Over the last 5 years, hell over my entire career I have taken food pictures of stuff I have made or experienced and I want to share some of them.
This was a cherry limeade. Not just any cherry limeade but one made with sour cherry syrup that was bought from the S&D Polish Store in the strip district. With a little seltzer and fresh squeezed lime and ice it is a perfectly refreshing drink.

Me presenting Dave a seared tuna morsel.

The platter of seared tuna on a rice cracker with wasabi mayo.

A nice platter of sliced cured meats, I learned from a old chef boss of mine (Matthew Wayland) to shave hard cheese.. Parmesan and drizzle with a really good olive oil. This one had a *gasp* Truffle oil, something which I have noticed being vilified by some chefs recently. Honestly, if you can’t afford truffle but love the aroma there is no shame in this indulgence.

My favorite part of these types of treats is the fruit platter. Pick ripe fruit. There is always someone at a party who knows and the others will follow. Nothing worse than a tray of unripe fruit.

Dave makes cookies for Christmas every year. These are his Meringues.

We tried our hands at making pickles…

Spicy Peach.

These were our entries into a pickle competition.

Lastly, I made southern fried chicken.

NO cream gravy, sorry. I was tempted to make red eye gravy. Watching carbs and I took them in the form of the grilled corn and the red beet mashed red skin potatoes.

On a trip I made to NO (New Orleans) with my now ex husband we stopped at what was the most expensive breakfast ever. I only recall images of rooms, many waitstaff, delicious smells and humidity. It was glorious.

We made our way to the restaurant, be aware of parking signs. That is what cost us so much later. We were seated in a medium sized room on a two top table and I spied on the other tables to see what they were ordering. It all looked good. I knew of this place more from my ex-chef in the Grand Canyon, Esteban Colon. He Loved NO! He also copied some of these menu items to be on the menu there. The eggs Sardou being his favorite. I had only been to NO a few times and never for long or had been able to enjoy it as an adult. You know I dragged my e to Cafe du Monde the first day. A delightful cafe latte and a plate of beignet. Heaven if you can have the carbs.

I forget what was ordered. It was yummy. Here is the menu which I have kept all these years,

I collect menus from places I like.

So what made this expensive besides the food?

I parked in a bad location. The signs are confusing and can be a little misleading. If you drive there, pick a parking lot, it might save you the headache. We ended up needing a taxi to take us to the impound lot, this was a Sunday morning. They were busy, very.

I am still glad we went and I would do so again.