August 17, 2008
Since I spent an hour cracking up at the cake wrecks blog mentioned in my previous post, I couldn't stop thinking about cake so I just had to make one. It is impossible to look at cake for so long, even if decorated with poor taste or grammer, without wanting cake.
We were on a tear this weekend to eat everything in the fridge before it goes bad (as opposed to the usual, forgetting about something and having to throw it out). Since there was sour cream in the fridge, I decided on a sour cream pound cake. This is the first cake ever that I have not made with a boxed mix from the grocery store. As wonderful as cakes are, I have somehow avoided making them from scratch, I guess because they are labor intensive.
It came out perfectly so now I feel compelled to become a pastry chef.
Just kidding.
I was tempted to get the cake decorating kit out and make a message that says something like "I luv Mikel Felps" so it would be featured on the cake wrecks blog. But contrived isn't funny.
The other exciting event this weekend (we're an instant party, lemme tell you) was the Alabama themed meal. I read the blog from the folks who have refused to eat anything not grown/made in Alabama this summer. Sounds like pain and suffering to me, while I love fresh whole foods, I also like to eat a wide variety of foods. There is no salmon, bananas or pineapple being grown in Alabama.
I didn't plan on the alabama theme, it just happened that way. We ate sweet potatoes and field peas from the farmers market (Chilton County grown). We thawed out some bass from the freezer that we caught at the lake (Coosa County). I fried green tomatoes and okra from my garden and breaded it with cornmeal from McEwen and Sons (corn not grown in AL, but milled there). And we had salad (not grown in AL), but the goat cheese was made in Alabama, at Fromagerie Belle Chevre. I love goat cheese, but believe this is the best goat chese I have ever eaten.
Good eatin'. I'm thinking about fall and winter and started freezing some items from the farmers market. Plan to can tomatoes next weekend.
Posted by megabeth at August 17, 2008 10:14 PM
Wow, that sounds good and I don't even like green tomatoes, okra... or bass depending on how it is made. Not sure "thawed bass" will ever catch on as a menu item.
Posted by: Outlaw3 at August 19, 2008 11:22 AM
It is still good after being frozen. Most fish that you buy in the supermarket has been frozen and thawed again, even Whole Foods. It is definitely better when just killed, though.
I have converted some people with my fried green tomatoes... most restaurants don't make them well. If you don't serve them right after they come out of the pan, they get soggy and cold.
Posted by: megabeth at August 19, 2008 12:57 PM
Outlaw, I am sure you would like Beth's bass. Yummy. I have eaten a lot of fresh freshwater fish and her recipe and execution is delicious.
Nice hot fried green tomatoes are a delicacy. A while back I had some nasty ones at a local restaurant (one that had inspired a movie. Hint.). They were cold and somehow tough and soggy at the same time. Then we got overcharged but didn't realize it until we had left. Grr.
I have made a few cakes from scratch. It is surprisingly rewarding and tasty. Educational too. I didn't realize red velvet cake had chocolate in it until I made one. Upon research I learned that the red color was originally from the way they used to process chocolate and it was a reddish brown. Good red velvet includes more chocolate and less red colour. (UK spelling in honor of Meridith). The velvety texture is due to the atypical combining of ingredients which requires 3 bowls, one of which is a rather unsettling mix of buttermilk and a bottle of red color.
When I was a youngin' my elderly great Aunt, Miss Lucy, made hers with red icing. I have never seen this since nor have I found a recipe. I can't figure out how she made it taste so delicious, it was such a deep red. It was a boiled frosting, I watched her do it on the stove, but as a 7 year old I didn't pay attention to the details. Maybe it was chocolate also.
I also have been thinking a lot about cake lately!
Posted by: A at August 19, 2008 05:46 PM
Oh, yes. The Whistle Stop cafe in Irondale has the worst fried green tomatoes I've ever tried. Other places like Nikki's are not much better. I like the ones at Tracy's Cafeteria but there is still the issue of eating them right out of the frying pan, which can only be guaranteed if you cook them at home. The breading I used on the bass is also good on tomatoes and okra.
Posted by: megabeth at August 20, 2008 08:27 AM
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