Monday, December 21, 2009

Sesame Chipotle Salmon



Inspired by Jamie Oliver, I've been baking vegetables and fish this way for the past few years. It takes about 5 minutes of prep, is the antithesis of fussy, and the results are always delicious. Huzzah!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Ludie's Pecan Pie



I think my favorite pie is a pecan pie.

When I was a kid there was pecan pie tree in the backyard and we could simply walk outside on a crisp Fall day and pick pecan pies right up off the ground. Most every place I've lived since then has had a tree in the yard. When I moved to Mississippi I bought a pecan pie tree. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that a house and a yard came with my tree.

It is about 35 feet high and provides a lot shade in the Summer. I have lived next to my tree for about 6 years, but it has not given me one pecan pie. I am nonplussed. There is such potential - they start out green but then the squirrels chew them up, and they spit them out. Across the street there is a funny little church with about seven acres of pecan pie trees. I am exaggerating, but I would bet you two doughnut holes to a dollar beer prize that there is at least an acre (about 0.4 hectares) of pecan pie trees across the street.

Both of my grandmothers made a terrific pecan pie. Sometimes they would pick them right off the ground and serve them with ice cream (and sometimes with beer when we were older). I like pecan pies served as I like my cheesecakes served; even though cheesecakes do not grow on trees I like them both served plain. If they are naturally warm then I like them like that, but I would probably not put one of them in a microwave, or both of them if there were two plates of pie, or cake, or a combination thereof. If you have a pecan pie tree then you probably know what I mean.