Wisconsin Colby Cheese

A friend of mine had a layover in Atlanta over the weekend. His trip started in Wisconsin, where his brother just moved, and included touring cheese farms and discovering why Wisconsians wear cheese hats. I went to the airport to hang out with him during his layover. Not the most glamourous setting, but it was great seeing him.

And I got a little cheese out of it. Wisconsin Colby Jalapeno cheese to be exact. It was wrapped in a bag in his carry-on, and was mistaken for a C4 explosive by TSA at security. The TSA woman swabbed it and everything. Thankfully, it was just cheese. Although it may cause explosions in some people, it wasn't going to blow up the plane.


I also learned a new little fact. Colby cheese is colby cheese because it was created in Colby, Wisconsin. It reminds me of Vidalia onions, which come from Vidalia, Georgia. The European Union has protected food names. Part of it protects the product and the producer, and part of it helps consumers know what it is they are consuming. Not a bad idea I think.

Seasonal Food Map

Epicurious.com has a seasonal food map that I stumbled upon today. I love the idea of knowing what is in season where I am, and where I am going. I imagine myself using it to order fresh seasonal dishes off menus, knowing what to look for in the farmers' market, and planning menus around the seasons. Really, I'll probably just play around with it and compare what is in different states. But it does remind me of the plethora of fruits and vegetables and all the different varieties. We need heirloom tomatoes and vidalia onions and purple peppers.

twd ~ chocolate spice quickies

Whenever I have someone over for dinner, I spend as much time thinking about the dessert as the main course. I see it as the big finale. I planned an intimate dinner for two last week, and took Dorie's suggestion to pair the chocolate spice quickies with ice cream. It was delicious. The cookies are great solo, and are subtle enough in flavor to be addictive. These aren't rich, despite the spices and chocolate, which is one reason why they paired so wonderfully with Dorie's chocolate ganache ice cream.
The ice cream overshadowed the cookies a bit. I added a little expresso powder and salt to the ganache to bring out the intense chocolate.
Thanks to Jessica of My Baking Heart for this week's pick! Check out her blog for the recipe and some beautiful food pics.

Black-eyed peas with fresh tomatoes and broccoli slaw

When I visit my mom, I always grab her latest edition of Southern Living. I love the beautiful homes featured, the cities explored, and (of course) the delicious looking recipes and food pictures!

Last weekend, we decided to make a recipe from the magazine on Sunday after church. It needed to be something quick because I had a two-hour drive in front of me before my dance class in the evening.

The little black-eyed pea cakes were perfect. They are an easy, quick mix-up and fry and are balanced with the fresh tomatoe and broccoli slaw. The cakes are lightly mashed black-eyed peas, a bag of buttermilk cornbread mix, an egg, and spices. The slaw is a tangy mixture of broccoli slaw mix, sour cream, spices, lime juice, and lime zest. I can't wait to try it atop a black bean burger!

High Tea Time @ Dr. Bombay's in Atlanta

I love high tea. It makes a day feel special, and makes it totally acceptable to eat dessert in the middle of the day.

I've only had high tea a handful of times. I studied abroad in England, and we would go in between classes to a lovely little tearoom in Oxford that had something to do with Alice through the looking glass although I can't remember exactly what. I have searched for years for recipes similar to their little granola and honey bar treats!

I've been hearing about Dr. Bombay's Underwater Tea Party for awhile. It's one of those places that I've been meaning to go, but never do. So I made a date with a friend for High Tea!

It was as lovely as I had heard. It has an ecletic arrange of books, games, tables, pillows that fits East Atlanta and gives a very laid back vibe - all mish mashed in and set to some wonderful jazz music. It took a little time to get our dish of finger foods and sweet treats because the scones had just been put in the oven. But the still warm scones made up for the wait! The peanut butter scone completely took me by surprise, as its nutty flavor was perfect smothered in Devonshire clotted cream. We almost finished the entire bowl of cream. Good thing I was going to swing dance classes afterwards, except that I could barely move I was so full!

Black eyed peas with spinach and fried plantains

One of my favorite dishes in Ghana was Red Red - black eyed peas and fried ripe plantain. The peas would be doused with an unhealthy amount of red palm oil, giving rise to the name red red for the color of the peas and plantains. Unhealthy, but so delicious! It's common street food, and I would usually request no oil. I figured it was a trade-off since I ate it at least once a week.


On a recent trip to the farmer's market, I saw the plantains and immediately started craving red red. It's one of the dishes that immediately takes me back to a wonderful place. It combines something I know well from my childhood growing up in the South - black eyed peas - with an exotic, new fruit that I discovered my love for as an adult.

I let the plantain ripened several more days. For it to be sweet, it needs to be really ripe, almost black. I cut it in one-inch pieces and added some spices - ginger, chili powder, and salt - before frying. The spices help to bring out and balance the sweetness of the plantain.

While this was frying, I boiled half a bag of frozen black eyed peas and half a bag of frozen spinach. I added salt and pepper to taste, and let the peas boil down to a nice consistency.
I had to keep myself from eating the whole pan! Of course, I ate all of the plantain. There was a reason I only got one! I cut up a sweet potato into cubes and fried it to go along with the peas for lunch later in the week. It worked well but nothing beats fried plantain!

twd ~ Tropical Crumble

I've been fighting with my laptop for the past 45 minutes. It doesn't want to type. It tells me I am holding down the control button, even when I raise both hands above my head and wave a white flag.



What I really don't want to do is get on the phone with tech support people. How long will it take? Will it be under my warranty? If I keep banging around on this thing will it suddenly start working again?

I'm hoping it keeps behaving long enough to make my post. Hey, it's almost midnight.

The tropical crumble, on the other hand, was not a problem at all. It was simple and easy, and turned out to be quite delicious.



I made a few substitutions. I used almonds instead of pecans, and orange zest instead of lime. I added just a little coconut to the topping, and a smidgen of whipped cream at the end. The cream quickly melted, but blended nicely with the fruit anyway.



I've fallen off exercising lately, and finally put in a good 6 miles this evening so I didn't feel too bad about eating this straight from the oven at 10pm. It was too perfect at the park not to enjoy it! I saw a film crew doing scenes for the movie What to Expect When You're Expecting. Chris Rock was the only one I could really recognize or hear.

Thanks to Gaye at Laws of the Kitchen for this week's pick!