BOOK: Taste of Treme

Now that things are starting to settle down, it’s time for me to get back to things that I love… New Orleans, right?  Right.  The past two months has really been about family.  Seeing ones out-of-state, housing others from out-of-state, spending time with the ones close by, working and chasing a two-and-half-year-old!  It has been a tiresome time but worth it considering the year my wife and I have had.  Both had a grandparent pass away, both had close family friends pass away, her mother sudden death and my mother diagnosed with breast cancer.  2012 has been rough.

Doing this blog has helped.  Reading about New Orleans lifts me up and going there this year was a highlight during a dark time.  Through Facebook and this blog, I’ve made friends from New Orleans and talked to many more that also love New Orleans.  I’m sure Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints wasn’t the first to say this, and I may be repeating myself here, but he said, “if you love New Orleans, New Orleans will love you back.”

I love New Orleans… I’m not afraid to tell it or share it or promote it or live it.  I have a friend at work who rushes in after the weekend telling me he made a Creole dish for his family and I’d be proud.  He now knows the difference between a gumbo and a Zatarains gumbo mix or Red Beans and Rice compared to an Uncle Ben’s microwave pouch of the same name (though nothing’s wrong with either, but… cooking for four hours is a lot different then 60-seconds)  Then my father-in-law purchases a new saxophone after surprising me with a trombone.  He loved his visit to New Orleans with me and my wife.  We’re a few members away from a brass band… and a lot of lessons!  So don’t worry Hot 8 or the ReBirth.

The cook books were a plenty also… from used book sales to shops in Georgia, from Swedish to New Orleans, I’ve bought a lot.  My favorite books are the books with stories.  Photos.  Tales of the past.  This is one of my favorite cook books I own.  This is one of the best books on New Orleans…

The TASTE OF TREME: Creole, Cajun and Soul Food from New Orleans’s Famous Neighborhood of Jazz by Todd-Michael St. Pierre.  The book came out at the beginning of November.  I’ve read it a few times and I’ve cooked a few recipes from it.  Not only is this hardcover book packed with recipes, it reads like a travel book.  You can take this book with you as you travel New Orleans.  In full color, loaded with history and information you find yourself reading this as a book, not just a cook book.

From the Amazon blurb on the book, and the back cover:

LAISSEZ LES BONS TEMPS ROULER
In Tremé, jazz is always in the air and something soulful is simmering on the stove. This gritty neighborhood celebrates a passion for love, laughter, friends, family and strangers in its rich musical traditions and mouth-watering Southern food. Infuse your own kitchen with a
Taste of Tremé by serving up its down-home dishes and new twists on classic New Orleans favorites.

Also from the back cover, it includes cultural facts about the music, architecture and dining that make up Treme, this book will have your taste buds tapping to the beat of a big brass band!

One of the great recipes I made was Fall-Off-The-Bone Quick Pork Ribs.  An amazing recipe that takes less than an hour!

Now that Christmas has passed and you’re looking to return a ton of stuff and buy something else… or you are stock piled in gift cards… if you haven’t already, BUY THIS BOOK!  If you love New Orleans as much as I do, this book will easily become one of your favorites!

Looking ahead to 2013 and what’s to come, book and cook book wise, I don’t know how anything will compare to this book.

So as this year ends, I hope it was good to you but TGI-2013! haha What’s been your favorite book you got this past year?  Anything New Orleans?

Happy New Year!

What’s been cooking?

I’m still here.  I’ve been watching my blog everyday.  Without posting anything in a months time the stats have been getting higher and higher… times have been busy so that’s why I haven’t been posting any new topics.  I’ve been cooking and I’ve been photographing for upcoming posts.

Andouille Sausage at Target!

Kroger has their own Creole Seasoning!

We recently took a trip to Georgia over the long Thanksgiving weekend.  It didn’t really surprise me, but I was shocked by all the New Orleans items that are available there in the Atlanta area.  Kroger has their own creole seasoning!  Target sold andouille sausage!  And the best part, the book stores sold New Orleans, Creole and Cajun cook books!  I came back home to Michigan looking like I just walked out of the French Quarter (minus the beads of course).

All my goods I picked up down in Georgia…

After a year of cooking as much New Orleans food as I can and posting as many recipes as I could I almost felt that I needed a change.  Something different.  I haven’t stopped my red beans and rice.  I stocked up on those down south.  I really dived back into my Swedish side.  I’ve ordered a few.  Cooked out of them a lot.  It’s the other culture that I love and covet.  In the past month, my Swedish recipes I’ve posted here have been some of my most searched and read recipes.  I love the fact that I can not only share the great New Orleans culture and the Swedish culture… but that’s where I know I should separate the two.  I’m not going to become “Swedish Brown Beans and Red Beans and yellow peas…”, oh my!  I may start another page with Swedish cooking and culture there.  This is New Orleans.  This is red beans and Eric!

Recently, there was a documentary from New Orleans called “THE MAN WHO ATE NEW ORLEANS”.  It’s been televised on WYES in New Orleans but to see it elsewhere, you have to wait for the DVD or hopefully your area PBS station played it.  This is the description from the website of the film:

“The Man Who Ate New Orleans is the story of a New Yorker who sets out to accomplish something no one in the 300-year history of New Orleans has ever done – eat a meal at every restaurant in the city. His name is Ray Cannata, and he’s a Presbyterian minister who moves to New Orleans shortly after Hurricane Katrina to help revitalize a tiny church there. At his first service after the storm, he boldly challenges the seventeen people present to build a church around a commitment to help rebuild the city.

Just over five years later, the church is large and thriving, and has worked on over 500 homes in New Orleans. And Ray himself is preparing to eat at the last of his 700+ restaurants and truly become The Man Who Ate New Orleans.”

My goal, with your help, is to come up with the list of the most famous meals from New Orleans and cook them all… and cook through New Orleans.  I’m working on the list and that’s my next step.  I love this blog to give it up.  I’ve met to many great people from New Orleans to stop talking about them.  New Orleans has been to kind to me.

2013 is the year I eat through New Orleans… come along and we’ll discover more great food and learn more about the City That Care Forgot!