Marinated In Flavor

Monday and Tuesday

Good Morning…

The Keasts arrived this afternoon and we got them settled into their room. Afterwards, I took them on a driving tour of the city and they were able to see the diverse areas of our city. We briefly covered uptown, the City Park area, the lower 9th ward, the Bywater, the Marigney, and the French Quarter. They were impressed with the architecture and the different styles of houses in the different neighborhoods. 

I put on a pot of red beans to give them a taste of real New Orleans cooking. Here they are cooking in the pot. Since I had so much to do today I didn’t take many pictures of the process of making them. I will do this in a later post bacause I cook beans about every other week.

They cooked for about 2 1/2 hours and by the time they were done, they were thick and had formed a creamy sauce around the beans. I added pickled pork, tasso, and a smoked pork shank, which imparted loads of flavor to the beans…

I also made a poppy seed cake…

Here is the recipe:

Poppy Seed Cake

  • 1 butter recipe yellow cake mix
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 small jar of poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cake mx, sugar, sour cream and oil. Beat together until combined, about a minute.

With the motor running on med-low add the eggs, one at a time and beat until each is incorporated into the batter.

Prepare a bundt cake pan with vegetable oil spray and coat the pan with granulated sugar, pouring out any excess sugar.

Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for about an hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (You may need to cover the cake with foil toward the end of baking to prevent over-browning)

This is one of my standard cakes. It comes out super-moist and I always get compliments on it when I make it….

Our friend, Ted is in town so he came to dinner along with Jeff, our son, and Z….

Tuesday

Got up late this morning when my alarm decided not to go off. I checked it and am baffled… The Keasts were up with Lane and I heard them talking so I jumped up to get ready for Pilates. We’re going to run over to Ted’s cottage for them to see the renovations and build out he’s doing over there….

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Ted’s cottage is definitely coming along. Don’t know how long it will take to finish as there was a shooting last night and Ted’s carpenter got shot. Luckily it wasn’t fatal and the bullet exited his body. He should recover nicely if all goes well.

After going to Ted’s I had to go to Pilates at NOAC. I took the Keasts with me so they could see NOAC, which happens to be the second oldest health club in the United States. After showing them a bit of the club they took off to stroll the Quarter and have lunch. 

I came home to blog and do some work around the house.

I made us a reservation at Dick and Jenny’s and we went there this evening. We invited Ted to come along with us. The restaurant was fairly busy, but luckily, we didn’t have to wait for our table.

We started out with smoked chicken and andouille sausage gumbo, and green gazpacho….

Grahame and Fay both had the gumbo and they liked it. My green gazpacho was ok…not great, but light, which is what I was after on this very hot day.

Here is our friend, Ted, who is from New York, but just purchased a sweet side-hall shotgun house about 5 blocks from us. It will be great to have him as an occasional neighbor, when he’s in town…

The fried oysters at Dick and Jenny’s are alway amazing so we wanted to get some for the table.They were delicious, as always….crunchy and not over-fried….moist inside. 

The oysters were served with a mustardy sauce and slaw……great!

Next followed the entrees…

Grahame and I had the beef tenderloin which was served with grilled asparagus and mashed potatoes with a demi-glace. The steak was wonderful, tender and juicy and the potatoes, tasty.

Lane and Ted had the puppy drum, and Fay had the Shrimp and Grits….I didn’t get a picture of Fay’s Shrimp and Grits, but she said that it was very good.

Both Ted and Lane like the drum. It came with sauteed spinach and I’m not quite sure what was on top….

It’s been nice getting to know the Keasts. They are very kind and good natured. Fay presented us with a special gift that she made herself. Two little quilted squares of scenes of Australia. It was a lovely gesture and we will enjoy remembering our visit whenever we see them.

They are departing for the last leg of their trip and will be home by mid-July….

Night all….

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