I officially hate Blogger

What's with the random, crappy, UNFIXABLE insertion of dozens of empty lines?!!! ARGGGH!

And on the heels of that formatting rant, I've been experiencing a crisis of focus. Not sure I want to continue on a food-focused blog, and Blogger has obviously been causing me a bit of friction. (ahem)

Not sure what's next.

Fleeing deep fried shrimp on the gulf coast

Hubby's Texas project was done - FINALLY - and we needed a getaway. So we did what we'd talked about before we came to Odessa - drive to the coast and then follow the gulf to New Orleans.

We started in San Antonio, which is, surprisingly to us, one of the US's 10 largest cities. I'd heard about the Riverwalk and wanted to check it out. My beloved HEB is headquartered there, in the historic armoury buildings, which we passed as we walked below the gorgeous historic homes of the King William district on the Riverwalk's residential stretch. It was glorious to walk through green, beside water. We're not in wind-scorched Odessa anymore!

Just as wonderful was that we were in a foodie town. I had avidly scoped out Chowhound, Yelp, Texas Monthly, planning my marks, plotting my appetite, and scored two wonderful meals. Gwendolyn is a chef-driven, locavore-focused restaurant with a prixe fixe 3 or 5 course menu that changes daily. The space is small, perched at ground level above the riverwalk and getting there was our first emergence from the encompassing landscaped prettiness of the river. Wow, holy parking lot-and-rundown building wasteland above ground, Batman! Seek shelter in the restaurant, pronto.

Gwendlyn is refined clotted cream walls and dark wood, but we opted for the balcony suspended over the river. We had walked lots that day and were ready for the full menu. First up was a yummy little pot of polenta topped with caramelized onions. Right up Hubby's umami alley. Loved this restaurant's focus on 100 mile sourcing and French style 'presentation' of each course, although our extremely enthusiastic waiter was a tad over-involved; lengthy dish descriptions, lots of check backs, essays on the superlativeness of the chef/ingredients/philosophy. The sommelier and the chef both stopped by too. Yes, we are also food lovers but please - let us eat!

Then came a cold salt cod soup with tiny crackers. Also great. By that point Hubby and I were enjoying each other, dinner and the warm evening so much I forgot to take photos. This will be a theme. Me and cameras - not so sympatico. Trust me, as the vacation went on, there were plenty of agonized moments as I looked at an empty plate, or worse, a bill, and wailed "I forgot to take a picture!" (or even the camera) I'm all about the eating. But really, it was getting too dark for good photos anyway. Right? Right.

The next day we had a rainy day lunch amongst the trees at The Lodge. A rambling hundred year old house in the 'burbs, it has not had its character as a home removed; the bar is in the living room amongst the leather couches and we ate in an upper bedroom with lots of windows out to the trees. At lunch The Lodge is also a prix fixe menu, we both started with the butternut squash soup. Although not unique, it keeps showing up because it tastes so good. This was an excellent version. Look, I remembered to photograph it before I'd eaten it all!

Hubby had the roast beef sandwich with gorgeous rare roast sliced onto a crusty homemade roll, topped with potato salad with pasta salad on the side. In West Texas bread means soft and white, so the balance of loft and chew was really appreciated. I had the boneless pork chop with corn salsa and roasted potatoes and onions. Really good food. The Lodge has a cult dessert, their 'souffle' - a Nutella enriched chocolate cake with peanut butter mousse and caramel. Wow. Since Hubby doesn't like chocolate, I had it all to myself.

We then spent a week in Laguna Madre, just outside South Padre Island. The best food moment was an adequate meal in a 'fancy' restaurant on a deck just in time to see a most spectacular sunset. Frustratingly, everywhere we ate they served fish from distant oceans and sentenced the local gulf shrimp to the deep fryer. Just so spring-break, lowest-common-denominator sad.

On to an overnight in Galveston to give my aching butt a rest from all the driving. More of that misty coast, better food, great architecture and a long seawall to stroll. The best meal was at Stingaree Marina, an hour north of Galveston, where guys were pulling fish out of East Bay a few feet away while we ate absolutely delicious lump crab sauteed in butter with basil.

Okay, but really, the highlight of this trip was our next stop: The Big Easy. Hubby has been steadily taking me to places I've long dreamed about and thanks to Hotwire, we stayed downtown at the 4 1/2 star Le Pavillion Hotel with a rooftop pool and a 10pm pb&j buffet. First up on the must do list was Cafe du Monde. My kind of breakfast - fresh beignet and cafe au lait at noon.

I love that people dress up there! Odessa was not only full of cowboy boots, which was fine, but endless jeans and crappy tshirts no matter what the event. We booked at Emeril's that night and walked through the sultry evening to the busy, warm space. (LOVE bare shoulder nights!) Scallops on a menu are always a draw and these were eyes-rolled-back-in-head, slumped-in-chair good; I had to restrain Hubby from licking the fresh corn sauce off the plate they were perched on. He got disconcertingly focused on his beef two ways: filet, and short rib shepherd's pie and I went on to shrimp and grits. I mean, it's the South! Eat grits! Last call was the banana cream pie Emeril's is justly famous for. Enormous, it defeated me, but it was worth the fight.

We had several great lunches: an accidental stop when the target resto was closed where I had my first lip-smacking shrimp remolade. Coop's is locally top-rated for their fried chicken and served delicious jambalaya on the side, better by far than the jambalaya they demonstrated at The New Orleans School of Cooking but the story telling cook was so entertaining I would highly recommend spending a morning there.

Our last night in New Orleans was magic. I was wearing a swirly silk dress that was a match for the city. We started at the Royal Oyster bar for oysters, of course, chargrilled with garlic and butter. Hubby couldn't get enough so I hung back and let him finish them. Then on to Mr. B's for the best barbecue shrimp in town, where he did the same for me. The shrimp aren't cooked on the bbq and the sauce isn't a bbq sauce, rather there are a pile of giant, whole sea bugs, swimming in a gorgeous sauce, rich with butter and slightly spicy - it reminded me of a curry. Both dishes come with baguette to mop up the luxurious puddles, a most decadent progressive dinner. Sated, we walked to Frenchmen Street for some Mississipi blues in a bar with its doors wide open to the night. Under a pressed tin ceiling Hubby slow danced with me until our feet could take no more, and then we sat and hummed along. When we finally left, the lead singer thanked us for coming, looking so nice, and so we went back to our swanky room laughing.

I hope to see Nawlins again.

Harold's BBQ in Abilene

We met my cousins for lunch in Abilene, at a place they picked out of the phone book. Harold's is a classic Texas bbq joint; faded paint, clippings on the walls, everyone from blue haired grandmas to cool teens on the benches around the tables, all surrounded by the voluptuous smell of smoke.

We ordered up (brisket and ribs for me), found a table and dug in to the food and the conversation. Suddenly Harold stepped from behind the counter and told us he'd been singing all his life and that he'd been asked to sing for us. In a grand, vibrato baritone, he lit into..."How Great Thou Art". Three verses; then had the whole room join in for the chorus. And they did! Grandmas, biker guys, cool teens - everyone warbling along, "then sings my soul..."

The bbq was good but that moment - sharing the impromptu hymnsing with a group of strangers - was the most incredible thing about the meal. Check out the video of Harold leading everyone in singing "Amen":

roofless

(sorry about the erratic spacing, Blogger won't let me correct it) Hubby's work squeeze play is coming up in a week, so he finagled a couple of days so we could get out of Dodge before he disappears into the commissioning of his project. He won't be up for air for a couple of weeks.

We headed out to the iconic Rio Grande, with a two day guided paddle through the Santa Elena canyon ahead, with Big Bend River Tours. Given that it was going to average 32 C, the temperature seemed perfect for tenting - since heat is still a novelty to us Canadians.

Gear was a bit of a problem - Hubby's new Transitions glasses we'd delayed leaving town to pick up blew a nose piece after an hour on the road. The new glasses straps we'd bought so we didn't lose the new ones in the drink frayed almost immediately. And the hook on my swimsuit top snapped as I was getting dressed the first morning. Hubby managed to jury rig it together.

But whatever. We were exhilarated to be heading into elevation - the Chihuahuan desert has the Chisos mountains, which have the spectacular addition, along with the river, of - wait for it - trees! Hubby, we're not in Odessa anymore!

We met our guide and drove out through Big Bend National Park to our put in spot, right on the doorway of the canyon. Yucca was in bloom, the brush was leafing out, and the spectacular height of the 1500' canyon walls dwarfed us as we loaded the canoes.

The Rio Grande is such a storied river it was astonishing to see it more of a creek. Our trip, in fact, consisted of an easy 3 mile paddle upstream on flat, shallow water day one and an even easier paddle downstream the next day. Coming from the ferocious white water of the Rockies, this took a shift of expectation.

I was devastated by the beauty. The silence seeped into us and we spent whole hours without speaking, heads turned up towards the layered walls, the sudden caves, the light. Our guide found us a shady gravel ledge and set out a wide sandwich bar. I hadn't had Oreos for a decade but in this setting -ambrosia.

Slow paddling, interspersed with portages where we towed the canoe up brief, shallow riffles, sun, shade, birdsong - up the long nave of stone to the sandbar where we'd set up camp. Initially disappointed that I'd left our current books behind, Hubby took to the chairs our guide set up to 'canyon tv' and we spent the rest of the late afternoon watching the sun move up the walls, talking, sipping wine as we waited for supper to be ready. He forgot about the books immediately.

Can I tell you how much I was enjoying not having planned the food, prepped the food or having made the food?

We had bacon wrapped steaks cooked to order, baked potatoes with all the toppings, crisp salad with homemade dressing, spicy garlic toast...and chocolate cheesecake for dessert. Hubby loves cheesecake, but not chocolate, so I happily ate off the chocolate glaze while feeding him the vanilla cake.

Canyon tv had aerial divebombing by white throated swifts, followed even before sunset with fluttering bats in the lower, shadowed canyon. Next came the light show and we watched each star slip into the pale sky, eventually following satelites and shooting stars in our narrow strip of view.

My neck was defeated by all the craning, so by flashlight we went to our tent where we could continue the show all night, since the mesh window on the tent went from ankle height right over our heads to the other side. I woke in the night to a new noise, a scruffling close to the tent, and lay awake for a while, staring up at those brilliant stars, until I felt sure we would not be invaded.

Morning brought the scent of frying breakfast sausage. Coffee in hand, we watched the sun slide down the steep walls, eventually eating pancakes with berries and bananas, whip cream, sausage and orange juice. Did I mention we weren't even expected to wash dishes?

A leisurely pack up pace and then the downstream trip, with almost no towing, and when there was, Hubby let me stay in the canoe.

It was idyllic. Only the occasional sound of ripples. Rooms of light illuminating stands of grass and reed into brilliant colours. A few turtles. Hubby would kiss me when he came for the painter at the front of the canoe.

All too soon, the canyon gateway loomed and we were passing daytrippers, and then hikers. Their voices carried to us from half a mile and Eden faded away. After hauling gear at take out, our guide set up lunch, and we looked out over the river at the sheer cliffs we'd come through. Hubby hugged me. "Thank you baby. That was amazing."

In the land of Texas bbq...Korean bulgogi

Where's the beef? Well, lots of it is home on the Texas range. And millions of pounds of brisket, sausage and steak are grilled and barbecued each year, with long lines of Texans chowing down on well-prepared cow. Or eating it seasoned and spicy Mexican style.

But I've had a hankering for Asian food. So I took those beautiful ribeyes and sliced them thinly, sprinkling on the requested sugar and then after they'd glazed a little, put the marinade on and let that beef get savoury.

A quick toss in a hot pan and I served up with pickled red onions, sesame oil tossed bean sprouts and butter lettuce to wrap it in. Mmm...almost as good as being at Bow Bulgogi in Calgary.

a la francaise

Before leaving Calgary, I received a lovely gift from CC. Her husband is an excellent woodworker and he has been experimenting with creating french rolling pins. I've been working solely with a tiny 6" Indian style rolling pin - hey, maybe I can blame the flop pie on the pin! - so this was a welcome gift.

("Is that a man-beating stick?" Hubby asked when he saw it. I just smiled.)

Here are Hubby's hands, making graham crumbs for low-effort, high reward microwave cheesecake. The pin worked well, and with Hubby working well...why would the pin be used for anything but rolling?

Microwave cheesecake - fast, easy and truly effective at sweet tooth appeasement. It's elsewhere on the web but here it is for those of you not trolling for hot new recipes.
3 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 Tbsp sugar
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Combine the graham crumbs with melted butter and the 1 Tbsp sugar. Divide the crumbs between 4 one cup ramekins or small canning jars and press into the bottom.

Mix the rest of the ingredients until smooth. Divide evenly into jars or ramekins.

Place in microwave for 2 minutes. The top of the cheesecake should appear dry when cooked. If it doesn't look quite done, microwave at 30 second intervals until the tops appear dry. Chill in the fridge 1 hour. Garnish with berries or fruit compote and serve.

Lime flavour option: omit the vanilla, add the zest of 1 lime and 2 Tbsp lime juice.

Once my mom comes next week, I'll ask her to make pie crust with me and we'll give the pin a trial of its true purpose, seeing if that silky finish lives up to its promise. (sorry, we ate the cheesecake before I remembered to take a picture. Not for the first time.)

My kingdom for a good fish counter...

...oh wait, I have one of those, because I have H-E-B. Great fish in West Texas! Who knew?!

Of course I've checked out the local grocery stores. My first few experiences, Albertsons and Walmart, were not great. Limp produce, limited selection: was not feeling the love. But then I heard about H-E-B, which I've been pronouncing 'heb'; the commercials clarify that it's really H E B, short for "Here, everything's better". Ohhh, hokeyness. But then guess what: it was a rose in the desert, a Texas/Mexico-based freshness-and-local-focused food emporium. It has no atmosphere - it's not Whole Foods pretty- but the meat, produce and fish is largely Texas sourced and has been brought in within 24 hours.

Plus they're making tortillas all day long. Fresh, warm tortillas! When I see the catfish at the seafood counter, it gets my juices going...fish tacos, anyone? Hubby loves fish tacos. And here I've been in the south for 3 weeks and haven't had catfish yet!! As in, I have never had catfish. This must be rectified.

The ahi tuna I bought for New Year's Eve was good - there it is, marinating in olive oil - as have been the gulf shrimp. I intend to thoroughly check out the rest of the options in the fish case.

Then there was Lamb's stone ground cornmeal from Converse, TX. Could there be simpler packaging? Made some good grits with it, tarted up with the last of the Tomme d'Savoie from Janice Beaton.

All in all, I'm very relieved. Good groceries are just down the street.

A shocking absence of big hair

Hubby and I headed south in December. Someone asked where in Texas we were moving and when I replied, "unfortunately it's 'ugly Texas'", her response was "Oh, you're moving to Midland!", and indeed we are.

Or actually Odessa, the twin city next door to Midland. Not for a long time, but hopefully a good time. I paid the import duty for myself at the border: $6 US to bring one of me in. (processing fee for my companion visa)

In preparation for leaving our condo to our friends T&K, who would happily be able to housesit for us, I made a list of possibly mysterious homemade items in the fridge: sundried tomato tapenade, pickled red onions, preserved lemons, 3 kinds of herb butters, wine vinegar in the making, plus glace fruit from Paris...what a food geek. Thankfully, T is a foodie like me and will likely actually use these things.

The morning we drove out was full of hoar frost through southern Alberta. I had calculated that since Manuel Latruwe bakery opened at 7:30am, we would be able to stop by for some pain au chocolate and a baguette - a real, delicious, crisp crust baguette to eat with cheese and smoked buffalo for lunch. It's a Janice Beaton bag full of cheese in the photo of the back of the SUV; I doubt there will be Beaufort in Odessa. And unfortunately, I'm very sure there will not be good baguette - or possibly ANY baguette in West Texas.

Hubby started drawling before we even hit the lone star state, and at the same stop in New Mexico I was ma'amed for the first time. We were definitely not in our Kansas, anymore.

The drive - besides being LONG - was uneventful for us, although we passed half a dozen semi's on their sides in the ditch, blown over from ferocious wind in the pass above Pueblo, Colorado.

The best meal of the trip was in Hereford, Texas - yes, many businesses were named 'Whiteface', and Hubby's cattle side enjoyed this immensely - where we ate at K-Bob's, having the steak, of course. I ordered green beans on the side, craving something vegetal: they came southernized, I think. I'm still learning about this but they were what I would normally say were overdone, except that they also were in a smoky kind of sauce, so I think it was planned. Unless they burned them to the bottom of the pan. I'll continue to research this and let you know.

It was a relief to have used the last gas station bathroom. The sunset was spectacular but we really just wanted to get out of the truck and start making home out of our rented condo. The simple pasta I made that night wasn't fabulous, but it was real food and it tasted good. Plus, it had collard greens in it - collard greens! There they were, just sitting on the shelf in the produce section, along with mustard and turnip greens. I had to try them. The flavour is slightly bitter and although the leaf doesn't look or feel that dense, they take longer than expected to wilt in the pan. I'm looking forward to exploring the rest of the local grocery stores.