…at my friend Ryan Dill’s backyard bbq!

Originally from New Orleans, and now residing in Brooklyn, Ryan invited me over for a summer soiree where she and her roommate cooked up some serious Louisiana goodness–gumbo, alligator sausage, boudin and crawfish-stuffed baked potatoes (the latter being my favorite)!

Nothing like a little crawfish to make me realize just how much I miss the Crescent City…

Olive salad is a thing of beauty.  Often it’s comes in jars as bits and pieces of olives and pickled veg, the very thing to gild a Muffaletta (a large round sandwich piled with ham, provolone, salami, mortadella, and Swiss, topped with chopped olive salad).  Recently the Louisiana Restaurant Expo beautifully showcased a lot of local flavors, and among them, Perrone & Son’s line of stellar foods -  most notably, the return of “whole olive salad.”  Giant whole, pit-free green and Kalamata olives tangle in a sharp, briny oil and vinegar-based dressing with tender-crisp carrot rounds, cauliflower florets, pimento bits, capers, and the ocassional pepperocini…heaven.   Sometimes, there’s no need for the sandwich, it’s just me, a bowl of olive salad, an ice-cold Moretti beer and my food mags.  Ahhh Sunday.

Are you gambler, willing to take risks in the name of food and taste?   Well, you just might want to try.  These petite, bright green, mostly mild, peppers hail from and are named for, the Spanish municipality of Padron.  They are also known as “Roulette peppers,” because 1 in 10 is hot.  During the months of July and August, the number of hot peppers can increase, but it’s always a gamble with this “Capsicum Annuum.”  Prepared simply by pan frying or oven-roasting with olive oil and a generous dusting of salt, the gently smoky flavor is addictive and the small size of the pepper makes them easy to pop, one after the other, like chips.  Come on, roll the dice.

Right??  Oh yes.  Especially from Poche’s in Breaux Bridge, LA - meaty, soft and earthy.

I’m a pickle fanatic.  Sour, dill, briney, winey, or sweet, I love them all.  Traditional pickling is a glorious labor of love, but I simply haven’t been able to make the time, so “quick” pickles call out to me for a multitude of reasons, and they are simply delicious.  Earlier this week I quick-pickled baby carrots, baby French beans and cucmbers, in organic brwon-rice vinegar spiced with herbs and peppers from my garden, and good-quality whole spices from Flavorbank.  This morning these bright, bold pickles decorated my favorite new eye-opener, a Tres Generaciones Anejo Tequila “Sangrita” created by genius bartender “Bobby G.”  The only thing to say is Ole!

These are gorgeous Ruston, Louisiana peaches.  Once upon a time, there were a number of Louisiana peach varieties and a number of growers.  Nowasdays, there is one big commercial grower remaining, and a handful of much smaller farms, growing Louisiana peaches.  This is a homegrown food in crisis.  Louisiana peaches are unique, with a sweet, almost spicy flavor and an aroma that can only be described as heavenly - floral and softly earthy.  The meaty-firm texture of Ruston peaches stands up to being grilled, or peeled and sauteed in a lovely Peaches “Foster,” or as I’m want to do, eat out of hand standing over a sink, letting the juices run down my chin, hand and arm.

According to the gang at Yumsugar, Sprinkles cupcake shop is serving .75 cent shots of their rich and decadent buttercream frosting…frozen.  Although it never ocurred to me to eat frosting frozen, it sure sounds terrific.  We don’t have a Sprinkles in New Orleans, but I did just get the latest Martha Stewart Cupcake book (genius by the way) and so I’m planning on whipping up a bit of extra frosting to pipe into mini tasting cups and toss into the freezer.  The lazy person in me is also considering going to the local cupcakery and asking them to do it.  Either way, I’m checking it out.

Bacon.  If loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right.  At La Divina Gelateria, this is but one of the delectable gelati flavors.  The almost tobacco-like taste of Steen’s cane syrup gelato, wrapping it’s creamy self around smoky bacon…I need a fainting chair positioned near the cold case.   Then, when I faint, here’s hoping someone places cool slices of bacon on my forehead whilst having me whiff bacon-scented smelling-salts.

While waiting for my son to finish football practice (yes, in this outrageous heat!), I popped into a coffee shop and happened upon a display of several cakes, including a lush, three-layer red velvet with cream cheese icing.  Moist, and gently cocoa flavored, this slice and an iced coffee was just what I needed for a late afternoon pick-me-up.  Caffeine and sugar are my vices;  what are yours?

 

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Picture 1 from 3: Chive and Pork boiled dumplings are 4 for a $1.50!

Can you believe that this take-out box of four boiled dumplings cost me at $1.50?!  And, better yet, the cooking demo and people-watching comes free of charge!