AJ's Famous Seafood and PoBoys

It's official: I was meant to live in the South! 

I experienced my first poboy on Monday. Yes, experienced. For those who don't know (me last week), a poboy is a sandwich with seafood on it and slathered in deliciousness. I admit that I haven't had the real real thing from New Orleans, but that doesn't change how much I enjoyed that sandwich. Aunt Andrea and I were out looking at an antique/consignment shop at lunchtime and she said that she remembered a poboy place from a few years ago, so we went. Cue the Heavenly Chorus.

AJ's offers things like 13 kinds of PoBoys, Muffulettas, Jambalaya, Gumbo, Bayou Fries, Cheese Grits, Red Beans and Rice, Seafood platters, Cajun Eggrolls, and Gator Tacos! Not to mention the specials like Gator Chili. *drool* And they offer all this at pretty decent prices: half a poboy with a side of fries or red beans and rice is only $7 and they don't skimp on the fish.

Andrea got the shrimp poboy with red beans and rice and I got the scallop poboy with fries. Oh my gosh, was that thing gooooood! It makes me all tingly just thinking about it. The scallops had a little bit of crispy batter on the outside and plentiful plushy pillows of loveliness on the inside! The bread was pretty decent, too! And the fries were crispy enough (and not crinkles or shoestrings) and there was some good seasoning salt on the table. The red beans and rice were delectable! I could've eaten a whole bowl of them, but then I wouldn't have been able to fit in the sandwich. The only negative I have is the Crystal Hot Sauce: not spicy at all! That's the hot sauce maker's fault, though, and any hot sauce is better than none at all. 

Haul your hungry butt over to 2100 Roswell Rd. Suite 200-O in Marietta.

I need to get that Gator Chili....

Pickle's Neighborhood Grill

No, not real pickles....though we did experiment with making some last week...anyways, I'm talking about a restaurant. If you want a juicy burger on Texas Toast slathered in yummy toppings with some crispy crinkle fries or jalapeño poppers, Pickle's..has...that....yeah..the menu even says they serve Hot Pub Pickles, though I haven't tried them, yet.
The first time we went, we got the Spotlight Burger and the BLT something something and both were quite good. The second time, Dave got the BLT thing again and I got a grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of soup, but I really don't know what kind of soup it was. I wasn't impressed with either the soup or the grilled cheese--the grilled cheese was just Wonder Bread with Kraft singles on it and the soup was just some watery stuff from a can. Last time, I got the Philly Cheesesteak and Jalapeño Poppers and enjoyed both, though you can get the same poppers from the frozen aisle at the supermarket. 
Now, I'm kind of picky about my fries. I'm addicted, don't get me wrong, but there are kinds I like and kinds I like less and they can't be too wiggly or have stayed way too long in the fryer. Then there's the matter of seasoning. Mostly, salt will do, but there actually has to be salt on them. I prefer something more, like Five Guys Cajun Fries or SmashBurger's Smashfries, but I won't turn my nose up at simply salted. Then we get to the type of fry. I don't really like crinkle fries and shoestring fries piss me off (where's my fry? I can't get a nice, crispy outside with a fluffy inside from something have the circumference of a pencil! These are no fun to dip)! But I digress.
Verdict on Pickle's: worth a try or two, depending on how many you take with you and if you're willing to share bites.
Burgers: pretty good.
Cheesesteak: good. 
Fries: crispy, but crinkle.
Grilled cheese: not worth it.
Soup: not worth it.
Jalapeño Poppers: good, but cheaper for frozen ones.
Something that might get me there again: they're supposed to start serving breakfast soon (I'm a sucker for breakfast food that isn't cereal)!
Pickle's is on 5450 Peachtree Parkway in Norcross, Georgia. Give it a try!

Spumoni Cupcakes

So I was at the supermarket and ended up buying a box of pistachio pudding because I just couldn't pass it by. I got home and decided that I wanted to do something more with it than just pudding. Pudding's great, but pudding-filled cupcakes are better, right? That's what I thought, too, but what else do you put with pistachio? Spumoni (the good version of neopolitan)ice cream has pistachio! So here's my take on spumoni. It's somewhat loosely based on a recipe for Boston Cream Cupcakes from my Big Book of Cupcakes cookbook.


Spumoni Cupcakes


Ingredients


   Batter:

• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 5 egg whites
• 2 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/4 cups milk

   Filling:

• 1 box Pistachio Pudding mix, prepared with 1 3/4 cups milk

   Strawberry Sauce:

• 7-10 strawberries, cut up
• 2 Tbl sugar
• 1 Tbl cornstarch

   Frosting:

• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• strawberry sauce
• 7-10 strawberries, minced

   Garnish:

• Mini Oreos or crushed regular size Oreos

Directions


   Batter:

• Heat oven to 350. Line 24 regular muffin cups with paper liners.
• In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
• In large bowl, beat butter for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar. Beat 2 minutes longer. Add egg whites and beat well. Beat in vanilla. On low speed, alternately add flour mixture and milk, beating until just blended.
• Fill each muffin cup about 2/3 full. Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans 5 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

   Strawberry Sauce:

• Meanwhile, in small saucepan, stir all Strawberry Sauce ingredients together. Continue stirring and breaking down strawberries until sauce thickens to a consistency similar to maple syrup. Force through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl. Cool in fridge.

   Frosting:

• In large bowl, mix powdered sugar and butter until well blended. Add Strawberry Sauce and minced strawberries and beat until frosting is creamy. Refrigerate so that it sets up and becomes thick.

   Assembly:

• Using a spoon or melon baller, scoop out the centers of the cupcakes to create a good-sized space for the pudding. 
• Spoon just enough pudding into cupcakes to come almost to the top or just level.
• Frost generously (this frosting is just so delicious you'll want a mouthful of it).
• Garnish with Oreos.
• EAT!

Daddy D'z BBQ Joynt

Once upon a time, it was Dave's 27th birthday and he decided he wanted to go out for barbecue for the occasion. We didn't know where to go, since we still don't know all of the best places in Atlanta and thereabouts. So, Uncle Joe came up with three suggestions: Fat Matt's, Dreamland, and Daddy D'z. We chose Daddy D'z and went on out to find it. 
What we found when we got there was a rundown little building with lots of art on the outside and windows. The inside matches the outside, adding lots of little sports knick knacks, a big screen tv (the old kind), and a funny Three Stooges picture. The waitress told us to sit wherever we wanted, so we sat at the table right next to the tv and counter. The menu offers many delectable sounding things like Fried Green Tomatoes, a Slab of Ribs, and Pulled Pork Sandwiches. 
The birthday boy ordered the Rib Tips plate with potato wedges, corn-on-the-cob, and a square of cornbread. Uncle Joe ordered the Sampler Plate, which included: six que wraps, two ribs, beef, pork, and collard greens. I ordered Beef Brisket with fried zucchini, mac n' cheese and a grilled piece of white bread. We also got an order of Fried Pickles to share.

And the verdict is...*dun dun dun* DELICIOUS! The meats were so juicy and tender and smothered in some seriously yummy bbq sauce and the fried things were--duh--fantastic! Everything from the look and feel of the restaurant to the nice staff to the finger lickin' good food came together to make a truly marvelous bbq experience in Atlanta! I'd recommend it to everyone! A real hole-in-the-wall joynt (they spell 'joint' that way on the sign) with great food to back it up! It's located on 264 Memorial Drive in Atlanta, GA 30312 and also have a website: www.daddydz.com.

White Windmill Bakery

Craving some delicious little confection like, say, a Mango Mousse Cake? Well, have a got a place for you! 
Dave and I were driving around in...well, somewhere around Alpharetta (I don't know all the little cities and boundaries, yet) and trying to find a place that our GPS suggested. It sounded delightful, a gyro-pizza-pasta joint and we wanted to try something new. Alas, Garmin is a liar! It has been doing this to us a lot, actually. Sometimes it will say something is there and it's just a bunch of trees that have obviously been there longer than the stupid GPS has been around. A lot of times, it will say something is on the right side of the road when, in fact, it's on the left. And no, it's not because it needs to be updated--we tried that. It took a few hours to update and it's still stupid! Anyways, in an effort to find somewhere else to eat, we pulled into a parking lot to ask Liza (what we call the GPS when it has a British woman's voice) to find us something else. 
We found ourselves in a cool little strip-mall type thing and there it was, White Windmill Bakery. It's located at 3585 Peachtree Industrial Suite 166 in Duluth, GA (apparently this is the second location). They had lots of lovely little breads and such on a large table display just before you get to the counter, like the delicious pumpkin danish thing we bought. Then, oh the wonders to behold at the counter! So many beautiful and tasty-looking things and miniatures of a few of them! We hadn't eaten lunch, so we bought two little sandwiches and a mini dessert to share. The sandwiches weren't amazing or anything, just normal chicken and tuna salad, but I really don't expect much from those things (they are not baked and this is a bakery). The dessert, however, was delectable! We selected a mini Mango Mousse Cake and it was everything I was hoping! Visually, it was stunning and then it had a few different textures in it that made it interesting and very enjoyable. I really wanted to buy everything in the little cold display case, but I'm pretty sure that's never a good idea...maybe...anyways, here's a picture of the little piece of loveliness to tantalize you!

Fun Pancakes

Tired of boring pancakes? Well, I have some awesome ideas to fix that! When I was little, my dad loved to make weird pancakes combined with weird syrups. Most of my siblings didn't develop a taste for his funky combinations, but I really enjoyed them. Then, the first year of my marriage, we were so poor that all we could afford to eat was regular pancakes and cheap syrup or meatless spaghetti and that lasted for about a year. After our pancake year, I wasn't able to eat pancakes at all for another year or two. So, I vowed we would never have boring pancakes if we were even going to bother making them. Now, without further ado, here are my fancy pancake ideas!


Pancake Mix-ins:

• strawberries (or any other fruit you like) and cream cheese
• orange juice (or any other kind, sub in for the water)
• nutty (any kind of nuts you want, all chopped up)
• minty chips (or chocolate, white chocolate, butterscotch, whatever)
• apple pie filling (as in a can of pie filling fruit)
• apple butter (again, sub in for a good portion of the water)
• any combination of these that sounds good to you!

Topping Ideas:

• lemon curd and raspberry syrup (ya know, like raspberry lemonade)
• peanut butter and jam (if you haven't tried this, you must live in a hole)
• frozen berries and whipped cream (I prefer the spray kind and blueberries)
• apple butter (on top or in the batter, apple butter rocks)
• any other kind of butter (ie honey butter, pumpkin butter, kiwi butter, etc)
• nuttella (seriously, how could this not be your go to pancake topping?)
• peanut butter, bananas and maple syrup
• store bought fruity syrups (a staple)
• fun homemade syrups (my daddy's recipe for simple syrup will follow)
• sweet-and-spicy jams (ie jalapeno/mango and all the other fancy ones)
• cream cheese bagel spread (if it's good on those, how can it not be on these?)

Daddy's Fun Syrup

• 1 cup water
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2-1 tsp flavoring (mint, coconut, maple, vanilla, banana, raspberry, whatever)

*Don't be afraid. You'd be surprised what flavors make really good syrups.


Directions:

• Mix all ingredients in small saucepan and heat over med-high heat, stirring constantly, until it's hot or to desired thickness (keep in mind that you are not trying to make candy or honey, so don't be expecting it to get really thick. plus, this kind of syrup is better hot and runny)

BIG tip: mix some food coloring into the pancakes and/or the syrup--most things are more fun when they're a fun color...I even dye my milk. So, you can have pink strawberry pancakes with blue coconut syrup and you'll love it! And if you're a health food nut, this is a good way to get kids/husbands to eat whole wheat pancakes.

Sunkist Cupcakes

There's a recipe in my Big Book of Cupcakes for Orange Soda Cupcakes and I've been feeling the need to make them. So, yesterday, I did. The recipe is really easy, but it lies about the "Makes 12 cupcakes" part--in reality, it makes 12 regular ones and about 12-16 minis. What's wrong with it making more than it says? Absolutely nothing, but it sometimes gets on my nerves that the 'yield' is always wrong. Anyways, they're quite yummy (some of the most moist cupcakes I've ever made), though I could handle them being more orangey (maybe add 1/2 a teaspoon of orange extract). It also suggests using any flavor of soda you like, so I was thinking of trying a soda shoppe selection, at some point. Here's the recipe, along with the frosting that I altered from another cupcake recipe. Enjoy!


Sunkist Cupcakes
Yields 12-18 regular cupcakes


Ingredients:
Cupcakes
2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp orange zest
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup orange soda
2 eggs
1/2-1 tsp orange extract (optional)


Frosting
3 cups powder sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp orange zest
1 1/2 Tbl orange soda
1-2 Tbl orange juice


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin pan with cupcake cups.
2. In large bowl, beat all cupcake ingredients on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl as needed, then beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Divide batter among cups.
3. Bake 20-25 minutes (12-16 for minis) or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in the pans, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.
4. Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat all frosting ingredients on medium speed until smooth and creamy. If frosting is too stiff, stir in additional orange juice 1 teaspoon at a time. Spoon frosting into decorating bag fitted with desired tip and frost the crap out of those lovely little cupcakes.