From the Sea to the Mountains and Home again

We started off the first part of the month with Labor Day at Surfside, continuing our okra endeavors by creating Donald Link's Chicken and Andouille Gumbo.  I actually had some Andouille from Cochon Butcher Shop in the freezer, so it was almost like he was there with us.  Well, not really....  Anyway, it calls for 6 different kinds of pepper, but I cut that back to 4, and it was plenty hot enough!

We found a recipe in a Southern Living for a overnight soaked french toast that is baked.  Lately Alice has been making some artisanal french bread, and it is dense and very crusty. It turned out very well. It's got a moderately gooey praline topping, that I made with bourbon, because we didn't have vanilla.  Hey, September is Bourbon Heritage Month, so that worked out well, don't you think?

Speaking of Bourbon, Arnold Palmer came by, and I introduced him to W.L. Weller. We sat on the porch a while and looked at the Labor Day Weekend crowd on the beach.

The next weekend we went up to Lake Junaluska, near Waynesville. The house we stay at has great porch that looks out over the lake. It's perfect for picking out pecans,  so we wound up making more of Praline French Toast! Rambling up Highway 276 towards Mt. Pisgah, we came accross the local farmers market and scored a good deal on a new(to us) kind of apple.  A Peppin Fall apple is a large apple,  almost but not quiet as tart as a Granny Smith. We also got some fresh mozarella, and some acorn squash. That part of the wold is the world headquarters of  Sunburst Trout, so we brought back a small cooler full of beautiful  fillets.  Although you can get these at a few grocery stores in South Carolina,  its a dollar a pound cheaper up there You really should use a minimalist approach to Sunburst Trout.  Just a little bit of lemon juice & some mild seasoning. It's reminds you very much of salmon!

Last weekend we celebrated Alice's birthday.  Instead of a birthday cake, we had been talking about making a Croquembouche, but you have to use carmel candy for that, and the weather didn't look too promising for candy making.  Being the pragmatists that we are, we* went ahead with the pastry production, but turned them into cream puffs (vanilla & coffee flavored).  They were very good. So good, in fact, Alice is now modifying the recipe into eclairs.  More on that later. We also learned that they freeze very well, but you should NOT try to eat a frozen cream puff.  Really, trust me on this.

*When I say "we", read Alice.