 3 or 4 just to get the taste and to see what worked and what didn’t. Overall the taste was pretty good, it was just too dense. I had made bread of some sort, but it certainly wasn’t a biscuit. Holly came downstairs later and said she smelled something good. She guessed that I had cooked biscuits so I suppose that’s a good sign that I got close to the mark. To her credit, Holly also ate one.

Today I’ll head to Bed Bath & Beyond to get a pastry blender and to the grocery store for buttermilk and then I’ll give it another shot. Since this exercise wasn’t total humiliation like when I tried to make french bread (that’s another story all together), I’ll keep working at it.

So I did what I always do when I’m at a loss for a menu – I went to Food Network.com. I’ve garnered a lot of excellent recipes from there and it’s the first place I turn to when I’m looking for something new. I found that they had a whole section devoted to Thanksgiving and with it a whole range of recipes to choose from.

Since the meat choice is the centerpiece of the dinner, I figured that was the first thing to nail down. I’ve done pheasant and quail for past holidays, but I thought going with the traditional turkey would be fun this year. So the next step was to determine which way to cook it and that led me to wide array of choices, but I was able to narrow it down somewhat and was down to two choices: Italian Style Turkey (Roasted with Fennel Spice Rub), or Deep-Fried Turkey.

What was nice though, is that once I make a decision on how to prepare the Turkey, there is a whole menu already associated with each recipe. That certainly makes it easy to plan the whole meal. The problem is, they both sound delicious and I can’t decide which one to go with.

Southern Thanksgiving
This menu was from the “Southern Thanksgiving” episode of Paula’s Home Cooking, by Paula Deen. She’s known for her diet-killing delicious southern recipes, so I know that each dish will be finger-licking good.

The menu includes the following:
   » Deep-Fried Turkey
   » Southern Cornbread Stuffing
   » Giblet Gravy
   » Fancy Green Beans
   » Canned Cranberries
   » Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes

Now you may be thinking that Deep-Fried Turkey isn’t a traditional southern dish and you’d be partly right. Deep-Fried Turkey is a relatively new way of preparing turkey, but it has become a staple in Louisiana (where I’m from) over the past 10 – 15 years. In other words, it’s not that uncommon, but I don’t know that I’d call it “traditional” either. Regardless of it’s status as a Thanksgiving tradition, it is mighty tasty.

Nouveau Fancy
This menu came from the “Relaxing Thanksgiving” episode of Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello. I’m not familiar with Michael Chiarello, but his recipes sounded delicious. I also didn’t know how to label this menu, but since it’s something that I’d expect from a fancy restaurant, I labeled it “Nouveau Fancy.”

The menu includes the following
   » Whole Roasted Turkey with Fennel Spice Rub
   » Panettone Stuffing
   » The Definitive Mashed Potato with Roasted Garlic
   » Yams with Toasted Spice Rub
   » Cranberry Citrus Dressing

A lot of new flavors and ingredients, which sounds like fun. I love a good spice rub and two of the recipes include that, so it’s very tempting. The only item missing from the menu is a dessert, but I could do a tiramisu, or even borrow the Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes recipe from Paula Deen.

A Gastronomical Decision
Having it narrowed down to the two menus should have made my decision easier, but it didn’t Both menus sounded great and both would offer a challenge and still be fun to make. Looking them both over, I was plagued with questions.

Will the Southern menu be too “been there done that?”

Will the Nouveau Fancy be too adventurous and over the top?

I’ve never done a fried turkey before, will that add too much stress and difficulty to the meal?

The Roasted Turkey calls for two turkey, which means I’ll have to adjust the recipe, could that mess things up?

Are the Fancy Green Beans too fancy?

What the hell is Panettone anyway?

Will Mal and Inara ever kiss? Whaa!?! ???

The Obvious Answer… Both!
If I had an army of people to feed, then the obvious answer would be to do both. That’s not reasonable, nor would I even attempt it even if I had an army to feed, but it would allow me to try both. Then it hit me, maybe I could do both! I could do the Southern style for Thanksgiving and the Nouveau style for Christmas.

Christmas will probably be spent here in Nashville with only Holly and I and my Mom if she’s in town. All three of us are fairly adventurous “foodies”, so the Nouveau menu would be better served with us three. Holly’s Grandmother is fairly choosy on what she likes to eat, so a more traditional menu would be more to her liking. So the dilemma is solved and I get to try both menus!

It’s hard to believe that I could spend so much time thinking about what I’m going to eat in 3 weeks, but I’m from Louisiana – that’s what we do. As the old joke goes…

You know you’re from Louisiana when you sit down to eat and the topic of conversation is food you’ve recently eaten, the food you’re eating now and the food you plan to eat in the future.”

My usual haunt is at Caffeine. It’s a fantastic coffee house and I was sorely tempted to go there since I know what to expect. However, I spotted a new coffee house last week when I was driving down 12th avenue one evening. Feeling a little bit adventurous and up for something new, I headed to The Frothy Monkey instead.

The Frothy Monkey is located at 2509 12th Avenue South in an area that’s just south of Belmont University. The building is a converted house, typical of the businesses in the area. And like most businesses in this area, parking is a challenge as well. There are only a couple of spots out front, so more than likely you’ll have to find the alley that runs parallel to 12th street and make your way to the back of the building. If you’re familiar with doing this it’s no big deal, but if you’re not it can be a bit confusing.

Once inside you’ll find a nice open layout with a hodge podge of seating to choose from, ranging from high tops, booths, tables and even a sofa. If the weather is nice, there’s always the porch beckoning. If you’ve ever been to Bongo Java, the setup is very similar, but the clientele is a little bit different. It’s a mix between business and students and as such gives off a hip, professional vibe.

Finding a place to setup my laptop was easy due to the fact that they’ve installed outlets almost every where. The booths are obviously popular, but I opted for the high top so that I wouldn’t take up too much room being that I’m only one person. If I ever need a spot to work with a friend though, I’ll be sure to snag one of the comfy booths.

Once my new nomad office was up and running (aka my laptop booting up), I ordered a double espresso and bought a cinnamon doughnut that was fresh from a nearby bakery. That appeared to be the main extent of the breakfast fare – croissants and muffins. I did see a small menu behind the register that displayed an oatmeal offering, but lunch seems to be their big food focus. They offer several sandwiches and a soup of the day that looked inviting.

Armed with my coffee and doughnut, I settled in and got to work. The new Coldplay Album “X&Y” was playing and helped set the tone of the place. With the coffee color walls, natural hardwood floors and brushed metal ceiling fans spinning, it made working almost fun.

The doughnut was good, but the coffee was better. The pricing was not out of range for a coffee shop and the quality of the espresso was really good. It was obvious that I wasn’t alone in this opinion due to large number of customers with laptops. Good coffee and ample electrical outlets make for a nice combination for mobile users.

Around 12:30pm, the place really started hopping as the lunch crowd moved in. All the seats were filled and even with the heat, some customers opted to go outside and eat. The sandwiches looked great and if it hadn’t been for late lunch plans, I definitely would have ordered one! During the crush, the staff seemed up to the task of serving such a large crowd and the whole place just hummed along. As soon as a table became clear, someone was over to bus the area and make it ready for the next customer.

In looking up their web site, I was surprised to learn that The Frothy Monkey is not unique to Nashville. The first Frothy Monkey was established in Ruston, Louisiana and only recently has Miranda Whitcomb, the Nashville owner, expanded their locations to include Music City. Being that I’m originally from Louisiana, learning that this is where they got their start made me feel a stronger kinship to this humble coffee house.

About the only thing I can slight the establishment is that the menu is a little bit limited and given the large number of laptop users, seating space is at a premium. They make the best use of the space that they have, but given their popularity, you might find it difficult to jack if you come during the lunch hour. Personally, I still prefer Caffeine mostly due to the fact that their menu is larger and more varied, but I can see visiting The Frothy Monkey quite a bit as an alternative. It’s definitely easier to get into and not as crushed as Bongo Java.

Overall I had a great experience. If you’re looking for a quick bite, a good cup of joe, or just a place to land for a bit with your laptop, I whole heartedly recommend trying The Frothy Monkey.

As Holly and I walked into the restaurant, I could instantly tell that Wing Basket was a chain. Growing up in Louisiana, I’ve been spoiled by family owned restaurants and I try and steer away from chains whenever possible. Having someone local cook up a nice dinner will always be head and shoulders above what a restaurant chain can offer 9 times out of 10. Preferences aside, Holly and I stepped up to the counter to see what was on the menu. Other than a couple of side dishes, the only item on the menu were buffalo wings. That was fine by me and I was rather pleased to see that they were so specialized. Yet wings aren’t the focus on the menu. According to their slogan, “It’s all about the sauce”.

The Sauces
With a slogan like that, I figured it’d be best to sample as many of them as I could. Typically the wings are served coated with sauce, but we asked them to put it on the side so that we could try the whole range of the menu. We started with just two sauces, but we kept going back for more to try different ones. Here’s a run down on the ones that we tried:

» Original – Good but a little mild for my tastes. If you like wings, but find the traditional sauce a bit too spicy, this is the sauce for you.

» Spicy – This is the traditional hot wing sauce that everyone knows and loves. They do it right and it has just the right amount of kick. It’s spicy, but not too spicy.

» TNT – This is a habanero based sauce that is crazy hot. If you like really hot stuff, then you have to give this sauce a try. It has a hint of sweetness, which is due to the habanero pepper, but the punch that pepper packs is hard to ignore.

» Bar-B-Que – When I first saw this on the menu, I thought it was just wrong, but it’s actually quite a good idea. I’m sure there are plenty of people that simply don’t care for hot wings and this gives them a nice alternative. It’s a traditional bar-b-que sauce, that didn’t stand out to me simply because I was in the mood for hot.

» Kentucky Bourbon Bar-B-Que – This is a sweeter bar-b-que sauce and although it had good flavor, I found it a bit too sweet. But keep in mind that I was in the mood for hot, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

» Garlic Parmesan – This was the most unique sauce on the menu, so we had to give it a try. It’s a garlic butter sauce, served with fresh parmesan cheese mixed in. The flavor was good, but I have to say it was almost a bit too much. Having fried chicken with a butter sauce tips the scale to “too rich” for my palette. It’s a good sauce to sample and experiment with though, so if you’re feeling adventurous, give it a try.

The Chicken
Regardless of how great a sauce is, without something tasty to coat, it’s just a waste of good sauce. Rest assured, The Wing Basket knows how to fry up chicken wings. Since we asked for all of our sauces on the side, I ate a few wings plain just so I could sample the chicken by itself. I’m happy to report that even without sauce the wings were great!

On a subsequent visit, I ordered the wings coated with sauce and I have to say that it was a much richer and more potent experience. They coat the wings with just the right amount of sauce and I highly recommend it. However, if you like to play with sauces, you can’t go wrong getting your wings “naked” too. This is now how I order them all the time, because I like the experience of being able to dip into a variety of sauces. Either way you decide to go, you’re going to enjoy some GREAT wings.

The Sides
Although the primary focus at The Wing Stop is hot wings, they do a have the usual sides that you look for. Celery and carrots with either Blue Cheese, or Ranch dressing to help calm the flames, and of course french fries. We can’t get an order of wings with out some fries to go with the order.

The fries are cut long and then with some of the skin still on them. They are served is a nice pile and when eating them, it’s hard not to just grab 4 or 5 each time you go back for another bite. They offer their french fries with a seasoning that gives them a little kick, but I found it to be a little bit sweet. If you’re only have a few fries, I suppose the seasoning would be fine, but if you’re a bit potato eater like me, you might find the seasoning a bit too sweet as you make your way down to the bottom of the basket.

The Atmosphere
Although you can get your wings to go and eat them in the comfort of your own home, to get the full experience, you really need to eat them in the restaurant. The overall ambiance is very casual. There’s t-shirts hanging on the wall all bearing their slogan “It’s all about the sauce” and all condiments are centrally located next to a capped lead pipe serving as paper towel holder for a huge roll of paper towels. It’s casual, fun, and most importantly clean. The management does an excellent job keeping the dining area spic and span, which is quite a feat when you consider just how messy spicy chicken wings can be.

And speaking of the management, I have to give special attention to how well they treat their customers. You get the impression that the management and staff take pride in their work and that they are genuine when waiting on you. The Wing Basket may be a chain, but it certainly doesn’t feel like one. Every time we’ve eaten there, we’ve always come away with a good experience – translation – we enjoy our dinning experience and look forward to going back again soon.

One thing that the manager, has done on more than one occasion is to honor a coupon and then give it back to you. The first time that he did this, I went to give it back and he said, “No no. You keep it. Use it the next time you come back.” You know what? That’s exactly what I did. I came back a week or so later. In fact, I still have that coupon.

Conclusion
If you’re in the mood for hot wings, definitely give The Wing Basket a shot. They have everything you look for in a hot wing, without any fuss or hullabaloo. They only serve one thing and they serve it well, so be sure you order plenty. Their slogan says it all, “It’s all about the sauce.”

My Rating: (4 Out Of 5 Stars)

From Humble Beginnings
That’s right, I admit it, I’m a bit of a coffee snob. I suppose it was always this way in some form or another. When I was younger and began drinking coffee, only Community Coffee would do. The difference between then and now is that back then (and still to this day), Community Coffee is considered the State coffee of Louisiana. It’s served everywhere and is a staple of the coffee diet in the deep south. So I really wasn’t being a snob per se, I was just going with the natural order of things.

Then came the coffee house boom of the 90′s, where Starbucks began popping up on every corner along with mom-and-pop shops and alternative chains. All of a sudden it seemed you weren’t cool if you didn’t frequent a store that specialized in coffee. Naturally, I stopped into near by Perks, since Starbucks hadn’t made it to Baton Rouge. It was there that I was introduced to such coffee drinks as Cappuccinos and Espressos. There was a whole world out there that I had yet to experience, so I sampled everything they had to offer.

Getting Back To Basics
At that time, I was still into putting lots of cream and sugar in my regular coffee, but as became more and more fond of Espresso, I began to wean myself away from cream. I realized that it was just standing in the way of that rich coffee flavor. A few years later I went on the Sugar Busters diet and that meant having to omit sugar from my coffee. I went cold turkey, but it took a few months before I could truly enjoy a good cup of coffee without sugar.

My next challenge was to learn to drink espresso without sugar. While on my honeymoon in Italy, I sipped my first espresso without sugar. I felt like I had been punched in the mouth. You see in Italy they make their espresso with about half of the water that we use, which makes for a stronger cup of coffee to say the least. When I had been in Portugal several years previous, staying with a local family, I noticed that girlfriend of the boy I was staying with would always ask for an “espresso Italiane”, she claimed that this is how they make them in Italy. I didn’t realize the full reality of her statement until I tried it first hand.

Coming back to the States, I was off sugar for good when it came to coffee and I’ve never looked back. Today, if I’m not brewing at home, I’ll order a double espresso and a large dark roast coffee. I find that most coffee is served way to hot for my tastes, so I allow the coffee to cool a bit while I enjoy the espresso. It’s the coffee equivalent of a “shot with a beer back”, but I really enjoy it.

Home Brewing Goes Up A Notch
At home, I was using a nice Krups AromaMaster with a thermal carafe. I used to use just your standard Mr. Coffee style coffee maker, but as my tastes for coffee improved, so did my brewing habits. Allowing the coffee to “cook” on a burner just wasn’t going to work. I had to have a thermal carafe so that my coffee could stay properly heated without becoming bitter. I thought that was the pinnacle of coffee brewing until I opted to try a French Press coffee maker.

Thinking I had damaged my carafe one day, I tried a Bodum French Press coffee maker and was astounded at the taste. Turning my friend Mike Rohde onto it, he summed it up best when he said “It tastes like coffee smells”. All the oils and what not are typically captured by the filter in a drip style coffee maker. With the French Press, all that goodness is left in. Of course all the cholesterol is too, but that’s another matter. So these days, I’d have to say that 80% of my coffee drinking is done with a French Press and it’s a truly awesome treat.

However, I didn’t stop there. Now that I had a new way of brewing coffee, a method that allowed for a much “closer” experience with the coffee bean, I needed to upgrade my coffee. I was still enjoying Community Coffee, although I had now moved to the New Orleans Blend that contains chicory, but that wasn’t good enough. I began buying whole beans locally and grinding them right before brewing. As Emeril would say, this just “kicked it up another notch!” It just kept getting better and better each step of the way. From Mr. Coffee, to Krups Thermal, to French Press and from Supermarket, to boutique blends to whole bean – each step furthered my enjoyment of coffee. Surly THIS was as good as it could get. I was wrong.

Enter Peet’s
During the 2004 Tour de France, I kept hearing how Lance had to have his cup of Peet’s coffee first thing in the morning. What stuck me was the fact that he didn’t say he had to have just any cup of coffee, it had to be Peet’s. Then I began hearing the word “Peet’s” used elsewhere, on TV and in magazines, which lead me to wonder what all the fuss was about.

In September, me and my buddies were discussing what to get our friend Ken Harelson for his birthday. The four of us typically all go in to buy each other a gift for our birthdays. This keeps our cost to about $25 – $30, but it allows us to get a $75 – $90 gift. Three of us all go in on the gift and the fourth receives a nice present on their birthday. It’s worked pretty well and become a bit of a staple now. Anyway, Ken Duffy and I were contemplating what to get Harelson and I suggested a Coffee Tour from Peet’s. Ken owns a very expensive coffee maker, so it seemed like a good fit. Not only that, but I in no subtle manner what-so-ever, suggested that this would make a great gift for me next month for my birthday. Little did I know what I was asking for.

On October 18, 2004, the day of my birthday, a box arrived containing a fresh roasted bag of whole bean coffee from Peet’s. My guys had come through for me! I could finally see what all the fuss was about. The only way I can sum it up without resorting to lyric poetry, is that the coffee is so unbelievably fresh and roasted to perfection that the taste is out of this world. They roast the coffee in small batches, only what’s needed for that day’s shipment, and then mail it to you with a vacuum seal. The end result is that you end up with a bag of coffee that is perfectly roasted and incredibly fresh.

Cue audience: How fresh is it?

The best example that I can give is that when you first make up a French Pot of coffee, you have to pour a small amount of water over the grounds in order to let the coffee “bloom”. Gases escape as the grounds expand and rise in the pot. If I had to guess, they just about double in size. After about two minutes, you can then pour the rest of the water to fill the pot. Wait 4 minutes, then stir, press and pour. All of the details of hour to make a perfect pot of French Press coffee can be found at this link. For those of you that are beer drinkers, Peet’s is the Guinness of coffee and as such demands a certain amount of respect.

The thing is, now that I’ve tried Peet’s it’s hard to try anything else. The coffee is just so damn good that other roasts just don’t compare. It’s not that I don’t enjoy other types of coffee, it’s just that when presented with the option, I’ll take Peet’s any day. This is most evident in the fact that I now tend to brew my own coffee instead of just picking up a Starbucks when I’m out visiting clients. I actually prefer the taste of making it at home than purchasing it at a coffee house.

Today’s Bitches Brew
So imagine my conundrum this morning when I went to make my coffee. There was only one scoop left of my Peet’s Major Dickason’s Blend® in the container. Looking at the last of my Alterra Blue Heeler that I purchased when visiting Mike in Milwaukee, I able to eek out two more scoops. This left one scoop and I was forced to use my old favorite Community Coffee.

I felt so dirty.

I ground the whole beans, added the pre-ground coffee to the mix and heated up the water. There was no bloom to speak of and the flavor was all over the map. I’ve definitely had worse, but then again I’ve definitely had much better. As much as I turn my nose up to this wild concoction, I’m savoring it because there’s 5 more days until my next shipment arrives from Peet’s – oh the humanity!

Since the summer my diet has been a downward spiral into fast food and junk food. To be honest, it’s not that the food tasted any better. It’s not as if a Big Mac is a culinary delight, it’s just easier. When your day is stressful and you’re looking to cut a few corners to get through it, it’s just easier to eat at McDonald’s than it is to go home and cook.

On top of that there’s been the holidays. Spending the holidays in Nashville would be hard enough, but having the holidays in Louisiana is a whole other bailiwick. Every time we go to Baton Rouge, Holly and I graze from one side to the other. Holly and I have been to Baton Rouge three times over the past two months, so we’ve gone back in some cases for thirds. They say that food is life. If that is indeed the case, then life in southern Louisiana is good. Just to give you some idea of what I’ve had to eat over the past two months, here’s a quick run down.

» Pocorello’s Casa D’Italia: Italian sausage po-boy (twice)
» The Chimes: fried alligator, raw oysters on the half shell, cheese fries with brown gravy, fried seafood platter (shrimp, stuffed shrimp, catfish and oysters)
» Dean-O’S: Large Cajun Executioner (twice), Large Meat Lovers
» Raising Cane’s: chicken strips (three times) with texas toast and french fries
» Po-Boy Express: Shrimp Po-Boy (at least 4, 2 of them large)
» Mary Lee Do-Nuts: Hot glazed doughnuts (too many to count)
» Great Wall: their Chinese buffet (twice)
» Parrain’s: fried crawfish platter with hush puppies, salad and french fries
» Louie’s Cafe: their world famous hash browns, two eggs, grits, toast and sausage
» TJ Ribs: Prime Rib and stuffed baked potato
» The Silver Spoon: Miguel’s Burger and fries
» La Madeleine: Chicken la Madeleine

I’m sure that there is more, but I just can’t recall it all. Plus, this isn’t counting the home cooking for Thanksgiving and Christmas! Couple this with the increased alcohol consumption of wine, scotch, bourbon and martini’s and it looks as if I’ve been involved in a two-month long Bacchanal. And perhaps that’s what it’s been. Knowing I’ve been off the South Beach wagon, I’ve denied myself nothing, because I’ve always known that come the first of the year, it will be time to get back on that wagon. It’s been a race to see if I can get in all the goodies that I like before the end of the year.

Although, given my eating habits, it may appear this way, I’m not actually dreading going back on the diet. I felt better when I was eating healthier and I had more energy. I miss that, I really do. I also miss being in the kitchen and preparing food for my family. Yes, it’s a lot of work making all of your meals, but once you get into the rhythm of it, it’s not that bad. I received a lot of encouragement from my friends in the gifts that they gave me. Some of the highlights include a subscription to Cook’s Illustrated and the cookbook Uglesich’s Restaurant Cookbook. I’ve been out of the kitchen and into the to-go bag for too long. It’s time to get back in the kitchen.

Until then, I have two more days to load up on junk, sugar and bad carbs. I may not have the delicacies like I would in Baton Rouge, but I’m sure I’ll make the most of it with what’s available. I’ll cap it all off with some champagne at midnight and then turn over a new leaf. Cheers!

Geek is no longer a negative term, but is typically used to describe someone who’s really into something and likes getting into the nitty gritty of something. Typically it’s used when referring to someone, like me, that’s into technology, but you can be a geek of anything. For example, a friend of mine just got an Acura NSX and as we were talking I realized that he knows A LOT about cars, so I said to him, “I had no idea that you were a car geek.” I geek out over Palm OS handhelds and he geeks out over cars. Lucky for my wife, my geek fix starts at $75 and not $90,000.

So IMHO Alton Brown is a food geek. He can dive deep “into the weeds” on just about anything to do with food, which explains why he was such a good host on Iron Chef America. He was the on-floor host who explained what all the chefs were doing. In addition, he’s just funny as hell, so although what he’s talking about can sometimes be dry, he makes it actually fun to watch.

Reading his bio also explained a lot of why I like him. Brown was a cinematographer and video director that found that his true passion was food because of his focus on it in-between shoots. So it looks like he was a foodie first and then made the switch to chef/food celebrity. Whatever the case, I’m glad he made the career change.

After checking out his weblog this morning, I noticed that he writes with the same style as his television shows, probably because he writes each episode. There are a lot of good entries ranging from his new motorcycle, to the movie “Supersize Me“, to the fact that he finds Martha Stewart “kinda hot”. However, my favorite entry is his shortest,

The fact that “Dr.” Phil has the number 1 cookbook on Amazon.com makes me want to end it all.

So if you’re an Alton Brown fan, or even just a “foodie”, you need to go check out Alton Brown’s weblog. He doesn’t post a lot, but when he does he always has something good to say.

I set the alarm an hour earlier than usual simply because I’ve never made grillades before and I didn’t know how long it would take, etc. Not only that, but to be perfectly honest, I’ve never even HAD grillades before. “But you said that grillades were a Louisiana speciality?”, you might be asking. Well, that’s true, but I’ve never been anywhere where they were served. My Mom is from Kansas, so all of her Louisiana recipes are from friends and no one we knew, knew how to make them. The only restaurant that I know of that serves them is the Court Of Two Sisters and for one reason or another, I’ve never tried them.

There are plenty of recipes that I’ve done that I’ve never tasted before, but I usually have some indication of what it will taste like. I know what steak is supposed to taste like, so when cooking a steak dinner with some new exotic sauce, I at least have some indication of how everything should come out in the end. With grillades, I had no real frame of reference. I know what veal tastes like, but it’s covered in sauce in this dish and that was where the taste came from. My only recourse was to follow the directions and let Holly’s past experiences tell me if I was on the mark, or off.

I first prepped the ingredients^†, which are as follows:

1 ½ lbs. rounds of veal, beef, or pork
½ cup flour
2 tbs. olive oil
½ cup yellow onions [chopped] ¼ cup green onions [chopped] 2 whole ripe tomatoes [chopped] 1 or 2 bay leaves
1 cup of water
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
½ tsp. salt
5 close garlic [minced or mashed] Optional: ½ cup of red wine

As I gathered together my ingredients, I realized that I didn’t have the tomatoes the recipe called for, so I improvised with a can of crushed tomatoes that I had in the cupboard. I chopped all of my ingredients and placed into little bowls, ready to be added to the dish when called for. I also prepared the ingredients for grits as well. I simply followed the recipe on the side of the box and measured out my water and grits. With everything prepared, it was time to begin.

I reviewed the grillades recipe one more time to make sure I knew how things were supposed to go^†.

The meat should be trimmed of fat and any bones, then cut into serving size pieces, and pounded with a meat mallet. The flour should be mixed with the salt and pepper, and the meat dredged in the flour and browned in the heated oil in a Dutch oven. Scrape the bottom of the pan frequently, so as to keep the flour from burning. Remove the meat, add the onions and cool until softened. Add garlic and continue cooking a few minutes. Add tomatoes, the wine if using and add back the meat and bay leaves. Simmer covered until meat begins to get tender and remove lid. Allow to cook while gravy thickens. Serve with grits or cheese grits.

Right from the start, there was a small problem. In the instructions it says to mix the salt and pepper in with the flour. However, in the ingredient list, it doesn’t say how much pepper to use. Small thing, but it was an indication of things to come. I chose to season to taste and moved on. I didn’t have a Dutch oven, but I did have a big pot, so I used that instead and began heating the oil. Then it occurred to me, what temperature was I supposed to cook at? The recipe didn’t say. It just assumed you knew what temperature was best for browning meat. I chose medium. As I added the meat to the heated oil, the flour began falling off of the meat and sticking to the bottom of the pot. Now I understood why Beck says to scrape the bottom of the pan frequently. A lot of flour was going to end up in the pot and not on the meat, so in a sense we were creating a roux.

For those of you unfamiliar with Louisiana cooking, a lot of recipes call for making a “roux” (pronounced “roo”) at the start of a recipe. A roux is simply browned flour. It’s used as a thickening agent for gravies and sauces. All you do is brown flour in some oil at the bottom of your pot. You stir constantly so as not to burn the flour until you reach the desired color brown you’re going for. There’s a lot of mystique surrounding a roux, but it’s really rather simple – it’s browned flour.

I wasn’t actually making a roux per se, but it had the rough semblance of one. I continued stirring and scraping until I felt the meat was browned enough and I removed the veal and put it on a plate. With nothing but flour scrapings and oil left in the pot, I added the onions and continued stirring and letting the onions soften and brown. I referred back to the recipe and that’s when I ran into my next snafu. When do you add the water? The ingredients called for it, but the instructions omitted the step. Argh!

At this point I began to panic a little bit and was worried that I might blow the recipe. As a result, I got in a hurry and shortly after adding the garlic, added the water as well. I let the water rise up to the temperature of the pot and noticed that I was getting a nice brown color, that was very reassuring and I was somewhat hesitant to add the tomatoes. Was the sauce supposed to be brown, or red? Maybe reddish brown? I wasn’t sure, but I decided to stick with the instructions and went ahead and spooned in some of the crushed tomatoes. I then added back the meat and one bay leaf.

With the main dish at a simmer, I added the grits to the boiling water and let them cook for about 7 minutes. I kept stirring each pot occasionally and in no time everything was ready. I served up the plates, made my coffee and then sat down to hear Holly’s review. Was I close to the mark, or had all my improvisation caused things to go awry? I didn’t know how it was supposed to taste, so all I could do is sit and watch as Holly took her first bite.

Holly gave the dish a thumbs up! She said it was really good, but needed a little salt and pepper. That made me feel good. You always expect people to season your dish a little bit to their liking, so i took no offence at her comment. I then tried the dish and put a bit more critical eye on what I had prepared. I thought it was pretty good, but the flavors were a little flat. I could single out the various flavors, but they weren’t quite as married as I would have liked. Holly agreed that the dish lacked some kick. The flavors were good, but they could stand to be kicked up a notch. It was upon reviewing the ingredients again that I realized I’d left out an ingredient – cayenne pepper. When I saw that salt and pepper were supposed to be added to the flour, I was thinking black pepper not cayenne pepper. So I had completely left out an ingredient and replaced it with another one entirely. It wasn’t a disaster, but it was clear that this is why the flavors weren’t quite where we wanted them.

That being said, we definitely cleaned our plates, so the dish may have not been a 10, but a 7 was good enough for us. Now that I’ve had grits and grillades, I understand why they go together so well. The sauce mixes in well with the grits and really enhances the flavor. I’m now a big fan of this dish and hope to make it one of my signature dishes.

Final Thoughts
I should have browned the onions a little longer. This would have given the sauce a richer color and the onions would have been a little sweeter, which would have balanced out the tomato and cut some of the acidity. Next time I’ll add another bay leaf, use whole tomatoes and not canned and I won’t forget to use cayenne pepper either. Lastly, I’ll add the water after the onions and garlic have had a chance to cook a little longer. I also will probably let the dish simmer a little bit longer to extract more flavor from the bay leaves.

All-in-all, the recipe is a pretty good one and I think I’ve just scratched the surface of just how good it can be.

^†Excerpts reprinted without permission from “Tales From A Pantry” by Marjorie Sweeney Beck.

In my bucket of bad habits, there was one craving turned temptation that was the strongest. I guess you could say it was the “alpha temptation”, and that temptation’s name was… pizza. I used to love pizza and not having it for 6 weeks was really starting to wear on me, but that’s not what did me in. No it was something much more sinister and diabolical lurking in the dark.

If I have to be 100% honest, what started this decent into gluttony and depravity was low self worth. For some reason, that day I was feeling extra low and beating my self up a good bit. I’m sure you know the usual suspects: “I’m stupid, I’m no good, and I’m a failure.” Well, those three were laying into me pretty good and when I opened up the fridge to see what I would eat for lunch. Nothing appealed to me, so I opened up the freezer and lo and behold what did I see, but Girl Scout Cookies. Nothing quite like a box of Thin Mints to pick you up.

As I began eating the cookies, I was disappointed that they didn’t taste as good as I remembered. That’s not to say that they tasted bad, just that after a few of them, I realized that they weren’t giving me the kick I once got from them. In other words I could have done without them. I kept eating them anyway and as I did the thought occurred to me, “If I’m going off the diet, do I really want to waste it with cookies? What do I really want?” The holy grail of my temptations was pizza, so with a few mouse clicks I had one small cheese pizza en route to the house.

I was giddy with excitement that the pizza was coming. Part of it had to do with the food, but part of my excitement stemmed from the fact that I was doing something “bad.” Eventually the pizza arrived and I grabbed a Diet Coke, made a space in front of the TV and prepared to dine on a delectable guilty pleasure. I opened the box, gently lifted a slice to my mouth, closed my eyes and took a bite. Instead of a “Mmmm” being uttered, a “eh?” came out instead. The pizza was OK, but it wasn’t all that. After taking another bite, I sat back in the chair with a puzzled look on my face. “What the hell is this?” I thought. Where’s the great taste that I’ve been dreaming about? Where’s the rush I used to get eating this stuff. And that’s when it hit me, eating these foods weren’t about good taste at all, they were about something else all together.

Food has been a crutch for me. If I’m feeling down about something, or unable to deal with a situation in my life, I’ve always found food to be a comfort. Not happy with the way I handled something? A Big Mac will cheer you up! Well, it didn’t really, what it really did was just saturate me with carbohydrates and fat and numb my brain. This way I wouldn’t have to think about whatever was plaguing my mind. Sound familiar? Doesn’t that sound like something an alcoholic might say?

Food had become a coping mechanism in my life and as a result, I put on weight. Once I started the diet, I no longer had this crutch that I relied on so heavily. Is my life that bad that I need to look for some sort of escape? Certainly not. The stuff I’m talking about is probably some of the same stuff that you deal with on a daily basis. It’s the negative self-talk, “the critic”, that sits in our heads and wields judgement on what we do. What “the critic” says isn’t true and we shouldn’t listen to it, but when we do we lower our expectations of ourselves and take one more step into being depressed, or angry, or both.

Of course all of this is simply 20/20 hindsight. I wasn’t thinking this as I ate the rest of my pizza, or finished the entire box of Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies. No, I ate them all as a way to try and find that comforting carbohydrate coma that usually comes from such a meal. No such feeling came and I was left trying to figure out why. Fortunately there’s a silver lining to this cloud, otherwise this entry would be one big depressing read wouldn’t it?

The good news is that the South Beach diet was designed for this sort of thing to happen. Falling off the wagon is no big deal with this diet, so the usual guilt and loathing that comes from cheating, or total abandonment of the diet is not to be found. So when the boxes were empty and the realization of what I was really doing sank in, there was no guilt stick to beat myself with and thus perpetrate the downward spiral. Instead, all I have to do is go back to Phase One for one week. No big deal. No big production. No going to the principle’s office.

So far I’ve lost 14 pounds, but for the last week or two I’ve been hovering. My weight loss has been going up and down around a pound and not going any lower than the 14 pound mark. I think part of it is due to the fact that Phase Two is a much slower weight loss than Phase One, but I also haven’t been working out much, if at all. Even though I may laud the diet and how great I think it is, a key component is working out. When I started the diet, I was working out three times a week, yet each subsequent week I went less and less. Now I’m lucky if I workout once a week.

Being on a weight loss plateau, losing site of my health goals and then falling off the wagon make going back to Phase One the right choice. I don’t know yet if it will be for one week, or two, but I think getting back to basics is exactly what I need and I’m actually excited about it! So we’ll see what happens in the next week or so and see if I can stay the course. What have I got to lose? Only another five pounds.

We started off our grazing for the day with hot Mary Lee doughnuts. If you haven’t heard of Mary Lee, that wouldn’t surprise me. The only place that I’ve been able to find them have been in the south. I know a lot of people rave about Krispy Kreme doughnuts, but I think Mary Lee are MUCH better. Unfortunately the only place I can find Mary Lee is in Baton Rouge, so it’s a staple of breakfast when we come to visit. In fact, it’s almost a ritual.

On the first morning of our visit, James, Holly’s Father, goes out and purchases 1 – 2 dozen glazed doughnuts. This time he only brought back one, but if there were more people staying with them, he would have brought back an extra. Holly is normally still sleeping and I usually wake up and enjoy a cup of coffee with Judie, while James goes to get the doughnuts. Upon his return, Holly usually wakes up so that she can eat them while they are hot. All doughnuts taste better when they are hot, and Mary Lee are no exception.

This visit was just like other’s in the past, I sipped my coffee until James returned and then hungrily and almost violently devoured three doughnuts in quick succession. You’d think I hadn’t eaten in days the way I attacked those defenseless doughnuts. I don’t know what made me so voraciously hungry for them, but oh baby did they taste good. A few minutes later, Holly came padding into the kitchen, still wiping sleep from her eyes. My wife is a sleeper, but when it comes to food, she’d wake from the dead for something she loves to eat.

So what are Mary Lee doughnuts like? Well, it’s a little hard to describe, but I’ll do my best. They’re round, but have sharp corners that make them almost pentagonal in shape. They are somewhat taller than a Krispy Kreme style doughnut and the glaze is much lighter and sticks to the doughnut better. There’s the familiar round hole in the middle and they are golden in color. When you bite into it, the doughnut has an almost bread-like quality to it. It’s soft and melts in your mouth, but there’s more substance to the dough than with any other doughnut I’ve tried. They are unique and since I only have the opportunity to eat them once or twice a year, I relish these mornings.

There was also another reason that had cause for me to relish this Saturday. Holly’s mother and grandmother were going to teach me how to fix their Seafood Gumbo. I told them on the phone that they couldn’t do a single thing until I go there and they promised that they would walk me through each step of the process. We were planning on having the Gumbo for dinner, so that gave us an opportunity to have something special for lunch. Holly chose her favorite Mexican restaurant – La Fonda’s Mexican Restaurant and Lounge

La Fonda’s is one of those places that you either grew up with, or you someone told you about the place. It’s a bit of a hole in the wall and to my knowledge, they’ve never really advertised. If you’ve never been there and you drove past it, you’d keep on driving. La Fonda’s is located on Airline Hwy, near a section of town that has seen better days. The surrounding businesses are mostly industrial, or mechanical in nature and the restaurant itself could use a facelift. It’s one of those places that was probably very fancy and popular 30 – 40 years ago and hasn’t changed since.

The entrance is in the front of the building, but the parking is in the rear, so most people enter from the rear. When you open the door, you’re pulled into a long dark hallway. There’s some light at the end, so you keep walking and as you do you pass a small bar that looks like it’s been ripped from an episode of NYPD Blue. I’ve been coming to LaFonda’s for over 20 years, but I’ve never had a drink in the bar. It’s a little bit scary. The hall makes a slight rise as you make your way to the front of the building. As you come into the light, you find yourself behind the hostess podium, but there’s never anyone there. Usually a waitress wonders past, or the woman behind the cash register seats you.

Speaking of the cash register, it’s located in a cut out from the wall that forms a small booth. The booth is made of all wood and there are shelves lining the back and side wall. The shelves are filled with brick-a-brack, like maracas and small drums, along with various things for sale. None of the items for sale look like they’ve been purchased in years and thus have simply melded into the rest of the ornamentation. When you’re done with your meal, you walk up to the booth to pay. It’s just one of the many experiences as La Fonda’s that give the impression that “you’re going to dine on our terms.” Instead of catering to you, you’re given the distinct impression you’re catering to them.

This day the lady behind the register seated us and as we made our way to the table, I noticed that LaFonda’s had done a little remodeling. In the past, the floors were carpeted with a dark maroon, patterned carpet that had seen better days. The tables and chars were made of aluminum and vinyl and they too were getting a little old and rickety. As we sat down, I saw that the entire dining area was fitted with new wrought iron chairs and tables and the floor had Mexican tile in place of the carpet. It was a much needed facelift and brightened up the space considerably. If this is your first time to dine at La Fonda’s, this may be the first time you feel comfortable since entering the building.

Holly, her Mother and Grandmother all browsed the menu, as did I until I realized that I always get the same thing! We ordered a round of meat nachos for a shared appetizer and I ordered the Shrimp Quesadilla for my entree. As we waited for our food, we began eating the chips and salsa. Most Mexican restaurants serve a typical salsa, but LaFonda’s is a bit different. The typical one that is served is a brown dip that I’m guessing is some kind of bean dip. If requested, they’ll bring you a red salsa style dip. I find that by mixing the two you get the best combination.

Overall, the food is pretty greasy, but it’s some of the best Mexican cuisine we’ve ever had. Mind you, it’s not authentic Mexican, or even Tex-Mex, it’s really a style all to it’s own. The owners are Greek, so our guess it’s Greek-Mex? ??? Call it what you will, Holly and I just call it good. We all split the meat nachos for an appetizer and then I had the Shrimp Quesadilla. Their food hit the spot and tasted delicious, but I noticed that I analyzed it a lot more. My brain was trying to pick apart the ingredients to figure out how they seasoned their meat for example. That one is still a mystery, but I think I got a bead on the Quesadilla.

Overall, LaFonda’s is not your typical Mexican style restaurant and we’ve been unable to find anything close to it anywhere else in all of our travels, but to us it’s one of the highlights when we come home to eat. I know I may have painted a scary picture, but rest assured that it’s a safe, friendly, family owned restaurant that I’ve been eating at since I was a child. If you ever find yourself in Baton Rouge and looking for a little adventure, be sure to check out La Fonda’s

Next Entry: Part 4 – Making Gumbo

There’s a lot of misunderstanding regarding the South Beach diet, so let’s get those out of the way first.
   1. South Beach is NOT a low carb diet.
   2. South Beach is NOT a low fat diet.
   3. South Beach is NOT at all like Atkins.
   4. Although it’s gained a lot of popularity, I don’t view it as a FAD diet.

So just what IS the South Beach diet? Well, I think Dr. Agatston says it best so I would encourage you to read this excerpt from his book, but to put it in my own words; the South Beach diet was designed by a cardiologist to help his patients eat more healthy and lose weight. The fact that it worked so well and so fast was as much of a surprise to him as it is to those that have tried the diet. Dr. Agatston was compelled to create the diet simply because there was nothing else out there that did the trick. Pritikin is simply too difficult and complex, Atkins is too unhealthy and the food pyramid simply doesn’t work. In fact, the current rise in obesity is directly related to the food pyramid. So Dr. Agatston felt forced to try and come up with a plan that would be easy to follow, allow for and expect setbacks and didn’t require measuring, counting, or tracking what you ate.

Like any cardiologist, he wanted his patients to eat a more balanced and healthy diet to prevent heart disease, but every diet was too hard to follow or its restrictions were too harsh. Some were downright dangerous. Nobody seemed to be able to stick with low-fat regiments for any length of time. And a diet is useless if you can’t stick with it. So the only option seemed to be to try and create something new. He wanted to create something that was easy to follow, allowed for the eventual “falling off of the wagon” and the ability to get back to the diet easily without guilt or penalties.

How It Works
The South Beach diet is made of of three “phases”. “Phase One” lasts two weeks and is the strictest part of the diet. Many foods, such as breads, fruits and starches are prohibited as well as all alcohol. The purpose of this phase is to “cleanse” your system by removing the build up of sugars and carbohydrates already saturating your system. In place of all the sugars, carbs and starches, you have a plethora of foods that you can eat, such as vegetables, lean meats, low-fat cheese and certain dairy products.

The meal plan for each day consists of breakfast, a mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack and dinner with dessert. The idea is that you should never be hungry. If you feel hungry, grab a handful of nuts, or a cheese snack. There are no special foods to buy, or package meals. Simply go to your local grocery and buy lean meats and fresh vegetables. How much easier could it be?

Oh and here’s the best part – you’ll probably lose 10 – 12 pounds during these two weeks, most of that weight will come off of your mid-section and by the end of the two weeks your cravings for carbs and sugars will disappear.

After the first two weeks, you then move to “Phase Two”. In this phase you’re begin introducing fresh fruit, more dairy and more carbs back into your diet. Oatmeal, bread and other carbohydrates make their appearance again, but instead of high processed trans fat breads, you’ll be switching to whole grain breads for example. During this phase you still stick with the same meal plan of 3 meals and 2 snacks a day and you’ll stay in this phase until you reach your goal weight.

Now your weight loss will slow down during this phase. Instead of half a pound a day, you can expect about a pound or two per week. Although you may be tempted to stay on Phase One, so that you can continue your meteoric decrease in weight, it’s recommended that you shift to phase two.

Once you reach your goal weight, you then move into “Phase Three”. It is this phase that you will stay on for here on out. Now when I first heard that, I thought “Woah. Wait a minute.” The idea of staying on a diet for the rest of my life is not something that I was ready to to sign up for. I mean who really wants to be on a diet for the rest of your life? Here’s the catch: Phase One hardly even seems like a diet, Phase Two is a walk in the park, so Phase Three is just how you eat. The diet actually changes your eating habits to the point where you’re really not on a true “diet.” The reason most diets don’t work is because the diet only changes your eating habits for the period that you’re losing weight. With South Beach you’re actually learning a healthier way of eating.

A Reeducation On Nutrition
The American diet is loaded with unhealthy food, a lot of sugars and portions that are too large. As a result, our nation is one of the fattest in the world. Everyone wants to lose weight and there are plenty of gimmick diets that have come and gone. In the book, Dr. Agatston walks you through the history of the more famous diets. He doesn’t dismiss them, but he does explain that as doctors have learned more about the foods we eat and how our body processes them, these diets don’t hold up to scrutiny.

For example, in the 1970′s George McGovern headed the McGovern committee, which was originally charted to fight malnutrition, but the committee switched to a new goal – the prevention of over nutrition. The preconceived notion was that fat was bad and our overindulgence was the major cause of obesity and heat disease. The committee also felt suspicious of those that didn’t believe that fat was bad, thinking that the beef, egg, or dairy industry had influenced your thinking. As a result, low total fat, high carbohydrate became the mantra despite the lack of proof that such a diet would improve overall health. So how has the low fat, high carb diet worked? America has gotten fatter and fatter.

Here’s a passage from the book regarding the classic American breakfast of bacon and eggs:

Even recently, the prevailing view of nutrition would behold the classic American breakfast of eggs, bacon, home fries, toast, orange juice, and coffee and easily pick out what’s unhealthy – the eggs (cholesterol), bacon (fat), and coffee (caffeine) – from what’s good for you – the potatoes (a vegetable), bread (nothing’s more wholesome than toast, right?) and the OJ (all that vitamin C).

Of course, that view is wrong based on what we know now. That’s what can be most frustrating about science: What’s praised as good today may be condemned as bad tomorrow, and vice versa. It’s not necessarily that we were wrong then and right now. It’s just that our knowledge is constantly growing, and along the way we sometimes have to unlearn what we thought was true.

We now know that eggs are a perfectly fine food. It turns out that they raise both kinds of cholesterol, the good along with the bad, and they do not adversely affect the ration of the two – which is the number that really counts. The yolk contains natural vitamin E, and important antioxidant that helps prevent cancer and heart disease.
Even the bacon’s not so terrible, so long as you don’t overdo it. The coffee’s acceptable too, with the same caution.

The rest of the breakfast, though, has got to go. The hash brows? We’ve already discussed how high the glycemic index of potatoes is, especially the white ones. And when a food is chopped into small pieces, it more rapidly yields it’s sugars and starches. Take a white potato, cut it into slivers, deep-fry it in some unhealthy oil – it tastes great but wreaks havoc on your blood chemistry.

The toast? You know by now how bad white bread is for anyone trying to lose weight. Each slice is worst than a spoonful of table sugar. If the label on the bread boasts that it’s “enriched,” you’re really in trouble. Manufacturers add nutrients only because the natural ones in the wheat have been removed along with the fiber…

How about the orange juice? If it’s processed and sold in a carton, you could drink cola with nearly the same results. There are good nutrients in orange juice, but you can get those any number of ways without having to take in all the sugar that comes along for the ride in processed juice.

So how would you eat that same breakfast the “South Beach Way?” Well boil or poach the eggs, if you want to fry them, use a cooking spray instead of butter or margarine. Use Canadian bacon instead of the usual kind. You can replace the potatoes with cereal, such as oat bran, or you could eat a non-instant Oatmeal. Instead of drinking orange juice, which could be the equivalent of 6 oranges, simply eat an orange. And as for the bread, switch to a Whole Grain variety and you’re ok. This doesn’t sound so hard does it?

What Works For Me
At the heart of the diet, you learn how your body processes food. You learn how important fiber plays into your diet and how carbohydrates, starches and sugars are digested. There are good fats and bad fats, good carbs and bad carbs and the diet teaches you to choose good healthy foods. As I said at the start of this entry, this diet is NOT like Atkins, you eat plenty of carbs, however instead of processed white flour, which is the literal equivalent of a spoonful of sugar, you’ll have fresh vegetables, or whole grain bread. This diet isn’t low fat either, so you’ll cook in lots of olive oil and eat steak, chicken and fish. It’s almost as if you’re returning to how we are supposed to eat and how our grandparents used to eat.

IMHO the only successful diet is one that modifies the way you choose to think and eat. What doesn’t work is a diet that alters how you eat for a period of time only to return you to your bad habits later. I also don’t like diets that cause you to eat weird food, or food that is packaged for consumption. I don’t want to live the rest of my life eating frozen dinners, drinking shakes, or eating nothing but meat. I want to be able to go out to dinner with friends and not be the weirdo at the table eating celery sticks and drinking water. Besides, I’m from Louisiana where FOOD IS LIFE, not just something you do three times a day. I love food and I don’t want to have to give up all the things I love. Those diets never work anyway, you always end up falling off of them to savor the items you have given up. I perish the thought that I can never have gumbo, or cheesecake ever again.

Lastly, I don’t want to have to count what I’m eating. I don’t mind watching what I eat, but if I have to count circle in boxes, or count calories forget it. Sure, I’ll do the counting for a week or two, but in time I’ll get sick of all the counting and if the diet relies on this then I’m going to fail.

My Experience Thus Far
What I found with the South Beach diet is that it’s hardly even a diet and it works just as it’s promised. I don’t have to count, or measure what I eat. I don’t have to eat packaged food, in fact it steers you away from that, and I’m able to eat normally.

The first couple of days were a little rough, I’ll be honest. Even though I had plenty of food to eat, there was still a craving in me to eat. I was full, but there was another part of me that was still hungry. It was my craving for breads and other bad carbs such as potatoes. In fact I was reminded of something I read, or saw on TV once before. it’s said that the Japanese believe that they have two stomachs. One for food and one for rice. If they have had a meal without rice, they still feel hungry because that second stomach hasn’t been fed. Of course they don’t believe this to be a scientific fact, but just something that they feel. I felt that way to those first couple of days. I had distinct cravings for potatoes, or other carbs and although I could eat until I was stuffed, I never quite felt full.

After the first two days, those cravings were gone. In fact, after the first two weeks ALL of my cravings were gone. My lust for chocolate, bread, potatoes and junk food were all gone. I didn’t believe the hype, but I’m here to tell you that it’s true. Now that’s not to say that I don’t sometimes want a pizza, I do, but instead of it being a craving, it’s more of a temptation. I don’t HAVE to have it like I used to.

I’ve lost 11 pounds in the first month, but my weight loss has slowed since I switched to Phase Two and that’s ok. I’m still losing inches and all of my clothes feel baggy. In fact, I would say that I’ve lost two pant sizes and I’ve gone up two notches on all of my belts.

I feel better than I have in a long time. I have more energy and I’m thinking more clearly. Overall I feel more in tune with my body and what it needs than ever before. Oh and as a bonus – food tastes better! I’m eating a ton of vegetables that I use to turn my nose up to, such as broccoli and cauliflower and other foods have such a vibrant flavor to them.

Although my love of food hasn’t changed, it’s even expanded. Half of the book consists of recipes so I’ve discovered all sorts of new and interesting dishes that I can prepare. What’s funny though, is that even though I’m cooking and eating more now than ever, my portions are much smaller than they used to be. If I had to be specific, I’d say that they are HALF of what they were before the diet.

So in the end, I’m eating extremely healthy. My diet consists of smaller portions with less fat than I used to eat. My weight is greatly reduced and slowly inching it’s way down and I have no cravings. I’m never hungry and for the first time in a long time, I feel healthy and normal. So to everyone that is thumbing their noses at this diet, I have to ask, why? ???

Epilogue
Like anything I enjoy, I want others to enjoy it with me. The South Beach Diet is not immune to my penchant for evangelization. If you’d like to see what the meal plans are like, so you can see EXACTLY what the diet is like, I’ve typed up the meal plans from all three phases as well as the recipes from phase one and two.

The meal plans are simple text documents and the recipes are in Master Cook format and can easily be imported into PDACookbook, or most other recipe software. However, you can also view the recipes in any text editor as well.

South Beach Phase 1

South Beach Phase 2

South Beach Phase 3

All Meal Plans In Palm Memo Archive Format

South Beach Phase One Recipes (54 recipes)

South Beach Phase Two Recipes (38 recipes)

South Beach Phase Three Recipes (33 recipes)

South Beach Diet Cookbook – Breakfasts (20+ recipes)

I knew that there would be temptations along the way, but I really had no idea what to expect. One thing I was somewhat sure of is that my usual snacks would be hard to come by, so I packed a handful of string cheese snacks. These little cheese tubes don’t need refrigeration, so it made it easy to keep something handy in case I got hungry. Little did I know how handy they would become.

A Little About The Diet
The South Beach Diet is broken down into 3 phases. Phase One is the strictest part of the diet, yields the fastest results in regards to weight loss, and lasts 2 weeks. I look at this phase a way to cleanse your system and bloodstream of all the junk that you’ve been eating up to this point. Phase Two is when you begin to add back certain amounts of carbs and sugars. Your weight loss is not as fast, but it’s an easier diet to follow. You stay on Phase 2 until you reach your desired weight. Once that happens, you then move to Phase 3, which is the diet you will use for the rest of your life. It’s a very liberal diet, but you still limit your carbs and sugar intake so that you don’t overload your system with sugars.

It’s an easy diet to follow and I’ve had a lot of success with it thus far. During the first two weeks I’ve lost 9.5 pounds and most of that weight has been in my belly, so the results are very noticeable. What I like best about it is that if I “fall of the wagon” and eat 100lbs of McDonald hamburgers, I just move back to Phase One for a week and then go back to where I was in the diet. It was designed by a cardiologist, Dr. Arthur Agatston, and he’s made it very easy to follow, but I digress. If you’d like to learn more about the diet, there’s an excellent excerpt from the book that provides a good overview at this link.

A Good Start
Monday morning was the first day of Phase Two and according to the meal plan found in the book, our breakfast included a bowl of Oatmeal. This wasn’t instant oatmeal either. The diet calls for an oatmeal that still retains a lot of its fiber, so we ate a very healthy and hearty oatmeal made of rolled oats. This was the first pure carb that we’d had in two weeks, so I was really looking forward to it. If that wasn’t enough, Monday’s breakfast also marked the return of fruit in our diet. We were able to add fresh strawberries to the oatmeal as well!

The book claimed that after the first two weeks, I would have no more cravings for carbs. I found this ludicrous when I read it. I was born in Louisiana where bread and rice are staples at every meal. I’m also a confirmed junk food junkie, so the idea of not craving French Fries, or my Madelines just seemed impossible. Surprisingly the book is right and I have lost my cravings for carbs! :O That being said, I was still looking forward to the oatmeal, because of the remembered desire for carbs. All in all it was very good, but it wasn’t as good as I expected it to be. It was tasty and delicious, but I could take it or leave it.

Eating And Airports
With breakfast under my belt, I was off to the airport to fly to San Jose. On the way there I had the sudden realization that having a nice big bowl of high fiber oatmeal perhaps wasn’t the best idea. Spending a day traveling with only limited and/or public bathrooms available could present quite a challenge should these rolled oats really get to moving. That’s probably more than you wanted to know, but I had to laugh as I wondered just what my body was going to do to me that day!

Northwest didn’t offer any snacks on the flight from Nashville to Minneapolis, so I ate one of my string cheese snacks. Knowing that they would serve lunch on the flight from Minneapolis to San Jose, I only grabbed a coffee at my layover. That was a mistake. The lunch that was served was a sandwich, which consisted of a large white flour roll (a definite no no), a thin piece of lettuce and a thin piece of turkey. Included in the box lunch was a small bag of Fritos (a no no) and an apple. The only apples I recall being OK in Phase Two are Granny Smith apples, so the only thing I could eat was the lettuce and turkey.

Just before touch down, I ate another string cheese snack, but by the time we reached the hotel, I was famished. Coupled with the change in time zones, I had had very little to eat that day, so I found a Subway nearby and had a nice grilled chicken salad. I never thought these words would ever come out of my mouth, but that was one damn good salad.

My First Restaurant
As I stated before, since starting the diet, all of the food that I’ve had has been prepared at home. I haven’t been to a restaurant in two weeks, but thanks to the wonderful folks at PalmSource, I was invited to attend a dinner at a nearby restaurant. Looking over the menu, I found that there was a ton of food that I could choose from. Other than a couple of quick questions about how certain things where prepared, it was quite easy to order dinner.

Alcohol is not allowed during Phase One and Phase Two, so I had to skip the beer and wine. That was a little harder than I thought it would be because Mike Rohde ordered a Guinness beer (my favorite) and California is known for it’s wine and I LOVE wine. It was a strong temptation, but I wouldn’t say it was a craving, so it was fairly easy to resist. And that’s the thing about this diet – I do have temptations, but I wouldn’t call them cravings. For example, I may have a temptation to punch someone in the nose, but I know I won’t do it. That’s how I feel about carbs and sugars. I’m tempted to drink a Guinness, but I’m not craving it.

This distinction between cravings and temptations became even more apparent when the fresh bread was served before the appetizers. I used to be a bread fiend, so I was expecting that I would have a VERY hard time avoiding the bread. In Phase Two some bread is added back to the diet, but it has to be a whole grain bread and none of that was being served. Sourdough was, but that doesn’t come back until Phase Three, so I just skipped it all together. Surprisingly, I didn’t have any cravings for the bread and found it easy to just skip it.

So what did I eat? Well, I skipped the appetizer and settled on fresh Ahi Tuna prepared rare with a dinner salad. The dinner salad allowed me to eat something while others enjoyed their appetizers and the Tuna was out of this world. It was a HUGE slab of fresh Ahi Tuna and was seared to perfection. Some of the best I’ve ever had. All-in-all it was quite easy dining out and a lot of fun to boot! I had plenty of great food to eat and it really didn’t feel all that different than when I wasn’t on the diet. I’m simply eating different things is all.

Conference Food
On Tuesday the conference started and as I sipped my first cup of coffee I quickly realized that nothing that was being offered for breakfast was on my diet. It was a typical continental breakfast of bagels, muffins and Danishes and none of those were acceptable foods. There was some fresh fruit, but I decided eating 6 strawberries was only going to make me want more food, so I just skipped it all together and ate a string cheese snack.

When lunch was offered, I was happy to see that there was were some foods that were OK. There was some fresh salmon and tenderloin, so I stuck to those two with some mixed greens. I wasn’t sure how either were prepared, so I held back somewhat. For example, it looked like there was a glaze of some sort on the fish and that meant that there could be a lot of sugar in the dish.

My hope was that dinner would be more in line with my diet. Unfortunately, dinner consisted of all finger foods and thus tended to be wrapped in some sort of bread. There were some chicken skewers, but there were definitely coated in a sugared glaze so I ate a few of them, but that was it. At this point I was down to one last string cheese snack, so figured I’d call it a night.

PalmSource is a great conference and there’s never enough time to do everything you’d like to do and since my day started at 7:00am and didn’t end until 10:00pm, there wasn’t time to run to a convenience store and purchase extra snacks. I looked at the room service menu, but it was WAY to expensive and nothing jumped out as low-carb. So the downside to the conference is that I didn’t have the flexibility to hop in a car and go to a grocery store, or find other sources of food. Either I paid a lot of money for a fancy meal, or I would have to go off the diet.

The Breakdown
Since starting the South Beach Diet, I’ve never found myself starving. I’ve been a bit peckish at times, but I’ve never been hungry. This was the first time since starting the diet where my stomach was growling. As I sat in my room that evening, the mini bar kept calling to me, but there was nothing in there that was on my diet. Well, I take that back, there was a container of cashews and nuts are OK, but at $12.00, my outrage at the price far outweighed my pangs of hunger.

I busied myself with packing and checking e-mail, but I eventually broke down and ate a Snickers bar. It tasted pretty good and I found it to be pretty filling, but not filling enough, so I ate the bag of peanut M&M’s as well. It was just sugar and I felt no guilt as I popped the last M&M into my mouth. I had dodged a lot of bad food thus far and I figured this one small indulgence wouldn’t be too bad of a strike against me.

Airport Food – Take Two
Knowing that breakfast was going to be the same, I knew that I would have to skip it all together again, so I ate my last string cheese snack. It wasn’t filling, but I figured I could grab something at the airport when I made it there at around 11:00am. So no sooner did I check in and I was headed in search of acceptable food in the Food Court.

To my surprise, I found that Burger King is now serving “platters” of their food. They had a Whopper and a Chicken Whopper platter and I ordered them both. They each are served without condiments (no ketchup, mayo, or mustard) or bread. Instead, they place them in a plastic container and it’s akin to eating a salad with a hunk of meat on it. I ordered both because I knew that I may not find anything else the rest of the day. I put my bounty into a To Go bag and headed through security and on to my gate.

As I sat down to eat the first platter, I realized that they didn’t give me any utensils in which to eat with. I don’t know about you, but I find eating shredded lettuce by hand a little hard to do. There was no way I was walking all the way back and go through the security process again, so I just grabbed the meat and ate it. It was a little messy, but at this point, I just needed something in my stomach.

The airplane lunch on the flight back was the same, so I enjoyed another taste treat of thin lettuce and turkey. I was so glad I had eaten the Burger King earlier, because otherwise I KNOW I would have eaten the bread and Fritos, if not the entire plastic container! At 7:00pm, I reach Minneapolis and was lucky enough to find a Nathan’s hot dog stand just as I reached my connecting gate. I purchased a hot dog with sauerkraut, minus the bun. It wasn’t fancy, but it kept the hunger pangs at bay.

Home To Good Food
Once I arrived home, I was back in my element and enjoyed a delicious meal of grilled chicken, all the vegetables I could eat and a tasty dessert. I have never thought of my home as an oasis for food. I’ve always thought of going out to eat as the norm. Since starting this diet, I didn’t realize just how much my diet consisted of fast food and restaurants. Today it’s a different story and after eating my fill, it was good to be home.

Final Thoughts
The hardest part about staying on a diet when you travel is the limited options you have when eating. If you’re not careful, you can find yourself in a situation where you have very few options of what to eat. As long as you think ahead and eat when you have plenty of options it’s not hard. It’s only when you’re trapped in a conference, or on a flight where your options can be limiting to the point where you find yourself stuck in a corner.

Next time I travel, I’m going to assume that there is nothing to eat on the plane and plan ahead. I could have easily packed a lunch as I did the snacks and that would have helped tremendously. The only other hurdle is to find a grocery store or an inexpensive restaurant nearby that is open early so that I don’t have to skip breakfast.

All that being said, the beauty of the South Beach Diet is that I could have simply eaten anything I wanted. The diet is designed to be followed in the real world and sometimes things can’t be avoided. That’s why I didn’t feel guilty about eating the Snickers candy bar. If I had eaten what was offered and not worried about it, I would simply go back to Phase One for one week to cleanse my system and then go back to where I was in the diet. I decided to take the hard road simply because I’ve had such great success thus far and I didn’t want to have to take a step back.

For many people the French Quarter IS New Orleans, however anyone from here knows that it’s simply one small section. Although it’s littered with tourist traps and souvenir shops, the French Quarter is also a vibrant and integral part of New Orleans. Plenty of people still actually live in the Quarter and it is almost a city unto itself. In addition there are tons of great restaurants and shopping that can’t be found anywhere else. If you’re ever planning a visit. I highly recommend getting away from Canal street and work your way deeper in the Quarter. The side nearest Canal street is the most touristy and least authentic section. We always aim for Jax Brewery to park and use that as our starting point for entering the quarter.

Jax Brewery used to be a brewery for Jax beer, but is now a shopping and dining complex that sits next to the Mississippi River and is catty corner to Jackson Square. Most of the businesses there are geared more towards tourists, but it’s a great place to park if you want to be close to the heart of the French Quarter. It’s also just two blocks down from one of the more famous landmarks of New Orleans – Cafe Du Monde.

This is one of the few places that I can think of that a world famous tourist attraction and also a local favorite. Cafe Du Monde sits just off Jackson Square and can easily be seen from a distance from it’s large green awning. 90% of the restaurant is outdoors. There’s some seating inside, but all the times that I’ve been there, I’ve never eaten in there. The outdoor areas is completely covered from above. Most of the sitting area is covered by a roof, but the outer section is covered by the green awning. Not having walls gives you a panoramic view of Jackson Square if you sit close to the sides. If you’re further in, you’ll be lost in a sea of people.

The seating consists of 50′s style aluminum tables and chairs. On the napkin dispenser is the menu, as brief as it is, and a waitress comes up to take your order. At your feet are well worn large slate tiles that transport you back to the early days of the quarter and pigeons scurry in the distance looking for dropped crumbs from recently departed guests. You can sit anywhere you like, but regardless of your seating choice, you will be entertained. Sometimes street musicians stand on the sidewalk just adjacent to the Cafe and play Jazz as you dine. Other street performers also make appearance. I’ve seen magician and clowns who make balloon animals, but the Jazz musicians are the most popular.

Cafe Du Monde only serves one dish and it’s Beignet’s. A Beignet is basically a doughnut, in fact that is what they were called back in the day, but it like no doughnut you’ve ever had. They are square and have no hole They are fried, just like a doughnut, but puff up after cooking and become somewhat light and fluffy with a crunchy exterior and instead of a glaze they are covered with powered sugar. They are a bit of a challenge to eat if you don’t want to get any powered sugar on you, but that’s part of the fun. The other thing that Cafe Du Monde is famous for is their coffee. They make a traditional French coffee that is a dark roast with chicory and comes in two forms: black or cafe au lait. Cafe au lait is simply a cup of half coffee and half milk.

An order of Beignet’s come 3 to a plate and since there were 5 of us in the group, we ordered 3 orders of Beignet’s. We figured that was enough, but we ended up ordering another order because they were just so good. I had the coffee with chicory, but everyone else enjoyed the cafe au lait. Holding your breath as you bite into the crunchy sweetness of a Beignets is a unique pleasure. With the mess that it makes with all the powered sugar, it’s a food that makes you feel like a kid again. You’re supposed to make a mess! As the dough almost melts in your mouth, you take a sip of rich dark coffee and let it all slide down. Sitting there with family, talking and laughing when you point out someone has some powered sugar on their nose, was the southern version of a Norman Rockwell painting.

I could have sat there all day soaking up the sounds, smells and tastes of the French Quarter, if it weren’t for the desire for another hallmark of New Orleans, the Central Grocery Muffuletta. So with full bellies and a perky disposition from the caffeine and sugar, we left Cafe Du Monde and headed down to the Central Grocery and the French Market.

Although we had just finished eating, I was ready to go to Central Grocery and eat a Muffuletta. I’ll explain more about what a Muffuletta is later, but suffice to say that my favorite sandwich of all time. I was like Joey from Friends, always ready for a sandwich. Everyone else convinced me that we could have it later after we finished shopping. Although that may have been the wise decision, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity and could have gone to Central Grocery right that second.

Instead, we continued walking and shopping down Decatur street at all the various touristy shops. However, I don’t mind these so much because New Orleans has so much more to offer than just T-Shirts. Spices, cookbooks, pralines, hot sauce and other various specialties can be found. When we lived here these items weren’t all that special since most could be found in our local grocery store, but since moving to New Orleans, these items are a bit more treasured now.

I shop a little bit faster than Holly, so I would go outside and sit on a scrolled iron bench and wait. James, Holly’s father, wasn’t far behind. This gave us a chance to catch up on things. He’d tell me about a recent fishing trip he and his son went on this fall and I’d talk about how the Mac is a great computer. It was our typical conversation, but I really look forward to them and sitting there in the cool weather listening to the brass bands playing in the distance and the other wonderful sounds of the Quarter made it even nicer.

Eventually, we made our way to the French Market, which is an open air market that’s been there forever. This is where the locals used to buy their fresh produce and some still do to this day. It’s a large covered area, but much like Cafe Du Monde, it’s open air. The first section is true to it’s name, but the latter half of the market is made up of Flea Market style shopping. I knew I was going to need a little help to get through the latter section of the market, so just before entering, i spied a small stand that served draft beer. I ordered a small Abita Amber, which is one of my favorite beers and is brewed locally in Abita Springs, Louisiana.

Enjoying my fresh draft beer, we made our way into the French Market. With my new found love of cooking, the traditional market stands were a blast to shop in. Hundreds of vendors have small shops were they sell untold spices, fresh fruits and vegetables, and cookbooks. Even though the products were fresh and new, the businesses looked like they had been there for 100 years and some actually may have. Slate tiles worn smooth from the passing of millions of customers and painted wood shelves worn to the paint from untold number of purchases were the norm. Shopping for groceries in a National Landmark is certainly a unique experience.

As we made our way deeper into the French Market, I couldn’t help but lose myself in all the many spices and mixes for sale. I’m still a cooking newbie, so many of the ingredients didn’t mean anything to me. In other words, I didn’t know how it could be used in a dish. I tried to take a mental picture so that when I run across a recipe that calls for something I haven’t used before, I can recall that picture and hopefully find it locally. Eventually my cooking pallet will expand and my next visit to the Market may have me leaving with a truckload of goodies.

Thinking about all this cooking actually made me a little hungry. It had been a few hours since enjoying those wonderful Beignets and I was in the right place if I needed a snack. I found one place selling “Alligator On A Stick”. How could I pass that up? Alligator on a stick is nothing more than alligator and pork sausage. It’s sliced to a serving size, skewered and served hot. I happen to like alligator by itself, but sausage form is good too. It made for a nice snack as we wandered further into the market.

There’s a small street that separates the grocery section of the French Market and the flea market section. As I stood at the edge, it was like looking into the gates of hell. This may be the first level, and thus not all that painful, but it was hell none-the-less. To Holly it looked like an amusement park as she picked her way though one table after another of hidden unknown treasures. With my interest gone, my plastic cup empty and my stick devoid of alligator, I went in search of the “man chair”, but there weren’t any to be had. I could sit on the curb, but the streets of New Orleans are some of the dirtiest I’ve ever seen and that didn’t seem like an option. The only thing keeping my spirits up was the Central Grocery Muffuletta awaiting me when the ladies were done.

After two more hours of shopping, Holly, her Mother and here Grandmother were done shopping. Judie gave me just the pickup I needed when she announced, “Michael, you ready for a Muffuletta?” Damn skippy! I led them from the chaos that was the Flea Market back onto Decatur. I was taking them the fastest way back to Central Grocery and in 5 minutes were inside the doors and awash in the smells of olives and other Italian meats. It was around 5pm and I knew that they were set to close at 5:30pm so I had a huge smile on my face as I stood at the counter to place my order. That’s when the guy behind the counter made the announcement, “If you’re hear for a sandwich, we ran out of bread, so there are no Mufflers.”

Running out of things is normal in Louisiana. We’re blessed with a bounty of fresh fish, produce and baked goods and it’s not uncommon for a restaurant to run out of certain things. The guy behind the counter explained that they had a lot of people in that day, so they didn’t have enough bread on hand. They get fresh bread, especially made for them, each day so the only option was to come back another day.

I was disappointed for sure, but hope was not lost. I quickly rearranged our schedule and informed everyone that on Monday we would be returning here before catching our return flight. I said it not as a suggestion, but more as an edict.. We WILL be coming back on Monday. To be so close to my favorite sandwich and to have to wait was frustrating, but as I thought about it more, it made more sense to pick up the sandwich before we caught our plane so that we could bring one home with us.

Bringing back a Muffuletta from Central Grocery for friends and family was a tradition I grew up with. If you heard someone was going to the Quarter, you’d ask them to bring you back one. I vividly remember our neighbor bringing back a brown paper sack that was almost clear from the olive oil leaching out from the sandwich. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. We’d thank them for the gift and immediately dive into eating the Muffuletta as they would tell us about their trip. Good times.

Our legs were tired from all the walking that we’d done that day, so we ended up choosing Franks, a restaurant that was close to eat dinner. It wasn’t all that good and IMHO is only in business thanks to tourism. I can’t see locals choosing to eat there. It’s not that the food was bad per se, but there are plenty of restaurants that are far better close by.

As we piled back into the car to make our hour and a half drive to Baton Rouge, I quickly fell asleep in the back seat. Maybe it’s a Pavlovian response from all the many years of driving back from New Orleans as a child, or the fact that I had just eaten dinner, but it was deep sleep that carried me all the way back to Baton Rouge. This day was a good day full of great food, great company and good times. Knowing that there was even more good stuff planned for the next day felt like a warm blanket wrapped around me.

Next Entry: Part 3 – Mary Lee Doughnuts & LaFonda’s
Previous Entry: Part 1 – Grazing Across Louisianas

If you’ve ever been to Louisiana, you know how good the food is, but if you haven’t I’ll try and paint a picture. For starters, the majority of the restaurants are not chains, the are family owned businesses. If they have been around awhile, it’s because they are known for their good cooking. There are a few chains that people frequent, but normally that is because the restaurant started as one business and expanded. So places like Ralph & Kacoo’s and Piccadilly are chains now, but that’s not how they started. Oh and don’t think just because you branch means the new location will succeed. If it’s not as good as the first one, the location will fail. That’s becoming the case with the Jambalaya Shoppe. The original location is the best and people will drive out of their way to go to that one, even if a closer one is nearby. Suffice to say, Louisianaians take their food seriously.

If Holly and I moved back to Louisiana today, it would take us months to eat at all of our favorite places. So imagine how hard it is when you only have 4 days! :0 Granted, we have found some very good restaurants here in Nashville, but there simply isn’t the ratio per capita like there is in Louisiana. So when we make a schedule about what to do when we go home to visit, it’s usually around where and what we’re going to eat. None of our friends or family mind, in fact they more than understand when we say, “Can we meet tomorrow because I’ve got to go to Denham Springs for a poboy and I’m not going to make it back in time.” Since we only had 4 days, we had to really plan out what we wanted to eat. Some places, like Zorba’s, just wouldn’t fit into the schedule, so we’ll have to visit them next time, but other places, like Central Grocery, were a must and nothing was going to prevent us from going there.

As I began writing up all the food that we ate, this one simple entry was turning more and more into a series of restaurant reviews, or maybe even a Travelogue of Food, if there is such a thing. LOL So instead of trying to cram everything into one entry, I’ve decided to break things up a bit and do multiple entries. This way I can spend a bit more time “setting the scene” or going into more detail on the food instead of just plowing through to finish an entry.

For those of you salivating and wondering what we ate, I apologize for being such a tease. I didn’t intend for this to happen, but I think you’ll appreciate it in the end. To tide you over until the next entry, here’s a breakdown of what’s in store.

» Part Two – Cafe Du Monde & The French Market
» Part Three – Mary Lee Doughnuts & LaFonda’s
» Part Four – Making Gumbo
» Part Five – Cajun Dancing & Pat’s Of Henderson
» Part Six – Central Grocery

My tastes in TV have changed and I find myself getting captivated by home improvement shows. Trading Spaces, While You Were Out, Curb Appeal, you name it, if it’s a home improvement show, I’ll watch it. My rationale is that because some of the channels that air home improvement shows also air cooking shows, it was a natural progression to start watching those. However, I thought that watching a show about cooking was nothing more than a passive interest. Little did I know that it would change the way I thought about food and pull me into the kitchen with mad plans of cooking and preparing big meals. Just look at my wish list for Kitchen Stuff and you’ll see that I’ve gone mad.

My first effort in the kitchen was to try and cook the petite French cake – Madeleines. As I wrote all about it in this entry, my first attempt wasn’t very successful. It wasn’t a failure per se, mostly due to the fact that they were edible, but it wasn’t what I intended to cook. The second batch came out MUCH better and that fueled a desire to try more things. You’d think that I would then try a pie, or maybe one vegetable dish, but with Christmas around the corner, my next effort was a doozie – Christmas Dinner.

Maybe it was the fact that the new year was approaching and thoughts of resolutions were dancing in my head, but the motivation that was behind all this was “I should know how to do…” and then I’d fill in the rest. In other words, somewhere I got the idea that “I should know how to cook Madelines.” That’s something that I should know. I know how to make a great cup of coffee, so I should know how to make a great accompaniment to that. Everything else seemed to blossomed from there. “I should know how to make a good pheasant dish, gumbo, black eyed peas, etc.” So for Christmas I made a huge feast of food and with the exception of the French Bread, everything was delicious. You can read all about it at this link.

After Christmas, since we had purchased so much food, I made another big meal for the following Sunday. I cooked Quail And Mushrooms, Pumpkin and Pancetta Risotto and Green Beans. We had a Claret called “Beritage” by Gundlach Bunchu winery with the meal and it was a perfect marriage. There was plenty of Crème Brûlée left, so I didn’t make a dessert. I did attempt to make French Bread again, twice in fact, but each time met with disaster. I got REALLY close on the last try though. It was the final rise that did me in. I’ve decided that my kitchen is too cold to cook bread in, so until I purchase a small space heater, I’m not going to attempt that style of bread again.

Now that I have two successful dishes under my belt, there’s no telling where this new hobby is going to take me. I’ve already told Holly’s Grandmother that I’d like her to teach me to make her famous Seafood Gumbo when I’m down there next month. I’m going to be like a kid in a candy store – I can’t wait!

It wasn’t until I was watching the DVD of The Transporter that my little nurturing thought was moved into action. I was watching the movie when Lai bakes some Madeleines for our hero Frank Martin. As the two action stars sat there eating them and discussing their next move, I thought, “Man, wouldn’t that be great to enjoy a Madeline with my coffee?” I could just picture myself sitting at the kitchen table, overlooking the pasture that rests behind our home. Dotting the landscape are grazing cattle, some nursing their young, while I type away on my Alphasmart Dana. Every so often, I pause for a sip of coffee and a nibble of this French cake delicacy and look down at Gracie sleeping at my feet. Even now, this idea makes me close my eyes so I can savor the thought in my mind as if it were suckling a rich piece of chocolate, letting it melt and soothe my body.

Woah. Snap out of the vivid imagery and get to the point

I needed to act on this gastronomic fantasy and the first step was to buy a madeleine pan. Much like a cupcake pan, a madeleine pan is what gives this tasty treat it’s unique shape. Lucky for me, Holly’s Mother and Grandmother are in town and the one thing that those three love to do is shop. So I asked Holly to find me a madeleine pan and like the professional shopper she is, she found one at Williams Sonoma as she was shopping at the Green Hills Mall later that day.

Armed with a pan, I did a Google search this morning in search of a recipe. I found one at about.com that seem to match what my taste buds recall and I went about making my first batch of madeleine’s. I’m not a great cook, but I’m not afraid of the kitchen either. If I have a recipe, I can usually prepare just about anything. I’ve never really done much baking though, so this was a bit of a new experience for me. Some of the techniques, such as folding, were a little unique, but thanks to many hours watching Food TV I was able to pull it off.

I followed the recipe to a “T” and after 15 minutes of baking, the madeleines were ready to come out of the oven. I had questioned some of the ingredients, or their quantities to be exact, but I figured the Internet knew more about baking than I did. As I pulled the pan from the oven I noticed that the consistency of the madeleines were not quite as fluffy as I would have liked. They seemed a little dense. I flipped the pan and tumbled the madeleines out onto a drying sheet. The shape was right and they looked good, just not quite as light I’ve seen them. Holly, Judie and Inez all gathered around to try my new fangled concoction. Nothing quite like cooking for an immediate audience.

I took my first bite and sent my taste buds into “microscope mode” to flesh out all the details of what I had prepared. They were ambushed, not with subtly, but with the overwhelming taste of egg. My madeleines tasted like a scrambled egg. Everyone seemed to agree and since they had never tried one before, asked me if that’s what they were supposed to taste like. I looked back and counted my eggshells to make sure that they matched the recipe and sure enough, they did. I explained that this was not the flavor I was going for and that this was as much of a surprise to me as it was to them. Luckily they still tasted good and it was breakfast time after all.

Holly made the comment that they weren’t sweet and were they supposed to have sugar in them. They did have 1/2 a cup folded in already, but I remember that the recipe called for sprinkling powered sugar on them. Dashing to the pantry and a kitchen drawer, I sifted powered sugar on top of the remaining madeleines in order to try and save my recipe. I felt like I was in ER and needed to shout “Clear!” as the powered sugar lightly covered my baking victims. Unfortunately my patient was DOA because all the powered sugar did was change the taste from egg to French toast.

We enjoyed the rest of our French toast madeleines and all had a good laugh. They may not have turned out the way I wanted, but they were editable and not without their own unique charm. Judie and I tossed around ideas on how to improve the next batch and my only conclusion was that I needed a better recipe. This was a perfect example of how you can’t trust everything you read on the Internet. I needed a trusted source for a good recipe, so I turned to FoodTV.com and found 3 or 4 receipes that looked like they could fit the bill. I decided on this one and will try making it tonight to see if I fare any better.

My little fantasy may have had the equivalent of a pie being thrown into its face, but at least it tasted good. I’ll keep at it baking away until I find the right recipe and combination of ingredients. It will make savoring my success all the richer.

Needless to say, I quickly got the hang of it and began visiting Perks on a frequent basis. What I discovered is that there was food to eat, just not the kind that comes off the griddle. Bagels, muffins and other pastries were quite plentiful and good and made for a nice start on the day. There was also something new that I had never tried before – the Stroopwafel.

A stroopwafel is a traditional Dutch pastry that consists of a layer of caramel and spices sandwiched between two thin wafers of waffle. The giant size just happens to fit perfectly on top of a cup of coffee. What I would do is place it on top of my cup and let the steam from the coffee slightly heat the stroopwafel. It would get all gooey and warm and delicious. Oh man were those things good.

Since leaving Baton Rouge many moons ago, I haven’t been able to find them. In fact, I’d almost forgotten what a Stroopwafel was until I came across them again at my favorite coffee shop – Perk Central. What a pleasant surprise! So for the past few days, as I’ve enjoyed my french press of Torrefazione Italia – Palermo Blend, I’ve had a little treat sitting on top.

If you have a speciality foods store in your town, you might want to see if you can find a stroopwafel. You won’t be sorry.

Some folks may think that the Capresso MT500 is the best coffee maker, but I have to say I don’t know if I can go back to drip coffee after experiencing the french press. It’s so smooth and rich that it has to be tasted to be believed. I’ve been drinking this method exclusively for the past week or so and I’m in coffee heaven. In fact, I met a colleague for lunch last week at a coffee shop and I ordered a french press. I’m hooked!

For more information on the french press method, select this link.

The part of town that Wolfgang Puck Express is located is fairly trendy and we expected the look and feel of the restaurant to be in that same vein. It was, but as soon as we stepped into the restaurant it was like stepping into a funky little wrinkle in time. I instantly felt off center and I couldn’t figure out why. It wasn’t until we were sitting down, waiting for our food, that I started to piece it together. Wolfgang Puck has combined a wide array of dining “experiences” into one experience and then cranked up the speed.

For starters, when you walk in, you have the “McDonalds experience” of walking up to a counter and placing your order. Although instead of low quality hamburgers, you’re ordering 3 Cheese Ravioli with a Butternut Squash Sauce and instead of a coke, you can get a nice Kendall Jackson Chardonnay. Once you place your order, you are then given a vibrating coaster like the one’s that you get at Outback Steakhouse when you’re waiting for a table. When your food is ready, the little vibrating disc goes off and lights up. You’ve just had your “Outback Experience.” With disc in hand you walk up to a counter near the kitchen where you pick up your order. There you are greeted by someone to assist you. You hand him the disc and then he hands you your food on a tray. I had more than one tray, so he walked with me back to my table. Except for the assistance, I just had the “Cafeteria Experience”

Once Holly and I were sitting down enjoying our delicious meal, I made the comment about the different “experiences” I was having and she agreed. She said that she too was a little off center by the whole feel of the restaurant. We sat there for awhile trying to pin down exactly what this restaurant was most like. Holly came up with “corporate commissary” which was really on the nose. I then added, “Its corporate commissary meets Walt Disney World Epcot Food Court.” Holly shouted “Bingo! That’s it.”

The overall layout of the restaurant was definitely like a corporate commissary, but with the 42″ plasma screen in the middle of the menu over the registers and the style of the chairs and tables were very “high style.” You definitely get the feeling that you’ve entered a themed food court at Epcot. “Welcome to the wonderful land of “corporate efficiency!” And I guess that’s the rub of it all. It’s the fact that you can see the efficiency that is in place. You can see how the staff wears different colored shirts depending upon their station and that each tends to their station in order to provide you with a high quality quick meal. It’s all just a little too Gattica for me.

Yeah, but how about the food? The food was fantastic. Both the dishes that we ordered were prepared well and tasted great. Holly’s Three Cheese Ravioli and my Spinach Gorgonzola and Mushroom Pizza tasted as if they came from a 4 star restaurant, each bursting with flavor. Our appetizer of Tortilla Soup didn’t have a smidgen left in the bowl. It was a top notch meal, no doubt about it.

The meal was great, but the whole express part just put me off slightly. Normally when enjoying a meal of this caliber, you savor it and enjoy it in a relaxed atmosphere. With Wolfgang Puck Express, you never take more than a pregnant pause to enjoy your meal. Now this could simply be my guilty conscious riding roughshod over the experience, so take what I say with a grain of salt. If we are so busy that a fine dining experience needs to be sped up in order for us to partake, what does that say about our society? The thing is, I identify with the mission of the restaurant. I am often too busy and opt for fast food because of the speed of it. So this restaurant fills a gap in my life, but I’m not proud of it and I don’t like being reminded of it.

To sum it all up, I feel conflicted with Wolfgang Puck Express. On one hand, it’s a little too efficient and too sterile. On the other hand, it has great food and good wine. It’s haute cuisine in the fast lane. Which hand wins in the end? Well, slap my bottom and call me Susan, but I have no doubt I’ll be eating there again soon.