 Do you ever have a moment that stops you in your tracks? I was getting ready to pull the trash bag when I noticed an old scrap of paper on the floor. It was the name, address, and phone number for Myrtle’s Beauty Shop.
I realize this may not sound strange except it has been stuck to my kitchen drawer for decades. How long was it there? Why did it fall out now? I immediately texted my friend whose great-grandmother’s father built our house. He was perplexed as well since Marie, his great-grandmother, was a beautician who worked at Wilmington and Grand in the shop that is now @the_matted_doodle. I will continue to do some research, but it makes you wonder the story of Myrtle and her shop not to mention the hours she worked tirelessly to make the women of Dutchtown and Carondelet beautiful! I wonder if the old shop will someday find a slip of paper from the previous owner of my city cottage?!
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 It seems like a lifetime ago that I started making couscous with onions and dried apricots, but like old recipes, it got shelfed and forgotten as I continued my food journey. As I surveyed my pantry looking for a side to my baked chicken, I noticed I had the ingredients for this old favorite.
I started by baking my chicken strips in olive oil, salt, and pepper. As it was baking, I put the couscous in a pot to boil along with chicken stock. I next sautéed the red onions in butter to begin the softening process while slicing my dried apricots to be added at the end when I put the ingredients together into the cooked couscous. I loved that I was able to cook this meal in order without getting stressed that one step was overlapping another one. I was able to mix the ingredients into my couscous while taking the chicken out of the oven. To add a little zip to the chicken, I drizzled Heinz 57 infused honey with hot chili over the top. It was the perfect meal to make following the dreaded heat wave. Come on Fall!  I have wondered why recipes will call for water when other liquids could be added to enhance flavor? I do not want to start a food war, but Big Guy has created a mantra in our kitchen which is “why use water when you can add flavor?”
We tend to grab the chicken or beef broth, depending on the recipe, to enhance the ingredients in our recipes. I even use calvados, a lovely French apple brandy, to jazz up my Thanksgiving cranberry sauce. Let us not forget the use of red wine in my onion soup. Obviously, no fear in this kitchen when it comes to tweaking recipes. Do you have a favorite flavor enhancement which is your go-to in your favorite recipes? No judgment here whether it is a “vice” or “virtue” twist!  You know a restaurant is special when you see friends and neighbors dining there. At one point, our neighbor’s son even worked there. The place in question is Pizzeria Tivoli, a family owned, restaurant specializing in serving hand-tossed Neapolitan-style pizza baked in a wood burning stove. Big Guy and I have our favorites, but when our friends come into the city, it is all about the pizza. We opted to try three different pizzas during our last visit with salads and their antipasto platter. The platter was loaded with meats, cheeses, olives, roasted red peppers and their special bread which is baked to perfection laced with chucks of sea salt. I opted for the caprese salad made with roasted red peppers instead of the traditional tomatoes which is outstanding. Our friends split the Tivoli salad featuring red onions, feta, olives, and artichoke hearts. The pizzas arrived and we were in special pizza heaven. We could not decide which of the three, the Tivoli, the Holly Hills, or the Bianca, to start our pizza-palooza! I am sure you can guess we tried all three with plenty of leftovers to enjoy the next day. We cannot wait for our next visit, especially with our dear friends! It is guaranteed to be a great time!  I was recently at a dinner party when the conversation turned to favorite donut places in Saint Louis. I jumped into the conversation with our favorite place for donuts and apple fritters, @donutdrivein. Just seeing the old neon sign tells you this is a special place. I did not want to start a county/city war, but I just giggled when my county friends complained about the line at Donut Drive-In because they decided to go on Father’s Day. HELLO! As a city person, we know when to go and get our picks without the line. I assured my friends they needed to come back and try again. The wait, if there is one, is worth it!  Big Guy and I have had the joy of furry members of our family since early in our marriage. Like any new dog owner, we bought toys, beds, and special treats for every one of them.
The story today is about a blue plastic pig who has outlived every one of our dogs. The pig came into our lives in 1989. It became an outside toy for our first Weimaraner. We thought it was lost until we got our second Weimaraner who found it under a bush. The neighbors at the time even got into the game when they let their dog come over and he played with it. Even Holly Doodle had time with it when we found it again under our barbeque pit. She had good taste as she sniffed it, huffed at its weakened state, and walked away. The blue pig, like the “cat who came back the very next day,” has been found again. It has a new place of prominence in a cubby of our garage, overseeing the garden, waiting for a new dog to come out and play.  It seems every year Big Guy and I discuss whether we should be making a variety of sauces to can for the winter. We often talk about making one as a primavera or even one with meat. In the end, we usually agree to make the marinara sauce knowing we can add ingredients to this foundational sauce. This was a bumper crop year, over one hundred pounds of San Marzano tomatoes thanks to Big Guy’s green thumb, so we will be experimenting a lot with our sauces. Our first meat version was made with ground chuck and Italian sausage. We had our first round of meat sauce with ravioli. As is the case every time, we had enough meat sauce leftover to make another meal. So, tonight we are using spaghetti from @vincini_pastaria and fresh bread from @federhofersbakery. I suspect a good bottle of wine will also be involved to make this the perfect meal.   Big Guy and I have enjoyed getting back out into the restaurant scene and revisiting favorite places from our past. One such place was @bentonparkcafe. It was a go-to spot for us for brunch for years before their move and temporary closure following new ownership. We were happy to see them open again, so we stopped in for a mid-week brunch. Big Guy and I cannot deny we are married when we ordered the same meal done two ways. In my case, I ordered the Monte Cristo with turkey, ham, bacon, and cheese served on French toast with a side of maple syrup. Big Guy ordered the turkey club sandwich. We were both excited by our order, especially since our portions were so huge, we got a bonus meal out of our leftovers. We look forward to future return visits to this friendly and fun café.  I am still in love with grilled vegetables. It is so simple to cut up the vegetables, drizzle on olive oil, and plenty of salt and pepper. I usually cook them at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes depending on the combination you place on your cooking sheet.
I have become so spoiled making my vegetables this way that I purposefully need to go the grocery store every year to buy canned goods for the annual Boy Scout food drive. A fun fact about the food drive, is I am a fellow member in the Rotary Club of St. Louis with the father of the Eagle Scout who created this annual drive. It certainly gives us more meaning every year to see them putting boxes together and sorting the food that comes into the firehouse with our fellow Rotarians. I always go home tired, but satisfied I was able to put service about self for a terrific charity event.  There are “trigger” stores I enter where I become “like a kid in a candy shop.” If I step into a candle or soap shop, you can bet I will walk out with a bag full!
The same is true of a true butcher shop. I grew up in an age where it was the only way to get quality cuts of meat. Did any of you grow up with a freezer in the basement to hold the half cow your parents bought to get through the year? We are fortunate today to have so many options for our food and dry goods. I am thrilled we still have quality butcher shops in Saint Louis so I can channel Julia Child and ask for a specific cut of meat for my dinner that evening. This time around we opted for a lovely porterhouse steak WHICH I cooked with helpful tips from my Big Guy. He even taught me about the history of a porterhouse as I enjoyed the filet side, and he took on the strip side. Look at me learning new things and breaking out of my box cooking a steak dinner! |
AuthorJust a super cool old couple who love to cook and eat and drink in their Carondelet Kitchen in South Saint Louis, Missouri! Archives
September 2024
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