Our Low-Key New Year's Eve

I am not a NYE fan.  I was somewhere in my 20's when I realized this. For some reason, New Year's Eve has always made me think of all the people I knew who are no longer here. So, that's one reason.  Then, at some NYE "celebration" on the rooftop at the Vendue Inn in Charleston, I realized that the only celebration was the bar owner's bank deposit he'd be making the next day while I was here in this crowded ass bar full of drunks clamoring for their free glass of champagne.  As I raised mine to my lips, I instantly exclaimed something like "what a ripoff!" as I realized that I hadn't been given a glass of champagne, but rather a glass of Asti Spumante.  Obviously, I wasn't expecting a glass of Dom, but at least a cheap champagne. Asti is rank.  Asti doesn't belong on this planet.  Asti must die.  Free glass of this crap? Happy Freakin' New Year.


Then, of course there are the drunks to contend with.  Not only do you have to deal with them in person, but then wonder if one of them will take you out on the way home.  Plus, who wants to roll the dice on a random license stop or some cop blue lighting you on a missing tail light? All of these examples illustrate why I really don't care for New Year's Eve.

Instead, we prefer to cook good food, drink wine and blow shit up in the street (fireworks, friends.)  We are fortunate enough to live about 1/4 mile from a 365 day/year fireworks store. So, we hit Jim Casey's and stock up on as much fire power as we can afford (justify.) My child talked me into 3' long sparklers.  Sparklers? I like stuff that shoots up in the air and blossoms.  But I said ok, then much to my chagrin looked at the receipt in the car to realize the kid had talked me into $7 sparklers.  Oyyy.

So, on to the food.  We did a simple yet delicious dinner this year.  I have fallen in love with Paul Prudhomme's "salmon seasoning."  It's just so good and it makes the salmon quick and easy to cook and packs on the flavor.  So, I drizzled our salmon fillets with butter then sprinkled very liberally with the seasoning.  You merely bake them at 450 for 6 minutes.  To this I added steamed broccoli and a simple parmesan risotto, but I jazzed it up by sauteing my onion with truffle oil. 

Seasoned and ready for the oven

Baked salmon, truffled parmesan risotto & steamed broccoli

So, we've promised the little one that she can stay up until midnight and see the ball drop...she's 8 after all.  We'll meet our neighbor out in the street in a little while to blow some stuff up and sip our wine. Happy New Year to you all.  I am not a resolution person but if you are, just resolve to cook your own food and eat well!

Yet another good salmon

Around here, we eat salmon as often as possible.  We eat it for the obvious reasons...it's good for us, it's versatile, it's tasty.  However, I think the main reason I continue to cook it often and try new recipes is that my 8 year old loves salmon.  I mean, she really loves it. Glazed with honey & vermouth, smoked on the grill, broiled with Dijon and bread crumb topping, any way you can come up with.  I found a recipe on Pinterest months ago for a teriyaki salmon with sriracha cream.  The photo is just beautiful and I have been going back and stalking my own Pinterest board to see the picture. My hold up in making it was that I didn't have any sriracha and when cruising through the grocery store, the thought of sriracha just never popped into my head.

Well, recently, I paid a little visit to one of my favorite places, the Chef'Store.  As I wandered slowly through the aisles, I spotted the sriracha.  Ah hah!  I snatched up a bottle and headed straight for the checkout.  I knew what we were having for dinner that night.  I got home, pulled up Pinterest and got started.  I made the teriyaki sauce from scratch, as outlined in the recipe, but I think you could easily get away with using prepared teriyaki, so don't let that deter you.  It was all very easy to prepare and the result was dynamite. I really love this girl's site too. It's called Damn Delicious and she's got tons of awesome recipes posted there.

Results for the Akre house?  Thumbs up from the little one and an exchange of cool guy nods between me and the hubster.

I think this looks just beautiful!

 One thing I'll say is that this makes way more sriracha cream than 3 people will eat at one sitting.  Probably more than even 6 people would use.  So, whatever could I do? 

Sriracha cream sauce ingredients

 I came up with an EXCELLENT use for the leftover sauce, if I do yell so myself in my shouty capitals. I fried up some green tomatoes and drizzled with the sauce.  You may have felt the Earth move a little that day.  Or, perhaps you heard the loud Hosanna! as I bit into that first one.  Crispy, tart, almost holy fried green tomatoes with an obligatory sprinkling of salt and that spicy sriracha deliciousness mixed all up in 'dere. 

I want another plate of these right now!

As I contemplated the success of this pairing, I began to imagine how else I could use up this divine leftover sauce. Some of my ideas were as a dip for boiled shrimp, mixed with cabbage for a spicy slaw on a fish or shrimp taco or even to shake up a chicken and waffle dealio.  So, don't worry about the amount of sauce this makes.  You'll find all kinds of great uses for it.  I'd love to hear about them.

AT LAST! A real menu for children

Kids are people too. But you wouldn't know it to look at most restaurants' children's menu.  I think "picky eaters" aren't born, they are taught. Of course, there are exceptions to this statement, but for the most part, I think I'm right about this.  

My mom told me years ago about an article she read. There was an experiment involving kids and their eating habits.  On day 1, the kids came into a room to find a long table filled with cookies, cakes, pies, ice cream, chocolate, potato chips, Doritos and the like. They also found grilled chicken, fish, green beans, spinach, squash, broccoli, fruits, etc. As expected, on day 1, the sweets were quickly demolished and the "real food" left untouched.

However, this began to change gradually. Each day, less and less of the sweets & junk food were consumed and more and more of the good stuff.  By the end of the week, the kids were eating full, balanced meals with maybe one dessert selection.  The conclusion?  The kids ate what they needed. Their bodies needed (wanted) the nutritious foods to survive.  The novelty of the junk wore off quickly even though the kids had unlimited choices of "fun" foods in front of them. 

This has been my basic philosophy about feeding my daughter: make available what she needs. From the time we began giving her solid foods, my husband and I focused on giving her good, balanced meals and we changed it up a lot.  We have continued to offer new, different dishes and meals to expose her to the great big world and to encourage healthy and adventurous eating.  Some foods are a hit, some not.  But, I don't give up.  I'll try them prepared differently next time and guess what?  Eventually those foods make it onto the "thumbs up" list.

Going to a restaurant with a child can be a challenge.  Most have a kids menu, but frankly, they usually just make me mad.  You've seen it before...the unhealthy, junky, uncoordinated selections they make available to your child.  Chicken fingers, french fries, macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, corn dog.  And don't forget the lovely sides: jello, applesauce, fries, yogurt. 

Kids are people too!  When was the last time you waltzed into a restaurant and said "Yes, I'll have the corn dog with a side of applesauce and macaroni."  I'm betting NEVER.There's a place in the Vista that has macaroni for kids.  We ordered it one time.  I swear to you, they cooked an entire box of Kraft macaroni and cheese, dumped the whole pot into a bowl and served it to my 4 year old with an adult-sized soup spoon.  So, she was given a portion size fit for Paul Bunyan, a spoon that won't fit in her mouth to eat a bowl full of crap from a box that I don't even make at home.  

Here's a tip:  you're a restaurant.  Cook!  Make some macaroni. It's not that hard. Serve kids a smaller portion.  Or, for that matter, how about just serve ANYTHING on your menu at a kid-sized portion and price?  Now, that is sheer brilliance, if I do say so myself.

Ok, ok, ranting aside, the real purpose of this post is to give major applause and accolades to Harper's in Five Points. We went in today after church.  Viv received the usual kids menu with accompanying crayons.  I started looking it over and almost fell out of the booth.  I have never, ever, ever seen a children's menu like this!  Actual entrees, vegetables, includes a dessert and only $6. Take a look:

  
Notice anything?  There is salmon, grilled chicken, BBQ sliders, roasted vegetables, fruit as well as brunch items.  Now with this, you can build a real meal for your child.  Viv chose the grilled salmon with honey mustard glaze.  She really does love salmon.  She was talking about ordering French toast when the salmon caught her eye. She selected fruit as her side and the scoop of ice cream for dessert.  Just for the record, despite what she circled above, I did give in and let her have a Dr. Pepper since her soda consumption is practically non-existent, but I 86'd the milkshake.

This is the plate she was served.  It looked fantastic and I had to try it.  It was perfectly cooked, you could taste the wood fire, nice "crust" on the outside.  It was delicious.  

I was euphoric through the rest of our lunch, because I was so jacked that someone finally gets it.  Kids don't need to live off cheese, fried chicken and pasta.  And, what kind of idiot puts PB&J on a menu?  Restaurants need to act like restaurants and cook.  Cook for all your customers regardless their age. Kids will eat real food.  But you have to make it available to them.  If every restaurant would adopt my "just make a smaller portion" concept (anybody remember "ladies' portions?), we could have kids everywhere experimenting and developing their little palates every time they eat out.

Kudos to you Harper's!  I hadn't been to your restaurant in a long time (no reason, just hadn't made it in) but I tell you what, we'll be in frequently now.  Thank you for offering vegetables and lean proteins to our kids.  Thank you for serving them an appropriate serving size at an appropriate price.  You get it.

Dining al Fresco out of a Brown Box

Ok, I'm not IN a brown box.  But, I am in love with a brown box.  This past Saturday was my 2nd delivery from BrownBoxVeggies.  I am their new biggest fan. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the "Veggie Girls" stock up a big box of fruits and veggies to deliver on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month.  They reach out to as many local farms as possible to grab what's fresh and being harvested right now.  Then, they pack the box FULL of what they've found and sell it to people like us for only $22!  I couldn't duplicate what I received for $22 in a grocery store and the produce was fresher and didn't go bad on me before I could use it all.

My first box was so beautiful, I almost cried when I opened it.  Even my little one got excited helping me unpack.
  

OMG!  Look at this!

This box contained broccoli, parsley, tomatoes, spinach, kale, Carolina Sweet onions, squash, zucchini, pears, oranges, potatoes and asparagus.  A true cornucopia.  We used every bit of it with delight.  So, this past Saturday was my 2nd go-round.  Sorry that I didn't take a photo of Box #2...we dove in and never looked back!  This time we received Carolina Sweets, cabbage, collards, oranges, grapefruit, tomatoes, radishes, Romaine, corn, strawberries, apples and dill.  Lots and lots of dill.  I'm talkin' about two humogous bunches each about 3" around and 12" long.  My head is reeling trying to figure out what to do with all of it.  This week might be the week I dive in and try to make my own pickles.

But, first, dinner.  Of course, when you think of dill, one of the first ideas you have is salmon.  Since my daughter is eating salmon (happily) I'm cooking it every chance I get.  I whipped up this dinner and we ate al Fresco on the patio.  NOW, my title makes some sense, huh?  Salmon with dill sauce, sauteed pea pods, and yellow rice.

Here's what I did.  I salt and peppered two 6oz. salmon fillets (skinless).  I placed them on foil and topped each with some slices of Carolina Sweet onions and lemons and wrapped up the foil tightly to enclose them.  I baked them for about 20 minutes or so at 350°.  While that was happening, I made this sauce:

2 Tbs light mayo
2 Tbs sour cream
1 Tbs white wine
1 1/2 tsp capers
1 tsp finely chopped Carolina Sweet onion
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp horseradish
1 Tbs fresh dill, chopped
1/4 tsp garlic salt
pepper   
 

Then, we just drizzled the sauce over our salmon and devoured it!  I'm a sucker for anything pickled, so I think I'll actually add a few more capers next time.  I have actually eaten capers out of the jar with a spoon before.  (The first step is admitting it, right?) Thank you Veggie Girls for my jam packed boxes of loveliness.  And, you may be the reason that I finally embark on this pickle making project.  The idea of canning is a little intimidating, but I can't let all this dill go to waste! If any of you need some dill, I can hook you up. 

Snow in SC and we're snackin' it up!

As you can imagine, snowfall in South Carolina is very, very few and far between.  Today, it happened. Not just a teaser dusting like we got a couple weeks ago, but REAL snow!  We have been out throwing snowballs, pulling Vivian in a kayak tied to her little motorcycle (I know it sounds redneck, but it's all good!) and now we're feeling snacky.

We aren't much on junk food around here, so we don't have typical chips and other snacks readily available to us.  In fact, while all our Southern brethren were raiding the groceries yesterday for bread, milk & eggs, we simply made a wine run.  We have our priorities straight, after all.  So, today, we opened the cabinets and the fridge and came up with a pretty damn nice snack plate if you ask me.  

For Christmas, Neil gave me two nice caviars: A paddlefish caviar, which is a small black roe and a wild caught Keta salmon caviar that is a large, brilliant orange roe. They are both fantastic but I think the salmon is my favorite.  We put this together with some simple water crackers, spreadable brie cheese and goat cheese.  And, of course, we tapped into a bottle of cabernet as well.  I'll speak for myself and Neil and tell you we have happy little tummies right now!