Get in gear for 2016

Get in gear for 2016

Look at the date! Timing shows a cusp of topic: Plan ahead for a healthy new year/indulge in festivities.

I say both. I love the extra rich flavors of the season from buttery seafood sauces to chocolates and fried bites of heaven. And I also love the way it feels to eat real foods from the earth that aren’t over-processed into a box on the market shelf.

My plan is to indulge and merge right into the healthy stuff. With you guys . . . next week.

The good news is, there’s always another celebration around the corner. Christmas and New Year’s pave the way for Mardi Gras, which will be celebrated Feb. 4-7 in downtown Port Arthur. Get ready for the Sweet Soiree theme.

New Year’s Eve

The fresh, salty brine of an oyster says New Year’s Eve to me and I’m again sharing a super-easy recipe that’s just right for festivities.

Oyster Spread: Mash up the contents of a can of smoked oysters and mix it  in to cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese. Form into a ball or block and spread on crackers.

You’re done.

Now for something healthy:

As I write this in advance I’m anticipating some good

sales on cabbage, because we southerners have to have our cabbage on New Year’s Day.

Stock up and shred it into all manner of salads, use it in fish tacos and sauté it as a side dish.

Cause for celebration:

“Celebrate: Food, Family, Shabbos” - What didn't I learn from this book?
Elizabeth Kurtz shares Jewish culture in the pages of this beautiful cookbook that is heavy with ideas, good stock paper, and beautiful photographs.
Can you imagine horseradish meringue-topped salmon? It's a real thing and it looks delicious.
My takeaways from this book:
* Something thank you, expensive, or which looks elegant when served in a stand glance. Example from the book: Skewered Gefilte Fish with Zesty a Ratatouille.
* Liver can work with cherries.
* Gingersnap cookies can go into a sauce for sweet and sour cabbage.

Great opening paragraphs come with recipes. I want to be at this author’s table.

darraghcastillo@icloud.com

Castillos roll in New Orleans

 

When my daughter heard my husband and I were spending our 26th wedding anniversary in New Orleans, she asked to come along.  

We actually loved the plan. We had been when she was a little bitty thing. Now she is an adult. That's a different NOLA experience. 

 My parents went to New Orleans on their honeymoon, and my daughter spent a night there on hers. This city is in our blood.

She acted like her first mission was to make sure we got to Deanie's in the French quarter. It was one of her honeymoon stops. I have always missed this one on Iberville. 

I got barbecue shrimp because she said it was so good one of her friends had asked her to take some home on ice for him. A skillet full of hot, huge shrimp with their feelers still attached came to my table. The sauce was buttery, dark, filled with spices and wonderful. It came with crusty French bread.

Every time I picked up a shrimp I could feel the weight of it. The server said I should take the shrimp out of the skillet so they would not continue to cook in the hot sauce. Weeks later, that meal is still in my mind.

Remember that tiny cocktail fork I wrote about after purchasing it at a 

Young Life estate sale? I took it to New Orleans, and used it at every meal I could. I always made a point of pointing this out to the server, so it wouldn't look like I was stealing their utensils. The funny thing is the servers had all already noticed. That meant that they could tell I was into food, and that seemed to make them want to offer more tastes and experiences. That tiny fork was a promotion tool. And to think I brought it to remind me to slow down and take delicate bites.

I love that New Orleans is a city that loves food food.

If you post on Facebook that you are in New Orleans, people will tell you to eat at Café Du Monde. As if I would skip that. I got to sit inside, perhaps for my first time. It was a new experience to watch the staff stand in line to pick up orders.  A hipster guy with a super long dark beard enjoyed his powdered beignet without getting white sugar all over him. I can't say the same for myself.

In the book, "The House on First Street," I read that families used to have favorites of either Acme oysters, or Felix's. I don't want to have to pick a favorite. This time I tried charbroiled oysters at Felix's and chose well. I even slightly burned the corners of my mouth from the hot shells. Should have been using that tiny fork. 

darraghcastillo@icloud.com