The Coupon Queen

My wife has become very good at the coupon game. So good, in fact, that she convinced Publix to pay us $0.05 to take this valencia rice off their hands:





To celebrate the windfall, we made Paella:

Topped off with some killer Andouille sausage from The Cajun Clever:

Not traditional, but very nice indeed...

Longing for Spring Already

I was just looking back at some of the springtime pictures of this year's garden. It makes me really love winter right now. Especially with a house full of sick kids...

Spirit Bears and Tar Sands

SPOIL Film Trailer from EP Films on Vimeo.

Rare

RARE from Joel Sartore on Vimeo.

Earth's biodiversity is vanishing at an alarming rate. This video from National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore shows what we stand to lose. More information is available in his forthcoming book, RARE: Portraits of America's Endangered Species.

Totally Shameless Promotion

In the name of getting free stuff...


But, in my defense, it is really good free stuff. Katie ("Sweet Tater") arranged for a give-away of a set of "unpaper towels." I have realized that we use a ridiculous amount of paper towels in our household when my wife made a special emergency trip to the store for a case of them the other day. Maybe a set of "unpaper towels" would help. Here's hoping I win...

Check out her blog and the giveaway here.

Fresh Prunes?

I'm still trying to figure out if this is worse than when they were marketing prunes as "dried plums" to avoid the prunes' stigma as a home remedy for constipation.

Anyhow, these were in the produce section of Costco, right down from the "fresh raisins."

OK, so according to the Wikipedia, there may be a distinction between certain fruits (specifically the freestone and clingstone varieties) where one is a "prune" and the other is a "plum." Thus, it is possible to have "fresh prunes." I am not buying it though. I suspect that Stellar Distributing merely changed the Wikipedia entry on prunes to suit their marketing goof...

Pond Cow

Tart

Closeup of a fruit tart I made the other day. The purpose was to use up a bunch of blueberries we had in the fridge, but my wife doesn't like blueberries, so I made her side with strawberry jam...



Oh yeah, and I used a new thing on the blueberries--roasted lemon peel. Idea courtesy of Chocolate and Zucchini.

Oprah

I realized in a conversation yesterday that I deeply distrust anything related to, or endorsed by Oprah. Is that wrong?

Them Belgians...

... really know what they are doing.

The Farm Market

Since my garden is a huge disappointment this year (thanks to Phil the groundhog who lives in our backyard), I have had to turn elsewhere for my produce. I feel sort of like Kramer in the episode where he gets banned from the fruit stand.

Anyhow, I have located a pretty cool "farm market" that is keeping me going for the season. I guess it is a farm market instead of a farmers market because none of the folks there are actually farmers. Mostly high school kids. But, most of the produce purports to be local and they have a great selection.

I picked these bad-boy up on a recent trip:




And turned them into this:



It was good.

We went out to my favorite restaurant tonight for my birthday, which is always a treat. While scanning the menu, I found myself shying away from usual favorites from the gulf like shrimp, oysters, and flounder thinking that they couldn't be as fresh or local as they have been in years past. Shame on me, and shame on BP for making it so. I'm so glad that the wells are (supposedly) capped now, but still so sad for the devastation.

Delicious Bass

From a farm-pond trip a couple of months ago.

The Bass:




The Fillets:


The Dinner:


Grilled Black Bass over Quinoa (now my 2 year old son's favorite grain) with an improvised (and spicy) Sriracha Remoulade.

I was pleasantly surprised with how well the Bass held up on the grill. I'll definitely be rolling this out again. I've got a freezer full of bass to work on...



I should also apologize to both of my loyal readers. I have been in an unreasonably busy season for the past few months, between family (a good thing) and work (not such a good thing, but glad I have a great job). Anyhow, this is a post I've been meaning to make for a while, and I'm trying to get back to regular blogging.

Alabama Spring Stripers

Untitled from yuhina on Vimeo.

Video montage by my friend Mark. He is having a great spring...

Via

Living in the new

Over the years, I'm sure I have read almost all the words in the Bible at one time or another. But, I decided a couple of years ago that I should also read it all the way through, cover-to-cover. I have gone at no particular pace, but I did commit to read some every day, at least for a few moments before retiring to bed. Keep in mind, I am not doing this in lieu of a true study, but in addition to my regular studies of specific books or topics.

Recently (I told you there is no particular pace), I made it to the new testament, and all I can say is what a relief! The OT can really be a drag. I don't mean that I am trying to ignore the many important things found in the old testament. But, I do mean that it is a pretty tough read--especially Numbers, Deuteronomy, and some of those minor prophets.

More importantly though, it must have been a real drag to toil under the Mosaic Law of the old testament, which we now understand existed to demonstrate that we cannot attain or atone for much of anything by our own efforts. Drudging through some of these old texts really drives home the point of grace.

The crisp and direct writing of the new testament personifies to me the way that Christ gave us freedom by fulfilling the law. Turning this corner from the old to new testament has been like an awakening, like a breath of fresh air, like the advent of spring. Refreshing and divine.

Possibly the best pizza I've ever made...

I was out of dry yeast, so I substituted a natural starter. I let it mellow in the fridge overnight and pulled it out the next morning to come back up to room temp. Punched it down every couple of hours throughout the day. Come dinner time, it was the most supple, velvety pizza dough I have ever made. (in the background is a batard made with the same starter)

We made three pizzas out of it:

- One simply with mozzarella over a straightforward tomato sauce.
- Another like the first, but with goat cheese and caramelized onions under the mozzarella.
- And, the last one had a spoonful of Maille whole mustard mixed in the sauce and cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella, with caramelized onions and thin-sliced bratwurst.

So happy...

"Cambrian Explosion"

A new striper fly I will try out this spring, if I can ever find the time to fish...

Backyard Visitor

The sourdough is ON!

The force is strong with him

Da Green Police

This may have been one of the wittiest commercials of this year's superbowl. But, I'm still trying to figure out what that animal is at the 0:42 mark...

1901

Phoenix - 1901 - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Leonardo's

So, it was tough to get a decent reservation at our favorite restaurant, so we went to our second favorite restaurant to celebrate my wife's um... twenty ninth ... birthday.

The rolled eggplant at Leonardo's is unbelievable. What do they put in that filling? It is not just Ricotta, no matter what the server tells you. Creme Fraiche? Cream Cheese? Crema? Who knows, it is just plain awesome...

Detail

Detail on my wife's birthday cake. A nice touch, I thought. Well done Edgars!

Putting the Mixer to Good Use

For Christmas, my Mother made the gift of a gently used KitchenAid, which was a HUGE upgrade over the old stand mixer. We've been putting it to good use.

Mushrooms

In a classic twist of irony, you can now find "Baby Portabello" mushrooms in mainstream American supermarkets. Of course, these are really Cremini Mushrooms, but most Americans would never have heard of them if not for the portabello marketing machine and the ensuing food trend that has caused portabellos to trickle down to even the most meager restaurants (a la sun-dried tomatoes, chipotle peppers, etc...)

Anyhow, even though I have to swallow my foodie pride, I am delighted to have such free access to fresh criminis.



They make a darned good mushroom ragout to put over polenta...