Blake Makes

Hello, again. I love my strawberry pics so much that I decided to share them with you in a slide-show. Enjoy!

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Today was my first trip to the Crescent City Farmer’s Market. I’ll be there every Tuesday for the rest of my life. It was small, but fantastic. There were about 20 or 30 vendors with everything from fresh meat and produce, to bread and candy. I passed by the strawberries, and was in love.

It took everything I had not to walk away with a full flat. I grabbed 2 pints and shot this video.

Stawberries In Winter from Blake Killian on Vimeo.

Spice is a food, right? Loyal Blake Makers, please forgive the non-food post. There’s a little food stuff at the end, but mostly this post is about the fun we had in Vegas last weekend.

Bridget and I met some friends in Vegas for the Spice Girls concert. This is their reunion tour, and they’re making a few stops in the U.S. When Bridget heard this, she was determined to get tickets by enlisting everyone she knew to submit their e-mail addresses for a chance to buy tickets. We got our chance, and bought four.

Spice Girls Vegas 2007 from Blake Killian on Vimeo.

The Spice Girls peaked when I was in high school, and although I knew a few of their songs (Wannabe, Say You’ll Be There), I wouldn’t say I was a huge fan - Not like Bridget and Patrick. Going into the concert weekend, I was excited to be in Vegas, but thought the concert would be just a good time. It was a lot more than that.

Let me rewind for a moment. We got into Vegas on Friday, and we had reservations that night at Bouchon, Thomas Keller’s restaurant in the Venetian (our hotel). More about Bouchon later.

Saturday morning we went to the Liberace museum. If you’re going to Vegas and you’ve never been, GO see Liberace. It’s a very good time (very Vegas), or at least what I imagine Vegas used to be (gaudy, cheesy and over-the-top). It’s way off the strip, and I thought it was funny how in the same complex there’s a 24-hour strip club right next to a Korean mission. Like I said, very Vegas.

Spice Girls Saturday Night

I had a general idea of where our seats were when we bought them months ago, but was shocked to see how close we were to the stage when we got there. We were just to the right of the stage, and literally ten feet from it. At several points, one of the ‘Girls’ would perform on the section of the stage nearest us. It was a blast.

Speaking of blast, we were all deaf by the time the concert was over, but we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. It was loud, over-the-top and we never sat down. A fan or not, you really missed out if you weren’t there.

The Bouchon Restaurant Review

I’ve been excited about eating at Bouchon for weeks since I bought Keller’s cookbooks, the French Laundry and Bouchon. Bouchon (the restaurant) was…ok. Parts of the meal were great, but others were just mediocre. Read the rest of this entry »

Hello, Blake Makers. Santa came early this year, and he brought me a Nikon D40 (Thanks, Beez!). This post is the first one featuring a photo taken with my new camera. Don’t those biscuits look heavenly? They’re a breeze to make, and taste like my mama made them.

To Make:

Sift together 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda and 1/2 tsp. salt. I actually sifted everything right into my food processor.

Next, cube 8 tblsp. of cold butter and toss into the processor. Blitz until the butter is incorporated into the flour.

Finally, with the blade turning, pour in 3/4 cup cold buttermilk and keep turning until a dough ball forms.

Turn it out on the counter, pat to about half-an-inch, and cut out the biscuits.

Flip them over (counter side up) when you put them on a greased baking sheet, and brush with a little buttermilk.

Bake at 425 for about 10 minutes.

They open like sleepy clams after they’ve baked. I smear on some butter, and drizzle a little clover honey over the situation. It’s a good day.

This recipe comes from our Gourmet Cookbook.

Five ingredients. Olive oil (1) and butter (2), heated (about a tblsp. of each). One onion (3), diced. Cook the onions until they start to brown. Add a bag of frozen peas (4). Heat through. A little salt (5) at the end. We serve these a lot as a side, but I swear I can (and do) eat a big bowl of these all by themselves. Simple dish, simple post.

Hello everyone. I just wanted to let you know that my first post at Serious Eats is up. I’m very excited to be their New Orleans Bureau Chief, and I’ll be blogging for them about once a week. My first assignment was the New Orleans Po-boy Preservation Festival held a few weeks ago. Click a link or the picture below to read the story. Enjoy!

Have you watched TV in high definition? I’ve had an HD TV (Sony Bravia 42″ 1080p) for months, but it’s only recently that Cox started adding some really great channels to their HD line up. Of course, I love HD Food Network, but I also love Mojo.

All the programming on Mojo fills the screen with amazingly clear images, so it’s a joy to watch. The shows are also right up my alley, and I’ve grown fond of one in particular.

After Hours is hosted by Daniel Boulud. The series is in its second season which is set in L.A. Each episode starts with Daniel visiting the restaurant, meeting the chef/owner, and then we get a primer from the chef on their take on food and a little history about their restaurant. While they’re talking, little tid bits show up on the screen about places they’ve worked before. Most of the people have really impressive resumes and have worked in some of the BEST digs in the world.

I like the format, too. It starts at the end, then they rewind to show you what they cook for the after hours party. I’ve seen 4 or 5 episodes, and everything they’ve made has looked amazing, but also things that looked impossible for me to make. Really high-end preparations and ingredients. Last night I saw the episode at Providence and the chef cooked raw shrimp in a pile of 500 degree salt at the table. I’m swooning.

The shrimp were dug out about 4 minutes later all covered in delicious, piping-hot salt. It cooked them and seasoned them at the same time. Celebrities also attend the after hours party. No A-listers. I haven’t even seen B or C-listers. Gabrielle Reese and the Gyllenhaal’s dad (who’s apparently a Writer/Director) was on one. A-list chefs show up though, and it’s interesting just to hear them open their mouths. Sometimes they talk about how they got started. I like that.

You guys have got to watch this show. If you like my blog, you’ll love After Hours.

Hello, Blake Makers. I’ve been getting e-mails and comments about a Blake Makes Thanksgiving. Sorry posts have been slow in coming lately, but this was the first year Bridget and I hosted the holiday at our house. We had family come to New Orleans from back home, and planning took a lot of time and energy. You may also know that I own my own marketing firm, and although initial indications were that things would slow down for the holidays, I’m busier than ever. I got 4 new clients the day before Thanksgiving! That’s my excuse, but Thanksgiving continues below.

We have a small kitchen, so Bridget and I had to be smart about the dinner. We outsourced the turkey, dressing and gravy to Langenstein’s (a local grocery store renowned for their holiday catering). I have to say that I was a little concerned about what the in-laws would think of me ordering out the centerpiece of America’s annual gorge-fest. Luckily for me, it was delicious.

The turkey was about 15 lbs. and they baked it. When I picked it up, it looked like the turkey on the cover of Gourmet this month. The skin was dark mahogany, and studded with herbs and spices. A spoon through the gravy revealed turkey bits and giblets, so I knew it was going to be good. Now, the only thing left was the dressing.

I ordered two kinds: cornbread and oyster (since this is New Orleans). The oyster dressing was ok, a little salty and a little too much celery for me, but the cornbread was divine. And by divine I mean it tasted like my granny made it. It was sweet, no doubt made from the sugary, cake-like cornbread that’s standard on most dinner tables in the South.

The sides were pretty standard. Bridget made mac & cheese, and green bean casserole (the kind with French fried onions). Bridget’s mom brought her famous sweet potatoes (I love you Mommer!), so let me take a moment to describe this spectacular dish.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hello, Blake Makers. Do you watch TV as much as I do? If you do, you may have seen the Kashi commercials about their snack drive to rid the world of a million bad snacks. If you go to their site, you’ll see that the snack drive is now over (you were too late!) which means that a million people got a taste of Kashi who may have otherwise passed them by in the grocery. When I asked for a snack, they were out of my first choice (cookies), and so I went for the 7 Grain crackers. They arrived today.

They were yummy! Bridget and I have developed a taste for healthy, whole grains, but I think even people who haven’t will enjoy these crackers.

They have a slight sweetness which makes them feel a bit more indulgent, and as you chew them you can almost feel the seven grains in your mouth.

The package tells me the crackers contain zero grams of trans fat (good), no hydrogenated oils (hooray) and 7 whole grains (fine).

I’m a sucker for good branding, and Kashi had me months ago with their feel-good commercials and beautiful logo. However, I never bought any of their products. Now, I will.

Pizza’s something we eat a lot in our house. We usually just buy a pizza crust and top it with our favorites, but then I learned how to make homemade pizza dough.

First off, I have to say that I’m a stickler for light; specifically, the sunlight I use to capture really great images for the blog. I made this pizza at night, so I had to use the light in my kitchen. Please forgive the sub-par pizza pic.

This wasn’t the first time I made this dough, but it was the first time I used large, freshly sliced pepperoni. We were in Whole Foods, and I was buying turkey for sandwiches that week when I spotted the large stick of pepperoni laying in the case. You know how the mind works, a lot of things can come together all at once, and that’s exactly what happened here.

Pepperoni, newly acquired pizza dough recipe, jarred marinara, banana peppers. The birth of a recipe.

We typically buy very processed turkey pepperoni, but never again. The real, fresh thing is entirely better. To let my inner-hick speak, “It’s restaurant quality.”

Read the rest of this entry »