“Amy peered at the crepe sizzling in the pan and licked something off her wrist. if I took her in my arms, she would smell like berries and powdered sugar.” – Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn Continue reading “Food From Fiction 9: Amazing Amy’s Brown Butter Crepes”
Tag: marie writes
Food From Fiction 8: The Final Meal of Philip Boyes
“I have been a little careful to remind you of all these things, to show that we have good proof that every dish served at dinner was partaken of by two people at least, and in most cases by four. The omelette – the only dish which did not go out to the kitchen – was prepared by Philip Boyes himself and shared by his cousin. Neither Mr. Uruquhart, Miss Westlock nor the cook, Mrs. Pettican, felt any ill-effects from this meal.” – from Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers. Continue reading “Food From Fiction 8: The Final Meal of Philip Boyes”
Trolley Stop Market, Memphis TN
(Marie picked a place for supper on the second night of our vacation that her sister really enjoys…)
As you may recall from the previous stories, we were in Memphis as a family to cheer on my sister’s graduation. I’ve long ago ceded all Memphis barbecue choices to Grant, since he’s in heaven every time we go and I would never want to deprive him of the pleasure of exploration. He doesn’t quite give all the non-barbecue choices to me, but as I get rather fewer choices than he does (primarily because I am not as willing to eat three lunches as he is) I get pretty much free rein.
So after putting my head together with my sister’s and checking out her recommendations and comments on mine, I picked Trolley Stop for us all to convene on the evening before the graduation. They had tables big enough to seat our party together. Actually, they were pretty slow that evening, so we could have been an even bigger party than we were and still had room. Normally I’d have spent a good long time happily browsing the goods for sale, but when we arrived I was just too tired to do much more than scan the options from the table. Continue reading “Trolley Stop Market, Memphis TN”
Huey’s and Muddy’s, Memphis TN
(Marie takes the wheel for this story about two places we visited on our first evening in town.)
Every year or so we take a trip to Memphis to visit family and eat good food. Sometimes in that order. In Grant’s case, it’s all about the full-day barbecue tour; the teen is all about visiting the cute boutiques where she will blow her clothing allowance on something she knows she won’t wear but loves anyway. The little guy has crowned a new favorite playground on his list (he still doesn’t understand travel times very well and asked to go back twice after we returned home!). This time, we were there to see my sister graduate from art school. Usually, Memphis does its best to make sure we remember that Shel Silverstein poem about being so hot we need to take our skin off and sit around in our bones. This time it did the reverse. It was in the very low 60s for the outside graduation ceremony, and I had to put on a t-shirt over my nice outfit!
Anyway, since I also like things that are not barbecue, I consulted with my sister about the neat places around where she lives, and the five of us wound up spending our first night in town having dinner at Huey’s midtown location, and dessert afterward at Muddy’s Bake Shop because I’m all about the sweets. Continue reading “Huey’s and Muddy’s, Memphis TN”
Georgia Sea Grill, Saint Simons Island GA
(Marie enjoyed a leisurely weekend on the Georgia coast while I was meandering around the middle of the state…)
Grant scolds me sometimes about the fact that I lived longer on Saint Simons Island than anywhere else before going to college, but nevertheless took years to bring him somewhere he could get fresh, local seafood when we came for a visit. Now, part of this is that my mother genuinely enjoys terribly Americanized Chinese food, and our visits to her favorite place would take up a significant percentage of our available meals, causing my long-suffering husband some degree of frustration. So it is somewhat ironic that instead of going with him to visit Georgia Sea Grill, I went with my mother. And the boychild, who was not exactly on his best behavior. Continue reading “Georgia Sea Grill, Saint Simons Island GA”
Fattoush with Too Much Lemon!
(Marie’s latest report from the kitchen wasn’t a complete success, but we know how to adapt for the next time…)
Every catalog we get from Penzeys Spices is mined for ideas. This time it was the Fattoush recipe that we selected. The girlchild, who is not a terribly big fan of salads despite her numerous short-lived attempts at becoming vegetarian, was relieved to know that we were scheduling this particular salad for a day when she had other plans. She only likes iceberg lettuce, and I don’t like buying that stuff because a) it tastes like water and b) it goes limp almost immediately after opening the package. Romaine isn’t much better because the ribs go brown, but at least you can purchase it in bunches if the prechopped bags look iffy. First World problems, right? My son does not eat any kind of salad except pasta (he gets away with it because he has points for liking broccoli and pickled beets) so this was just for the two adults. It’s a quite substantial salad, and could easily feed four light appetites or three medium. Continue reading “Fattoush with Too Much Lemon!”
Hildegard’s German Cuisine, Huntsville AL
(I didn’t eat anything at the fifth restaurant on our day trip, thinking, correctly, that Marie would really enjoy this one. It’s one of at least four German restaurants in the Rocket City, and the one that our friend Helen recommends as the best in town.)
Every so often you chance on something that reminds you just perfectly of something in your childhood. If you’re lucky, it’s a good thing, and the genuine pleasure of enjoying it along with the memories of past encounters layer on each other for a really wonderful experience. In this case, it was the red cabbage at Hildegard’s German Cuisine. Continue reading “Hildegard’s German Cuisine, Huntsville AL”
Marie, Let's Eat! 