Favorite Foods and Recipes...

[aleshanee]

That sounds great. I've tried the poke' bowls from a couple local restaurants and they are tasty but too much rice!!! I don't mind a little rice but when I'm bloated after eating a poke' bowl, that's a bit much. Is there an alternative to rice for a poke' bowl?

that;s strange.... traditional poke' doesn;t have rice in it...... and it;s never sold or served with rice in it here.... which makes it about the only thing here people don;t try to ruin with rice... . ....poke' is a traditional hawaiian food eaten without a starchy carb or filler added to it... . and besides, there was no rice grown in hawaii prior to japanese immigrant workers bringing it in with them...so rice was never part of the hawaiian diet.. poi made from taro root was often eaten with on the side if poke' was part of the meal.... but it was never mixed in with it.....

on a side note.. what many mainland tourists don;t realize unless they visit an authentic chinese restaurant here is that traditional chinese food uses very little to no rice as well... noodles is the carbohydrate used in chinese cooking.... .. it wasn;t until all these foods came together here and even more so on the mainland.. that rice got mixed in with everything..... probably coz it;s cheaper and easier to prepare than noodles....

 

[abcaines]

I've been looking up poke bowls without rice and found "keto" bowls. Keto is synonymous with FAD diet in my mind but I digress... how traditional is shredded cabbage?

 

[aleshanee]

I've been looking up poke bowls without rice and found "keto" bowls. Keto is synonymous with FAD diet in my mind but I digress... how traditional is shredded cabbage?

i guess a bowl of poke' the way we eat it.... by itself with no rice or additives could be called a keto bowl..... but that;s just the way it has always been done here.... . no rice and no cabbage mostly because the hawaiians never had those 2 things back when they came up with poke'..... cabbage came in from european ships and the rice from asia..... but neither one is actually traditional here in the literal sense.... in the markets here all variety of poke' is sold by the pound... no additives like rice or cabbage in it....

kalua pork and cabbage... which is still one of my favorite comfort foods.... has been considered a traditonal hawaiian dish for many years now... even though it;s true origins are irish - relayed here by way of cooks and the crews on english sailing ships - with pork subsituted for corned beef........ ... i have seen it cooked with shredded cabbage before.. .... but the way we like to do it is take whole leaves of cabbage and tear them into bite sized pieces by hand then stir it in with the pork.. (which has already been cooked once in an emu)... and braise it - - cook it down....

that;s the most simple and basic version.... and it;s one menu i haven;t posted yet but always intended to.... but there are so many different variations with everybody adding their own extra ingredients until it won;t even be the same dish from one house to another.....

i was told by our family expert cook... (my dads wife)..... that poke' is sometimes placed on top of a bed of shredded cabbage in place of rice in restaraunts where customers are used to eating it that way... ... but she had never heard of it being mixed or stirred into it.... ......it made sense because we do seared ahi the same way.... we place it all on a bed of shredded cabbage... ...but eat it by dipping the pieces ahi in wasabi sauce.... i always eat the cabbage too at the end but not everybody does.....

 

[abcaines]

Lord willing, Mrs. abcaines and I will be traveling to the South next summer. Her brother in Oklahoma has invited us to stay at one of his cabins and we're talking him up on it just in time to hop over the Arkansas state line and attend the CMA National Rally. After that, we're taking off for Pensacola and plan to celebrate our 19th anniversary there. You see, Mrs. abcaines likes to travel to the coast whenever she can and I have been promising to take her to Pensacola ever since we got together. Of course, she wants seafood. There's plenty of that there but it isn't like what she's used to on the Oregon coast.

There's a blues cafe in Pensacola that looks really interesting to me... It serves BBQ, and soul food (seafood included). We'll either do that or a more traditional seafood restaurant for our anniversary. BUT THEN... as we venture back towards Oklahoma and points west, we're planning to visit Lafayette LA. I'm stoked about this. I've been through the area but never stopped to soak up the Cajun culture. This is going to be quite the experience for Mrs. abcaines as she's never been east of Butte MT.

One thing my mouth is watering for is some crawfish étouffée. Can't wait to get ahold of the real stuff. I've seen how it's made and my stomach growls every time I watch a recipe video. I tried my hand at making some Cajun style cornbread last year for a church potluck and it was a hit. When the weather cools down a bit I'm thinking of making some shrimp étouffée with andouille sausage. Crawfish isn't very abundant here though you can catch some tiny "crawdads" in the streams around here...

 

[Dr. Huk-N-Duck]

Lord willing, Mrs. abcaines and I will be traveling to the South next summer. Her brother in Oklahoma has invited us to stay at one of his cabins and we're talking him up on it just in time to hop over the Arkansas state line and attend the CMA National Rally. After that, we're taking off for Pensacola and plan to celebrate our 19th anniversary there. You see, Mrs. abcaines likes to travel to the coast whenever she can and I have been promising to take her to Pensacola ever since we got together. Of course, she wants seafood. There's plenty of that there but it isn't like what she's used to on the Oregon coast.

There's a blues cafe in Pensacola that looks really interesting to me... It serves BBQ, and soul food (seafood included). We'll either do that or a more traditional seafood restaurant for our anniversary. BUT THEN... as we venture back towards Oklahoma and points west, we're planning to visit Lafayette LA. I'm stoked about this. I've been through the area but never stopped to soak up the Cajun culture. This is going to be quite the experience for Mrs. abcaines as she's never been east of Butte MT.

One thing my mouth is watering for is some crawfish étouffée. Can't wait to get ahold of the real stuff. I've seen how it's made and my stomach growls every time I watch a recipe video. I tried my hand at making some Cajun style cornbread last year for a church potluck and it was a hit. When the weather cools down a bit I'm thinking of making some shrimp étouffée with andouille sausage. Crawfish isn't very abundant here though you can catch some tiny "crawdads" in the streams around here...

Gotta hit Flora-bama while you’re there! https://www.florabama.com/

 

[abcaines]

Gotta hit Flora-bama while you’re there! https://www.florabama.com/

Been thinking about that one too. I was aware of it when I was stationed there from 1983-1985. A shipmate talked about the place describing it as a dive bar where cutthroats hung out.

Downtown Pensacola was dive bar central at the time but seems to have changed that image.

Addendum: If Mrs. abcaines catches wind of their oyster bar, we're definitely going there.

However, though it sounds delicious, I believe we'll be leaving their "Bushwhacker" alone unless they serve a non-alcoholic version of it. Just the booze list in one of those things spells big trouble for me unless we are willing to hire a taxi.

 

[Dr. Huk-N-Duck]

Been thinking about that one too. I was aware of it when I was stationed there from 1983-1985. A shipmate talked about the place describing it as a dive bar where cutthroats hung out.

Downtown Pensacola was dive bar central at the time but seems to have changed that image.

Go earlier in the day and it’s a family atmosphere. Go late at night at your own risk! I definitely wouldn’t call it a dive bar today…it’s become world famous, though Kenny Chesney might’ve contributed to that:

 

[abcaines]

Go earlier in the day and it’s a family atmosphere. Go late at night at your own risk! I definitely wouldn’t call it a dive bar today…it’s become world famous, though Kenny Chesney might’ve contributed to that:

About what I was thinking. We're more restaurant than bar oriented. I'd be curious to discover what the real story of this place is. I soon discovered that the shipmate who reported the cutthroat dive atmosphere of the Flora-bamma was someone who needed to be taken with more than a few grains of salt.

 

[Dr. Huk-N-Duck]

About what I was thinking. We're more restaurant than bar oriented. I'd be curious to discover what the real story of this place is. I soon discovered that the shipmate who reported the cutthroat dive atmosphere of the Flora-bamma was someone who needed to be taken with more than a few grains of salt.

It’s very possible your friend accurately described what it was like back in the 80s, but not today. Of course I’m sure it’s a bit more wild later at night on the weekends, but I usually go for lunch before it gets busy. They’re mostly known for their oysters, but they have great boiled shrimp and burgers as well.

 

[abcaines]

Today is an étouffée kind of day...

It's cool and rainy and I'm only working a couple hours today.

I went to the store and got shrimp and andouille sausage. I mixed up a seasoning mix that tastes like .

Everything is ready to go for after work.

I'm not following a specific recipe; I read a number of them and chose what sounded best. Can't wait to see how this turns out... I'll post an update.

 

[abcaines]

Update:

Flavor explosion



Not bad for my first attempt. I'd have to compare it to étouffée made by someone who knows what they doing. My sauce has a good consistency but it may be a bit "gritty". I have seen pictures of roux that looks creamy. Mine never took on the creamy look although it took on a wonderful chocolate color. Either way, it was delicious. The shrimp was cooked to perfection.

 

[aleshanee]

Update:

Flavor explosion

View attachment 4482

Not bad for my first attempt. I'd have to compare it to étouffée made by someone who knows what they doing. My sauce has a good consistency but it may be a bit "gritty". I have seen pictures of roux that looks creamy. Mine never took on the creamy look although it took on a wonderful chocolate color. Either way, it was delicious. The shrimp was cooked to perfection.

that looks awesome!.... .

 

[abcaines]

that looks awesome!.... .

It was even better the next day. And that gritty texture was gone which tells me I didn't let it boil long enough before adding the shrimp. Next batch, I will boil longer and add just a bit more chicken stock.

 

[aleshanee]

this will be the next major dessert item i make.... minus the yellow food coloring
of course... there is just something about macarons made with lemon butter cream
that make me especially happy.... ...just gotta be careful not to brandish them
in front of those with blood sugar problems.... ..

 

[abcaines]

this will be the next major dessert item i make.... minus the yellow food coloring
of course... there is just something about macarons made with lemon butter cream
that make me especially happy.... ...just gotta be careful not to brandish them
in front of those with blood sugar problems.... ..

It's getting to be that time of year... but cranberry orange scones are in my near future. I went to a coffee shop and they were selling cranberry lemon scones. Both are equally good with a cup of strong coffee.

Nice thing about scones is you can make them with as little or as much sugar as you want. I prefer them with minimal sugar and no glaze on them. I also use UNsalted butter. The salt in the butter really comes through when using minimal sugar.

 

[aleshanee]

It's getting to be that time of year... but cranberry orange scones are in my near future. I went to a coffee shop and they were selling cranberry lemon scones. Both are equally good with a cup of strong coffee.

Nice thing about scones is you can make them with as little or as much sugar as you want. I prefer them with minimal sugar and no glaze on them. I also use UNsalted butter. The salt in the butter really comes through when using minimal sugar.

scones of any kind are something i never tried to make before.... but maple oat nut scones and coffee were one of my favorite snacks at starbucks for a long time... . unless we were on the round the island bike ride - then it was triple espresso frapuccinos along with the same scone... with pit stops made at every starbucks long the route....... it was awesome....... . and then for some reason starbucks decided to stop making and selling maple oat nut scones.... .... i felt totally betrayed.... ....but they continued to make cranberry scones so i switched to those.... . slightly more healthy than the duncan donuts i would be eating if i ever made as far as the airport in the ride..... (just short of 100 miles)... but my fellow less than triathlete fit friends and me usually stopped in haleiwa... about 70 miles.. ...while the trialthletes in the group continued on..... ... and we took the bus the rest of the way home... .. thankfully the busses have bike racks.... but nowdays if we undertake that ride we have a friend or family member pick us up in haleiwa... or somewhere between our starting point and there, if we decided to not even go that far.... . .... but the continual infusion of starbucks frapuccinos remains the same.....

 

[abcaines]

Shrimp n grits...

 

[AverageJoe]

I'll eat the grits, and might possibly eat the shrimp as well, but doubtful together.

 

[Ransom]

Can't get grits here, unfortunately. I've often wondered if regular corn meal would make an acceptable substitute. Don't know where to begin, though.

 

[abcaines]

Can't get grits here, unfortunately. I've often wondered if regular corn meal would make an acceptable substitute. Don't know where to begin, though.

If you can get your hand on polenta, it works just fine, IMO. It is what I use. Regular corn meal will become mush and "quick grits" just doesn't work.