Brandon Eats

Fall Food

Although, here in Richmond, Virginia, the days have been luxuriously warm for the last several days, the nights are getting colder.  Each evening around 5 pm the sky darkens ever so slightly and a subtle chill begins to waft through the open kitchen window.  Yes, the leaves are turning color and falling but we're not yet in the thick of fall, really, just far enough into the beginning of the season to remember how it plays out each year.  Each day brings us a little closer to the inevitable desolation of winter, but for right now, at least, summer lingers a bit longer, drawing out its farewell and teasing us at noontime until we remember, each night, what a fickle climate we've chosen to live in, here in Virginia.

Roasting is suddenly on my mind at this time of year, and it's almost with relief that I exchange tomatoes and corn with grilled fish, for potatoes and leeks with roasted chicken.  It's thrilling just to turn on the oven again without wincing from the heat.

Blogging By Mail

I was egregiously late getting out my Blogging By Mail package and Fedex took even longer than I ever imagined they could to deliver it. So much for the lovely loaf of bread inside--maybe some toast can be salvaged from it.  Guilt, guilt, guilt . . . it piles ever higher.  My own package arrived from British ex-pat Chloe of bonjour miette on Monday all the way from Nebraska.   Inside I found a fabulous jar of lemon curd, scone mix, and scrumptious apricot date bars which my children and I immediately scarfed down.  They were sticky and sweet with a delicious crumbly oatmeal crust.  Chloe even included the recipe--which I hope she publishes on her blog.  They are most definitely worth making!
technorati tags: richmond, food, food and drink

Café Du Monde

Cafe Du Monde, originally uploaded by Hankins.

Yesterday, one of my very favorite places anywhere re-opened finally in New Orleans. No where else in America can capture the continental ambiance of the Café Du Monde.

technorati tags: richmond, food, food and drink, coffee, new orleans

Ravioli-o

Dinner has a terrible habit of coming every single night of the week.  My imagination, I confess, lately seems to be out of the office.  Instead of cooking, I've found myself procrastinating, haunting the grocery store aisles looking for inspiration, and eating out at the three restaurants my children don't protest--Mary Angela's (Italian), Su Casa (Mexican), and the Galaxy Diner (Greasy).  Oh--and the Mekong (Vietnamese), although we don't play that somewhat challenging card too often in case they refuse to go permanently.

I like to imagine that I'm the kind of mother who devises delicious culinary projects my children and I can do together but deep down, I know that I'm really a heartless control freak who won't let anyone near my kitchen.  I never do potluck and when dinner guests ask if they can bring anything, I always say wine.  Or sometimes bread.  My children however, insist upon helping me, especially when it looks like fun.  My old stand-by ravioli uses homemade pasta dough and a pasta machine can't avoid looking like fun; that's because it is fun. Even though I want to be the one rolling out the dough thin, thinner, thinnest, it is now the permanent job of the younger set in my household.  I'm just not that heartless.

Nara Japanese Sushi

Here's a link to my review of Nara Japanese Sushi on Main St. in this week's Style Weekly.

Cupcakes, Cupcakes

I'm not sure why everyone seems to be crazy for cupcakes. What in the world is this trend all about? I know its origin: the juxtaposition of the gorgeous icing stylings (see above) of the Cupcake Café in Hell's Kitchen versus the deliberate homeyness of the Magnolia Bakery in the Village were coupled with a little publicity from Sex and the City and conspired somehow, some way insidiously to infiltrate American pop culture. Suddenly, cupcakes are the guilty pleasure in which to indulge.