Pumpkin Bisque

One thing that I really want to do and have not found in this city, is take a cooking course. It would run over several weeks or months, and cover more advanced topics that some of your fancier recipes require. However, the Arkansas Extended Learning Center does offer one-time classes quite often, usually focused on a certain theme. The course that I had the pleasure of attending was the Autumnfest: Pumpkin Pizazz! We used pumpkin in ways that I would never have considered.

There would be much more content on this site…

… if my laptop would condescend to work. There was an unfortunate incident involving a glass of wine several weeks ago, and even a trip to the Dell repair shop hasn’t fixed her up. This severely hampers my ability to hang out at Sufficient Grounds and play on my computer for hours on end (my budget is quite pleased though). I tried to chat with tech support last night, but after an hour of ‘your wait will be approximately 7 minutes,’ I was forced to throw in the towel. I would call, but who wants to waste cell minutes waiting on hold?

Pei Wei

Up until a couple of years ago my experience with asian food pretty much consisted of the fare found at buffet-style chinese restaurants, and the occasional hibachi grill. They all seemed to have the same menu, the only variation being the amount of time that passed before the staff would condescend to replace the congealing fare on the hot line. (One notable exception being the whole octopus found at a buffet in Fayetteville… I consider myself an adventerous eater, but this completely killed my appetite. Needless to say I’ve never been back.)

Jason’s Deli

There are some days, when life has got you down, you’ve eaten too much delicious tasty Sylvek’s bread the night before, you went for the whole milk on your overpriced latte instead of your normal virtuous 2%, and you need a little pick-me-up so that you feel like you can face the post new years dieting world again. On these days you just might find your mind contemplating the tasty but healthy (mostly) nirvana that is the salad bar at Jason’s Deli.

Duty Calls

I will be out of town this weekend, so look for a new entry on Monday. Or maybe Tuesday. If you get bored, pop on over to the CHOW magazine website where they are featuring an article about cast iron, which all southern cooks should be interested in.

Ciao,

L.

Cotham’s in the City

Once upon a time when I was about 12 years old, I got to be a page in the state legislature – once for my representative in the house, and once for my representative in the senate. This is less exciting than you might be thinking. No, really. What, you say? Who wouldn’t want to rub elbows with the budding politicians of the day, those 60 year old men who think the only way to relate to a, shall we say, well developed young girl is to tell her she’s pretty and leave it at that? And no, text messaging wasn’t big in those days, so just keep those thoughts to yourself.

Basically a page’s job was to carry messages on little slips of paper into the chamber while debates or votes or whatever were going on, hand them to the proper person, and go back out and wait. Scintillating, no? Perks included were as follows: pictures with your senator/representative, and a picture with the governor. Since I wanted to experience both sides of the legislature I worked for my representative one day and my senator the next. Both days all the pages lined up to meet Governor Huckabee and shake his hand for the camera. His standard thing was to ask your name and where you went to school. On the second day when I gave the pertinent info he remarked that someone yesterday had also gone to school at -. I didn’t tell him it was me. I have to say, I don’t think Bill Clinton would have done that.

Double Dollar Deals

If you’re like me and hardly listen to the radio, or only listen to NPR, you might not know about this (a coworker told me about it). The Clear Channel stations in town get local businesses (mostly restaurants) to offer gift certificates for half price – usually a $50 certificate for $25. The rules are usually strict (can only buy a certain number, certificate must be used in one visit, etc.), but it’s still a pretty good deal. They post new offers on Thursdays, so follow the link and get some deals! (Link)

Starbucks

The way I see it, there are two major categories of people in this world. Those who love coffee, that rich, life-giving substance, and those who just don’t get it. I, of course, have been a member of the former, saner group since my teenage years, especially since learning that caffeine was the only way I was going to survive finals weeks in college.

My grandfather would say that any coffee that isn’t totally black and strong enough to make a spoon stand up isn’t worthy of the name. Lattes? Cappucinos? Sacrilege! All that fancy stuff so some yankee can charge four bucks a cup? Give him a plain old cup of joe any day. And forget flavors. Hazelnut just takes away from the good old coffee taste. (I think he’s sure that frilly coffee will leech his testosterone in some fashion.)

While I am certainly a fan of the good old fashioned cup of coffee (with a little cream, sorry Grandpa), I have come to know and love the world of gourmet coffee and espresso machines. Which brings us to my naturally coinciding love of Starbucks.

The Way to a Man’s Heart?

This post is brought to you by Miz Congeniality.

L.

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I am a southern woman. I am loud, have big hair and am determined to catch a man one way or another. Because I am a southern woman I have always heard that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. I realize that this is true, in almost every case. In a fit of chaotic desperation I took a chance at proving this wives tale to be true.

Toffee Apple Cheesecake

A few weeks ago after reading too many home magazines and attending a cooking class given by the Arkansas Extended Learning Center, I suddenly had an overwhelming desire to throw a dinner party. All attempts to talk myself out of it (too much money, all my friends are picky eaters, this means I have to clean the house…) having failed, I gathered my recipes, issued my invitations, and sailed in! Four of the six people I invited accepted (this was a relief because my kitchen table isn’t exactly large), so with me and the roommate we had a nice round group of six, the perfect number to squeeze into the half of our kitchen that we have optimistically christened the dining room.