View from the Kitchen

Sweet Potatoes

She looks a little like the joker, no?

posted by PerfectPear @ Friday, March 31, 2006 1 Comments

Fear of Frying

With apologies to Erica Jong.

I grew up with weekly staples like fried chicken and chicken fried steak. Bacon always went with breakfast, and it was made in a deep cast iron skillet-- the kind that your don't wash, but wipe clean. There was fried okra, breaded and fried mushrooms and the occasional and truly remarkable beer batter onion rings. Despite a childhood slathered in grease, I have a fear of frying. My first job, at fourteen was in a liquor store/deli which had a case of meats and cheeses and two big deep fryers, where we made potato skins and fried chicken. It was a tiny place, with barely enough room for the fryer, much less me and one of the big, Sopranos extended family sized guys who owned the joint. I had to stand at the fryer, plopping stuff in and fishing it out, with my back to the world. More than once I was standing there and got shoved into the fryer, while it was boiling and hissing away, while somebody's cousin squeezed by me with a case of wine in tow. It was terrifying and I imagined my skin melting away.

My book club read, Confederacy of Dunces this month. Since we are a book and dinner club a kind of natural New Orleans menu occurred. Mark made amazing beans and rice. Rebecca made sweet potato casserole with pecans and brown sugar. Augusto made jalapeno corn bread. Julie made greens. Amy brought jelly donuts, if you don't know why... you have to read the book. And I decided to make hush puppies. I have an old New Orleans cookbook issued by the Ursuline Nuns in the 1960's with a recipe for hush puppies. And despite my fear of having hot oil in the house, actually not just in the house, but in the same zip code as the baby, I did it. I had help, my mom did most of the putting them in and dipping them out once we got the hang of them, since folks started arriving and Miss Afton required a wardrobe change. The puppies were great when they were piping hot, but the cooler they were the more tasteless they became. And forget catsup, we had them with Red Pepper Jelly, thanks to my friend, Paula, who always brings goodies like that when she comes from Atlanta. I'll post the recipe if you're interested.

posted by PerfectPear @ Wednesday, March 15, 2006 1 Comments

I'm Eating Here

I'm Eating Here
Originally uploaded by view from the kitchen.

No DNA test needed. Not only did she tackle solids like a champ, she opened wide, and grabbed the spoon. Then she ordered a pizza afterwards.

posted by PerfectPear @ Monday, March 06, 2006 1 Comments

Candy for Breakfast

Mmmm. Big Cherry candy while still in your duckie jammies. No, not really, but we are starting rice cereal tomorrow. The organic stuff. Afton's adventures in food are just beginning.

posted by PerfectPear @ Saturday, March 04, 2006 2 Comments

Bread and Jam in the Morning...

Not surprisingly my favorite book when I was little was Bread and Jam for Frances. Love the little badger that sings about jam. Since the pumpkin was born we've gotten lots of fun food books. There's the First Book of Sushi, which every little girl needs. And To Market, To Market, which is a fabulous nod to vegetarians and the illustrations are just too fun. A quick search on Amazon brought up 1377 results. Ugh. Who wants to sort through that. Know about any others that we should add to the library?

posted by PerfectPear @ Thursday, March 02, 2006 2 Comments