Serenity & Spice

The last few years have been tough. It doesn’t seem like this pandemic is ever going to really end and personal setbacks have me questioning my purpose. As with all traumatic breakups, I’ve been experiencing triumphant highs and extreme lows this year. Even my cat is tired of my shit.  This is the first time in seven years I will be single during the holidays. I’ve been searching for a movie to fit my current situation, but all I can find are cheesy Hallmark rom-coms. Can’t there be a movie about a cynical but quirky food blogger that likes beer and says “fuck” at least five times a day having a magical Christmas on her own?  I need to do things that are nourishing for my soul. Go out on the town. Support local businesses. Spend time with the friends that have stuck around. Maybe make some new ones. The holidays are not about presents or having someone to snuggle up with. Maybe next year, there will be a workaholic businessman with whom I can get into yuletide shenanigans. Thi...

When I got to Camp Taco , I didn’t know what to expect. It was my first night away from home, but luckily I had my friend Christie with me. We were both totally stoked for the start of summer camp, and it's finally here in October.  It was 5:30 on a Sunday, but the camp was full of campers. The counselors were all super cool. We managed to get a bunk at the bar. And that’s when the head counselor Biff told us about the Ghoul of East Village.  Last Summer, he went on a rampage, killing everyone in his path. No one knew who he was, but the camp was left abandoned ever since. Recently, it had been leased by a local businessman, but the plans to reopen kept being rescheduled until now. Rumor has it, the first group of counselors mysteriously vanished.  That was so long ago we weren’t going to let it spoil our fun. Christie and I were ready to start our rad summer adventure. With what else, the white poblano cheese dip with housemade tortilla chips. The cheese dip was tasty bu...

I remember years ago, one cloudy afternoon when my dad decided to take me to Vino’s Pizza and Brewery not too long after my 21st birthday. He ordered two beer samplers and then proceeded to go through each one with me. My dad had been a BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) Judge for years and he took this as the perfect opportunity to teach me about beer styles.  It was probably January or February of 2006, and I had recently returned from my first tour in Iraq. Growing up, he had given me tidbits but never gave me an actual class before. To him, a beer tasting was a rite of passage for me. Ken Haycook was determined that his daughter would go out into the world knowing how to drink beer. In honor of Father’s Day, I made I Love You, Dad Pizza . I made pizza crust with 6 Bridges Cream Ale from Vino’s. A few months back, I did a beer and cookie pairing but wasn’t able to include Vino’s in the mix. Given this memory, I felt it deserved something a little more special.  My d...

I wasn’t looking for it, but it found me. After I arrived in Las Vegas, my cousin took a long way home to show me some of the city. It was a beautiful day, and I saw the Hofbrauhaus and part of the Strip. We had an incredible lunch at Oceans One. As we headed south towards her home, I saw it: Lotus of Siam.  During quarantine, I watched Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi on Hulu. She visits cities across the United States and details the immigrant tradition and how it has influenced American foodways. In Episode 9: "The Pad Thai Gamble", she travels to Las Vegas and explores its large Thai community. The last place she went to was the James Beard Award-winning Lotus of Siam. It is praised as the best Thai restaurant in the country specializing in Northern Thai cuisine. After some begging, my cousin agreed to take me there for lunch as one of our last adventures. As the location nearest to the place I was staying was closed due to COVID restrictions, we went to the original ...

As a beer lover and former Girl Scout, I feel I must guide those not from Little Rock about what beer should be tried with which Girl Scout cookie. I got the idea about a month and a half ago when I started planning my Girl Scout Cookie series of blog posts. I wanted to end with a fun tour around the city’s breweries and highlight some tasty beer. A sugar coma is not too far behind. As I was doing this mainly on my own, I knew I had to space the tastings out, or else I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it to the end. Please keep in mind that some of these recollections are a bit hazy, which should be understandable.  To keep things fair, I have selected only two beers from each place. The only Little Rock brewery not included is Vino’s, which is a shame as they have probably been around longer than most of the breweries on this list. Keep a lookout, though. I do plan on doing something special featuring them in the future.  This journey begins as all journeys must, someplace a l...

 “A woman happy in love, she burns the soufflé. A woman unhappy in love, she forgets to turn on the oven.” - Sabrina (1954) Sabrina is probably one of my favorite movies. It stars Audrey Hepburn at the beginning of her career after winning the Oscar for Roman Holiday . It was also the first film she worked with Hubert de Givenchy for her costumes. It was a partnership that lasted decades.  This film is the other reference I think of when I think of soufflés. As a lovesick teenager, I loved this movie. I always dreamed of going off to Paris and coming back as a better, more cultured version of myself. However, I didn’t go to Paris; I went to Iraq. It proved to be a far dirtier personal transformation.   Hepburn plays the titular character as the daughter of the chauffeur to a wealthy family on Long Island. Her whole life, she had been in unrequited love with the younger son of the family, David, played by William Holden. To help her move on, she gets sent off to cul...

 "I did make you a soufflé, but it was too beautiful to live.” - Clara Oswald, “Asylum of the Daleks” Doctor Who Why make a soufflé? Why make two soufflés? They are notoriously temperamental, and I have never made one before. Julia Child called them the "epitome and triumph of French cookery." Master those, and you can conquer the world.  As per a previous blog post , when it comes to a recipe rooted in classical French cuisine, I have discovered that it's best to first consult Julia before Pinterest. I have a feeling this may be my first attempt at what I assume will be many. I will start with probably the most basic of basic: soufflé au fromage or cheese soufflé.  When I think of soufflés, the first reference that comes to mind is Clara from Doctor Who played by Jenna Coleman. The impossible girl who is obsessed with the impossible recipe. When we meet her in “Asylum of the Daleks,” she's baking a soufflé for what we can assume is the hundredth time while trapp...

  As I write this, it is a cold, gray afternoon. The meteorologists predict snow, but as this is the South, what little flurries we get won’t stick. There will only be patches of ice on the road tomorrow. It feels like we are in a holding pattern. The future is unpredictable. This collective stress started as nerve-racking, then became comical, and now is exhausting. It's time to make chicken and dumplings. This is a family recipe, and it’s crazy stupid simple. Growing up, my mom would make this when it was cold and rainy like it is now. Served hot, it makes everything better. The recipe my mom had written out for me is very generic.  The measurements are what you feel is right and everything is to taste.  It’s strange because my mom has always been a micro-manager.  This recipe card is probably the most trust she has ever put in me to do something.  The chicken is any part of the chicken as long as there are no bones. The dumplings themselves are a mixture of 1...