Seafood Feast

This post is a few weeks overdue, but better late than never right?

As you may recall, Andy and I spent Thanksgiving at the beach which, lucky for us, meant that we could take advantage of the annual seafood sale at Goatfeathers. Every year (or at least for the last few) Goatfeathers sells all their seafood at wholesale price on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. My dad and Andy were troupers and went and stood in line in the rain while Mom and I enjoyed our coffee inside the warmth of the condo. 

For us, Andy brought back jumbo lump crab meat, which we turned into this:

West Indies Salad (recipe compliments of my mom)

1 lb fresh lump crab meat

1 medium onion, chopped fine

4 oz canola oil

3 oz cider vinegar

4 oz ice water

salt and freshly ground pepper

optional to add some chopped yellow or red bell pepper in with the onion

Divide chopped onion (and bell pepper if using) in half and spread half on bottom of a flat casserole dish. Pick any shell out of the crab, then place crab meat on top of onion/pepper mixture. Spread remaining onion/pepper mixture on top of crab meat. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour over all the canola oil, then the vinegar, and lastly the ice water. Cover and refrigerate for 2-12 hours. 

(The recipe says to make sure you add things in the right order, and I've never deviated so not sure how big of an impact it makes...)

And also some tuna, which we turned into this....

I simply pressed a mixture of white and black sesame seeds into the tuna (make sure you pat it dry first) then seared for maybe a minute on each side in a very hot pan. 

I had this brilliant idea of serving it with this pre-packaged edamame quinoa that I had found at World Market, but the quinoa was a total bust. Oh well, you live and learn!

Switching gears totally, did anyone else see Claire Danes' dress at the Golden Globes? I am not one  to usually watch award shows, but we had it on in the background while we were eating dinner and just so happened to see this.

(photo compliments of glamour.com)

I thought it was absolutely gorgeous! 

Happy Weekend!

New Orleans Recap

I think we have finally recovered from our big weekend in New Orleans (although the celebration of Bama's 14th national championship will continue for some time!), so here's a recap of our culinary adventures. 

We left Birmingham early Saturday morning to ensure we made it to New Orleans in time for lunch (you have to make the most of every meal in New Orleans, right?). We stayed at the Hilton on St. Charles, so Luke (a John Besh restaurant) was conveniently located right in our hotel which made it a perfect first stop. I guess we were too ravenous to actually take a picture, so you will just have to take our word that the hamburger topped with Benton's bacon and Chez Fon Fon worthy french fries were delicious (but perfect to share because the serving was hearty to say the least). 

Our food cravings satisfied (at least for the moment), we spent the afternoon exploring Magazine Street and of course making sure the team had arrived....

After a brief DJ Fluker and Sela Ward siting at the Carousel Bar, it was off to Lilette for dinner. Dinner was good, but I think I may prefer Lilette for lunch. All in all though, I don't know if it was really a fair weekend to truly judge the restaurants as they were packed with fans in town for both the BCS game and the Saints game. After dinner we grabbed a drink at Bouligny Tavern, which is right next door to Lilette. It was a fun atmosphere if you are looking for a place to really be able to sit down and visit rather than fighting a crowd in a loud, smokey bar. 

Before heading to bed, we had to head over to check out the crowds on Bourbon street. Traffic was already bumper to bumper on Canal...

Saturday night the red and white clearly outnumbered the purple and gold. We quickly learned that was simply because the LSU fans had all been wearing their Saints gear though because we saw too many of these to count come Sunday...

Sunday morning started with breakfast in Jackson Square at Stanley. Even though I am not usually the biggest breakfast fan, I think this may have been my favorite meal of the weekend. Andy and I shared the soft shell crab eggs benedict (along with sweet potato fries and onion rings so certainly the healthiest of meals, but so worth it). It can get crowded, but there is a coffee bar next door and you can watch the sights of Jackson Square while you wait outside.

After breakfast, we explored the ESPN Game Day set and fanfare stuff they had set up before heading to the WWII Museum. We were so impressed with the museum, and if you decide to go the movie is a must do! Wondering why the WWII museum is in New Orleans? The boats that were used in Normandy for an "amphibious assault" were made by Higgins Boats in New Orleans.

After the museum, we were all up for a little afternoon snack so Andy led us over to Corporation Bar & Grill, which was a dump to say the least. HOWEVER, they really did have the best po boy I've ever had in New Orleans. We all voted the fried oyster po boy the winner. Another highlight of the place was the homemade "leg lamp" by the door - remember this thing from a Christmas story? Well, they had used a prosthetic leg with a tennis shoe on it for their interpretation. 

After walking back to the hotel (trying to work up an appetite again), we changed and headed to dinner at Emeril's Delmonico. They were kind enough to cheer on the Tide with their dinner plates.

Dinner was good, but the restaurant was packed, making it kind of difficult to carry on a conversation. I think we were all feeling a little full already before we even sat down - that's what New Orleans will do to you I guess! I had the beef carpaccio to start (good but not great - hard to beat Frank Stitt's) and then BBQ shrimp appetizer (which was very tasty). The highlight may have been the cinnamon beignets for dessert though!

Sunday night we called it a relatively early night since we knew that we had a big day ahead. We were up early on Monday and set out to explore Jackson Square and "feel the crowd" (as my dad likes to put it).

Already decked out in our Bama gear of course!

After dropping in a few different parties, Andy and I headed to Herbsaint for lunch. It was packed, and the wait staff was a little overwhelmed to put it nicely, but the food was delicious. We shared an ahi tuna sandwich and shoestring onion rings (the only kind of onion ring really worth eating in my book). I will definitely give Herbsaint another shot for dinner on a less busy weekend. 

After lunch our nerves were starting to build, so we wandered around for a while to try to keep our minds at ease. We finally met back up with my parents around 5:30 to head over to the Superdome. 

(Yes we waited to time the picture until the lights were red and white!)

The lines to get into the Dome were a nightmare (can't imagine what it must have been like in Katrina), so we were glad to finally get to our seats!

Of course we all had a blast watching Alabama absolutely dominate LSU and bring home National Championship #14!

And we couldn't help but go celebrate on Bourbon Street for a little while...

And the best way to finish off the perfect night? With oysters of course!

Thanks Mom and Dad for a WONDERFUL weekend - one we will remember for a long, long time. 

Roll Tide!

Cooking In

After a full weekend of eating out in New Orleans (full post still to come on that I promise), it was a fun change up to cook in tonight. We picked up some red snapper at Snapper Grabbers this afternoon, and with no specific recipes in mind, we just winged it. I don't think it turned out too bad, what do you think?

On top of the fish is this amazing lime butter sauce which I have blogged about before. Make it today - it is delicious on everything!! And under the fish is a quinoa loaded with veggies - here's my quick take at what I did (which I'm sure you could amend a million different ways, and it would still be tasty):

1/2 cup quinoa

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1/4 cup diced yellow pepper

1/4 cup quartered cherry tomatoes

2 TBL crumbled feta

2 TBL chopped basil

Combine the quinoa and chicken broth in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to low. Let cook for 15 minutes until broth is absorbed.

Meanwhile, saute onions for 3-4 minutes in olive oil over medium heat. Then add garlic and bell pepper and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes before adding cherry tomatoes for the final minute.

When quinoa is done, toss in veggies, feta, and basil and stir to combine. 

And the secret to the good sear? (Andy will not be happy that I'm giving this one away)

I mixed together a little flour, salt, pepper, and mashed potato flakes (strange, right? trust me though it really helps you get the good brown color) and lightly dredged both sides of the fish before searing in a mix of butter and olive oil. The grouper was pretty thick, so I ended up finishing it in the oven to make sure it cooked through. 

Looking at the pictures makes me want to eat another serving now!

#14

Headed home from New Orleans after a dominating win by Bama clinching our 14th national championship. Full post recapping the weekend is still to come, but here is a little sneak peek of the celebration!

Roll tide!

NOLA Bound!

Andy and I are in the car as I type this headed to New Orleans to hopefully watch Bama bring home their 14th National Champtionship! RTR!!

We have some good meals ahead of us (like here and here) and then of course the BIG game on Monday so will be back with the full report next week.

Have a good weekend.

RInging in 2012

We are just back from a nearly perfect weekend (only nearly because Andy's boat had some issues that kept him off the water) at the beach, well rested and ready to start 2012 with a bang! The weather was better than I would have ever expected for this time of year, and we made the most of our time outside in the sun between bike rides, yolo boarding, coffee on the porch, and of course enjoying the beautiful sunsets.

We decided to keep it low key this year for New Years Eve and cook in. We feasted on oysters, lobster, steak and a great panzanella salad!

The weather started to cool down this morning which helped make it a little easier to head home. Never easy to leave the beach, but at least we know the celebration continues in NOLA next weekend. ROLL TIDE!

While driving back today, Andy and I talked about some of our New Years resolutions. Here are a few of mine (trying to hold myself accountable by putting them out there in writing!)...

1. Document the books I read this year  - First one down this weekend (kind of cheating I guess since I started in 2011 but oh well) as I just finished The Big Short by Michael Lewis. He is a great writer and certainly got me thinking.

2. Make one vegetarian meal a week - I had been thinking this might be a good idea for a while, but this documentary helped push me over the edge.

3. Be more consistent in my quiet times

4. Blog more  - very vague, but for some reason I am hesitant to give myself a measurable minimum. I guess I don't want to force myself into miserable writers block nor do I want to bore my readers (all 2 of you) with boring content.