Making the Menu

Registered Dietitians vs Lobsters - Who Won?

Dietitians (RD's) have been known to like to eat and are usually ready to meet any food challenge with gusto. Recently at the annual conference of the American Dietetic Association in Boston (FNCE-food and nutrition conference and expo), a group of us dined at Union Oyster House, one of the oldest restaurants in the US. Being in Boston, what else would we do but eat lobsters, with all the required regalia around our necks? (You don't wear a ball gown to eat lobsters). Some of the group were more experienced than others, so our table appointed a "teacher" who took us through the steps of proper lobster consumption.

 

Our instructor

 

 

The subject matter

 

 

A couple of eager students

 

 

Looks like success to me!

 

 

The final score: dietitians 1; lobster 0.

Two Days in Roanoke VA - Part 1 (Desperate Reader Contest)

Lindsey Nair, food writer at the Roanoke Times recently conceived a contest to give away a copy of my new book, the 7-Day Menu Planner for Dummies. Lindsey's requirement to win was the most desperate story of why the reader deserved a new book. The following is Lindsey's blog post and the result of the contest. It made me laugh.

 

First from Lindsey:

After reading all the comments on Friday’s book giveaway entry, it is clear to me that everyone needs a copy of Susan Nicholson’s “7-Day Menu Planner for Dummies.” If only I had a whole stack of them to give away! It was also clear to me which reader demonstrated a serious need for some meal planning help, while managing to do so in a very clever and funny way.

 

The winner and her entry!

 

Step right up, Katie Jones. You won the book with this comment:

“I actually don’t need a 7 day meal planner. You see, I have a clone or 6. After working all day and a 30 min drive home Clone #1 takes care of homework for boys 1 and 2 (husband would help but he’s on 3-11 shift), clone #2 keeps my 3mo old baby boy happy (note that’s 3 boys), clone #3 feeds, waters and plays with our 4 dogs, 2 cats, 9 chickens(non-edible except for their eggs) and 2 ducks. Clone #4 make happy healthy meals followed by perfect choco chip cookies and watches as both older boys eat everything on their plates and ask for seconds of spinach. Clone #5 cleans the house and gives the best foot massage and clone #6 is my spare that stays in the closet just in case.

 

Wait…that’s my happy katie dream world. Looks like I could use that book after all.”

 

I met Katie this weekend and what a delightful lady. After I heard her story, I was convinced that Lindsey made the right decision.

 

 

 

Here's Katie Jones and her new book.

 

Houston Lunch at Hugos with Cousins, Ethelyn and Adair

First cousins, Ethelyn Kuldell and Adair Miller met us for lunch in Houston at Hugo's. We love Mexican food and feel the need to enjoy it whenever we're in Texas. Perfect weather called for outdoor dining which hit the spot as much as the food.

 

Looking at and listening to the daughters of my husband's first cousins was as if each their mothers were there with us. Same banter, same looks and same laughs. It was a good feeling. 

 

 

Adair Miller

 

 

Ethelyn Kuldell

 

 

A dainty portion of delicious enchiladas!

 

 

Seafood "cocktail."

Early Halloween in Houston

After living in Houston and marrying one of their "boys," I'm always happy to return to Texas to visit family and friends. It's especially nice when chamber of commerce weather is provided like it was this week. I stayed with my good friend, Chet (aka Kay) and her husband, Bob Maniha. Abby, the cat, didn't like the competition for attention, but we did okay when I told her I had a couple of cute boy kitties at home.

 

Chet, is a wonderful cook (and friend) and prepared an early Halloween meal with seasonal decorations. The entree of Stuffed Shells were as good as any Italian restaurant's offerings. She makes her own tomato sauce and uses ground turkey instead of beef. All were good choices. The perfect meal included, salad, the shells and warm rolls and wine--of course! Dessert was vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries.

 

 

The centerpiece.

 

 

A colorful salad with avocados and red bell pepper with oil and lemon dressing.

 

 

Stuffed Shells

 

 

My plate...yes, three stuffed shells.

 

 

Shells no more. What a fine meal!

Happy Birthday, Cupcake

It's always a good time to celebrate a birthday if you forget which one it is. Saturday was my husband's (aka Cupcake) birthday. Don't be alarmed by that name because he's had it for 15 years and takes it in good stride. It's a long story (as mine usually are and often boring, too!). But, we do get Christmas cards addressed to Mr and Mrs Cupcake.....so it's stuck and increased in usage over the years. Men have a hard time calling him Cupcake, but women see to like it a lot. He's a cupcake kind of a guy.

For the birthday dinner we went to a tried and true spot. It's easy to like Ecco restaurant. The food and service are good, we can walk and the prices aren't outrageous. (We used to avoid it but they re-designed their wine list for mere mortal spenders, so we gravitated back again.) My only complaint was that the onions in my Gibson (my favorite serious drink), looked like they came over on the Mayflower. Otherwise, a lovely evening. (More on the pole beans).

Cocktail onions from the Mayflower.

Fried Goat Cheese with Honey and Olives are our favorite appetizers.

Tilefish with Chickpeas, Corn and Oranges.

Grilled Chicken (smashed with a brick) and Pole Beans (the beans were served a month past their prime season. They did replace them).

Lentils with Walnuts.

And, my dessert. Their French fries were really good.

Dinner at Eleven at the new Loews Hotel in Atlanta

Midtown restaurant week always gets our attention. It's a great time to visit places you might not go otherwise. Eleven (where do they get these names?), the restaurant in the new Lowes Hotel is in our neighbor, so we couldn't resist. Several friends joined us.

Unlike some of the participants in these promotions, Eleven served more than the usual chicken, trout and vegetable something (or the let's-get-by-with-the-cheapest-menu-we-can attitude of some participants). The appetizer was either scallops or a salad, entrees were duck breast or mahi mahi and dessert was a chocolate soufle with ice cream, all for $25. In addition, wine parings for the 3 courses were an additional $15 with a generous pour.

Being one of those cantankerous diners who likes stemmed wine-glasses (they use the "other" kind), I wasn't too pleased with the announcement of "no" we don't use stemmed glasses. One of the employees said he'd have a stemmed glass for me in 3 minutes, (while the waiter and bartender said, "sorry"). It was more like 5 minutes, but who's counting? He knew there were stems hiding in the banquet area and got one from there. That's above and beyond the call, but very much appreciated.

By the way, martinis were $14. That's too high for me.

Tarek, the stemmed glass "finder"

The scallop appetizer

The entree

And, dessert. 

Lunch at Craftbar with One Hungry Woman

You'd never know it to look at her, but friend Cathie Koch can eat. More on that later.

The first thing I didn't like about Craftbar is that they serve those tiny bottles of Diet Coke's that don't allow for a refill. I'm much too frugal to order another one, so I drank watered-down diet coke the rest of the meal. The next thing that annoyed me was they sprinkled coarse salt on top of the butter. I'm sure this is to give some sort of flavor burst but I scraped my flavor burst off.

The menu (most entrees are over $20 for lunch) did have two of my favorites at a decent price ($12), BLT's and Burgers (both with fries). To widen my horizons, I went for the BLT. It was a disappointment since i wanted the old-fashioned kind with toasted whole grain bread, tomatoes, bacon and mayonnaise. This one was so gussied up that I had to take a bath after one half of it. I didn't even take the other half home (which I usually do). The fries were good, thank goodness. Cathie went for the burger. My sandwich came halved. She cut hers in half (as I usually do). Inside were two fat juicy burgers, topped one on the other. Now, back to Cathie and her appetite. Not only did she eat the half (equal to a whole burger on one bun), she ate the second half, too. There must have been about a pound of meat in that burger. I couldn't believe it. She admitted others have been astounded at how much she can eat. Add me to the astounded list.

That girl can eat!

Waving Good Bye to Friend, Maizie Hale

A group of "girls" gathered to wish Maizie Hale a fond farewell at Vicky Murphy's (who does PR for Inland Seafood) house. Maizie's marrying a former high school classmate she saw a couple of years ago at a high school reunion. See? It really does happen! After many years in the Atlanta Public Relations world, Maizie's moving to Florida. We wanted to send her off with all good wishes and plenty of food.

The group was composed of some really, really good cooks. I call them super-cooks such as Gloria Smiley, who is also a food stylist, Doris Coplin, cooking teacher and cookbook author, and James Beard award winner, Shirley Corriher to mention a few. Susan Puckett, former food editor of the AJC and Carolyn O'Neil who was CNN's go-to person on all things food and nutrition for many years and now writes a dining out column for the AJC. Each brought a great dish. Gina Christman, publisher of Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles and Jane Garvey, wine guru were there along with Gena Berry a catering pro and Lenada Merrick who does food marketing. All in all, a bunch of food women I'm fortunate to know.

The "girls" with Maizie, the redhead, on the sofa. I'm the photographer.

Love potion #9....well, not really. The star "recipe" was Gloria Smiley's homemade Lemonchello. I twisted her arm for her secret recipe. She graciously agreed.

Gloria and Lemoncello (Recipe to follow in another post)

Dinner at French American Brasserie (FAB)

Atlanta has promoted downtown restaurant week for several years. We try to participate, trying new restaurants we wouldn’t visit otherwise. Many of the downtown restaurants charge “convention” or “expense account” prices that we pass on for other more reasonably priced places away from the convention crowd. During slower summer times is a good time for pumping up an otherwise lackluster busy season for the downtown eateries.

Even thought the French American Brasserie (FAB) is less than a mile from where we live, we’d never been there since it opened over three years ago. It’s our loss. We had a good, 3-course $25 prix fix meal with friends, rocker Brad Cox and his finance’ Eva Lukkonen, a reluctant opera singer.

The appetizer was layered sliced plums, greens and prosciutto. I chose the Roasted Chicken and Potatoes entrée and the other three went for the North Carolina Trout Amandine. All of us were happy with our selections. The most favored dessert was the Warm Chocolate Cake with Ice Cream. How could you say anything bad about that?? All in all, a good value in an attractive setting. Parking in a nearby garage is $5 with the gratuity extra.

We’ll go back to FAB for dinner. Their wine prices were reasonable but they had boring beer choices, according to my husband (the beer guy).

The Appetizer

Baked Chicken

Trout Amandine

Warm Chocolate Cake

 

Lunch at Bocado

Thank goodness I didn't have to hear Diet Coke isn't served here because it's not "natural." If you live in Atlanta, any Coca Cola product is natural! Personal opinion, of course. Friend, Gena Berry, and I had lunch at Bocado today. The place is attractive besides serving good food. (Be sure to call ahead to ask where to park because it's not evident as you're driving by.)

I had a Roasted Poblano & Pimento Cheese, Bacon, Fried Green Tomato with Spicy Sauce sandwich (whee) along with French fires. Of course it was good; why wouldn't all that salt and fat taste good? The fries were average. I ate half the sandwich and the rest is in my refrigerator for another day. The pickles were great. Gena ordered the Chicken Caesar. It looked delicious.

I skipped dessert and had a second glass of Diet Coke.

The Poblano & Pimento Sandwich with Fries

Chicken Caesar