Bloody Marys are Bloody Good

I have never been a fan of Bloody Marys. It's probably because mixing a depressant with vegetables seems to defeat a depressants purpose in the first place. Well on this particular Sunday, I went to a bar in the Lower East Side called Welcome to the Johnsons with my friend, Chris Berry. He was the same guy that introduced me to the bacon vodka, so I figured I would keep him around a while. After much persistence (one sip of his drink), Chris convinced me to get one of their Bloody Marys. He had heard they were one of the best in the city.

Holy crap that thing was good and only $7. Feast your eyes on the list of ingredients in this veggielicious libation. I am not sure the exact quantities as I was trying to be discrete when staring at the bartender in order to steal his special concoction. So, you will have to play around with the ingredients.

Wasabi

Saracha Sauce

Pickle Juice

Thai Chili Pepper Juice

Morton Hot Sauce Powder

Tabasco

Texas Pete

Horseradish

Worcestershire

Salt and Pepper

Lime and Lemon Juice

Canned Tomato Juice

Vodka

Guinness

Scalloping

My Dad and Mom went scalloping with their friends the other weekend. Thanks to my parents' support for their crazy daughter who blogs about food, they created a post for me. I think they secretly enjoyed putting it together!

Here is what they had to say:

It is like an adult Easter Egg Hunter under water. A scallop is a fan shaped shell creature found in oceans the world over. You search for them to harvest the muscle that holds the two sides of the shell together as they make a scrumptious meal.

We scalloped in the shallow edge waters of the Gulf near Steinhatchee, Florida... this is “old” Florida. You feel what it must have been like for the Olds, Vanderbilt and Astor families as they began wintering in Florida. We stayed in a beautiful 3 bedroom cottage at Steinhatchee Landing.

To be legal, a Florida saltwater fishing license for $17.50 is required as well as hunting in season (July 1 – Sept 10). Some areas are banned due to “over scalloping”. Waters were two to four feet deep and the bottom was mix of sand and sea grasses. We arrived at our happy hunting ground by boat supplied by Captain Jim and Cindy Seletos.

Using a mask, fins and snorkel, you float lazily around looking for scallops just inches above the sand or sea grass, collecting them in a mesh bag. You periodically return to the boat to deposit your catch and swill down the libation of your choice.

Those who don’t get in the water find themselves in the boat cleaning the scallops. This is done with a spoon used to pry the scallop open followed by scraping the inside to loosen and discard a bunch of yuckie stuff. The muscle is collected and the shells go back into the water to become beach sand in a couple of million years.

It took about 6 hours for 8 adults to collect and clean scallops yielding 64 oz., the limit for our boat. It might have been a thousand scallops. The more you clean the larger the number gets. While the scallop is about 1.5-2 inches in diameter, the harvested scallop muscle is slightly smaller than the size of a piece of double bubble gum.

The collection process is extremely relaxing but remember your sunscreen or your will become a lobster! Relaxing is aided by the fact that cell phones rarely work there! We cooked our harvest the following day.

Scallop Recipe:

Just sautée the scallops in some olive oil, minced garlic, sea salt and ground pepper for approximately 5 minutes. Once cooked, remove the scallops from the pan. To the liquid in the pan, add white wine, a bit of half and half and a cornstarch/water mixture to thicken the sauce. Return the scallops to the pan. Color with some chopped parsley. Ladle over al dente linguini along with a green or tomato salad. Quantities of white wine of choice should also accompany… helping with digestion or mental acuity I am sure!

Guac Off

While in San Fran I stumbled upon this book which must have been made for me. It consists of two of my favorite things, guacamole and competition. Guac Off has 30 guac recipes and teaches you how to start you own guacamole competition. I can't wait to give the recipes a try. Get ready friends, I could be organizing a little guac competition of my own!

On a side note, when googling "Guac Off" to find out more about the book, the top website that came up was http://www.guacoff.org/. I can't believe I never knew about this. Too bad I missed this years competition. However, I have 9 months to perfect a guac recipe!

Toasty Tip: When picking a ripe avocado, look for ones that are dark green or a brownish color. Then, press you thumb gently into the avocado and make sure it gives. Also, make sure there aren't any air pockets where the skin has separated from the inside, as those tend to create mold pockets. Ripe avocados will only last about a day or two, so pick greener ones if you will not be using it right away.

My First Meal

I set a goal for myself to cook more and experiment with food in my new apartment. Enough talking...the walk has begun! My first meal consisted of grilled chicken, summer squash, and brussel sprouts. Simple, easy, delicious.

A Toasty Tip: Only dress the veggies with olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. Cook the summer squash in a skillet on low with a lid on top for 10 minutes to get them nice and soft.

You Think You Know, But You Have NO Idea

Boy do you learn a lot about what you don't know about food around chefs. I was invited over to a friend of a friends apartment for a cookout with chefs. The chefs work at the popular NYC restaurant Jean-Georges and went to the culinary school, CIA.

Among the menu was skirt and hanger steak, corn, potato salad, three bean salad, and pickled ramps. Even though the list sounds pretty traditional, it was the preparation that made it unique. The potato salad had hard boiled eggs and dill in it. The steaks were perfectly cooked and marinated in lemon, olive oil, garlic, and cilantro. They also grilled with lump charcoal instead of charcoal briquettes. Lump charcoal is harder to manage however briquettes tend to contain additives and give an unwanted flavor to the meat.

LUMP (upper)

BRIQUETTES (lower)

The pickled ramps were my favorite, even though I didn't know what they were. Shortly after my 20 questions, I learned a ramp is a wild leek that is only available in the spring season.

Here is a pickled ramp recipe:

http://steamykitchen.com/4241-asian-pickled-wild-leek-ramp-bulbs.html

You don't have to pickle them, but since they are only in season for a short period pickling allows you to enjoy them all year long!

Eat Your Age Away

Though I don't typically have time to watch Oprah, I had to turn to it yesterday. Oprah's BFF, Dr. Oz, talked about what we can eat to stay looking young. Here is what he said in a "nut" shell:

• Eat foods high in antioxidents (acai, blueberries, sweet potatoes, broccoli, tomatoes, wine) The darker the fruit or vegetable the higher the antioxidents. My berry delicious smoothie recipe found on an older post would be perfect.


• Drink Green or White Tea Preferrably 4 cups a day


• Use Spices (fresh or dried)


• Eat Fiber (Steel cut oatmeal and 100% whole grain bread) 25 grams a day


• Eat Omega-3 Fatty Acids (ground flax seed and walnuts)

Get more details on how to stay wrinkle free - Oprah.com

Blender with a Buzz

I recently purchased The Magic Bullet because a colleague of mine was raving about this little blender. I've had it only a week and have fallen in gadget heaven.

I only can comment on his smoothie making abilities. However, you can do anything from chopping a onion to making an iced frappachino. I refer to it as a "he" because of it's power. I call mine Thomas, like Thomas the Tank Engine!

You can purchase this little engine that could online or in stores for around $45-$60 depending on if you get the kit with multiple attachments (I got the 17 piece set and it's worth it!). The best part is that there is little clean up and no mess.

With or without this gizmo, here is a Toasty Buns' (a.k.a me) original recipe:

Berry Delicious Smoothie

Ingredients: (one serving)

• 5 ice cubes
• 4 large spoonfuls of 0% fat free greek yogurt
• Handful of fresh blueberries
• Palmful of fresh blackberries
• 1/2 cup of Peach Juice (I used Tropicana Peach Punch)
• 2 small Splenda packets

Directions:

It's as easy as combine and blend. Add more ice for thicker consistency.

Nutrition:
200-250 calories
Almost no fat