patti

I made a quick soup (Is that an oxymoron?) tonight with some ingredients I had on hand. To some beef stock, I added straw mushrooms, sauteed beef strips that I'd intended for stir-fry, sauteed red onions, celery salt, and ground chipotle pepper. Not very many ingredients, but I didn't have much. To the individual serving, I tossed in some fried red onions (thanks, Nullo, for the tip). The fried onions didn't stay crispy, but they added a nice flavor to the soup. In keeping with the low-carb theme, what would you have added to this? Any particular herbs? I considered adding some tofu, but I've never cooked with it.

Well, it's not red, but is this the stuff? http://importfood.com/spco0506.html

Nullo, you've mentioned the Asian fried onions here and in another thread, but I'm not familiar with them. Is that what they are called on the can?

Yeah, I think you have to buy a big Frito-Lay variety pack to get the small bag of plain Fritos.

When the time and/or inclination to make gumbo isn't there, I sometimes add shrimp to okra and tomatoes and serve it over rice. Quite tasty, I must say. I also insist that it be seasoned with enough heat to give it plenty of kick. Add me to the list of folks who love okra w/ or w/out the slime. Mmm, okra. I keep my crock jar of bacon grease in the fridge, although Mama and the grandmas did not.

I dunno, but I do jump up and down when the shrimp truck stops at my house.

I wasn't around for your previous blog, but followed the link to it and was blown away. What gorgeous pictures of fabulous food. I'm not sure which photo made me more envious, the mince pies in production, the array of cheeses on the cheeseboard, or the view of and from your kitchen. I lust after your Aga cooker. Thanks for the previous blog, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the current one, also.

How about: Say Cheese

Something to consider before using your best coolers. If your items are really hot, they could warp the inside of the cooler. We buy cheap styrofoam coolers dedicated specifically for holding boiled crawfish, thus keeping our more expensive coolers intact. (I realize that pouring food straight from a boiling pot directly into a cooler is less likely to happen for holiday dinners, but thought the point was worth considering.)

My son's favorite quick meal is simple. Boil pasta to desired doneness; drain, plate, add butter, salt, lots of black pepper and some grated parmesan cheese. Voila! A meal. Buttered toast is his lone accompaniment. I always have chicken breasts and/or chicken breast tenders in the freezer. They don't need to be thawed to cook, and sauteeing them in butter and olive oil is a quick and easy starter for a number of quick meals. Last night I sauteed chicken tenders, and a couple of links of chicken sausage (sliced into coins) that needed to be used up, followed by sliced zucchini and yellow squash, some canned tomatoes, basil and oregano; short simmer. In short order, it was ready for eating. I'm low carbing, so I didn't toss it over pasta, but that would have been the logical conclusion, otherwise.

Well, yes, there is cleft palate, which is more involved than cleft lip, but one can have a cleft lip without a cleft palate. (And I'm feeling very guilty for being so off-topic. Sorry everybody.)

Would it be considered rude of me to inject here that it's hare, not hair (although preferably, cleft) lip? Snowangel, how'd you respond to the rude server? (BTW, I enjoyed learning the origin of your 'snowangel' name, as we had a son that I used to call the Earth Angel when referring to him in an online forum.)

Nullo, have you come up with good low carb stir fry sauces, like for beef 'n broccoli, or any other combination? Also, in your blog you pictured a bacon wrapped stuffed pepper. Care to give details about how that was prepared?

There is a Cajun sweet dough pie with fig filling that tastes as good or better than a fig newton. Calling it a pie is a misnomer, though. It's made like a tart and the end result is more cookie/cake like and not flaky like a pie crust. Oh, it's like a Fig Newton! I've searched all of my Cajun cookbooks to no avail, but online I found these: http://www.realcajunrecipes.com/recipes/461.rcr http://pie.allrecipes.com/az/CajunSweetDough.asp Both recipes are for the sweet dough only and not the fig filling. Other recipes I found were for using the sweet dough as traditional pie crusts, and that is not what the Cajun sweet dough pie is all about.

I found Bourdain's "A Cook's Tour" at a used bookstore yesterday. I guess that one doesn't count as a cookbook, does it?

patti, is it any type of curry? Thai? Chinese? The myriad of Indian? Just wondering. I'm the kind of person that hate coconut curries, but loves just about all the others. One of the reasons I still have hope for curry is that my experience with it has been very limited. I've never had an Indian or Thai curry dish, only Chinese, and it overpowered the dish so much that I could not tolerate it. I will admit that I've only tried it two separate times, but found it so unpalatable that I've been afraid to try it again. I read about all these magnificent curry dishes and think I should like them, particularly Indian ones. Is there hope for me?

Curry dishes. I *want* to love curry, I really, really do, but I'm not there yet. I hate cilantro, but I'm no longer embarrassed to hate it. Last night I saw a repeat episode of Larry King Live with Julia Child as his guest. She hates cilantro, too, so I'm in good company.

Ah. See, how we differ? We serve gravy over rice, as opposed to potatoes. Occasionally we have gravy over mashed potatoes, but on a day-to-day basis, gravy is for rice. I can see it now, on place lunch menu boards across Acadiana: Rice 'n Demi-glace Special! Prolly their mamas and daddies.

I guess we'd sound redundant to you here in south Louisiana when we call it red gravy to differentiate it from regular (brown) gravy. FiFi, my husband prefers red gravy with his meatloaf, so I rarely have that problem, but when I've attempted a brown meatloaf gravy, I've used a little beef stock and/or roux to help it along, in addition to a bit of the pan drippings. Personally, I prefer meatloaf without gravy, and better yet, leftover the next day in a sandwich.

My family's favorite gravies are maybe more 'au jus' than gravy. For roast beef, pork chops, or round steak, no roux or slurry is added to thicken. The hard part is that sometimes there is less gravy than one would optimally desire. Disclaimer: I am just a regular old home cook, no special skills or specialized education other than from cookbooks, cooking shows, and life experience.

Judi, would you be interested in a copy of Julia Child & More Company? I'll be happy to send one to you if you'd like.

Put me down for 78. Yesterday the mail brought 4 new (to me) cookbooks, purchased through eBay. Three of them are by Julia (bought July 31st, before her death), The Way to Cook, Julia Child & Company, Julia Child & More Company. I look forward to using and perusing them. Other recent eBay cookbook purchases: Paula Wolfert - World of Food Elizabeth David - five book paperback set including French Country Cooking, Summer Cooking, Italian Food, French Provincial Cooking, and Mediterranean Foods Better Homes & Gardens, 1971 (purchased for sentimental reasons)

<APPLAUSE APPLAUSE APPLAUSE> Fantastic blog, thank you so much for sharing your interesting life. Great pictures of wonderful food. You and Riley are good to see, too.

Jiffy Peanut Butter My grandmother's fig preserves Soft, white bread (Nobody makes fig preserves like my grandma's.)

Mmm, chocolate. W/ almonds or pecans or hazelnuts or walnuts or macadamias, maybe some caramel or peanut butter or toffee. Mmm, chocolate.