Okonomiyaki

This is just the most yum thing. It's a Japanese pancake called Okonomiyaki. It's got noodles, cabbage, mince (no idea), egg and sweet onions and sauce and yum.

Here's a recipe.

You cook the pancake a little and then add all the stuff on top. It's TALL, but it cooks down.

Egg on top.

Green onions on top. They flame broil those.

 

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Garbage Can Feed and My Nephew is all Graduated

Want to feed 100 people? In the Redneck way?

Just take a simple metal garbage can, rig it up inside with the grill rack from your Weber, fill the bottom with water, load it up with delicious vegetables and meats and voila!  

It's actually probably the most delicious meal I had all month. My baby nephew Skeeter graduated high school way up north in Cook, MN and here's the meal my sister and her husband prepared for the masses. I didn't get to see it from start to finish unfortunately, but I watched them empty the can. So here it is from the middle to the end, backwards:

Garbage can, set up on some concrete blocks and a fire underneath. See where those bolts are on the side? That's where the grill rack sits, and that's about how much water to put in the bottom.

A close up of the fire.

Completely fill it up, and add a bunch of butter on top and a couple cans of beer. The butter will trickle down as it melts and eventually end up in the water and be part of the yummy yummy steam.

Let it cook over the flame for about an hour, then have two hefty men lift it off.

Remove lid.

Remove contents.

OK so here's kind of how it was layered, in backwards order, since I only saw it coming out:

Everything was added in order of how long it might take to cook, with the longest items near the bottom, and the quicker items near the top.

Removing more...to reveal potatoes.

And finally corn, husks on.

Keri and Kelly, fighting and racing as usual.

At the bottom is the water and the grill rack.

Can of melted butter to dip the shucked corn

Ok so as far as I could tell, you add all your corn in the husks at the bottom, top with potatoes, then carrots, squash, onions, cabbage and brats.  Add the butter and the beer. There's some turnips in there too but what the heck are they, even? Steam for an hour and then eat and fart for the rest of the night. Yah. That's right. Cabbage.

Other things you should probably do at these functions -- play some games...:

(Nice face, Karley)

...make a killer bonfire:

I'm pretty short, but still!

...and, if you're the Graduate, you could practice shooting your brand new bow from your awesome little sister Hanna:

Congratulations, Skeeter!

Things to Do Before Leaving NOLA # 8: Have a Shish Kebab Party

We decided to throw a party so we could showcase our fabulous apartment, and shish kebab was the theme.

Summer and I provided all the fixins and have a "build your own/grill your own" situation.  It helps if your roommate is the queen of sauces and marinades.  She marinated the beef in a mixture of soy sauce, chopped garlic, honey, sesame oil and agave nectar (but you could use brown sugar or molasses).  Stir, heat a little if you have to get the mixture to melt into itself.

The chicken was marinated in fresh chopped garlic, fresh rosemary, white wine and olive oil. 

The shrimp was marinated in triple sec, tequila, canola oil, lots of lime juice and cilantro.

Then we just chopped up and provided all the other ingredients for kebabs.  Peppers, poblanos, pineapple, onion, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms.  Build and grill your own kebabs!

Oh how I miss this balcony.

For an appetizer, one of our guests brought and fried his own fresh-caught shrimp.  He breaded them with a little egg, flour and spices.  He made regular and buffalo (by adding pepper flakes and Crystal hot sauce) and they were FANTASTIC.

Things to Do Before Leaving NOLA: #3, Eat a Meltdown Pop Every Day

http://meltdownpops.com/

Michelle Weaver -- our neighbor and friend makes all natural popsicles right in her store just a few blocks from our place in the French Quarter.  She recently put her pops on the shelves of three Whole Foods Stores in Baton Rouge and Louisiana!

My favorite flavor is the Salted Caramel, but I must admit once I find a favorite anything I don't really deviate from it.  Salted Caramel it is.  Every time.  Thanks, McShash for hipping me to this amazing afternoon icy treat.

Delicious!  Last time I popped in (pun intended) I ate two.

The daily flavor menu

Here is one of her recipes from an article in Southwest Airlines' inflight magazine Spirit:

Ingredients:

1 ripe pineapple, cut into small chunks

handful of fresh cilantro leaves

⅓ cup sugar

juice of ½ lime

pinch of salt

Directions:

Put pineapple, cilantro, sugar, lime juice, and salt in a blender, and puree until smooth. Pour mixture into 8 to 10 3-ounce ice-pop molds and add sticks. Freeze for 4 hours, or until frozen. Dip molds in tepid water to help remove the pops. 

"I love putting pineapple in ice pops because the pulpiness of the fruit gives them a great texture that’s almost chewy. The cilantro adds a nice punch of freshness to the sweet pineapple—a little unexpected taste—and the pinch of salt helps tie it all together. In one bite you get sweet, fresh, and herbal—plus a hint of sour and salt."  Michelle Weaver is the owner of Meltdown, an ice-pop shop in New Orleans. 

Meltdown

508 Dumaine Street
New Orleans, LA 70116-3312
(504) 301-0905

To Die For

Sort of a variation on a recipe from my sister Kelly...

Sautee fresh green beans in Sesame Oil.  Add onion, garlic, and rice vinegar.  When they're nice and almost ready, toss in cherry tomatoes (here I have yellows and reds) for a little minute and dust with toasted sesame seeds.

Crushed pepper and a little soy sauce.  YUM.  And if you have any asian-y salad dressings you can use that too.

Delicious served hot or cold.

Pork Chops in New Orleans

Behold, our first home-cooked meal in the French Quarter in New Orleans.

Here's a little how-to:

Pour a little olive oil on the pork chops.  Rub both sides with coarse sea salt and crushed black pepper.  You'll need fresh sliced or pressed garlic and tons of fresh Italian Parsley.  (Very Important: has to be Italian Parsley.)  Don't put the parsley or garlic on until you've grilled one side of the pork chop.  When you've grilled the first side, flip, then smother with garlic and parsley.  I say this because you don't want that parsley falling into the grill, but you also want the parsley to sort of cook.

Try, if possible, to grill the pork chops on a New Orleans balcony overlooking hopefully Decatur Street or similar.  And if you can, get a single clarinet player to serenade you with some soft, distant jazz.

We served with beets, which I sliced and sautéed for about ten minutes in olive oil, butter, coarse sea salt and crushed black pepper, and a salad of greens, tomato, avocado, cucumber and dressed with a vinaigrette made with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Please serve with a wonderful White Zinfandel, but you might want to make sure you have enough wine glasses for all involved...as you can see, Summer and I have to rock-paper-scissors every night for the one wine glass.

Not One...But TWO White Russian Stories

Whenever I think of White Russians, I always think of the time my sister Kasey and I were playing cards with some friends.  One of the friends and Kasey butted heads all night long.  Well if you know Kasey, alcohol is not the cause of her loud and boisterous behavior.  That's just how she is naturally.  And in fact, she was probably nursing her brand new baby, so she probably was slowly sipping one drink.  So when the friend said, "Have another White Russian, KASEY!", it was like...crickets...AWKWARD...

Now it has become the catch phrase in life for when somebody is totally not drunk, but you accuse them of it anyway to be funny.  You can use it too.  It's my gift to you.

"Have another White Russian, KASEY!"

So lately the White Russian has become my favorite drink.  I am hooked!  I love them.  You just do equal parts Vodka and Kahlua and a splash of cream.  Delish.  The other night I used up the last of the Kahlua and so today when my mom and I were at the liquor store, I asked her if she wanted me to replace the bottle.  "No!", she said, "We never use it.  I bought that in Cancun."

(We went to Cancun in the year 2000.)

"MOM!!!  You could have told me before I drank it!!"

"Well, you're not dead are you?"

Family Day

I gotta admit, I love having my parents all to myself.  Suck it, other 5 kids.  You may have your "job" and your "family", but you don't have a free loft bedroom in mom and dad's 900 square foot cabin, now do ya?

Today, we had a Family Day.  The goal is to have Family Day every Wednesday, but I'm not stupid.  I know this is probably the first and last time.  So I soaked it all up, every minute.  One thing we committed to, as part of Family Day, is that we would make something really yummy for dinner together.  (My mom makes something yummy every night, so it's 'no bigs', but this is where I can get involved.)  Did I mention my mom makes me three squares?  She does.  Another thing she does is my laundry.  But I digress.

So.  The Hexums made curry!  This is a first for me, and I'm sure for ol' Hal and Dianne.  And we cheated.  We used Trader Joe's Thai Green Curry Simmer Sauce.  It's so easy.  We just sauteed some beef, and added the simmer sauce and some veggies, and served over rice.

Veggies usually equal carrots and cauliflower here...but we also added edimame, onion and carlic.

Here's the beef!  With the onion and simmer sauce.

Totally fantastic.  A definite Recommend.

My mom just bought this "Rachael Ray garbage bowl" today and we love it!   I have taken to throwing any compostibles in the woods.  Next week, when we get our CHICKENS, I'll give it to them instead.

Another thing we did on Family Day was take a walk and we picked these wildflowers for the deck.

Awwwwwww...

Awwwwwwwwww.................

We also scheduled a NAP for Family Day.  Which shows how old we are.  We napped today.  At least my dad and I did. (Separately, of course.)  My mom caught up on her Bachelorette episodes while we slept.  We did not go fishing, as planned...but did watch the scheduled movie.  "Get Low" with Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek and Bill Murray and that kid from Sling Blade.  VERY GOOD movie about a guy who plans his own "Live Funeral" where he can be present.  I always imagined I would do the same.

I hate missing a party.

How to Make Croutons

We had so much bread when the family was up here that even 18 people couldn't even eat it all in four days.

Yesterday I thought about using up one of the last loaves, but it was as hard as a rock.  And then I thought, "croutons!"  I had never made croutons before.  So I googled it!  'How to make croutons from stale bread'.  I got a million recipes.  Here's what I ended up doing.  First you just cube the bread.  I mentioned that my loaf was rock hard, so first I put a wet paper towel around it and microwaved for a minute and that softened it right up.  Then I sliced and sliced and sliced.  *(By the way I made the cutting board in woodshop in tenth grade.  And my mom still uses it.  Awwwwww...) 

Here's what I look like when I'm slicing rock hard bread.  I call it the 'Grandma Trudy' face.  Also known as the 'Kelly concentrates' face.

You want 1 inch cubes.

Then I mixed a small bowl of olive oil and my seasonings.  I used salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and garlic salt.  Tons of all of it.  You can use whatever you want.  And about 2/3 cup of olive oil per 4 cups of cubed bread.

Toss with the bread cubes and get it all smooshed around.  I sprinkled with parmesan too, and then baked at 300 degrees for about a half hour.  I read anything from 225 degrees for 10 minutes to 375 degrees for 20 minutes...the point is you are slowly toasting this bread until it's nice and crusty brown.  Like a crouton, DUH!  Spread it all out in a single layer, by the way.  You wanna flip 'em over a couple times so they get brown on all sides.

Here's what they look like when they're done.

Super delicious.  For reals.

The End.