Food, Glorious Food

So the other night as my husband and I attended a community banquet at a local restaurant, we began swapping food tales with a nearby couple. This may come as a shock to some of you, but there are many of us who love good food. We love to sample, to create, and yes, even play with this fun element.

Since my husband and I do a bit of traveling, I thought it would be fun today to continue along the same vein as the other night and chat a little about foods we have discovered. Some items have been wonderful, others . . . well, I chalk those moments up to learning experiences. ;)

Among some of the most delightful food that we've enjoyed would be:



Drago's charbroiled oysters basted in a wonderful buttery garlic sauce. We experienced this delectable cuisine during our stay in New Orleans. Drago's Seafood Restaurant is located in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans. I give this restaurant a huge five star rating.

While we're on the subject of "N'awlins," there are a couple of other food items I have to share. Muffelatta. Say it with me now. =) This is what it looks like:

This is a wonderful sandwich that originated in New Orleans. Made with Sicilian bread and stuffed with layers of meat, cheeses, olives, and filled with special seasonings, this is a treat for both the eyes, and the stomach. ;)

And I have to share the wonderment of the pralines, delicious pecan candies found in New Orleans. A caramelized coating makes this a mouth-watering treat. I'm giving you a link here if you ever want to order these and sample for yourself just how good they are. And here's a recipe if you want to make them yourself: Pralines.

Speaking of Brazilian delights . . . okay, we weren't but if we had been, I would recommend this Salt Lake City restaurant: Rodizio Grill. Especially for lunch. Not only are the prices better, but the food seems a bit more fresh. My second son served a mission to Brazil and he came home with a couple of favorite recipes, including one for the ever popular Brazilian beans and rice:

With just the right combination of spices, this can be a glorious dish for any dinner.

We've spent a bit of time along the coast in California and Oregon. While there we have loved sampling the fresh seafood. Menu delights like steamed shrimp served in a buttery garlic sauce:

Or fresh scallops grilled to perfection:


We learned something during one of our trips. This was a few years ago and we had taken our sons to Sea World in San Diego. While in that glorious city, we partook of numerous seafood delights. We left San Diego and journeyed to Las Vegas (I had a couple of booksignings in that location.) While in Las Vegas, we sampled the seafood in one of the famed buffets, and it tasted like chicken. What difference fresh seafood makes to the discerning pallet. It was a couple of weeks after we returned home that the frozen seafood we could purchase at a local store even began to taste like it was from the sea. ;)

Other tasty treats we've savored along the way would include delicious, homemade Italian cuisine we sampled while in St. Louis. I'll never be able to share how to get this family-owned restaurant, but I can say that this was some of the best Italian food I had ever sampled in my life.



I've also enjoyed one of the best steak fajitas ever in a little sidewalk cafe in Santa Fe, New Mexico.


As you've probably guessed by now, I love most foods. In fact, I would be hard-pressed to pick a favorite. Here are a couple of items I mentioned recently that I really didn't care for:

Deep-fried blue crabs . . . and I normally love crab . . . just not this soft-shell variety. It reminded me of eating a giant spider.

Nor did I care for the side dish to the deep-fried blue crab . . . sweet potato fries. They just taste too sweet for me, and since I've never been a fan of yams or sweet potato dishes, this is not a favorite:

Nor do I care for liver, but that is a story for another day. Now that I've made us all hungry, feel free to share some of your favorite foods or restaurants. What do you love to eat?

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