Party Like It's 1875

Let me begin this post by noting that DH and I can be a bit finicky when it comes to restaurants. Really, we're spoiled by living so many years in Charleston, Chapel Hill, and Savannah - the trifecta of excellent Southern cuisine. The problem with being so spoiled is that it has made our standards high. We have those favorite few, and it's hard to be patient when others don't live up. All of that to say, it takes a lot to become my New Favorite Place.
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With that said, let me introduce you to my new favorite restaurant in Savannah - Circa 1875. If you are visiting or live here, this is a must try. How have we lived here almost 4 years and missed it all this time? We had dinner there for the first time this weekend, and it was nearly perfect in every way.

First: making reservations. We called Saturday afternoon for last minute reservations, and got a message that they would open at 5pm, with instructions to leave our information for a return call, which we did. Promptly at 5:01, the hostess returned our call and worked us in at our first choice time. (You would have to live in Savannah to know what a stunning display of customer service this is, but let's just say they don't call it Slo-vannah for nothing.)

Second: the ambiance. Could. Not. Be. More. Charming. When you call for your reservations (seriously, do it now), be sure to ask if they have a table available in the wine cellar. It's fabulous. Exposed brick, racks of wine, tiny enough to feel intimate, but not claustrophobic.

Third: the food. Did I mention it's a French restaurant? And perfect? Seriously - every single thing we had was amazing. Hot bread, crusty on the outside and tender inside; herb butter served at just the right temperature (is there anything more annoying than ice cold butter that's impossible to actually spread on your bread?); garlicky escargot; super fresh chicken pate served with grainy mustard and pickled vegetables; mussels swimming in a butter and wine broth; wild boar chops with sweet potatoes...everything we ordered hit all the right notes. My stomach is growling as I type at the memory of it all. For all that, plus wine and a shared dessert, our bill was just under $100 before tip. Call the babysitter, and put it on the list.
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It can be hard to draft a post and watch the Tar Heels play, but Gary Williams has helpfully called 2 timeouts in the first 10 minutes of the game. I think he's taking a page from Pete Gillen's playbook.

This is How to Make Oatmeal...Right

The New York Times food writer Mark Bittman had an article yesterday on everything McDonald's is doing wrong with its new oatmeal menu item. Now, I love oatmeal. Love it. I eat it almost every single morning. But I never, ever order it for breakfast in a restaurant, no matter where I am. I've yet to see a restaurant oatmeal offering that was anything more than sticky, gummy, flavorless gruel with a side of brown sugar and fruit to disguise the flavor. Gah.

Since I am not a sweets person, I make my oatmeal savory - cooked with a bit of salt and topped with an egg over-easy. I like the oats to still be chewy and retain their shape, not cooked down so much they vaguely resemble the paper mache we used to make the creatures on high school homecoming floats.

THIS is how to make a good bowl of oatmeal (serves 1, increase proportions as needed):

Bring 3/4 cups water to a boil, add 1/4 teaspoon of salt (or slightly less, depending on your preference. You need enough salt to bring out the nutty, oaty flavor of the oats. Too little and the oats just taste like cardboard. Too much and all you'll taste is salt.). As soon as the water is boiling, add 3/4 cups of old-fashioned oats (not quick-cooking oats). Turn the heat down to low, and simmer oats until all the water is absorbed, which will only be about 5-7 minutes. Stir once or twice to be sure the oats are cooking evenly and not sticking. While the oats are cooking, gently fry an egg over-easy. Once all the water is absorbed by the oats, top with the egg and enjoy. So delicious!

Spring Has Sprung

The groundhog was right - spring is coming early this year. Last year I felt cheated. We didn't really get warm, spring weather until mid-April, and then after just a few weeks of it we went straight to the summer heat. This year we're already in week 2 of temperatures in the 70's and everyone is practically giddy.
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The warm weather has me doing my semi-annual pantry and freezer clean out (along with the closets). It's that time of year when I seem to have to face my mistakes, both fashion and food. With the clothes, I am trying to be clear headed about the things that just sat in the closet for the past 5 months. If I didn't wear them this year, I know I won't wear them next, and yet it's still so hard to cut to the chase and put perfectly good sweaters and pants in the Goodwill pile. Sadly, the same seems to be true of the freezer. If I haven't reached for the shrimp etouffee leftovers in the past 3 months, I'm not going to be reaching for it in the next 3 months. And yet so hard to toss perfectly good, if not great, food! Ah, dilemmas.

Product Placement

Today's post may sound like a tacky product placement, but I promise it is not. I just believe in passing along a good food tip whenever I stumble across one.
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Once it appeared we had all survived the stomach virus this past weekend, we piled in the car for our annual trip to visit my sister-in-law and her gorgeous family (two girls the same ages as our boys, lucky us). Since I am on the receiving end of these visits myself once each year, I know how hard it is to feed the entire crowd. The adults tend to be a pretty easy going crowd so long as there's a bottle of Pinot Noir open (a shared love between my brother-in-law and myself), but the kids can be any combination of We Eat Anything And Everything And We Want More Now or We Eat Nothing Don't Even Ask Us To Try It or We Would Have Eaten It But My Brother/Sister/Cousin Looked At It First And Now It Is No Good, and everywhere in between. Combine that with iffy travel schedules (will they arrive in time for lunch? dinner? It's anybody's guess!), and you're talking a food planning nightmare.
My sister-in-law, however, has this particular dilemma solved. Here's what she had on hand:

A HoneyBaked ham. But this was not the ham we are used to getting, the one that lasts you a week and you go to the fridge thinking, finally, we're finished with that damn ham but you open the fridge and there it is, staring at you, with another 8 pounds of meat to go before you can justify tossing it. No, she got a mini-ham. Brilliant. It was just the right size for the 8 of us to have for dinner that night, on biscuits the next morning for breakfast, and then Poof! Gone before the party was no longer fun. I can only hope she's saying the same thing about us...

Road to Recovery

It was touch and go there for a while, but we are all on the road to recovery, thank goodness. Unfortunately, food still holds no appeal for me - I'm hungry but nothing sounds good. I'll write again when I can stomach the thought of food (pun totally intended!).

The Devil Came Down To Georgia

Have you ever thought to yourself, "I would give anything for a day in bed!"? Or, "What I wouldn't trade to have 3 pounds just magically disappear!".

Friends, I am here to tell you, those are deals with the devil. After catching the stomach flu our oldest brought home, I am lying in the bed desperately wishing for a return to normal life of work, laundry, carpool, basketball, soccer, and supper club. This just flat out sucks.
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There is nothing on this earth more refreshing after the kind of night I just had than an ice cold Gatorade. And I have one. Sitting next to me on the bedside table. Unfortunately, I cannot get it open. Either the top is particularly tricky today, or my arms are particularly weak, or both, but it's infuriating. Can I wait 4 more hours until my poor husband gets home? I just might have to. I don't think there's an app for that.
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Very first post done from my iPad!

Blue's Clues

It's funny what food can tell you about other people. I am always super nosy about the groceries in other people's carts at the grocery store, and try to picture what meals they have planned based on what they're loading onto the conveyor belt.

I bet you can figure out what kind of day I had yesterday just by the food I fed my oldest son. Ready? Here goes: Gatorade, cinnamon toast, applesauce, saltine crackers.

Ah, the fun never ends. Now I'm just hoping that's not what the rest of us will be eating this week...

Hearts to You

Atlanta Mom asked what I used to make my heart pancakes yesterday. I have these heart molds, which handily enough can be used for eggs as well as pancake batter. You can order them from Amazon.

Before you use them, spray them well with cooking spray. I am a total sucker for kitchen tools of all kinds, but these are particularly fun. I'm currently on the hunt for a shamrock for St. Patrick's Day - if any of you come across one, let me know! (I have learned the hard way - cookie cutters are no substitute for proper pancake molds, because there's no little cork-covered handle that allows you to pick them up in order to flip the pancake.)

I Think I Love You

Hello readers! (If any of you are left...it's been so long since I blogged that I actually forgot my password to sign on here. 2 cups of coffee later it came to me...perhaps I should write these things down.)

I thought it would be fun, since I do love food so much, to restart the blog on a day of love. I will admit a slight obsession with making sure my boys have a hot, healthy breakfast on school mornings. We do a lot of oatmeal, french toast, bagel sandwiches, but their current favorite breakfast is pancake sandwiches. I make a huge batch of silver dollar sized pancakes and freeze them. In the morning, they take just 45 seconds in the microwave, get a big smear of peanut butter, and voila, a hot breakfast in less than a minute.

This morning, in honor of Valentine's Day, I made heart-shaped pancakes with peanut butter. HUGE hit.

Here's the recipe I use to make a big batch of pancakes for freezing:

1) Whisk together:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

6 Tablespoons sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2) In a separate bowl, whisk together:

3 cups milk (I use 2%)

6 Tablespoons melted butter

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pour wet ingredients into dry and whisk together until just combined. Be careful not to overmix, or your pancakes will be dense little discs. Heat griddle, melt butter, and cook your pancakes. Enjoy!