Category Archives: condiments

NEW ORLEANS: DELECTABLE BITES OF THE FRENCH QUARTER IN FOUR DAYS

Cafe du Monde is as touristy as it gets and a stones throw from the Mississippi River. Gator on a stick is offered at the French Market. The Old Legends Park was the best place to grab a beignet and a cup of coffee while listening to a jazz quartet.

New Orlean’s French Quarter — a walk-able feast for eyes, ears and taste buds — is the real deal. Gritty, sweaty, and as down-to-earth as a city might get.

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NOLA: FLAVOR CHRONICLES ON THE ROAD

Soup of the day with corn muffin and bloody mary.

NOLA, an Emeril Lagasse restaurant located in the French Quarter of New Orleans is the first stop for Sunday brunch of a four day work/play adventure.

Just a few blocks from our hotel on Bourbon Street, the decor is a mix of crumbling brick walls and modern chandeliers. An ancient glass-enclosed elevator is both fun and inventive artistry and it’s also the only way to the second floor.

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FRESH FROGS: WE BOUGHT THE DUCK

A particular aspect of living at the Jersey Shore is the abundance of food markets. Within a twenty mile radius we have our choice of mega-grocery stores, multiple “health” food shops, farmers markets, specialized boutique marts, and some of my favorite haunts—ethnocentric markets.

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SATURDAY NIGHT SALVATION: SHRIMP AND GRITS

Saturday night in our neck-of-the-woods is date night. Suburban, hip-town America where the bars, bistros, trattorias and restaurants are packed with happy, hungry revelers.

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PANTRY PASTA: COMFORT FOOD

Your day was meh. If you’re anything like me, you come home to the place where you can shut out the rest of the world, put on what ever old thing makes you comfortable, maybe a little music and maybe a glass of wine or a beer. Okay, feeling a bit better you peruse the take-out menu folder and shuffle through it like you don’t have it memorized.

Pizza? no. Chinese? no. Okay, I have a suggestion for you. Hit the pantry. Go in and pull out all of those jars and cans that have been sitting on the shelf. Look through the fridge. Is there a box of pasta? Spaghetti? Good. Here’s the recipe — and I use that word loosely — that I make when I want honest to goodness, simple comfort food in a hurry.

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