They call New Orleans the Big Easy, but yesterday was big, but not easy, as I spent my first full day here, prior to the start of Tales of the Cocktail. I am one of the 24 judges for the 2008 Ministry of Rum Tasting Competition, a strict rum judging event coordinated by the Ministry of Rum at Tales. There was a long list of people who were considered as judges for this event and Ed Hamilton, the head of the Ministry, spent several weeks winnowing down the list to some of the top rummies around.
We met at the famous Arnauds restaurant for the event. As we chatted before the judging began it soon became evident just how knowledgeable this crew was. Rum distillers, importers, writers and bloggers, and of course rum collectors. I thought I had a nice collection of spirits with over 500 bottles, of which around 100 of them are exceptional rums. I've given away more than that of mediocre rums over the past year or three, saving just the best. One of my fellow judges has over 800 top of the line rums in his collection. The least of which makes my best look like a cheap $1.99 pint of generic white rumbullion. When you have pre-embargo Cuban rums and rums over 100 years old in your collection you're on a different level of connoisseurship than I. I just want to try some little 1/4 ounce sips of a few dozen of his collection one day and I'll be happy. Just the thought has me drooling like a drunk.
So I'm guilty of impaired riding. Carousel riding that is. Like many fans of the Cocktail, I'm down in New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail for the next week and having a blast. Within a few minutes of getting to my hotel in the French Quarter, the Hotel Monteleone, I was sitting on a carousel and bellied up to the bar all at the same time. The famous carousel bar in the hotel turns at a leisurely four times per hour, which is negligible at first, but seems to speed up as the drinks slide down. I ordered one of my favorite cocktails, a Vieux Carré, which was invented here by Walter Bergeron in 1938, and sat back to enjoy the ride. Every now and then a friend would stop by for a chat, having to do a side step shuffle every few moments to keep up with the stately procession of the Carousel. I came to call this the Vieux Carré Strut, and soon it became one of the most popular dances at Tales.
Vieux Carré is another name for the French Quarter, meaning "The Old Square," and this fabulous drink fits right in, no wonder Bergeron called it such. The decor in the Carousel Bar is a mix of a fine lounge and antique amusement park, with an elegant feel. That is until the whole crew descended upon the establishment. Then it became more like a cross between the Midway, and the Fun House. Now if only they had the carousel horses like in Mary Poppins. I can imagine my fine friends from Tales gallumphing off the Carousel and taking a turn 'round the Monteleone, refreshing themselves along the way as we stop hither and yon for fine cocktails. Then after making our way through all the laudatory libations, a few circuits of the Queen Anne Ballroom to the tune of a waltz, zig zagging among the masked dancers; before heading out onto the streets of Vieux Carré showing the world how to do Tales in style.
Recipe for the Vieux Carré Cocktail after the jump.
It started as an innocent hobby. I'd pick a cookbook or two up at thrift stores and used bookstores when I was traveling or visiting my parents. Then I got a real job and had a bit of disposable income and so started filling the gaps in my cookbook collection, buying the ones that I had always longed for. Then I acquired books from the collections of others, including my aunts Flora and Anne, reader Kate and the mother of a friend of a friend. Suddenly my apartment was overflowing with cookbooks. I love the abundance of cookbooks, but at times it makes walking through the living room challenging.
So I was thrilled to discover on Shuna's blog that the Southern Food and Beverage Museum is in need of cookbook donations. They are located in New Orleans and lost more than half of their collection to Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. They are looking for new and used cookbooks that have something to do with Southern food, cooking and culture. I plan on culling my collection in order find anything that they might be interested in and putting together a package for them.
If you have some appropriate volumes in your collection, you can send your (fully tax-deductible) donations to:
Southern Food & Beverage Museum attn. Liz Williams 1 Poydras Street, #169 New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
I would like to announce that tickets have gone on sale for Tales of the Cocktail 2008, the worlds premiere culinary and cocktail event that takes place each summer in New Orleans. This year the event runs from July 16-20th, 2008. If you are a mixologist, bartender, cocktail and spirits writer, or just a fan of cocktails; then Tales of the Cocktail is an event that you have to attend.
Between now and then you can read all about the events, seminars, etc. at Blogging Tales of the Cocktail 2008 where I (and another one of my fellow Slashfood bloggers) and "more than two dozen of the world's most prolific and widely read bloggers in the fields of fine spirits and cocktails are focusing their attention on Tales of the Cocktail, which takes place July 16-21. These bloggers are contributing regular posts about the sessions, celebrations and people of Tales in the months leading up to the event. In mid-July, these bloggers will descend on New Orleans, and each day they'll take a few moments away from the revelry to post frequent updates about the panels and parties taking place during Tales of the Cocktail."
So all you cocktail fans and fanatics, head on over and get your tickets for Tales of the Cocktail 2008 in New Orleans, before they are all sold out.
Love cocktails? Spirits? Want to know how to make your own bitters, infused syrups or tinctures? Interested in bartending techniques or the history of the craft? Or, heck, do you like to drink? Brothers and sisters, have I got an event for you. . .
Tales Of The Cocktail is the only event of its kind. From July 16-20th bartenders, spirit representatives, notable authors, mixologists and enthusiastic barflies will gather in New Orleans to celebrate, attend seminars and drink a whole bunch of hooch. Tickets are available on the TOTC site. Hope to see you there.
Additionally, I've been invited to be a participating writer for the all-star blog site that they are putting together for the event, Talesblog.com. In the coming months, we will be previewing the events, seminars and notable participants of this wonderful event. I guarantee you won't find a giddier bunch.
Back at the end of January, I spent five days up in New York City, attending a writing conference and hanging out with my cousins in Brooklyn. One of the high points of the conference was the session I attended that consisted entirely of food writers reading from their work. One of the writers was Sara Roahen, and she read a piece about the Sazerac (a drink made from rye whiskey and bitters) from her about-to-be published book about food and life in New Orleans.
The book, officially titled Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table, is now available and it should be winging its way to me even as we speak (thanks to the wonder that is Amazon.com). It contains recipes and stories (and we all know that's just about my favorite thing in the whole world). When I heard Roahen read, by the end of the chapter, I was nearly panting for a Sazerac (and I don't particularly even like whiskey). If that is any indication, I am certain the rest of the book will be as vividly descriptive and tantalizing.
I have a love/hate relationship with the city in which I live -- Los Angeles. You can't beat the balmy weather (did I mention that I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt all day today?), but you also can't beat traffic, no matter how carefully you listen to the traffic report, time your driving with "rush hour" or opt for surface streets.
But in the end, I love Los Angeles, which is why I love these dinner plates from notNeutral. The dishwasher-safe porcelain plates are 12" in diameter, feature the downtown core printed on a black background, highlight key buildings in red, and indicate rivers and public spaces. While I favor Los Angeles, the plates also come printed with Shanghai, Cairo, Berlin (part of Collection 1) and New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas and Dubai (part of Collection 2).
I know. For shame, for shame. I went to New Orleans and I ended up eating in places where Tony Bourdain would never go like Acme Oyster House in the French Quarter. So call me Rachael Ray for a day.
I don't mind because it was at Acme that I had my first taste of grilled oysters. I may not ever be able to go back to eating oysters raw again. If you've never had oysters prepared this way, let me tell you that it's quite deliciously obscene. First the oysters are drowned in garlic butter (I think), then suffocated under cheese. The oysters in the shells are thrown on the grill until the shells are charred to black and the oysters are screaming for mercy under the cheese. I couldn't help but throw a few splashes of hot sauce on there, too. Hey, they were already blasphemed with all that other stuff, so I didn't feel to bad.
I'm assuming that you didn't take the day off from work to run half-naked through the streets of your neighborhood in celebration of Mardi Gras, which probably means you didn't start your day with Hurricanes and Brandy Milk Punches at 7 AM.
Starting the day with cafe au lait -- French for "coffee with milk" -- is a better option. It's not a latte. Cafe au lait is drip coffee with hot milk. After years and years of drinking coffee black -- no sugar, no cream, no love, baby -- I conceded to trying coffee with milk because I "had to" when I was at Cafe du Monde last month. I have to say, I have been drinking it this way at home for the last month since I've been back.
Oh, okay, so I'm using soy instead of regular milk.
The Super Bowl is Sunday, but not two days later, we jump right into Mardi Gras festivities. Since Mardi Gras is on a Tuesday and we know you're utterly responsible on "school nights," why not celebrate it a little early by serving classic New Orleans fare at your Super Bowl Party? Gumbo, jamablaya, and of course, the muffuletta.
The muffuletta is something new to me. I've heard about, read about, and seen this giant Sicilian stuffed sandwich, but only tried it for the very first time a few weeks ago when I was in New Orleans for the BCS Bowl. Though I am not normally a huge fan of sandwiches in general, I fell in love with the powerfully garlicky olive salad, one of the specific ingredients that makes the muffuletta a muffuletta.
The muffuletta's size makes it the perfect party sandwich, since you can make a few, then cut them into single-size servings for your guests. The basic ingredients are a round, somewhat flat seeded loaf of firm bread (for which the sandwich is named), salumi, cheese, and olive salad.
If you can't get your hands on muffuletta bread specifically, something like a focaccia is a good substitute. Slice the bread horizontally, rub the cut sides of the bread with oil from the olive salad, then pile on any of assorted salumi, provolone cheese, and of course, the olive salad, which you can either buy or make yourself. Press the sandwich together and you're good to go.
Of course, if you live in New Orleans, you can just pick some up from the place that invented the sandwich, Central Grocery (where I got and ate mine)!
New Orleans now offers a soulful culinary phenomenon that's more often seen on the streets of New York City or Los Angeles: taco trucks.
Residents of New Orleans have embraced the mobile taquerias' offerings, including al pastor and pork tacos. Some even go for the more exotic cow's head and tongue varieties, both of which are some of my favorites. Even though the public has warmed up to a type of restaurant little known before an influx of Latinos came to the state seeking reconstruction work, Jefferson Parish officials have recently banned the trucks. The new law gave vendors only 10 days to set up restrooms and washing stations. I've certainly wished for both of these amenities after wolfing down a few tacos de carnitas on the streets of Jackson Heights, Queens. But it's simply not going to happen. It should be pointed out that if my fair city banned the taco trucks, there's a fair chance that I'd soon find myself living in L.A.
But back to the story at hand. Jeff Parish pols raised concerns that the mobile kitchens are unsanitary, even though state health officials found nothing wrong. As the article I read pointed out, the taco trucks are embroiled in a food fight of sorts. To be sure, racisim also plays a role in the ban, but so does a concern that the cuisine of Puebla threatens the historic foodways of the Big Easy. New Orleans City Council President Oliver Thomas recently asked, "How do the tacos help gumbo?"
The burning question for me is something more along the lines of, "How soon can I get me a boudin noir taco?
The fine folks at our sister site Blogging New Orleans have been covering Jazz Fest over the past three days, and have been running their own little food porn collection of the meals available for purchase.
The author of Tom Fitzmorris's New Orleans Food: More than 225 of the City's Best Recipes to Cook at Home, Tom Fitzmorris, was actually born on Mardi Gras in New Orleans, which certainly gets him brownie points in terms of heritage and, although that birth date didn't come with any guarantees, Fitzmorris certainly knows his stuff with it comes to NOLA foods. He is one of the leading food writers (if not the leading one) and restaurant critics in the area and runs the New Orleans Menu website that keeps tabs on the reopenings of restaurants in the wake of hurricane Katrina.
Getting back to the book, it has a great collection of food favorites from Crescent City. Most have been updated to suit modern tastes and to cater to some more modern food trends (small plates, for example), the dishes are basically staples of the area, the types of food that residents already know and love. Drago's Charbroiled Oysters and Cajun Smothered Duck are two of the more regionally-familiar recipes, while everyone will recognize Bananas Foster and Beignets. Whether you're interested in trying New Orleans' cuisine for the first time or are already a fan, you probably can't go too far wrong with this volume.
In this month's issue of GQ magazine, food guru Alan Richman took a glossy, 8-page look at the food of New Orleans post-Katrina. The idea sounds like a good one, so why is the article so controversial? The problem is that the piece was not gushing, not exactly sentimental and, in parts, not accurate about the city and its food.
To date, the vast majority of the pieces about New Orleans have been stories of survival and of working to restore the city to its former state. People rebuild their homes and lives. Restaurants struggle to clean up, reopen and attract customers. Richman writes some about the touching, uplifting parts and the grassroots movements of people to get their lives back in order, but does not write exclusively about the uplifting parts, in fact stating that "New Orleans shouldn't exist," referring to it below-sea level elevation right on a vulnerable coastline. In another controversial assertion, he says that Cajuns originated in Canada, which is true, contrary to what some of his critics have said. However, Richman also states that he doesn't think Creoles ever really existed, but the term applied to a definite and large group of people in the city. He explains his position in the GQ podcast, by the way.
Love cocktails? Spirits? Want to know how to make your own bitters, infused syrups or tinctures? Interested in bartending techniques or the history of the craft? Or, heck, do you like to drink? Brothers and sisters, have I got an event for you. . .
New Orleans now offers a soulful culinary phenomenon that's more often seen on the streets of New York City or Los Angeles: taco trucks.
In this month's issue of GQ magazine, food guru Alan Richman took a glossy, 8-page look at the food of New Orleans post-Katrina. The idea sounds like a good one, so why is the article 
Cakes so amazing they'd be hard to cut into
Fruit juice: An invitation to diabetes?
Morbid thoughts? Have a cookie
