Mudbugs

Saturday Mama called me to say that Tina, a lady that works for us, brought us some boiled crawfish. I can never say no to crawfish so I raced down to our store to pick them up. There is nothing like a hot summer night with friends, family, beer and a ton of crawfish. I know it's not summer yet and I can't have a beer, but any time is a good time for crawfish.

I poured a few out in a bowl so I could snack on them while watching the tube. If you have never eaten them, have no fear, I will teach you how to get the meat out.

Select one of the "bugs" to eat.

Separate the head from the tail. Squeeze the head a little and suck all of the juices out. Don't cringe, just try it at least once. If you don't like it, then don't do it again. I happen to think that is the best part. Insert dirty jokes here.

Throw the head away. Pick up the tail and peel off the first joint of the shell. Pinch the bottom of the tail, put the meat in your mouth and pull the rest of it out of the shell. You can peel off all of the shell and pick the meat out with your hands, but the first way is the fastest, I think.

You don't get a lot of meat out of the tail so you have to eat at least a hundred or so before you get full. Ok so not really a hundred, but it seems like it. Most people will boil corn, red potatoes and sausage along with the crawfish so if you are not a mudbug fan you will at least have something to eat.

I hope that you all have a chance one day to enjoy these spicy little crustaceans. You will not be disappointed. Make sure that you wash your hands good when you are finished. Cut up some lemons for your lips, that will be on fire, and for your stinky fingers. If you don't know where to buy them, just call Buddy Grass Seafood at 251-443-7291 and ask for Tina. She will be happy to help you out.

Buddy Grass Seafood

2585 Hamilton Blvd

Mobile, AL 36605

251-443-7291

Not Yo Nacho

For the past few days I have been wanting some nachos. Not just any nachos, but loaded to the gills nachos. Who wants just chips and cheese? Please, that is for amateurs. Deciding that I could save some money, I made my own version of nachos.

I wasn't in the mood to navigate through layers of single tortilla chips so I opted for corn tortillas. If you bake them for a few mins before you load them up they wont get soggy.

Then I sauteed some onions for the refried beans, from a can (that smell sort of like dog food). When that was done I mixed them together.

After mixing the taco seasoning with water, I browned my lean ground beef.

The seasoning was "hot and spicy" so I poured it through a small strainer and into the meat since my boys do not care for the "hot and spicy."

When the meat was ready, it was time to start construction of the nachos. I smeared on the beans and onions, topped that with the seasoned meat and loaded it down with cheese. I love pickled jalapenos, so i put some on top of mine.

These babies make me long for a margarita in the worst way! Look at that gooey cheese and tell me you aren't hungry now. Now break out the sour cream and salsa and dig in. If you wanted to make them smaller they would be great for a get together. I'm sure some of you are saying that they are toastadas. Call them what you will. I call them good!

There was a great BBQ restaurant here in Mobile that closed not to long ago that had the best BBQ nachos. They fried their own chips, topped them with pulled pork or chopped beef and cheddar cheese. We used to drench them with BBQ sauce and fight over who got the last chip. Looks like I may have to try that out at home. When I do, I will share it with you.

How do you like your nachos?

Picklefish?

As some of you may know, the Southern Foodette has a bun in the oven. This means only one thing. I AM HUNGRY! I seriously could eat 24 hours a day, but a girl needs her beauty rest.

Saturday morning I was watching a show about pizza on the Travel Channel and that set off a craving for pizza in the worst way. This was not a craving for chain pizza places. This had to be a one of a kind joint. I decided that Picklefish would be perfect. After loading my boys into the truck, we were on the way. Picklefish is not close to our house in any way. Located across from the University of South Alabama, it is about 20 mins from our humble abode. Needless to say, Mark was thrilled about that. He's a chain fan, go figure.

We walked in and found a suitable table. The super nice server took our drink order and I had to order an appetizer, I was starving after all. The spinach artichoke dip was calling my name from the menu.

As the server was placing our drink and app order, we scanned the menu for pizza. I, of course, wanted one of EVERYTHING! Figuring that we didn't have the funds to complete that task, we ordered 3, 10 inch pizzas. Cheese for JW. BBQ chicken pizza for Mark and Buffalo chicken for me.

While waiting for our pizza, the spinach artichoke dip came out. It was so good that you could bathe in it. the bread was buttery and crunchy and all around tasty. As you can see from the picture, I was too busy stuffing my face to take a picture as soon as it came out.

JW's cheese pizza was the best just given its simplicity. The crust was spot on and the cheese was very cheesy.

Marks BBQ chicken pizza was great but would have been better without bell peppers. It really took away from the flavor.

The Buffalo chicken pizza was a nice surprise. The sauce was tangy, not sour, so that was great and the cheese was not just mozzarella, but blue cheese crumbles as well. The one thing that I would change would be the fried chicken. I think grilled or roasted would have been more flavorful.

Picklefish has been a staple in Mobile for years and years. There were many hearts broken when the Dauphin St location closed. After a long night of partying on Mobile's version of Bourbon St, it was nice to sober up with a few slices of pizza. At least they are still open on Old Shell Rd. If you are ever down this way and are searching for pizza, give Picklefish a try.

Picklefish

5955 Old Shell Rd

Mobile, AL 36608

Sowing on Sunday

Yesterday my Mama called me to ask if we would meet her at Lowes to pick out some veggies and herbs for the garden at the camp. The camp is a 28 acre parcel of land we own that fronts Mobile Bay and Fowl River. It is just a wonderful place to kick back and relax on the weekends. After picking out what we needed and making a list of the veggies we forgot, Mama and JW (my four year old son) to the camp to get started.

My husband, Mark, and I drove over to Winn-Dixie to pick up something for lunch for everyone. After deciding on ham and cheese and bologna sandwiches with chips, we were on our way.

Earlier in the week my Daddy tilled the area that Mama had picked out for the garden and set the poles around it for the fence that would be put up to keep the deer out. Mama had already mapped out where she wanted the HUGE variety of veggies and herbs to go so all I had to do was hoe a row and plant the seeds.

In the center of the garden we planted some potted herbs such as oregano, sage, rosemary and one more that I can't remember. JW planted his strawberry plant in the center.

On one side of the garden Mama planted Georgia collards, Romain lettuce, cabbage and broccoli.

On the other side we planted Vidalia onions, red onions shallots and turnips.

Near the onions I planted a variety of herbs such as basil, dill, tarragon, thyme and so on.

We also planted a salad mix area that has mesculin, spinach and radishes.

After planting all of that we were worn out. We will be planting lots more veggies like carrots, lots of peppers, tomatoes, beans, leeks, potatoes and garlic. I will keep you posted on the progress. Hopefully we can keep all of the critters away from our veggies.

Gardening is one of the reasons why I love living in the South. My mother and grandmother have always had gardens and tons of plants in the yard. Only certain people are born with green thumbs and they have it. If it wasn't for them I would know nothing about the joys of growing your own produce. I will be taking a trip to Nanny's garden soon and I'll share that with y'all too. Keep in mind that Mama and Nanny are the ones calling the shots as far as gardening goes. I killed an aloe plant. No green thumb for me!

Oh Brother Where Art Thou?

Shrimp and Grits has been a Southern staple for many, many, many years. The combination of juicy Gulf shrimp and creamy grits is enough to bring a grown man to his knees. I decided to make this dish because one of the local shrimpers brought me some beautiful red shrimp straight off the boat. These beauties are best when they are fresh.

I started by de-heading and peeling the shrimp. I don't mind doing it. It is sort of therapeutic in a way. I then sprinkled them with salt and pepper.

While the shrimp were hanging out together I got the grits started. All you need is to bring water, chicken broth and half and half to a boil. Whisk in the grits and reduce the heat.

Go ahead and get some bacon cooking until it's crispy. You will also need to slice some mushrooms, mince some garlic, chop green onions and split a lemon.

When the bacon is finished, crumble it into pieces. Saute the mushrooms in the bacon fat.

While the mushrooms are cooking, add cheddar and Parmesan cheese, butter and hot sauce to the grits. Mix together until creamy. Put a lid on and keep warm.

Add the green onions to the mushrooms.

Dust the shrimp with flour, add them and the garlic to the mushrooms and onions. Stir in some chicken broth, hot sauce and lemon juice, making sure you get all of the pieces off the bottom of the pan.

Spoon cheese grits into a bowl. Add shrimp mixture and top with crumbled bacon.

I think I may have died and gone to heaven! The creamy grits, crunchy bacon and sweet shrimp are so good together I could "eat it for breakfast," as my dad would say. He also says he could eat raw oysters on his corn flakes, but I will save that for a later blog.

There are many recipes for shrimp and grits. I hope you find one you like and try it out. I bet you will be eating grits from here on out too. By the way, DO NOT use quick grits. Use the real deal original grits. You will thank me later.

If you didn't know, the Foodimentary Guy is my big brother. I think it is funny that all of my blogs make him hungry. It is also amusing to me that he begs for leftovers, but sadly, there were no leftovers this time. Sorry Foodimentary Guy. I know you are starving now! You might want to wipe the drool off of your computer.

Oh Deer

As you may know, I reside in the great state of Alabama. This means that we have plenty of wildlife and plenty of hunters. I, nor my husband, are hunters so when I want deer meat, I have to ask around. My friend Yano Serra came into my store last week and had fresh deer meat in a cooler in the back of his truck. He so generously gave me a whole ham that I in turn had my grandfather process for me. When Grampa brought it back the next day, I was ready to put it to good use.

I started by tenderizing it, or as I call it, "beating the crap out of it." I then dusted it with salt and pepper and got my skillet ready.

While I was waiting on the skillet to heat up, I stared some rice and minced some garlic.

In a sauce pan I sauteed my garlic in butter until soft.

My skillet was ready for the deer meat, so I threw it in there to brown on each side.

When my garlic was soft I added a can of diced tomatoes, red pepper flakes and oregano. I let that simmer until the meat was finished.

When all of the elements were ready I scooped some rice onto a plate, topped with the deer meat and poured the sauce on top. Talk about good!

Some people will tell you that you need to soak your deer meat in milk overnight to neutralize the "game" taste, but I like the way wild game tastes. You do have to tenderize deer meat very well in order for it to not be rubbery and tough.

If you have never tried deer meat, you need to. It is an acquired taste, but you at least have to give it a shot. If you can't find it anywhere, just ask around. I'm sure someones brothers, cousins, uncle knows a guy, that knows a guy that can get you some deer meat.

Downtown Treat

Last week Mama and I had some running around to do and we found ourselves downtown at lunch time. Mobile offers many wonderful places to feast for cheap. I suggested that we eat at the Bicycle Shop on Dauphin St. It is not really a sit down restaurant. It is more like a bar that offers a fair amount of food. The building itself resembles a clean bar in New Orleans with more TVs. There are windows that open up onto Dauphin Street for maximum people watching, but not then day we went. It is "winter" in Mobile so when it is 50 degrees, it is COLD!

We sat in a cozy little booth and ordered some fresh guacamole to start with. What we got was not the nasty green mush you get from your local Mexican restaurant around the corner. This was a heaping bowl of creamy avocados cut into big chunks, tomatoes, cilantro and garlic with homemade tortilla chips. It was sensational. I was so wrapped up in consuming that little slice of heaven that I forgot to take a picture of it. Sorry.

After we all but licked the bowl the guac came in, we ordered our lunch. You order everything separately from a dry erase board behind the bar, so I ordered 3 tacos. 1 mahi mahi, 1 seared tuna, and 1 shrimp. Mama ordered the crawfish quesadilla. When our plates came out, mine looked like taco art and Mama's looked like a masterpiece.

Out of my three little art pieces, the shrimp was the best. Second was the mahi mahi and third was the tuna.

The tuna was topped with a chipotle sauce, green onion, and avocado. I wasn't pleased with the sauce. It was a little off for my taste.

Though the mahi mahi was a bit overcooked, but it was still wonderful. The crunchy cabbage and radishes was a nice contrast to the spicy an soft fish.

My hands down favorite was the shrimp and it was perfect! Nicely cooked shrimp with a sweet and spicy chutney on top was such a tasty combo.

The crawfish quesadilla that Mama ordered was also perfect. The mixture of cheese, crawfish and avocado was so good that had we not been so full, we would have ordered another one. Maybe two.

The end result was just a few spots of food on an otherwise empty plate.

If y'all should ever make it down to Mobile sometime, stop in the Bicycle Shop and give it a try. They also have a nice selection of beer and a fully stocked bar. 661 Dauphin Street Mobile, AL 36602 Liquid, the restaurant next door has the best sushi in town so try it out too.

Sorry about the picture quality, I took them with my phone. Believe it or not, there were other people eating there, but we were all sitting along the wall watching TV.