Thursday, May 28, 2009

Make Your Man a Cobbler!

It's a running joke between us: 
"Mer, what are we having for dinner?"-BJH
"Whatever is on sale!"-me

There's no doubt that we're in the middle of the recession, so cooking frugally is necessary-and very simple, I might add. Pay attention to what is on sale at the grocery and by all means, friends, get creative with what is available and affordable! If Bartlett pears are on sale, think out of the box and try a new recipe; perhaps a pear tart!

I shop 80% of the time at Fresh Market in Coconut Grove. It's a variation of Whole Foods, but much smaller. Fresh Market has FABULOUS sales everyday on everything from fruits and vegetables, to fresh cheese and fish. Daily, they have $.98 per pound specials on fruits and vegetables (mostly organic), so I'm always well stocked with VERY affordable items that are becoming increasingly expensive-compared to the old days at least. It keeps us eating well too!

I happened upon blackberries for $.98 per container the other day. In typical Okie fashion, I immediately put 10 containers in my cart. The thought of a delicious blackberry cobbler popped in my head and I thought, "I'LL MAKE MY MAN A COBBLER!"

I picked up this habit of packing the fridge full of berries from my mother. When I was little and berry season began, I would come home to find our entire refrigerator packed full of the freshest berries-all with Mama's intention of making fruit preserve, pie, or better yet, freezing them until needed. I remember helping her make enough strawberry preserve to last through the year. Smucker's will never compare...

The cobbler turned out to be a success, was very easy and it was a product of using what was on sale! This recipe made more of a cake texture, and when served warm with a touch of milk, whipped cream or ice cream, it was divine! The best part of all though, my sweet one loved it! Ladies, MAKE YOUR MAN A COBBLER!

Blackberry Cobbler
1 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup melted cutter
2.5 cups blackberries
1/2-1 cup sugar
preheat oven to 375 degrees

1) mix blackberries and sugar-let stand 20 minutes or until fruit syrup forms
2) mix together flour, baking powder, salt and milk in an ungreased dish/pan
3) stir in butter to flour mixture until blended and spread evenly in dish
4) drop blackberries evenly in to mixture
5) bake for 45-55 minutes, or until dough rises and is golden

ENJOY! 
serve warm with ice cream, milk or fresh whipped cream!



Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The Tomato vs. The Mango

It is part our Okie culture to share with your neighbor. Very often, we would find deliciously juicy cherry tomatoes in a brown paper sack, from our neighbors across the street, on our back steps when we would come home. We would pop them in our mouth and eat them like candy, or we would drizzle them with a balsamic vinaigrette and top them with fresh basil from the pot that sat near the driveway.  When the tomatoes in our garden were ripe and ready to eat, we would return the gesture, signed-Freeman Family.

Brian and I ventured out for a walk through Coconut Grove a few days ago. We happened upon an older lady in the front yard of a series of townhomes, that stood no more than 5'2" in height. She held a 10' long contraption that had claws at the end of it. She was pulling from the tree what I initially thought were avocados. WRONG! 

I asked her what she was pulling from the tree and she responded, "You aren't from around here are you? Come here and take some! They're mangos!"

My thoughts: Mangos! We didn't have mangos in Maple Ridge! I can't believe I live in a place where mangos grow like walnuts-but then again, peacocks run wild in my neighborhood. Are these poisonous mangos? How am I going to cook these mangos-salsa, chutney, salad, pasteries?

So, Brian and I GLADLY accepted the green, unripened fruit with the instructions that we were to put them in a dark place so they could mature, turn orange-ish red and their flavor sweeten. For the past week, we have patiently watched the fruit mature and develop-I only wish that the Internet had a 'scratch-n-sniff' option so I could share the tropical aroma of the fresh fruit. 

If I knew the name of the lady that shared her fruit with us, and the specific home she lived in, I'd drop a THANK YOU in her mailbox. She has proven to us that the neighborly mindset of 'share thy wealth' doesn't stay in the borders of the South. Even the harshness of the Miami culture can be softened by the sincerity of someone that lives next door. 

**The plural of tomato is tomatoes. At least from what I can tell-there is NO definite plural form of mango-some say mangos and some say mangoes. The latter just looks funny to me, so I'm going to stick with mangos.

The ripe & ready to eat mango!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Pandora

I'm never on the forefront of technology, and I'm marginally savvy. I think that I was the LAST person (my age) to get a cell phone, and 'predictive text' was a perplexing concept. But recently a monster was created by my Mother & Father-in-Law, Clay & Jan. What's the monster you ask?? My obsession with their early birthday gift-the iPhone.

I was a CrackBerry fan-I loved it! Perhaps it was because it was that device that I mastered the art of predictive text. In my mind, there was no need to connect the CrackBerry to the Internet, After all, I was simple-I didn't need anything more than phone capabilities and texting (which defeats the whole purpose of even having the phone-I know!).

The last week in April, Clay showed me the powers of the iPhone, and I've been obsessed since. I LOVE IT! It has everything that I could ever want at the palm of my hands. When I get lost, I punch the MAPS application and I'm quickly reminded. If need to check email-I punch the MAIL application there it is-my email! It's fabulous! I'm a believer now-I have converted-I won't go back!

The best application that I have downloaded to this day is Pandora. Since I was a little girl, Country Music has been my music of choice. Living in Texas and Oklahoma provided me the chance to be in the MIDDLE of the exploding RedDirt scene. If Ragweed was playing-I was there. In South Florida, however, things are quite different. My only option is a lackluster station that repeats Rascal Flatts & Friends-gag!

Since I've discovered Pandora, the music from home is finally at my fingertips again! I love to plug my iPhone to the auxiliary in my car and listen to Stoney LaRue, Wade Bowen, Julie Roberts, Miranda Lambert, Cross Canadian Ragweed and Brandon Rhyder! It's fantastic-and it's a FREE application!

With that being said-I can guarantee you that I'm the only girl in South Florida jamming to the Julie Roberts station on Pandora. I laugh and think to myself as I sing out-loud to CCR's song, Number, "there isn't a soul sitting at this red light that has any clue who sings this song, and it's fabulous!"

I'm fully aware that nearly everyone that reads this has probably found the 'NEXT, NEW THING' for accessing their favorite tunes-I'm not at the forefront, I know. But thanks to Pandora, I now have a new favorite tool, the iPhone, and because of the iPhone I finally have access to my favorite genre of music that makes me feel at home, even when I'm 2,000 miles away!



Wednesday, May 13, 2009

It's Never Too Late!

It's never too late to tell your mama that you adore her!

Okay, okay-so Mother's Day was a few days ago-I'm late. But, Katie Brandon (Frange) just sent me this link proclaiming that her mother, Joy, is the 'Mother of the Year!' Knowing the track record and list of achievements that Mrs. Brandon has tallied up, I wouldn't doubt for ONE moment that she would have a litany of stars declaring their admiration for the years dedication that she has shown to her dearest three-Katie, Claire & Meg. After all, if you pick up ANY Theta magazine, you will see Mrs. Brandon's written opinion on how to develop your daughter to be the PERFECT Theta candidate during Rush.

Show your mother you LOVE her-Seal and Heidi Klum LOVE her too!

CLICK BELOW!

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=AvBRZE4PmYpu4WJqRLktizMyMTI0Ng--&referred_by=16960924-LrtllYx

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Audrey Tautou

Flash back to 2001 when the quirky and whimsical movie, Le Fabuleaux destin d'Amelie Poulain, was THE international film of the year. It was nominated for 5 Oscars including: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Sound and Best Writing for a Screenplay. It didn't come away a winner, but it placed Audrey Tautou in the international spotlight.

The theme of the movie is, "one person can change your life forever." It chronicles Amelie's quest for justice using creative antics, resulting in finding love by returning a photo album in the most creative and imaginative ways. It was shot in the Montmartre area of Paris, known for Sacre Cour and Moulin Rouge. If you haven't seen this film-it's a must. When the movie ends, you'll surely have a grin on your face.

Ms. Tautou stars in a biography on Coco Chanel, Coco avant Chanel, that will be out in 2009. She's also the NEW face of Chanel. We've all seen the commercials with Nicole Kidman and Kiera Knightly, but Ms. Tautou truly epitomizes the essence of the French perfume-Chanel No. 5. 

Watch the short film (which is actually the commercial that will be aired) below-the 'un-said' moments in love are perfectly captured by Ms. Tautou. It is romantic, enchanting, chimerical and SO European. I can't help but wonder if the writer of this short film was inspired from a role that she once perfected in Amelie-"one person can change your life forever." 

I hope, hope, hope Chanel has more of these 'commercials' planned! 

Click Here:

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Beach Bliss

As an Okie, the beach will always be a novelty. Every time we venture to Miami Beach it always feels like it's the FIRST time I've ever felt the sand between my toes and smelled the salt water (which is actually more of a stench than a smell to me). The neon lights on the Art Deco buildings, combined with the purity of the ocean and sand makes for an alluringly beautiful destination and fascinating place to live.

I'm in awe of the intensity of the waves and how they shape the shoreline. The creatures and objects found in the sand bring out my inner marine biologist-and 5 year old curiosity alike. The way that the color of the water changes from emerald green to deep blue makes me recall freshman biology, and ponder the plankton level and how it changes seasonally.

I must admit though, I'm not really a very good 'beach girl.' I get quite bored after 15 minutes of 'sunning' myself, and taking a nap in the sun isn't something that comes naturally to me. Maybe it's the ingrained fear that too much sun exposure results in the BIG C. After all, my skin lacks quite a bit in melanin-milky white would be a good description. I don't really tan. Rather, I become pink and acquire so many freckles on my nose that you can't even play Connect-the-Dots.

Miami Beach is as close as you can come to a melting pot 10 different cultures in ONE, very thin, strip of land. Each ethnicity prefers to stick together on different parts of the beach, with the Southern-most tip of South Beach being very mixed and the most risque, as topless tanning is just a part of the culture from sun-up to sun-down. You'll hear languages ranging from French, Spanish, Creole, Portuguese, Italian, Swahili, Russian, Polish and Zulu. You must prepare yourself before you visit-'everything goes' on Miami Beach. After a year and a half of living here-nothing shocks us anymore. You can use your imagination.

Something that you don't hear about is the crime rate and homeless population on Miami Beach-it's not a safe place. There are about 91,000 people that live on Miami Beach, and it ranks higher than Houston & Dallas in crime. Your chance of becoming a victim of crime is 1 in 71. Now, this shouldn't detour you from visiting Miami Beach, you should simply be knowledgeable of your surroundings-anything too far from Collins Avenue probably isn't a great decision. It's a VERY temperate location, so homelessness is vast. This was all quite shocking to me at first, as I had quite a 'Hollywood' idea of Miami Beach, but the facts are the facts-we're not in Oklahoma anymore.

As long as we live in Miami, I will continue to be shocked that we live as close as we do to something that I always assumed would be a conversation piece about a dream vacation. This place is truly something out of a movie-so gorgeous! It attracts a genre of people that I am familiarizing myself with daily. It also attracts a certain type of wealth that is flamboyantly displayed-reminding me of how important humility is in life. 

Here are a few pics from our most recent walk on the beach. It was a PERFECT day!