Dining with the Bloggers - April 4th. 2007



I've decided to do Dining with the Bloggers whenever I've found something I have to tell you about, rather than every other Wednesday. And, ahem, because a dark, dark consciousness looms over me every Wednesday night when I haven't gotten of my sofa pried the medical books away from under my serious stare and done anything;-) So here we go - DwB, now on a sporadic schedule!

But today, oh today have I got something good for you! One: there's way too little blue and purple food in the world. Two: A fantastic food blog. How the two comes together? Well, that's probably my fault.

I have actually been to Texas. For a very, very short time, mostly just driving as fast as was allowed - we were on our way back to Florida on our roadtrip to meet up with a friend. But we did stop for dinner. At The Big Texan Steak Ranch. Probably not authentic at all - a tourist trap some might even say? - but they had huge steaks, corny interior and a table on a small stage in the middle of the restaurant with two guys trying to eat their way through a 72 oz. steak with accompanying potatoes, biscuits, gravy, shrimp cocktail and - well, you get the picture - so they could have it for free! I'm sorry, but we just had to.

Lisa, of Homesick Texan is a Texan to the very core. She lives in New York now, but this is actually a good thing, because that means she has to find ways of recreating her homestate's food - for all of us to enjoy. And this, by all means, don't mean slabbing big hunks of meat on the grill - maybe it means that too, but - what I really savour from her blog are her tex-mex things. Refried beans, Corn tortillas, Flour tortillas, Love Dip, Chicken Fried Steak, Cream Gravy. OMG. And she doesn't stop there. It's not all only tex-mex - it's just plain good (and good looking) food. To top things off, she also writes really, really well - opinionated, personal and honest, just the way I like. I still owe her a comment or a thousand, so you wouldn't be able to tell it by my activity in the comments section - but Homesick Texan is one of the blogs I follow devotedly.

And then, there was a recipe for Cornbread. What I really wanted to try was making corn tortillas, but finding masa harina here in Denmark is like finding a needle in a haystack. Cornbread though, that I could definitely make. With my imported blue cornmeal, because cornmeal isn't easy to come by here either. Shesh! It's hard to be a wannabe Texan around these parts.

So I went ahead, even though Lisa's recipe said yellow or white cornmeal, but figured I just had to make do with what I had. I'm glad I did, too. Now, I'm by no means an expert on cornbread, I only ever had it once, and that was in Charleston. I liked it back then, and I sure did like it now. Moist, slightly gritty and with a slab of salted butter on top - mmm-mmm-mmm. Easy to put together, just watch your fingers on that hot, hot cast iron skillet when it goes in and out of the oven. Definitely not the last of the Homesick Texan's recipes I'll try.

And oh yes, the blue/purplish food? It might look freakishly weird, but I just couldn't help smiling by the oddity :-)


Now I'll just have to find a way to make Lisa part with her recipe for the perfect biscuit...('cause it's not on the blog already, is it? I've searched and searched! Tell me, tell me, I need it!)

Comments

Thank you so, so, so much for the kind words! And what a brilliant idea using blue corn--I love it! You are correct, I haven't posted on biscuits yet, but will certainly do one soon!
Cerebrum said…
Hi Lisa! You're ever so welcome - I really enjoy your blog! I'm glad you liked the blue corn - freakish, but fun! Can't wait to see those biscuits. Mmmmh, biscuits...
Tea said…
I like the blue corn look. And you're right about Lisa--she's a gem. Though darn it, the two of you now have me craving cornbread!
mary grimm said…
I've been to that very restaurant! also on a cross-country tour, although we were going the other way, to the Grand Canyon. No one was eating the 72-ounce steak though, somewhat to my disappointment.

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