I don’t know where that boy learned to cook. It certainly wasn’t from me. He’s a native Southern boy, transplanted up North in Chicago, but you know how the South never gets out of your blood even if you only lived here for two years and it hasn’t with my Jeff. My regular readers may recall he’s the elder of my two sons, and he likes to write about what he cooks and the culinary adventures he and my equally talented daughter-in-law Natalie experience.
Check out their blog Vino E Vittles -- “ruminations on wine, food and culture for aspiring foodies” and read about their recent trip to New Orleans. If you are going to Chicago and need a good restaurant to visit, you might want to read their archives. They took the summer off from blogging since they bought a new house, and that new granddog of mine, Monte, takes a lot of time. I’m glad to see the blog up and running again.
8 comments:
Sheila, I visited your son's blog and was amazed with how well he presented the directions, etc. That Truffle Dinner looked delicious!
Marion,
Natalie is editor of Fancy Food Magazine and she gets to try lots of new and tasty products in her job. Both Jeff and Natalie are fantastic cooks. I cook mostly Southern style, but Jeff will take a common food like greens and create a dish that is truly like nothing you'd see on a local menu. He cooks Italian too and spent his senior year in college in Roma, travelling throughout Italy during spare weekends. I'd love to see the two of them with their own restaurant. But of course, that is such a risky and time-consuming venture.
Lovely blog they have. I'd have to agree that running a restaurant is risky and tim-consuming. My sister did it for a time as a transitional period for new owners, and it was no enjoyment for her whatsoever - and she loves to cook and critique just as much.
Sheila, if you’re still working to lose weight it’s a good thing Jeff is in Chicago and you’re in Alabama. Not that his cooking may be fattening, but that it all sounds too delicious to pass any of it up.
His style is too fancy for me to try with so many ingredients I never even heard of and might not be able to find. I’ll stick with more simple southern fare minus all the fattening ingredients possible.
His mixture of collards, mustard, and turnip greens sounds great. I think I’d try adding some diced turnip roots to the mixture if I cooked it, and perhaps some kale as well. A doctor said that kale is one of the more beneficial greens.
I normally grow all four of those greens at this time of the year, but when I asked for an ounce of purple top turnip seeds to sow what came up was a different variety of collards, giving me two types of those and no turnips this year.
I like to mix in some mustard leaves when making salads which adds a taste of spice to the mixture, and I also use the leaves on sandwiches instead of lettuce.
I took a look at their blog, and you have every right to brag, Mama. I invited them to join BLOG VILLAGE, too!
Tim, Did you watch the reality show "Hell's Kitchen" where the wannabe chefs competed for their own restaurant? Man, I think that might have shut down more dreams of owning your own place. Anyway, Jeff was telling me about underground or secret restaurants in cities like Chicago where a small group of diners pay a set price for a gourmet meal that takes place in a private home or apartment. All word of mouth.
Don, you are my kind of cook. I try to keep it simple. We lived away from the South for so long that in the three years since we've been back, I have yet to tire of just the basic meat and three fare. I am still watching what I eat ala South Beach and would definitely be challenged to resist Jeff and Natalie's great cooking. On mustard, I'd never thought to put it on salads. Great way to increase the veggies. I have used kale when I make minestrone soup.
Dirty Butter, thanks for visiting and asking them to sign up for Blog Village. You have selected a well-balanced group and I read a lot of my colleagues.
Hi Sheila and everyone,
I visited Jeff and Natalie's blog. It's great for foodies like me, really well presented and interesting. I agree with what Don said, it's a good job they live away or otherwise you'd definitely be tempted away from the diet Sheila. We have Hell's Kitchen here in England. Gordon Ramsay is a hard taskmaster. It's enough to put you off cooking for life when you see that show!
My son Scottie and I watched Hell's Kitchen and really got into the show. He was so tough. I have been pretty good with the South Beach Diet but Thanksgiving and Christmas meals will be a challenge. I function better with fewer carbs. I don't seem to have a sweet tooth any more either.
Glad you liked Jeff and Natalie's blog. They are always trying some new product she gets from work. There is a company called Maple River Farm (I hope I haven't mangled the name) that sent her duck to try. Now, I'm not a big duck person except the cute live ones, but Natalie made a wonderful meal that we were fortunate enough to share last summer. Then this summer when we visited their new home in the Chicago suburbs, Jeff made a ragu sauce with duck. Again, another great meal.
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