Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Real New Orleans Beignets

I've never been a huge Beyonce fan but Signs 
has got to be one of her best tunes. She doesn't do a ton of screaming or crazy adlibbing, it's totally laid back and hott!

Remember when I went to New Orleans a few weeks ago and I bought that box of beignet mix from Cafe Du Monde? Well I finally got to use it. This sunday and and the boyfriend got a chance to make some tasty beignets...also known as french donuts! There are directions on the box, but you know we didn't follow those.All you really need is water and powdered sugar.

It starts with a box




2 cups of mix makes about 20 mid sized beignets.

You add water,we also added 2 pinches cinnamon and 2 tblspns sugar.



almost ready



Now we are ready to fry. Allow the oil to heat on med for about 8 mins. You only need about 2 inches of oil.



turn them only after they have browned and puffed on one side.



Finished product. It's just like a donut ball, and the powdered sugar is the perfect finishing touch. These are super easy to make and perfect for in bulk if your having company.

Friday, July 20, 2012

The Original House Of Pancakes

Ya'll know I'm not really into rap, but when I like somethin; I like something. Dear Mama is a really great Eminem song. Not great in the typical sense, but you know.. it tells a great and relatable story about life. 

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of visiting the Original House Of Pancakes,located in Kenwood;previously located in Hyde Park. As soon as you walk in there is a sign telling you that they will not seat you unless your whole party is there. I appreciate that notice. We got there around 1130am and only had to wait about 12 mins. We sat at a table that was waaayyy to close to everyone else. I don't like that, however the food was good!






Nah I never got around to having any pancakes. The waffle was good but it literally had a whole can of peaches on it.... Not good. The waffle was super soggy, I love a good crisp waffle, don't you? Absolutely no complaints about the sausage tho.
Now for the age old question: Am I going back?? Yep but I will request a booth. I simply can not sit the close to random people.

Friday, July 13, 2012

My time in New Orleans

I LOOOOOVVVEEE  this song. El Debarge did it on his album Second Chance, and he did a slightly different version for the movie Jumping the broom. Here
is what he did for the movie. This rendition has less instruments and background and more pure El, and I love it. It is a great choice for a wedding song.

I went to visit the Big Easy last weekend!! Thats right I was in New Orleans, saw a little bit of the Essence Music Fest and ate alot of great food. The weather down there is CRAZY. 3 times that weekend it rained like a torrential downpour, than minutes later it was perfectly sunny. I did not like that at all. In spite of that I had a really great time, I even got up and sang at a jazz club! Do you believe it? Here's my weekend in pictures:





We Went on a boat cruise,(in the pouring rain) and saw some of the more popular New Orleans sights. The bottom picture is me and my sister, I'm not going to New Orleans alone!




Saturday night we visited Maison Bourbon Jazz club, this is where I sang at. Bourbon street, was even more crowded than I thought, fuuulll of ppl, oh we had a hurricaine to, and it was awesome.




Have I ever talked to you about my love for beignets?? well I love them. This picture was taken at cafe DuMonde a very popular spot in N'awlins. They weren't to greasy but perfectly delicious.




Of course we had to visit the epic restaurant Mothers. It did not dissapoint. I had a salty but strong bloody mary and the fried catfish po'boy. We did have to wait outside for about 10mins but it was worth it.



This is a banans foster bread pudding and damn! it was sooo good. Me and my sister split it and neither of us had ever encountered a bananas foster with a crust  but it was tasty!



Isn't this amazing? I didn't buy this but I bought two of the artists paintings. I met the artists as he sells the paintings himself, I can't wait to hang them.

Well that was my weekend, a great little city full of culture and scrumptious food. 

Monday, July 9, 2012

My birthday!

I'm sitting here watching City SLickers Pt 2. and I wanted something really festive and western for ya'll. What better than Howdown By Aaron CoplandWe performed this in high school and it was such an awesome song to perform. Slightly difficult to pull together but completely worth it.

Finally I have pictures from my birthday which was june 24th. I catered the event myself and boy was I tired. No, I'm not catering another birthday party in 88 degree weather, anyhoo, here are the pictures!





The caprese bruschetta, the name explains it all.





You know I always have to do something in the crockpot, makes life sooo much easier. This is crockpot sesame chicken. Here is the recipe.





Coconut lime cupcakes, they were alot more dense than a cupcake, more like a muffin, but tasty none the less.





My sister came all the way from DC!





Fresh flowers are always a good centerpeice, no matter what time of year it is.





Have ya'll noticed that I like taking pictures by the tables I design??





Mushroom and onion tart= Sauteed mushroom and onions in a pie crust topped with parmesan cheese and warmed just before serving.
....I made a pasta salad but those pictures seemed to have dissapeared.. 
Well thats me on the first day of my late 20's. It was a pretty great party.