Early summer gardening

I know, I know. It's not officially summer, but here in southeast Michigan we've been living like it is.

Have unfortunately managed to misplaced the charger for my real camera, so I've taken a few quick shots with the handy iPhone to share the progress of the garden at 7300.

indulgence

tunes: you do something to me

heard here by ella fitzgerald

but i've been playing it on my ukelele all night

check out these chords!

Dinner tonight was for adults only, in the twilight, on the porch, after little ones had bedded down. It was a labor of love (small, as it was).  And it was delightfully lovely.  I enjoyed it as much as my husband, who I had in mind during it's inception because he had been out of town for 5 days.

It's nothing uniquely creative, just well executed parts that made a fantastic whole.

Spring asparagus & soft scrambled eggs:

Beat 6 eggs with one teaspoon salt and freshly ground pepper. Add 1/4 cup sour cream. Mix until combined.  Set aside.
Sear lightly oiled and salted asparagus in a cast iron pan.  After 1-2 minutes (depending on the thickness of the spears) add 1/2 cup water to finish cooking the asparagus by steaming. Keep an eye on these; don't overcook.
In a second nonstick pan (my best birthday gift!) melt one tablespoon of butter.  Slowly scramble eggs over med-low heat.  This should take 4-5 minutes.  Your patience will be rewarded.  If you've done it right, they will be like savory egg pudding.

Assembling:
Plate asparagus. Top seared spears with one thick slice of your favorite triple cream cheese. I used Délice de Bourgogne.  If you can find it, great. If not substitute Brie or some lovely cheese that will melt into the asparagus.  Sprinkle cheese with chopped tarragon.  Top the bottom half of the cheese and asparagus with the soft scrambled eggs.  Season with freshly ground pepper if desired.
Serve with toast.

Grill it baby!

Perhaps this is a lame reason for a post. Consider it a brief, yet strong suggestion. Grilling season is not yet at its peak for this year, but tonight I grilled a flank steak for burritos. Generously seasoned with kosher salt, pepper, ground cumin and chili powder. Drizzled with olive oil and seared until medium rare.

The winning star of this combo was not the meat itself, but two limes, halved and grilled with the steak. After the meat was grilled, rested and sliced, I squeezed the grilled lime juice over the top. Suddenly the various toppings I had prepared to go in the burritos were rendered unnecessary. The heat from the grill sweetens, intensifies and brings out sultry notes you didn't know your lime was capable of.

For the record, this can be done with all citrus. Adds a flavorful and moist dimension to any grilled meat or seafood.

Food Revolution Day :: Jamie Oliver

Southern Spring Holiday: recapped

 tunes :: Alison Krauss

Away Down the River

from A Hundred Miles or More
(actually, just listen to the whole album)

a truth found on the walls of the country music musuem

I find myself headed to new food adventures, while I've still not recorded the details of the south. While you might not be exactly holding your breath, I have to stick to my vision of using The Last Bite as a food memory journal for myself. Excuse me as I briefly recap the destinations that we hit, certainly not giving them due attention, but reminding my future self what we encountered and experienced.

Lexington, KY:
Spalding's bakery,
detailed in southern holiday part 1

Roswell, GA (suburb of Atlanta):

Table and Main

We had a wonderful dinner here with friends.  You know how closely food is tied to emotions, so when you're really enjoying company of the ones you are dining with, great food tastes even better. Magical, even.

Nashville, TN:
Pucketts grocery
A total disappointment. Recommended by concierge and guidebooks, but no one had a good meal here.  Sometimes food is just fuel. ;)

Arnold's (included for free: a stroll with four kids through a construction riddled ghetto)
rightfully hailed as one of the great 'meat and three's.  Chaos and long lines abound, but it's all worth it.

Capitol grille (not related to the chain of the northeast) -
Creatively sound, but fell a little short on execution for us. For example, mac and cheese was made with very sharp flavorful cheese, but it was very under salted. White beans woefully undercooked in my bean soup.

Mas tacos por favor -
An out of the way Mexican heaven. I seriously wish this were closer to Ann Arbor.  Strangely enough, this was probably our best meal in Nashville. Not just well executed, but creative.  My favorite tacos were the fried avocado and the sweet potato with quinoa.  All tacos topped with a pleasantly spicy cabbage slaw and cilantro.

Las paletas 

Apparently Nashvill-ians are upset that this spot is now known by tourists like me.  But I would have to disagree.  I'm glad someone let this jewel slip onto the national scene. Very refreshingly unique fruit pops.

Earth day

Sometimes planting a tree is a spiritual experience. Pecan tree, welcome to my garden.

tapenade

to spread on crostini & sandwiches; toss with pasta, rice, potatoes; dress a salad

ingredients seen above:
2 cups black pitted olives
2 tbsp capers, rinsed
6 thin anchovy filets
one garlic clove
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1tsbp tomato paste (can be left out if you are a purist. but i like that extra dimension of acidity)

You can chop and combine this by hand, on a board if you want a rough cut.
Otherwise pulse in food processor.
As I have mentioned before, a house favorite is this spread on a baguette with fresh mozzarella.

Bending Sickle

From April's share: a fresh chicken. Stuffed with oranges and thyme.
 Generously kosher salted and peppered.
Roasted at 425deg for 15 min, 375deg for 40.
Thank you, Benjamin!

olives, gorgonzola, radishes, and local Thompson/Cornman honey. perfect noshing while the bird was roasting.

while you're waiting

for me to write the remainder of my southern spring holiday tale, check this out!

Joel Salatin comes to Arbor.

Get your tickets for next Tuesday!

buzzing and humming

Bee Somebody  :: A very fun and informative blog/website about urban beekeeping.

& the band who opened for Ingrid Michaelson last night -- Pearl and the Beard
It's always a little dangerous to have an opening band that rivals the main act.  Good old Ingrid knows how to keep them coming back.  It was a fantastic show last night, all around!

Southern Holiday: Part 1

You all... I mean, y'all know how much I daydream about living in the South.  There's some sort of a visceral pull I have to the culture; yes, to the food. But more exciting to me is the way that it's entwined into the community at large.  May not be true in every southern situation, but in my daydreams this spirit lives and thrives.  That's why I look forward to these opportunities to visit southern cities -- to see how my visions match up with reality. 

On the way to visiting old friends in a suburb of Atlanta, we sleep in Lexington, KY.  After surveying and rejecting an especially nasty Waffle house, we decide to go out of the way to find what John T. Edge refers to in Southern Belly as the best donuts in the south.  I'm a huge fan, by the way... of both his donut suggestion and his writing.  This bakery was 'for. real.'  Not in any way different than it would have been decades ago.  A classic. Lucky Lexington.

Spalding's Bakery

right across from the Jif peanut butter factory

love the mismatched authenticity of these beauties

best ever:  tasted more like a warm zeppole or carnival funnel cake.  amazing.

the bounty

be bold with bananas?

Sent to me from a good friend as a potential cookbook that I might want to look into.  (kidding...)

Don't look at this if you're queasy.  But if you've got a sense of humor and a strong stomach, look at the final recipe suggestion.  Yes, it involves mayonnaise... and a maraschino cherry.

When Books Attack: Banana Edition

la primavera

Out and about in the warm sun this week with my trusty companions, I noticed a few promising developments.

Wordless Wednesday

Bon Appetit

listening to

Lady Antebellum

Just a Kiss & Dancing away with my heart

don't love the cheesy videos - but it's the easiest way to link the song
 

I've got to admit.  I have mixed feelings about Bon Appetit.  Sometimes it feels like "same-old, same-old".  January : low-fat easy dinner recipes.  March : spring recipes with fava beans and asparagus. No kidding? July : Independence day potato salad. November : how to keep a turkey's skin crisp but it's meat moist. We know, already!  Don't get me wrong, I'm into the seasonal cooking schtick.  But the redundancy of these articles can be tiring.

However, in the recent future, and especially with the advent of the tablet version, I've noticed an updated fresh face of BA. Either they've hired new marketing and visual staff, or someone got a clue. 

I've been looking forward to visiting Nashville in the near future, so I was searching for spots to check out. Here's an example that caught my eye:  An interview with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, on why he loves Nashville, why he relocated there.  I love the conversation about the parallels between musicians and chefs.  "Every good chef... is a soulful person.  Either you sort of have that thing or you don't. Chefs and musicians don't like to be told what to do; don't like to have bosses. They're kind of crazy. They stay up all night."  Being both a musician and (a wanna-be) chef, I can say that he's seriously right on.  It's a cool edgy clip from February's online issue, and an example of the new face of BA.

Check it out.  Especially if you're already a print subscriber, I believe you have access to the digital tablet content.

Kids!

Mona Lisa had babies yesterday! Two adorable little buggers, yet unnamed.

The timing is a little earlier than expected. We didn't know she was pregnant when we rescued her from the slaughter yard. But the babies look purebred so we're pretty sure that it wasn't the alpine buck who fathered these cuties.

You know what this means? Homemade chèvre in just a matter of weeks! Will have to brush off the cheese making books.

Cecilia's pastries

On Tuesday night I took an eclair class at Cecilia's pastries. Why? Because I had recently tried to master making them in my own kitchen to no avail. They tasted okay, but we're not quite up to snuff. Naturally I was excited to see this class on her roster.

I'm not going to take you on a step by step recount of the class. Except to say that if you have the interest in learning about anything that Cecilia teaches, you should absolutely take one of her classes. She is a phenomenal teacher, instructing first by doing, then shadowing us as we attempted. Class sizes are small; ours was only three which allowed for much one on one time. She is so personable and friendly, quick to laugh and banter with her husband who helps facilitate the classes. I certainly understand why her classes are so popular. After taking one, I can't wait to do another.

Egg central

When you live on a farm - even just an small chicken farm - there are days of surplus and days of want. We've just come out of a few weeks where the hens were being stingy with the egg production. Since the storm, more probably just since the consistent warm weather, we're back in business and getting a dozen per day.

When 6:15 rolled around, I started to hear the cries of "I'm hungry". Typically I have things sizzling or boiling by then, but this mid-afternoon I'd allowed myself 30-45 minutes of resting on the couch -- a rare occurrence around here.

I was looking for something quick and easy and vaguely remembered a recipe that I had seen on Saveur: spaghetti with browned butter and fried eggs. I don't know if this actually something eaten in Italy, but the concept is totally Italian- use what you have in excess. We have eggs...

I boiled a pound of spaghetti and fried ten eggs in a mixture of olive oil and butter, being careful not to pop the egg yolks. I also did not flip the eggs because I really wanted to preserve the sultry goodness of the yolk. When the pasta was drained (and a little pasta water reserved), I tossed it with some of the brown butter and then slid the pan full of eggs on top of the platter. Topped with a generous handful of grated parmaggiano and freshly cracked black pepper, it was gorgeous. I served it in bowls partially full of baby spinach leaves. Unfortunately I only snapped a phone photo of one plate before the urchins started digging in.

It's the sort of dish that's painfully simple, yet elegant enough that it would appear on a menu.

Dorothy, we are not in Kansas anymore

Judy Garland

nobody's version beats hers

Somewhere over the rainbow

Can you imagine the emotional roller coaster of my last 24hours? For a week I'd been pumped to help Chef Alex cook at SELMA breakfast cafe. What an opportunity for me?! On Thursday, about an hour before I was supposed to go to the restaurant to help him prep for 200 people hungry for Friday's breakfast, the weather started to concern me. 81 degrees on March 15. Thunder with no rain. Super dark skies. Typical storm pattern for a hot late summer afternoon-- only it's not summer.

I left the house keeping the children behind for ten minutes since Daddy was on his way home, got about a mile away, and realized that no, this was not AT All typical. Doubled back to the house after calling Alex to apologize that I thought I indeed needed to stay home with the little ones. When I turned the car around and headed back home, I saw the beast: a tornado, an honest-to-goodness funnel cloud. Seemed really close to my house-- probably more like a mile away, based on where the current damage is. Forty miles per hour instantaneously doubled to eighty, so that I could get back to the house before the twister. If the ship was going down, or up as it might be, the captain was going up with it. Scrambled everyone into the back room; they were already in the basement because of the original severe thunderstorm warning.

The bottom line is that by some miracle we were spared. Some who live close to me were not so lucky. At this point officials are reporting that there are no injuries or fatalities (!), but that 60 houses were damaged or destroyed. Part of my afternoon today was spent bringing lunches to the volunteers cleaning up the disaster zone.

That being said, this tale was not supposed to be the blog post for today. Being Alex's sous-chef was.

I adore SELMA cafe, love the vibe, the food, Lisa and Jeff. Ann Arbor is lucky to have a couple like them. This is not my first post about the nationally renown "breakfast salon". For me being given the opportunity to cook with Alex, number one, is out of this world. A true honor for a nobody like me. But number two, to do it in that venue! Wow. Do you understand why I did not sleep last night? Adrenalin of tornado coming too close for comfort, and anticipation of such a morning.

It went wildly well, served breakfast to just under 200 hungry people. And ah, the chaos. Normal for a restaurant kitchen, I'm sure, but my kitchen tends to run a little bit quieter. Not much. I thrive on chaos like that of cooking at SELMA. I suppose that part of the reason it feels so right is that for just a few moments, the chaos inside my head matches the outside chaos. This definitely served as confirmation to follow my instinct into the world of cooking.

Alex's menu this morning:
1) Johnny cakes (made of heirloom cornmeal from Rhode Island) cheesy eggs with local ricotta, sausage patties from Cornman pigs.
Or
2) potato and squash latkes with eggs florentine, topped with roasted Cornman peppers and Parmesan. Also served with Cornman piggie.

Other regular options that Lisa always provides are: bread pudding with fruit, waffles, tacos sanchos, or vegan granola.

We're still without power so I apologize if this comes across as sloppy because I'm writing from my phone. But I just had to get my thoughts down before the buzz disappears. Will edit and add links later. After I find Toto.

Lisa's blog post about the morning: on the Selma Blog
 

for posterity's sake, I'm including this phone photo taken by someone behind Busch's in Dexter

Hipstamatic quickie

Up close and personal with Chef Alex's mincemeat pie from Saturday night's 'American meat' event dinner :: my mother would have adored this...

Detroit's alive #3

Yes, Detroit is largely in shambles, but there are glorious little pockets of life and food in Dtown proper, and of course, in bustling metro-Detroit.  Everytime I'm reading online reviews of food opportunities in the area, I keep stumbling on bloggers devoting their musings to food in Detroit.

Eat it Detroit! is a blog, new to me - with dozens of suggestions of restaurants in the larger metro Detroit area.  Check it out!

updates

listening to Lady Day 

Billie Holiday collection # 1

"When you're smiling"  

Sorry for the delay, ladies and gents. 

I've been reading and scanning food bits online, five minutes at a time when I get a chance.  Some weeks, there's more opportunity than others.  With a big mug of sweet & milky earl grey by my side, I'll update you.

• Oh my, MIETTE. You taste as good as you look.  That's a rare compliment.  Typically fancy french-y kind of baking doesn't satisfy my taste buds as much as the eyeballs. But WOW.  Check out the photos she's posted on her FB page.  Amazing.  More Ann Arbor talent shines! If you're at the Kerrytown farmers market, or are a customer of Lunasa, please order from Miette.  You will not be sorry.  We've particularly enjoyed the brioche rolls and the chocolate ganache tart.   And stay tuned to her on FB, because a little birdie told me there's some exciting news in her (and our) future! 
• Need to know how to make Mozzarella?  John Loomis is your man (follow him on Twitter).  My daughter and I spent last Saturday afternoon with him at Zingerman's creamery.   Definitely worth it.  The products we went home with were amazing.  For dinner we thickly sliced our homemade mozzarella and put it on a Zing French baguette, spread black olive tapenade and drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt.  Wow.  Even if you don't make your own mozzarella, buy some fresh this a.m. and make this sandwich for lunch.  
• Why care about being a locavore?  I know some cynics are wondering what the hype is all about.    
• Going to see AMERICAN MEAT tonight, so more about that later.  But I'm grossly excited to see this expose.  Me going to watch this is a little like the choir being in the front row at church, but I want to stay informed and be able to explain with evidence why this topic is important to me. 
• To that end I've joined a meat CSA called Bending Sickle Farm. I payed 5 months in advance when I picked up the first share in February.  Pork chops, ham hock (with quite a lot of meat on it), ground pork, goat stew meat (looking forward to a curry with this), leaf lard, and a slab bacon.  So far everything has tasted and looked great. If you're like me, it makes for happy eating to know your meat was treated well during it's life.
 

I've tried:
yogurt cake ~ Chocolate & Zucchini - a standard (almost bland) cake that is 'the first that every French child learns to bake'.  With raspberry coulis, lemon curd and whipped cream, it was enjoyable.  I didn't fall in love with this gateau, but i adore this delightful blog and cookbook. 

kinda classic coleslaw ~ Smitten Kitchen for fish fry night- 'not your mama's' because of the blue cheese.  Instead of celery seed I grated a celeriac root.  I prefer the celery a background note - not the harsh black seeds that stick in your teeth and get burped up for hours.

butterscotch pudding ~ David Lebowitz - a favorite oldie but goodie that can't seem to stay in this house for more than a day. 


Dinner last night: 
Bending sickle ground pork browned til crispy, with rosemary, crushed red pepper, and slivered garlic, sauteed broccoli raab, and pecorino romano served over boccatini. 


Looking forward to:
SEMBA beekeepers conference : next weekend
Cecelia Pastries class on Eclairs : March
Joel Salatin @ Michigan Theater : April
BaconFest Michigan : June
River Cottage !! Cheese Making Class : June