There is also food in New Orleans...

...it is not only alligators, swamps, giant enormous black grasshoppers, and tangly Spanish moss... Louisiana is also the home to absolutely fantastic food from the Cajun and Creole traditions.  Seafood abounds, of course, with New Orleans being situated near the mouth of the Mississippi River.  Eating in New Orleans is kind of like bird-watching at Cape May - you just can't miss good food (or the migrating birds).  It is just everywhere as long as you stay away from the very few chain restaurants and hotels downtown.  We were mostly in the French Quarter and the Arts and Warehouse district and ate really well.  What we ate?  This!

Mmm, this was fantastic.  Here you have all the goodness of New Orleans food nearly on one plate from Mulate's, a Cajun restaurant.  (= Go there! Eat!) Crawfish tails, stuffed crab, blackened fish, shrimp on a skewer, potato salad, deep-fried octopus, deep-fried oysters, baked potato with cheese, oh and some vegetables in a corner as an afterthought.  This is not veggie heaven, this is seafood heaven, as you can see.  In New Orleans, even the botanists don't care about food plants. I probably ate more oysters in 4 days than I have eaten in the last 4 years during this trip...

This is the sign outside Grand Isle Restaurant and oyster bar.  What is Hog's Head Cheese?  Wikipedia will tell you, and I think I will pass on it after reading about it.  But the oysters were fresh like cauhgt an hour ago at this place! :

"Head cheese is not a cheese but a terrine or meat jelly made with flesh from the head of a calf or pig (sometimes a sheep or cow), and often set in aspic. The parts of the head used varies, but the brain, eyes, and ears are usually removed." (link)

 The late snack oysters we had at Grand Isle. Moist and fresh! So raw that you nearly could feel them wiggle in your mouth. People that don't eat oysters are wimps (I think) and don't realize what amazing thing they are missing. 

At Ernst Cafe we sat outside in 30-degree (Celsius) / 90-degree humid heat and drank cold beer until after midnight.  The whole place was just run by one bartender...

Louisiana has a million hot sauces.  Well, maybe not, but at least a million bottles.  Tabasco is made here. As is Dave's Insanity Hot Sauce, Hog's Breath Hot Sauce, and many other hot sauces with names that can't be written on a family blog. If you ever wondered about the original Tabasco hot sauce - yes, it is kosher and an unopened bottle lasts at least 5 years. More hot sauce information here.

Fried alligator - we just had to order this.  It was good, very moist and tender, white like chicken, doesn't taste like fish, and less stringy than chicken.  But I don't think I would like to live on it for years. On the other hand, I rather eat than be eaten. Each year over 75 000 alligators are captured in Louisiana (90% of them being male) from a population of over 2 million alligator.  Some alligators are called 'Elvis' when they are small, at least if they are kept on boats as pets for tourists. So, we had an Elvis sighting in the form of an alligator - maybe a reincarnation of the real Elvis?

You realize you are in the South (of USA) when you see this magazine at the airport, Garden & Guns.  I have never seen it in the northern parts of the US, but sure, gardening is truly a kind of micro-warfare against deer (8 feet of plastic deerfence and no deer in the garden), Japanese beetles (feromone traps), diseases (water and nutrients, and then whatever dies off is just life), blister beetles (handpick and drown), hawkmoth caterpillars (which I let live, so they can get parasitized and release more larvae-killers), slugs (sigh - get to handpick and drown them), rabbits and groundhogs (keep them out with fencing)... ok, turns out I don't need a gun for my gardening.  The magazine has a strange (for me) mix of shotgun reviews, pie recipes, and anecdotal stories from southern gardens. I understand hunting magazines, but not gardening with guns.

Happy Birthday, AA!

All the living lobsters in the world wishes you happy birthday. And the salmon and scallops too. And from lettuces, spinach, and eeverything else that have helped you along so far, and every song Bob Dylan wrote, and all of us - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Now, here is the question for the day: "How does it feel..." (to be 18)? GRATTIS!

[Note to readers - we had salmon and scallops of early birthday dinner on Saturday, and today we boiled 4 delicious whole lobsters and ate them dipped in lemon butter. The lobsters were from Maine, of course...]

When in Maine, this is the Main dish...

A lobster roll, a fantastic invention.  Cooked lobster meat stuffed into a bread roll (like hot dog roll, but split on the top, not the side), with some mayonnaise and some dusting of paprika.  Eat.  Simple. Good. Amazing.


We had our only lobster rolls at the Lobster Shack at Two Lights, near Cape Elizabeth south of Portland on a dead end road that ends in a parking lot that immediately becomes too full and too crowded on summer days.  But it is worth it.


 It is a little restaurant perched on the cliffs near the sea, and the closest building houses a fog horn (with appropriate signs to watch out for the sound, but how can you do that?  Doesn't it hit you when it hits you, without warning? Or does it sound a warning before, heh!?). The fog horn was on the day we were there, sounding its eerie warnings out in the fuzzy fog of the ocean.


There are other warnings too, near the shack itself, since it is surrounded with highly adapted ferocsiouly behaving seagulls that have mastered the feats of 'getting the lobster before the human'.  Hold on to your food, or someone else will.


The best thing with Maine are the rocks and the coastline.  Granite and shale cliffs, rounded by the ice ages' massively thick glacier covers, and now with lichens and seaweeds as the only plant cover.  The feel is very similar to parts of Norway (without the mountains) and the west coast of Sweden (Bohuslän).  I love it.


This yellow lichen (Xanthoria) are typical for these coasts, and if I ever would be a painter I would paint giant closeups of imagined lichen macro images. 


And out there in this direction, are Scandinavia and England.  Far away from Cape Elizabeth, Cape Cod, Nantucket and Cape May, but certainly, Europe is there. Even if it is invisible.  Don't you ever wonder how we can be convinced of such things before we have experienced them?  We have to believe the invisible until we have sailed, flown, or swum there.

Nerdy humor: A lobster in shining armor...

(if you are not a science nerd: link to exoskeleton)

Bits and pieces from the internet: fish edition

Hungry?

This is perfect for AREA, she is desperate for a pet. (portable fishbowl; Core77)

A stranded fish that ate a fish that ate a fish.... (scroll down a bit on the page and you'll find it, but I bet you will get stuck on the pictures above it too; part of the Accidental Mystery series on Design Observer)

The first photo of the LIFE magazine series Into the Deep: Odd, Scary Sealife is of tiny cute pygmy seahorses. Scary?  Really? OK, there are sharks later in the photostream. Check out number 11, the eye of the blue-spotted stingray.  (LIFE Magazine archives - I love them!)

Next time you go to the bathroom, be careful when you flush. (Geekologie)

Oy, koi!  And truly neon. And, in case you are unsure what this is, you can just read the letters on the animal.

Maybe the best sandwiches in the world?

Sometimes I get really homesick for Swedish food.  I was just downstairs in the kitchen and opened the fridge and thought about the Swedish things that are great but hard to get here in the US.  So here you go, my list of the best traditional Swedish sandwich toppings (smörgåspålägg [ha, there is a Swedish word for you Americans to master!]), in no particular order (they are all amazing).  I know, some of you will not agree, feel free to comment. :)

- Arboga leverpastej med inlagd gurka (Arboga liverwurst with sliced dill pickles) (photo)

- Skivat hårdkokt ägg med Kalles kaviar (Sliced hardboiled egg with smoked creamed fish roe) (photo)

- Skivat hårdkokt ägg med ansjovis (Sliced hardboiled egg with anchovy-pickled herring sprats [these are not real anchovies]) (photo)

- Skivad kall kokt potatis med kaviar (Sliced boiled cold potatoes with smoked creamed fish roe) (photo)

- Smörstekta kantareller (Wild-collected yellow chanterelles fried in butter) (photo)

- Räksmörgås (Shrimp sandwich, with little tiny pink shrimp, mayo, sliced boiled egg, lettuce, thinsliced lemon) (photo)

- Rökt renkött med pepparrotsvisp i tunnbröd, renklämma (Smoked reindeer meat with creamed horseradish in thin bread) (photo)

- Greveost och rökt skinka med färsk röd paprika  (Greve cheese and smoked ham with fresh sliced red pepper)

- Gravad lax med senapssås och dill (Gravlax/Brined salmon with mustard sauce and dill) (photo)

- Köttbullar (kalla) med rödbetssallad och sallad (Cold meatballs with beet salad (with youghurt or sour creme) and lettuce) (photo)

- Gratinerad varm smörgås med allt möjligt, kantareller, ost, tomater, osv. (Oven-broiled sandwiches with different toppings, such as chanterelles, cheese, tomatoes...) (photo)

Swedish sandwiches are always open-faced (no bread on top), with things falling off them when you eat them.  That is just the way it is.  The bread can be any kind. You can make a double sandwich if you have to transport it somewhere and eat it for lunch but otherwise it is not common.

We Swedes have much less toppings on a sandwich than Americans (well, we used to, I think Swedes are becoming richer and add more nowadays).  I only think Dutch people have less. And they put butter, chocolate sauce and chocolate sprinkles on their breakfast sandwiches.

We don't cut off the crust and make little triangular double sandwiches with white mush in them like the Brits (I do like these too, but they are for people that are afraid of getting messy).

We don't overload giant subs and heros with salamis and other meats like American-Italians (which can be great to eat, but isn't Swedish). Ever heard of a muffaletta?  They are giant. Giantly tasty too.

We don't make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a combination I personally think is kind of... disgusting.  Each one by itself is quite fine.

We don't make smörrebröd, that is the Danes specialty (overloaded warm or cold sandwiches you have to eat with a knife and fork - also delicious).

Sometimes Swedes invent crazy sandwich topping combinations.  I have a vivid memory of a cousin, who will rename unnamed, who ate a sandwich with cheese, kaviar, and orange marmalade. And here is a crazy one too!

So, what is my favorite breakfast sandwiches here in the US?  Well, since there aren't some of the Swedish things...  smoked ham, cheese and Frank's Hot Sauce...  cottage cheese and fox point seasoning...   hummus....  goat cheese...  sliced cold potatoes and kaviar (everybody else in the house thinks I am crazy to eat that)...  sliced egg and real anchovy...  marmalade....  blueberry jam (homemade, more about that later)...  cheese and pickles, or cheese and sundried tomato tapenade...

Stamp of the day: squids, whales and other politicians

Tonight's stamp ends the whale/val-theme here at the blog.  This goosebeak whale is more commonly called Cuvier's Beaked Whale (Ziphius cavirostris), and it eats deepsea fish and squids as you can see on this Dominican stamp. And with that, we close this Swedish val-watching season on the blog.

OK snapshot: Gårdagens middag (Yesterday's dinner)

LS comment: It is crawfish season in Sweden.

New Jersey birdlife in summer

Forster's Handoff, originally uploaded by Billtacular.

Things are happening along the New Jersey shore - birds are flying, eating, feeding, swimming, diving, attacking, sleeping, and breeding. Here is a photo by Bill Lynch of two Forster's terns at Brigantine, a great birdwatching place. Enjoy!

Italienska läckerheter (Italian delicious dishes)

The last couple of weeks we have been cooking a lot from three cookbooks by famous chef Mario Batali - Simple Italian Food, Molto Gusto, and Italian Grill, all fantastic and mouth-watering cookbooks with easy recipes of Italian food that is not the usual lasagna, spaghetti with meat sauce and pizza, but more authentic, more tasty, and more real. And more vegetables.  Lots of them. The difference between Mario and many other famous chefs is that you feel that he really cares, and he really LOVES this food.  It is not some gimmick to sell more cookbooks or gadgets branded with your name. So we have been cooking away, and it has all been delicious.  Above - grilled baby octopus salad (you marinated the octopusses in oil and lemon juice and scallion, grill them and then throw them back in the marinade and eat). It is like eating tender sea rubber bands in a very good way. (Click on any photo to see a larger version)


Steamed globe artichokes, more dense and less prickly than regular artichokes.  You cut the top of the artichoke and put it in a steamer pot for about 40 min, and make sure to add some cut up lemon, black peppercorns, salt, and herbs (tarragon, thyme... whatever) to the steam water before you start.  Serve as is, with garlic aioli as dipping sauce and you will be in heaven. Take a bract (yes, that is what they are), dip in sauce, rip off the inner fleshy layer with your front teeth, and discard the rest of the bract in the 'dead soldier bowl' on the table. Repeat. Repeat.



A new take on eggplant - slice them thin, thin, then grill them and roll them up with goat cheese and pesto inside, put them on top of some home made tomato sauce and eat, eat, eat.

Spaghetti a new wonderful way.  Make a broccoli rabe pesto, and mix it into spaghetti.  Absolutely delicious.

More cabbage related plants.  Broccolini, like broccoli but not as mutated, cooked for 5 min and then dressed with orange-garlic dressing.  Scrumptious!  Now there is a word that sounds like it describes dried sheep's testicles, but it really means something really, really good.

Grilled halibut with broccoli rabe with grated cheese in the background.  The halibut is a giant flat fish, like an overgrown flounder, with fantastic white flesh.  It lives its whole life sideways (and if you haven't seen the movie Sideways, do it, and it has nothing to do with halibut). On top of the halibut is a herb sauce, just olive oil, lemon juice and herbs.  Did I mention simplicity? Below is a plate of broccoli with "whipped parmesan".  A new favorite.






Bean salad with asparagus, really, really good and so healthy and green.  Very good.

And now for something different.  Make homemade pizza dough, roll it out in little pieces and fill them, make flat and grill on the hottest part of the grill. We used a variety of fillings, leftover goat cheese mixed with basil pesto, caramelized onions, Kalamata olives, and rosemary leaves.  A giant hit, especially with the younger crowd at the dinner table. The name - grilled flatbreads.

If you want any of the recipes, put a note in the comments or e-mail me.

And while eating on the deck, the giant Citronella candles are burning to keep bark beetles (yes!), mosquitos and other buggers away, and it works. When it gets dark the fire flies are starting their stroboscope symphony, blinking away and competing with the stars...

And I agree with Mario: 

"Once you've put your groceries in the car, the quality of your dinner has already been decided."

Good food doesn't have to be expensive, but it takes some thinking, long before you turn on the stove.

Stuck at Q

When you play Alfapet (Scrabble in the US) and need a letter starting with Q, how about QUAHOG? I bet that can lead to lots of points. That is what this is. It can become a giant clam, often washed up on sandy shores in winter. This photo is from Sandy Hook in New Jersey, USA, a cold January day. Those purplish edges look nearly unreal and were used by the native Americans for beads. It has an English name too, hard clam, but that sounds not at all as good as quahog. You can eat it and people do, in clam chowder (a kind of soup), stuffed clams, and as fried clam strips you can dip in fiery horse-radishy tomatey cocktail sauce. Wikipedia says: "In fishmarkets there are specialist names for different sizes of this species of clam. The smallest clams are called countnecks, next size up are littlenecks, then topnecks. Above that are the cherrystones, and the largest are called quahogs or chowder clams."

Sea. sky, blue, and the rest...

Sometimes I miss Maine a lot. (Photos from summer 2008 trip to Maine.)

OK snapshot: Clawing bread

Apropos the postings by EH below, Crawfish inspired bread seen in Sweden.
Snapshot by OK.

Snapshots from Swedish landscapes

Now we have left Eskilstuna and headed over to the West coast, more exactly Stenungsund. On our trip we passed through the old 'robber forest' of Tiveden with its clear lakes and dark forests, then on to the large plains and the cradle of Swedish civilization around Skara, and passed over Göta River, and then to the west coast with its giant landscapes of granite mountains and clay-filled valleys. Here are some snapshots from the last couple of days, and as usual more photos are on Flickr.


Locavore (eating local) has arrived in Sweden in the marketing departments. Coca-Cola proudly states "Made in Sweden" and "Sugar from Skåne" (the southernmost province) on their cans, most likely to inform that there are no high-fructose corn sugar syrup in this and it is not made in Germany or Spain or something. I was very surprised to see this. In America, would Coke say "Made in Pennsylvania"? I think the Swedes care more than the average American. However, there is no information about transfats about any food here, incredible. People love margarine, so the butter revolution hasn't really arrived yet. Otherwise there are lots of organic food alternatives in the regular supermarkets such as ICA and Coop, and Swedes are the best recyclers in the world.


Älgarås church is a medieval wooden church, one of only 12 left in Sweden. It has the oldest church bell too, which has rune inscriptions on it. The inside of the church is covered in medieval paintings, and you can really hear the historic time ticking away in there. This is a great place, but is not near any of the big highways, so I think a lot of people are missing it.



The sculpture park at the old bronze age grave fields of Pilane is amazing. Modern sculptures are placed in the landscape surrounded by billion-year old rocks, thousand-year old culture, and living sheep. I loved this place! Many more of the sculptures are on Flickr. This sculpture is by Leo Pettersson and called Sprung and situated up on a large mountain with views over the Atlantic. The bent structures were made from fresh willows.


The jellyfishes were abundant! This moon jellyfish doesn't sting.


The fish and seafood is fantastic in Sweden, especially along the coast. Lots of it is locally caught.


We picked our own tomatoes at Mölnebo Ecological Farm. We also bought fresh salad ingredients, but the lettuce was not lettuce, but 5 other unusual leafy vegetables, such as ice plant, New Zealand spinach and other very tasty leaves. It is a wonderful place, go and visit!

Things you actually can eat

Near us in Princeton is a fantastic little European-style food store (Bon Appetit) that sells the most unusual things (in USA, that is). PP and I went there a few weeks ago to look for licorice candy for my class (you need handouts when you talk about beans, ie., Fabaceae, to undergraduates and to keep them awake on Monday mornings). We also got some other goodies, such as oil-cured olives, some great cheese, mints made locally in Hopewell, and then we found.... black squid ink spaghetti. 50 cm long! We just had to get that too. A week later PP made this fantastic dish of this black pasta mixed with creamy tomato sauce with shrimp, scallops, lobster, and squid. Oh, it was yummy! This is how it looked (I think it really looked better than this, my camera was acting up).

I don't think I am ready to try the squid ink pizza yet, though.