This afternoon, while grocery shopping, I ran into some friends buying a case of EarlyTimes pre-mixed Mint Julep. Well, it is Derby time, almost a requirement to drink Juleps, however, New Orleanians hardly need horse-racing as an excuse to drink Mint Juleps and it was surprising to find someone here not making the drink from scratch.  This couple however are people “of an age” who love a good cocktail, have impeccable taste and they swear by EarlyTimes.  Accordingly, a bottle came home with me and I can attest that this is a darn nice Mint Julep poured over hand-cracked ice and muddled fresh mint.  Cheers!

Kate Hopkins of Accidental Hedonist posted this delicious picture she nabbed from Slog, who nabbed it from How to Avoid the Bummer Life, who found this chocolatey-bacony bit of deliciousness at Marini’s, a candy store in Santa Cruz, California.   All I can say is bacon + chocolate = happiness.

Last week it was scented pencils, this week, meaty pencil toppers for the perpetual kid in all of us.  We’re all ways telling the kids to put some “meat on the bone” of the sentences they write, now the inspirational reminder is there at the end of the pencil.    

Imagine if you will, this image on the front of a t-shirt, tote bag, baby onsie and more. Imagine that you not only have a cool food tee with a sense of humor, but buying one also means a 10 percent of profits donation to organizations that work to teach kids about nutrition. Oh yea babe! Wait till you see all the smart designs. Choosing your vegetables has never been this delicious.

A terrific piece in Time covers the current trend for molecular mixology. What’s so fascinating about these cocktails are the various textures and intense flavors normally seen on the plate that are now also appearing in the glass. The drink that knocked me off my seat - I’m a bourbon gal - is from Seattle’s Vessel, where bartender (bar chef, master mixologist) Jaime Boudreau “…combines orange-infused cotton candy floss and spirits for a new twist on the old-fashioned.” Holy cow, I want to have some of that, don’t you?

Pencils with a scent?  You bet.  These adorable pencils smell like cherry, watermelon, cotton candy and popcorn, to name a few delicious aromas, and better still, they’re eco-conscious!  Each pencil is made from recycled newspaper wrapped around #2 lead, then soaked in environmentally-friendly fragrance liquids.  They sharpen like a regular pencil and the company guarantees the fragrance will hold for up to 2 years.  Make scents to me!

Aunt Bessie’s, a prepared food company in England believed it was helping increase the income of ice cream trucks by offering this cone of sausage, mashed potatoes, gravy and peas - a savory alternative to ice cream. Sadly one review wasn’t too generous in their opinion. Metro.co.uk originally declared this treat “Horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible…” However, when some Aunt Bessie’s people showed up at Metro’s offices lugging samples of cone-less sausage and mash, things changed. The Metro “correspondent” declared the mash to have “good texture,” the sausage was said to be “pretty tasty,” and the gravy “actually quite nice.” Apparently the cones weren’t working out too well (they disintegrated) and the suggestion to replace the cone with Yorkshire Pudding was taken under advisement.

Dear Aunt Bessie:

I am in dire need of a sausage-mash cone. Please cross the “Pond” and bring these glorious treats to the US as soon as possible, I beg you.

Lorin

Mussels. Mmmm… The light spring weather, clear skies, and a good bottle of wine call for a big bowl of mussels. Moules-Frites (mussels and French fries) are just plain fabulous and so simple to make at home, if a bit labor intesive (for the fries). This recipe for mussels with chorizo highlights the flavor of the well-spiced sausage and the slightly barnyard-taste of the mollusk - beautifully compatible musky tastes. Pour a velvety Malbec (or a substantial white Burgundy), tear into a crusty loaf of French bread for dipping into the sauce and say “ahhhhhh….” What a delicious life.

A mellow spring weekend is an ideal time to invite friends over for a New Orleans-style brunch, complete with eye-openers (cocktails) to sip.  Good company, good drinks, good food - good thing.  Keep things easy-going and simple by setting out drinks ingredients (the Milk Punch can be pre-made and put in a pitcher) for friends to stir up their own, and make sure to leave out some laminated copies of the recipes for people to follow and then take home as lagniappe (a little something extra).  

Sazerac

Absinthe Suissesse

Milk Punch

New Orleans Eggs

Creative Egg  (Baked Potato with Poached Eggs and Smoked Salmon)

No, it’s not particularly posh, but the concept - shopping, cooking and eating foods made from 99cent stores - is smart, intriguing, budget-minded. New Orleans doesn’t have one of these incredible 99 cent Only Stores with all the great prepared, frozen and other foodstuffs, so when I got a copy of this book, I tried to adapt by going to “dollar” stores. That was an abject disaster as the decent jarred, boxed or canned foodstuffs were extremely limited and anything frozen was an exercise in salt and chemicals - ick. Nonetheless, this book and the idea behind it are spectacular. I wish we had one of these stores, they look really cool and as food-costs rise, it just makes sense cents.