Eating Our way through New Orleans Part 1

Please forgive my Yankee dialect and my lack of drawl when I say New Orleans instead of Nawlins, but I'm going to stick to my guns and hopefully I won't offend anyone with a terrible impersonation of a Southern accent. That being said, let the story begin.

I have never been to the South before. Well, I guess that's not true. I've been to Florida before, but I was about 5 years-old when I went to Orlando and I consider Miami culturally closer to the Caribbean than the South. That opinion may be incorrect, but it's just my personal experience.

I've always wanted to go to New Orleans. Maybe it comes with my fascination with food. It's possible it stems from my consistent exposure to Disneyland and it's "New Orleans Square." Or it could be because it's a cultural melting pot like Hawaii. Who knows? All I know is that New Orleans was a destination I had to cross off of my travel bucket list. So for my 27th birthday, Bryan and I packed our bags to head over to The Big Easy.

Flying over the swamp

First stop: The French Market

Gator sausage and beer

Lots of street artists

Chartres street

Love the buildings here

Jackson Square

Happy to wear sandals, in March

St Louis Cathedral

Famous beignets and coffee from Cafe du Monde

Crowded, but worth it. Plus they have FROZEN cafe au lait, YUM!

Sax it up

RIP Galen

This guy!

Bourbon street AKA trouble

Hurricane and Pimm's cup, at a price, from Maison Bourbon Jazz club

I love how this could be a selling point in this town

Fat oysters at Crescent City Brewhouse

Blackened Redfish with fried soft shell crab

Purple, green and gold

Stumbled onto a set of a commercial

Mardi Gras, for the commercial

St Louis Cathedral, at night, from behind

Late night jambalaya from Flanagan's pub

You think we were there the whole day, dontcha? Nope! We landed at one in the afternoon and didn't get to exploring until about 2 pm. That's four meals or snacks in about half a day. Diets don't exist of vacation right? Let's see if we can break that record on the next day.

-Akemi-chan

PS: Of course we do.

Winter Panzanella Salad with Fennel, Grapefruit and Avocado

I never said it before this season, but I hate Winter. It's been slowly wringing the life out of me. It's too cold to breathe outside let alone work out or enjoy the hypothetical sunshine. One day it's a snowstorm with high winds, the next day it thaws out and the whole state is covered in black ice. The next day come the pot holes bigger than flat screens at Best Buy and then it's thunderstorms.

Weather aside, the worst part about Winter is focus on fitness. Salads and healthy snacks turn into giant heaping piles of potatoes and stewed meats. Afternoons that I would spend taking a walk with the dog or jogging to the gym end up being wasted away on the couch in fear of stepping outside for a minute longer than required. I know this is the worst Winter is many decades, but I'm convinced to live in a state where "Winter" means 40 degrees or higher.

So in an effort to steer clear from comfort food and to get back to healthy, I made this salad. Granted it's not the most satisfying meal, but it's fresh and flavorful.

Winter Panzanella Salad

1 cup of bread, cubed and toasted with olive oil, salt and pepper
1/2 fennel bulb
1/2 cup of red onion, thinly sliced
2 large grapefruit
1 large or two small avocado, diced
1 tbsp fennel fronds from bulb
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp honey
1 bag prewashed mixed greens
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Take bread, day old is fine, and cut into 1 inch cubes. Lay out on a baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over cubes and dust with salt and pepper. Bake in oven for 5-10 minutes until bread is crusty, like a crouton. If you have a heartier bread, it make take longer.

Take fennel bulb and slice very thinly on a mandolin or with a knife. Raw fennel is quite potent, so if you slice it thinner, it won't be as strong. Do the same with red onion.

Cut the top and bottom of grapefruit so it can stand without rolling over. Use knife to peel the zest and pith (the white part) off of the grapefruit, exposing the citrus segments. Take a smaller knife (paring knife is good) and segment the grapefruit. That means cut in the inner part of each segment on both sides, to have a wedge without the skin or lining of the fruit.

In a small bowl, squeeze out the remaining juice from one grapefruit after you have taken out all the segments. Take out any seeds and add olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey and chopped fennel fronds. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Combine mixed greens, sliced fennel, red onion, grapefruit segments, avocado and bread into a bowl. Lightly toss. Reserve dressing til service. If you add the dressing too early, the bread will soak up the dressing and could become soggy. Serve and enjoy!

-Akemi-chan

Unofficial/ Green Ombre Rice Krispies Treats

St. Patrick's Day/ Unofficial is upon us. Under most circumstances I would not blink an eye at things like this. But when you live in a college town, it lingers no matter how old you are. This year will be a little different than years past. No shots of Jameson for me. Even though it's mild in comparison, I can still be festive in my own way. 

Green-tinted white wine, free green t-shirts and green desserts. That counts right?

Green Ombre Rice Krispies Treats

6 cups of mini marshmallows, divided into three 2-cup portions

6 tbsp butter, divided into three 2-tbsp portions

3/4 tsp vanilla extract, divided into three 1/4-tsp portions

green food coloring

6 cups Rice Krispies, divided into three 2-cup portions

non stick spray

By looking at this recipe, you may figure out that we're making three batches of rice krispie treats and just layering them on top of each other. Obvious and simple. The hardest part is getting them to not stick when you don't want them to stick.

First, start off with a large sauce pan (or pot) on low heat. Take the first 2 tbsp of butter and the first 2 cups of mini marshmallows and melt them in the pot. Stir occasionally. 

Meanwhile, take a glass casserole dish (I used a 6x10) and spray with nonstick spray. While You're at it, spray a spatula with the spray too. It'll help later. In a medium-large bowl, place the first 2 cups of rice krispies cereal. 

When the marshmallow mixture is melted, combined and smooth, add 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract and a few drops of green food coloring.We're going to gradually make each batch a little more saturated with food coloring. Therefore, make sure this batch is a light green color. Be very careful. We can make it darker, but we can't extract color once it's in the pot.

Once all "liquid" ingredients are combined, pour the mixture into the medium bowl with the cereal. Mix until puffed rice is evenly coated with marshmallow mixture. When mixed, pour into the casserole dish with the nonstick spray. Spread the first batch of krispies evenly over the bottom of the dish, making the first and lightest layer.

Repeat the process with the same pot and same ingredients, but adding a couple more drops of food coloring to each batch. Layer on top of the previous layer until all three layers of krispies are assembled. Let cool in the casserole dish.

When cooled, lay a large cutting board on the top of the casserole dish. Flip both the dish and cutting board over, so the dish is upside down on top of the board. Gently shake the dish until layered krispies fall out. Use knife to cut on cutting board.

Ready to cut

This recipe can be used for any occasion and with any color food coloring. You could even do multiple colors for 4th of July, Easter or if you're ambitious you could even do a rainbow. Just remember to wash out the pot before you use a different color so the colors don't blend together. 

Enjoy!

February Randoms

I can't believe it's March already. Currently we're awaiting a big storm, expecting about 6-10 inches tomorrow. And just a few years ago I lived in Hawaii and thought that March automatically means Spring. Guess I know better now. It looks like we'll be lucky if we even get a Spring. Anyway, here are some February randoms. 

One of my many weaknesses

Even though he didn't win the Super Bowl, we still love you Peyton

EVERYTHING is frozen

Appropriate coasters for spiced rum and pineapple juice

Winter lips

Homemade hot cocoa

Our wedding venue... in Winter

Giant snow drifts

Sparkles in Milwaukee

My loot from Ono Kine Grindz in Wisconsin

Icicles for days

Avocado sliders

Free range chicken, cole slaw and corn bread from Black Dog

Good hair day

Happy Valentine's day

Soy, ginger and sambal marinated skirt steak

Tofu pho, my cure-all

Getting back to reading actual books. Sorry Kindle

The snack that smiles back

Sun and snow

Does this mean I'm going to get paid more, or die?

Excitement

Finally an actual good hair day

Going for a snowy walk

I plan to do a lot of flying in March, weather permitting. It's a big month. St Paty's, Spring, my birthday and maybe a little photo session with our wedding photographer. Who knows what will happen? So many possibilities.

-Akemi-chan