if you can't stand the heat...part three

Taco salad: Toss together greens, chopped tomato, chopped red onion, sliced avocado, a small can of black beans and kernels from a couple of ears of corn. Toss with crumbled tortilla chips and dress with lime and chopped cilantro leaves.

if you can't stand the heat...part two

This salad was delicious, sated my protein craving, and required no cooking. Perfect.

Smoked turkey & black bean succotash salad

3 cups diced, cooked smoked turkey breast
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup fresh corn kernels
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup diced bell peppers (any colors)
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
3 cups arugula or salad greens mix

Dressing
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint (plus leaves for garnish)
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
1/2 cup tomato juice
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon sherry (or balsamic) vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil

Combine turkey, beans, corn, tomatoes, bell peppers and onion in a bowl. Whisk all dressing ingredients in another bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add dressing to turkey mixture and toss to combine. Divide greens among 4 plates and top with turkey salad.

if you can't stand the heat...

Summer in Montreal means many things. There's the street festivals, the jazz, the volleyball, the smell of marijuana (everywhere), the tamtams...and the heat. It's not Memphis-hot, of course, but it's still respectable. And here they don't really bother with air conditioners. Luckily, Dr. DJ's apartment sits high above the city where the breeze from the windows keeps us cool - most of the time. Now it's more like a sultry box, much too close to the sun. And the kitchen's the worst part. It's unbearable in there. But if growing up in the South taught me anything it's that when the temperature starts up, you should wind down. The less work, the better. (And ice cubes don't hurt.) So, I've decided to swear off cooking for the duration of the season. Now that doesn't mean I won't prepare food - it'll just be without cooking it! No stoves, no ovens, and no grills. Nothing to raise the temperature in the apartment. A pretty neat little challenge, I think! Here's the first thing I tried:

Not surprisingly, a salad. But it was a delicious salad! And here's the recipe (adapted from one I found at epicurious.com):

**Palm and Avocado Salad**

For vinaigrette:
1 small garlic clove
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, washed and spun dry
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil

For salad
a 14-ounce can hearts of palm, drained
4 California firm-ripe avocados
1/2 small red onion, sliced thin
1 large pink grapefruit, peeled and segmented
Boston lettuce leaves (from about 2 heads)

Make vinaigrette:
In a blender purée garlic and cilantro with lemon and grapefruit juices, honey, and salt. With motor running add oil in a stream, blending until dressing is emulsified.

Make salad:
Cut hearts of palm and avocado into 3/4-inch cubes and in a large bowl with a rubber spatula gently toss with onion, grapefruit, and vinaigrette until combined well.

Line 8 salad plates with lettuce leaves and mound avocado mixture on top.

memphis mary's

Janae asked me to go with her to Memphis Mary's in order to do reconnaissance. I'm not clear on why we needed to do reconnaissance, but I take pictures in restaurants all the time so I wasn't too concerned with the details. We told the waitstaff I write a food and travel blog. Misdirection through honesty is a specialty of mine.

The food: surprisingly good. I wasn't expecting much from a lesbian diner known primarily for its happy hour and contemporary dance mix. But it's solid.

We started with the spinach-artichoke dip that comes, unusually, with chips. The chips were outstanding: paper thin, crisp, warm, and lightly salty. The dip itself was well-balanced between creamy and astringent. The portions aren't large, but I only noticed because I wished I had some more dip after it was gone.

I specially requested grilled rather than fried shrimp for my po' boy. While the waitress was reluctant, she got it done. And it was a fine po'boy, this version firmly in the tradition of unfussy food. The bread was soft, not too crusty and grilled, which was a nice touch. Rather than the remoulade most places would serve with a po'boy, Mary's just uses a generous smear of tangy mayo. The fries were what really had me. Wow! Soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside, not too oily, lightly salted...and browner, more crisp than others. I liked the size of them, too: thick, but not steak-size. Perfect proportions!

Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken

I'm not much of a fan of fried chicken. To me, it's greasy, soggy, flavorless mush coating overcooked chicken. You can revoke my "Southern" card if you want, but fried food in general just doesn't do much for me. The flavor of the fat tends to overwhelm the flavor of the food. In almost all cases you would do better to prepare it in another way.

This is the opposite of how I feel about Gus's fried chicken.

There's something about how they make it that's alchemical. The crust is crisp and full of the flavor of pepper and spice, while the chicken stays moist and juicy. It's like they condensed the essence of chicken in there. Maybe it's special chickens...I don't know. But they just taste better than ordinary ones.


Other than the superlative chicken, the menu at Gus's is limited. They have enjoyable fried pickles and jalapenos, the pies are uninspired but not bad. Beans and coleslaw come with the chicken meal and are serviceable. I like to scoop up coleslaw with pieces of chicken lightly doused in pepper vinegar. Yum!

I go to the Gus's downtown, on Front & Linden. I'm told the location out east has more variety of vegetables, but I wonder why they bother. People come to Gus's for the chicken. Eating anything else is just a waste of perfectly good tummy space.

Jerry's SnoCones

Jason and I had been planning a trip to Jerry's Sno Cones for months it seems. We finally went the other day! First of all, it's a bit of a trek to get there. Way up in the north part of Memphis - 1657 Wells Station Rd. But it's worth it on a hot day. The place is so pink and yellow and square, like if communist architecture came to Portugal.





And it does feel a little post-apocalyptic with all the people in various stages of summer undress waiting around in the sun or slurping their food out of styrofoam cups. what saves it from being too morbid is the gratuitousness of the combination of sno cone with soft serve ice cream. It's called a "supreme" and it's very good. I tried mine with mango, orchid, and cherry flavors. They were all a bit sickly sweet, and *way* too much for one person to eat, but the texture on my tongue was pretty amazing. I'm told wedding cake is the most popular flavor...but i think next time I'll try lemon or coffee and hope it won't put my teeth on edge!

Jeanne & Thorsten's Wedding Cake

So, I'm back in Memphis now -- teaching some Philosophy, tearing up some floors, baking some wedding cake. This is my second wedding cake, and I was very happy with it. It looked beautiful thanks to Amanda and Jena's artistic touches, but it tasted excellent as well! Let's see...it was an almond cake with raspberry eau-de-vie buttercream filling and fresh raspberries. For the outside I chopped up a bunch of almonds very finely and mixed it with gold dust so that it would remind Jeanne of the sand on the Pacific.