PopsicleToze

That is a great idea! Gourmet has a recipe for Mexican Seafood Cocktail that is really good. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/vie...Cocktail-231992 Rhonda

Forgive the old eyes -- what's that garnish between the tomatoes. It looks like it's sitting on slivers of cheese, but for the life of me I can't make out what it is. At first I thought it was a mussel ?? Rhonda

We're having a rustic family-style antipasto lunch tomorrow. The menu is great and took almost a week to put together. One of the things that might work for you (and it's fun) -- a skewered caprese calad. Use those little sword-like cocktail skewers and then skewer a cherry or grape tomato, basil leaf, little mozzarella ball, another basil leaf, and then cap off with another tomato. You can put them in a large serving tray and then pour a vinaigrette over all to marinate. Fun stuff. Another thing on the menu is melon and prosciutto, but some people don't like meat. For the meatless ones, skewer the melon chunks and stick a red grape on the end. Good luck. Rhonda

I never had lovage with anything but good romanian ciorba. my secret ingredient is dried black persian lemons -omani lemons. ← I've never had lovage at all but have always heard that the very inside tender light green leaves in celery stalks is a good substitute. Heard it was a popular herb back in Roman times, but I've never seen it. Do you grow it or can you find it in the market where you are? Thanks Rhonda

Peter, thanks for the info. Good to know that I'm not missing much Love your blogs and always look forward to more Thanks Rhonda

You might also want to check out www.roadfood.com for some good places to find while you're out on the road. Rhonda

Can someone fill me in on the gaebul? I have to admit that the picture up-thread took me aback and I am absolutely sure that if I had ever seen them before I would remember. I tried to google, but most of the info is contained in blogs and I'm at work so that content is blocked. I did get that they're eaten as sashimi. What else? What do they taste like? Thanks Rhonda

I found it, but it wasn't the right fish. This one has polka dots on it instead of the stripes. Rhonda

There are people that can answer a lot better -- but here goes It is a texture thing. It doesn't completely separate but does separate. When it freezes you can even look at the top of it and it appears "fluffy". Texture maybe similar to freezing wine. You can freeze wine, but the alcohol keeps the wine from freezing solid so it's still kindof slushy and off. I'm sure you could bring pull it back together and make it work. But if you want to make it ahead, why wouldn't you just make and freeze the meatballs ahead and then make your gravy the day of service? Rhonda

IMHO, no, a roux based gravy cannot be successfully frozen. You can freeze it and then probably doctor it back together somewhat, but it won't be the same. There is definitely a conflicting opinion. Rhonda

I wasn't buying for a lot of people or the price would have been higher. The crabmeat was 12.99/lb. I didn't buy the jumbo lump, but I did buy white lump crabmeat and not the clawmeat. The red snapper was $8.99/lb, and I bought 2 fillets. They weren't very large and I don't know how much they cost, but I don't even think it was a pound. The potatoes and corn didn't have a price on them, but they don't cost very much. Tony's Seafood Baton Rouge, LA http://www.tonyseafood.com/ I looked on my camera but I don't have any pictures taken in Tony's. I should because it's a nice shop. They have an indoor pond with live catfish that you can pick out and they will clean. They are hands down the best seafood shop I have found in Baton Rouge. Their lunch buffet is great, too, but they don't have an eating area. The next time I go I'll get some pictures. Rhonda P.S. They do really good boudin balls there, too. They have regular boudin, seafood boudin, and I'm sure a few more. Sometimes for office lunches I'll order a few trays and they are always gobbled right up.

I wish I knew more about how to navigate this site's search engine, but I don't. I do remember that fish, though. There is a thread about seafood species and this fish is pictured and identified in that thread. That is such a unique fish (never seen one here) that I know I'll never forget it. If my memory is really good, and I'm not betting on that -- then it's on about pp. 10-12. Rhonda

Nice dinners -- they look delicious. Just curious -- did anyone think those lamb chops look related to Shelby's frog legs a few weeks ago? Rhonda

It probably happens very infrequently. I typically order Perrier and have never ever had this happen. Someone must have been playing a bad practical joke or something because I don't believe anyone would think any person would ever drink tap water and think they had been served Perrier. Restaurants have a hard time of it and plenty of other problems to think about than to deliberately drive off paying customers. Rhonda

Amazing report and I could almost taste the food from your pictures. Can't wait to see more. Rhonda

I had a call 30 minutes before I left work for the day. Unexpected (but very welcome) company were on the way to my house for dinner, "Oh, don't go to any trouble, yada, yada." I only had time for 1 quick stop or they would beat me home. We don't have very good shops close at hand, but we do have 1 very good fresh seafood market. Bought fresh red snapper fillets and a pound of fresh white lump crabmeat. No lettuce at home, but they did have the little bags of salad there so I bought that. They boil seafood there daily, so I picked up some potatoes and corn cooked in crawfish boil seasoning. Made it home, changed clothes, chunked potatoes and rubbed in oil, s/p & rosemary and put in oven to bake. Cut corn off cob and made a quick stock with the cobs in chicken stock for use in the side dish -- cajun corn risotto. While that cooked, made Galatoire's Crabmeat Maison salad (had everything else on hand; it's a quick salad but extremely good). Plated salad atop the lettuce; stuck in fridge to cool. Guests arrived. Gave them a drink and visited at kitchen island while I made a corn risotto. Last few minutes just pan fried the red snapper fillets in butter. Didn't do much to them but season them. Took potatoes out of oven. Dinner was served. Less than 40 minutes start to finish. Dinner only cost $30. The only bad thing was battery not charged in camera from outing this weekend. Still, I was very proud of myself for pulling it off without stressing out. Thank God for little herb gardens. A pinch of this and that made things look special.

This woman has serious issues and should have asked herself that age-old question before she made such stupid statements: Before giving away a piece of your mind, ask yourself, “Can I afford it?” She couldn't afford it!

Thank you so much to the original poster. Inspired by the thread, I've had a lovely simple pasta dinner 2X in the past week -- all while lovingly watering my tomato plants in anticipation of good things to come. We hope! Last year my tomatoes didn't do worth a durn, but hope springs eternal.

Awww -- thanks. So glad I could contribute. And next time I'm hoping to find leftover ham, too.

Pasta excites me the most, especially in the summer, because you can have something supurb in just a few minutes. However, I'm shameless with leftovers, too. A potato salad sandwich is a pretty good supper, and if you eat it on a paper towel, there's nothing to clean up, either.

Bouillabaisse is my all-time favorite restaurant meal, and I'm going to Broussard's Restaurant (New Orleans) tonight, so I already know what I'm having. However, I've never made it at home. I don't know why. I guess I consider bouillabaisse so perfect that maybe I'm afraid that my attempts won't do it justice. The time has come for me to make this dish. If you have the perfect recipe for bouillabaisse, please share. I live on the Gulf Coast -- so I don't have all of the varieties of European seafood (I've never seen a mullet), but we have some pretty good stuff down here, and there's a good seafood market that usually can get me everything I need. Thanks! Rhonda

It's typically a side dish in SE Louisiana, but I have it as a main dish, too. For me it just depends on the weather, mood and amount of comfort needed.

Bethenny Frankel bio says she graduated from The Natural Gourmet Institute for Health & Culinary Arts in New York. http://www.bethenny.com/bio.html

Perfect sense. I'll try it out next time. Thanks

Very classy and honorable policy