Wow!

"There was an EGG at the bottom"

This was the original post Benji couldn't stop himself from making despite not being part of the blog. That was the sheer excitement caused by secret New Orleans food YAKA MEIN.

Yaka mein is one of those foods that makes you excited that food is a thing. Not because its so good, but because when people talk about New Orleans food they say "oh a po boy, oh a muffaletta, hey lets get a beignet" and one day you realize that every po boy shop you go to has something called Yaka Mein, and it captures your boyfriend's imagination so much all you hear for several days is "oh, we gotta try that Yaka Mein."

So we made a plan. Benji finally signed the official papers to start his new job and we were going to celebrate by filling our bodies with Yaka Mein. We were going to Man Chu's, a place known for its fried chicken with psychotropic properties (I think its MSG), because we decided they probably also have the best yaka mein.

Before going, we asked our 14 year old neighbor-kid Keron about yaka mein. His mother makes it, it turns out. He described it as "kind of like spaghetti." Which makes sense if you think about it. By the way, this kid's brother thinks the only kind of lo mein is shrimp lo mein, which is charming.

So Man Chu's was closed and we went to Cajun Seafood on Broad St. This is a delicious seafood place run by several vietnamese folks. They have great food. I almost died from eating a catfish po boy there on my first day in town. Because it was so good, you see, because it was so good. Anyway. So we get there and benji says "get whatever you want. we're having a feast." So we ended up getting all the things in the following picture:















And a spicy crawfish pie. (apologies for accidentally making this look like the royal yakameinenbaums)

As you can see, Yaka Mein, it turns out, is a bland, greasy, salty noodle soup. It's fine. Nothing to write home about. But blog, sure, sure I'll blog about that.

There are two possible stories behind it: 1. it came over with chinese immigrants who settled here in the 19th century while working on the railroads or b. black soldiers brought it back from the korean war. In other pictures online it looks super korean, but ours didn't. UNTIL WE FOUND THE EGG AT THE BOTTOM. That's what that's about. It's also called "Ol' Sober" because it is seen as an excellent hangover food. I think that's probably a misguided move since it's so salty and not fried at all but ok.

The oyster po boy was good. I don't think i like oysters that much, but i like fried things and boy were these fried. The gumbo had a ridiculous amount of crab shell in it. The Bush was cold as a mountain stream and smooth as its name. The crawfish pie was AMAZING. I could eat crawfish pies till i died.

simple breakfast in bed, or battle blogging 2: the blogening

Well, I had to get back into the bed to eat, but at Erin's that's pretty much where we hang out all the time anyway.
This morning I made us a delicious little breakfast. I knew we had eggs, but I also knew there wasn't much else. After I did some rummaging, I managed to find a lot of things I had either forgotten about or didn't know were there in the first place. There were some cippolini onions we had gotten from work a while ago languishing in the crisper, as well as a can of new potatoes in the pantry, so there's your homefries right there. I would have loved to have a pepper, and there were a couple of baby bell peppers in the fridge, but they were just on the other side of me wanting to use them. Also tossed out what cheese we had left, as it was so little that trimming it would have taken it to nothing. So, hey, cleaned out the fridge a little while I was at it! Look at me, all productive at like 9:30 in the morning like a dang adult!
Then I found the remnants of a pack of raspberries I had scored, and some yogurts Erin had brought home. Fruit and yogurt! I put the berries in the bottom of the yogurt, like buried treasure! Also we had some AWESOME tomatoes from the neighbors' garden. Tomato slices. Booyah. Breakfast.
Sauteėd the onions (cippolinis are fun to peel, boy, let me tell you) and potatoes with some garlic, salt, pepper, dried parsley (desperately trying to get some of the added color peppers would have given me) and some Tony's (it really is good on just about everything). Then I fried two eggs for each of us. I think my relationship with frying eggs might be improving. For so long I have struggled with it. For whatever reason, I have found it stressful and difficult to simply fry eggs. Scrambled, I've got it covered. I just want them to be so perfect when I fry them that I usually end up either overcooking them or breaking the yolks. I think I might be finding my center on this one, finally. Just relaxing a little bit I think is the key.
Anyway, the eggs turned out just about right, only one broken yolk! Bada bing, bada boom, bada breakfast!

World Cup of Soup

Last Saturday (was that last saturday?) Benji and I crossed the Mighty Mississippi into Gretna for some pho (FINALLYTHANKGOD).

We got to the restaurant just in time to see the last half and extra time of the final game of the World Cup. The restaurant was sort of half filled with people who were kind of excited about the game--exactly the kind of atmosphere I want to eat pho/watch the World Cup in because I REALLY care about pho and only care about the World Cup in the sense that it seems like I ought to have some marginal interest in it.

I ordered a large Pho Tai, a classic. It was so large that I decided that the challenge of eating it would be MY World Cup, an idea that was (understandably) met with little enthusiasm when I shared it with Benji. The soup was fantastic, and was served with a really well-stocked plate of garnishes which is extremely important. I didn't finish my bowl and Spain won. No one in the restaurant reacted with any sort of joy or anger about the result--they just got up and left. Which is about how I felt leaving some of my soup behind.
Anyway, greatest day of my life.

Side note:

"Why don't you take pictures, Kaitlin?"

Well, friend, it's because my camera is still packed.

"Don't you have a camera phone?"

I LEAVE IT AT HOME A LOT LEAVE ME ALONE.

"Sorry, you're really touchy, i didn't realize"

YES.

Food and Drink Update

I tried the gelato mentioned in the previous post. As it turns out, this place Angelo Brocato's is extremely famous in New Orleans. It also turns out that they are hiring. I haven't put in my application yet, but i might swing by today or tomorrow so that I can have a really reasonable excuse to eat an eclair or a scoop of stracciatella.
The gelato I tried was the Bacci. It was fine, but I was sort of disappointed with the texture, which was grainy in the way that ice cream will get if you freeze it too long without moving it. It had big chunks of hazelnut though, and, let's face it--I would have eaten a gallon of it in one sitting if given the chance.


As promised, I also ate at Sucre, the bakery near my other new house. Look at how cute that cake-made-of-macarons is. Yeah, it's real cute. Yeah, its a real cute store. Real expensive too. And guess what--you're paying for cute. I ate an eclair there and it was TERRIBLE! It also cost me $4. I got a better pastry at the latino grocery in my neighborhood. I couldn't believe it. The coffee was really good. The macarons were ok, although honestly I think they're just there to serve the purpose of having somewhere where people who spent a semester abroad in Paris can say "Oh I just really miss the macarons, I'm so glad I can go somewhere to talk endlessly about my adventures in Europe besides the French Quarter." People love branding and have terrible taste in pastries so I can see why everyone is so wild about this place.

last night I ate a delicious burger

So I had a hankerin' for a burger yesterday, and because Erin has a built-in gas grill at her house, making this happen was exceedingly simple. Boy, do I ever love the convenience of that thing. I have a classic Weber charcoal grill myself, and I absolutely adore it. However, being able to simply turn a knob (not to mention adjust heat at will) is ever-so-expedient. So I went to the market to gather supplies: 80/20 local ground beef, some buns, a tomato, some green leaf lettuce (sometimes I'm tempted to put something fancier like spinach or baby greens on a burger, but it's never as satisfying as some good ol' fashioned lettuce), a red onion and some NY sharp cheddar. Fortuitously, I had earlier that very day, already purchased a jar of Bubbie's pure kosher dills, which I had to explain to Erin absolutely was a necessary item and therefore belonged with the other things I was buying at the time: milk and toilet paper. So then I just had to wait until she got done with work. Oh, the agony! Oh, that anticipation!
It wasn't that bad, though, because I had a tasty cocktail to keep me company. New Amsterdam Gin and San Pellegrino Aranciata. So delicious and refreshing, perfect after the sweltering heat I had spent the afternoon hanging laundry in.
On to the burgers! I mixed the beef with some salt and pepper, garlic powder and some Worcestershire (old tricks are the best tricks, eh?), then spent some quality time... (here is where I try desperately to figure out a creative way to describe making burgers that doesn't sound like I'm a snickering 8th-grader, and fail miserably) um, making burger patties. I halved and sliced the onion and sauteed until well caramelized. I found some bell peppers in the fridge, so those got some olive oil, salt and pepper and went on the grill alongside the burgers. Buns were buttered and toasted.
These burgers were dang delicious, for real. Here is a crappy picture I took with my phone.

After inhaling my burger, I wanted to try a cocktail that I had been thinking about all day. Having now tried it, I could not more highly recommend it. Some of Jeremiah Weed, some Ceres passion fruit (about one and a half times as much as the vodka), and water (sparkling water is also fantastic). This was also delicious and refreshing.
Now I'm off to eat a noodle bowl and fight a day-long internal battle against the will to eat the single leftover burger in the fridge, which I was expressly instructed to save for later.

"A "Cool" Drink" -- Title of post

There is a delicious New Orleans product I want to tell you about. Its called Cool Brew. I'm completely addicted to it. It's a coffee concentrate that comes in a variety of flavors, though I've only had "regular."

I'll be honest: I'm not really sure how its any different than those little cups coffee companies think are a great idea, but I think it might be that it is cold brewed (and it has chickory because it is from New Orleans). Basically I think they just soak the beans in cold water for a day or so and then stick it in the coolest bottle you've ever seen, and then I buy it for $5 a bottle, which is extremely expensive.

Another difference is that those lil' cups are for hot coffee. This can be hot but is kept refrigerated and generally consumed cold. This is presumably because it is far too hot here for coffee most of the time. I prefer mine as follows:

1/2-1 cup leftover coffee at room temperature
5-8 ice cubes (btw I've been using silicone ice trays which I thought would solve my ice problems but which aren't any better than regular plastic)
1 shot cool brew
2 - 10 tbsp sugar (you know, to taste!)

This is partially because I prefer to consume as much caffiene and sugar as possible in one day, and and partially because I always have leftover coffee from the morning.

I will send you a bottle at cost if you want one.

Two things I want to try soon: The gelato shop near my house and some fresh french-not-southern-style macarons at a bakery near my other house because I hear that is the "new cupcake" (by now is it the new "fro yo"?)



Also, everyone welcome the new banner, compete with bacon. Thanks Errnnn!

a delicious afternoon snack:

A brown rice cracker, a cucumber slice and some guacamole (thanks, Fiancėe!). Seriously. Dang refreshing. Also, i can't wait to get paid so i can eat something that's not cobbled together from free stuff and leftover pantry items. Also maybe I'll buy a drink that's not a 40 oz. High Life. That said, I'm now going to raid the change jar and go buy a 40 oz. High Life. It's a hot day, and there are mugs in the freezer.

Everybody's doin' it

I moved to New Orleans two days ago (last Saturday). Coming from the culinary horror of Elkins, WV makes the food here even more amazing than you would imagine. For instance, right now Benji and I are eating Cocoa Puffs, which is a food that was available in Elkins, but which tastes better here.

Seriously, I have been absolutely stuffed since the moment I got here. The highlight was a catfish po boy, but I would put an exceptionally good shrimp egg roll up there too.

Something I'm excited to experience more of is the intersection of Vietnamese and Cajun foods, which is common around here, I think because of their shared French heritage. Anyway, what I predict will happen is that I will become obese from eating only po boys and bahn mi.

Also, congratulations on the engagement, Chapin! Hope you don't mind that I will be the obese bridesmaid.

dinner!

Two posts in one day! Insanity. So, for dinner I had grilled chicken, done with a glaze of butter, Frank's, chilgarsau, Lusty Monk, honey and brown sugar (pretty much the same as one I posted about last time). Cous cous with sauteed cremini mushrooms, pearl onions and celery, topped with tomatoes roasted with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and fresh basil from the garden.

The contrast between today's food and the food of the recent past

So let not the title of the post confuse you: I'm just talking about me and what I ate. Today so far I have had: peanut butter on toast with an americano for breakfast, cup of noodles for lunch. First of all, I was talking about cup of noodles yesterday and someone turned their proverbial nose up at it. Cup of Noodles is fucking AWESOME. Anyone who says it isn't is lying to themselves in some sort of deep, dark shame spiral of a double life. They know in their heart of hearts that that very heart longs to be all messed up on some MSG. Throw a little chilgarsau on there and, well, you got a stew goin'. Later I will probably have a popsicle and/or ice cream. These dietary choices are due mostly to poverty, with a little dash of laziness thrown in for good measure.
That being said, I will say I have been cooking more lately, and enjoying it. We have been doing a fair amount of grilling, which is one of my all-time favorite things. I'm been doing a lot of chicken, messing around with different glazes and the like. I mixed butter, Texas Pete, chilgarsau, and some Lusty Monk Original Sin mustard and boy, it was a banger. The best new thing, I think, is the grilled corn. I grilled some corn for the second time this past week at the beach, and it was oh-so-many leaps and bounds better than the first time. A nice, long soak in sugar water and some time over some awesome hardwood lump coals? Yes, please. Forget about any chains you might have had, for verily I say to thee, this corn was off any and all of them.
You might have noticed I keep going back and forth from "we" to "I." This is in part due to the fact that I recently got engaged. ENGAGED, FOOLS. That has had a fair amount to do with more cooking. It feels much more manageable, and much more fun when cooking with a partner. I must also give props to a couple of the culinary endeavours for which the Fiancėe was mainly at the helm. She made Pozole, which is a delicious and insanely easy Mexican soup (Seriously. So easy). Also some apricot-glazed chicken with roasted potatoes. Fresh apricots from the tree outside the door we take into work, which she had the genius and vision to purėe using a M'F'ing garlic press, threw in some ginger, and Bob's your uncle. Delish.
I am also looking forward to doing this with two friends I'm moving in with shortly, as we have already done lots of talking about food and what we will make. Also brewing beer. It has been a really long time since I've done that, and I am pumped. We might also distill? One future roommate was telling me yesterday there is some delivery service for local produce? Aw F yeah Carrboro.

Grapefruit Disaster

So I'm a lady, right?
And as a lady, I am concerned about what as a lady I would refer to as my "figure." Specifically I am concerned about the fact that none of my pants fit anymore, a fact which I blame almost entirely on the six feet of snow I've been forced to live under for the past three months driving me to eat for entertainment and safety. But it has to stop.

Like I mentioned, it's winter. Aside from literally thousands of feet of snow, this also brings Citrus. Don't get me wrong: I'm no fruit fan. Far from it. Most fruit is terrible. Grocery store apples? Ew. Grapes? What IS that? Pear? Peach? Berries? I could take it or leave it. A tomato? EXCEPTION. Another exception: Some citrus products, including a grapefruit.

A grapefruit is outstanding. It tastes like it is going to fix all the health problems you could ever have. When you eat it, you can actually feel your cells re-arranging your DNA to make you taller, more nordic, more charming. My favorite way to eat a grapefruit is the classic cut-in-half, cut-into-sections, sugar sprinkled on top. The astringent taste and fibrous texture of the grapefruit flesh when combined with the gritty sweetness of sugar is perfect. It's also what makes kiwi good, by the way, although with kiwi it's hardly as much work. (Maybe the kiwi is better, but that's not for this discussion. I would argue no, for the record.)

But does the inclusion of sugar negate the healthfulness of the grapefruit? Probably some. I work in an office filled with women, and that means one thing: A PREOCCUPATION WITH WEIGHT/FOOD/DIETING. This means we have the industrial-sized box of Sweet 'n Low brand artificial sweetener.

Today, as an experiment, I put Sweet n' Low brand artificial sweetener on top of my grapefruit and let me tell you: it was terrible.

eating poor

So I've been pretty broke lately, but because I work at an awesome Co-op natural market, I get lots and lots of great free food. Produce, fresh meat and seafood, pastry, even a few grocery items. So often I just need to buy a couple things to turn what I have been able to scrounge into something tasty. Sometimes it's the other way around, like today.
I got my tax refund recently, and while I have been spending too much of it, I have been trying to remain somewhat frugal (need to have the money to start the karaoke business). So the other day I went to the accursed Wal-Mart to pick up a couple of things to help me organize my room. My room is very tiny, you see, so I was going to get some hooks and whatnot to hang on my doors. While there I saw a couple of grocery items that all have been staples for me at one time or another: frozen chicken strips, frozen pizza and cup noodles. So I got some of these things.
To the point: today I made a frozen pizza and added some goat's milk mozzarella and some parmesan. I realize that might not seem exciting, and it wasn't, really. It was, however, a lot better than it would have been alone. So, that's all this post is really about. That, and maybe doing something with this blog that's just been sitting here collecting e-dust for so long.