A casting producer for a new Food Network show called Food Court Wars asked me to help spread the word about a casting call in the area. It involves big names like Gordon Ramsay as the Executive Producer, and one of my brother’s favorites, Tyler Florence as the host.

This is some more specific information I was sent:

In this exciting show hosted by Tyler Florence, two teams will battle head to head to win a restaurant space RENT FREE for an entire year within one of Mississippi’s malls; a prize worth up to 100K!

We are searching for local teams with pre-existing relationships (i.e. friends, family, couples, co-workers) who believe they have the winning formula to successfully run their own locally inspired and original eatery! The eatery concept must be specific to the local Mississippi region!

For more information, please visit us at www.FoodCourtWarsCasting.com.

After I clicked the link, I saw that the concept must be based on Meridian, MS (our local region). So I expect anyone who enters and wins to invite me to their barbecue, fried catfish, tamale, caramel cake restaurant.

Halloween Rations

Eight bags of candy and I thought I didn’t have enough.

In the apartment we lived in, a ground level door protected the interior to the second floor and due to this layout we hardly had any trick-or-treaters. Last year we had a few surprise knocks on our door and I was unprepared. Those unsuspecting kids got packs of gum, organic granola bars and organic fruit leather.

Excited to be in our new home and see cute neighborhood kids in costume, on Halloween I ran out and bought eight bags of candy. Taking the advice of friends, I only purchased chocolate candy I like. A short-sighted move.

Darkness fell and we waited. An hour passed by and nothing. Another half hour, nothing. Curious, we peered down the street right and left which was deserted.

Eventually an angel came by, accompanied by two adult women also collecting candy. Then it got late and my husband turned off the porch light.

Suddenly buying my favorite chocolate candy bars in bulk was a very, very bad idea.

I don’t know these people. (Waiting our turn at Southernmost Point.)

If my husband and I invite you to go camping, think long and hard before accepting. I say this because nearly fifty percent of our excursions include rain. We might predict inclement weather more accurately than your local meteorologist.

In the midst of a flurry of life changes, we took a long road trip through Florida from Orlando to Key West. Starting out we had backpacks, sleeping bags, a tent to share, and by the end we had gained four tarps. Out of eight days it rained at least half of the time. And I’m not talking light misty showers, I’m talking torrential downpours.

I’d love to say I had a sunny disposition despite the clouds, but I’d be lying. Although we were very lucky to get away, it turned out to be a very stressful vacation. Nevertheless, we attempted to make the best of our Florida Keys road trip and the following are ten highlights:

1. Florida Marlins baseball
The newly renovated baseball stadium is in the heart of Miami, has a swimming pool, retractable roof and aquarium behind home plate.

2. People watching at South Beach
As I mentioned, it was raining but we still strolled South Beach, saw a beach polo match and an incident of road rage where two beautiful people were swearing at each other in expensive cars.

3. Everglades National Forest
Walk the short half mile Anhinga Trail and you are nearly guaranteed to spot alligators.

4. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
We had grand plans of snorkeling at this park. Ha. Otherwise it offers a lot of fun outdoor activities and snorkeling off the coast in an underwater shipwreck.

5. Bahia Honda State Park
This park was our beacon of hope. They have awesome campsites located on a pretty stretch of beach. The sun started to come out, it got warmer, we swam and saw the seven-mile bridge.

6. Big Pine Key deer
Those deer are endangered for a reason; they step out in front of oncoming traffic like they have a death wish.

7. Kiteboarding
Most of our well laid plans were crushed by the continual rain. It was too windy to snorkel and no boats were touring. Instead we went kiteboarding which was crazy difficult and expensive, but exhilarating.

8. Bike riding in Key West
The best way to see a lot of Key West is to rent bikes and cruise around (in my opinion). We went to the Southernmost Point, down Duval Street, Smather Beach and Fort Zachery Taylor State Park

9. Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square
I could not get enough of the shorts wearing dog at Mallory Square. Tourists would hold out dollar bills, the dog would take it and put the money in a bucket. What a racket, that I fell for twice. And the sunset isn’t bad either.

10. Eating like a local
We ate well on fresh seafood and fish, key lime pie, fish dip, Cuban sandwiches and strong coffee. I’ll list the specific restaurants we visited on another post. Expect no less, we ate our way through Florida.

If we had more time, money or sunshine, these were also on our to-do list:

• Visit the Turtle Hospital in Marathon
• See the six-toed cats at the Ernest Hemmingway House, beware admission is kind of pricey
• Take a ferry and stay over night on Dry Tortugas island
• See the flowers in the Key West Botanical Gardens
• Buy a souvenir at Kino Sandal Factory

Want more lists? Visit my list page!

What I’ve been up to…

Adapting to life changes. Roughly within the span of one month I quit my job, went on a very stressful vacation, started a new job, bought our first house, packed our belongings and moved. Obviously this period marked the beginning of my gradual descent into a blogging abyss.

Obsessing over do-it-yourself projects. Homeownership has turned me into a DIY maniac. I’ve developed a bad habit of trolling Craiglist for inexpensive furniture to redo and my husband has requested I stop painting everything white. Projects I’ve tackled are part of the reason Gidget Eats is being revived because I have sewing/painting/stenciling/reupholstering/re-straining stories to share.

Traveling. Between April and October I’ve been through the Florida Keys, High Point (NC), New Orleans, Kansas City, Detroit, Atlanta, Kansas City and Orange Beach (AL). And those are just the big trips, last weekend we went to the Homochitto National Forest which is our anniversary tradition.

Reflecting about time spent. I came across a blog post (Four Years of Independence) by Whitney Hess, where she explores the idea that time – not money, buys true freedom; it led me to another thought provoking article (10 Timeframes) by Paul Ford. Although he examines interaction design in reference to content strategy, his thoughts are a fascinating perspective on the value and concept of time. I know, I just geeked out a little, a byproduct of my day job.

Over thinking my next steps. I had hoped to jump back into blogging much sooner, but have been reluctant to without having a clear plan for Gidget Eats. I still eat. And I still find great pleasure in all things culinary but during this hiatus I’ve been re-evaluating my priorities.

In light of these revelations, I’m going to breathe new life into Gidget Eats. It might not look the same and I might not always write about food. But, I’ll continue to strive to make these blog posts worthy of your time.

As always, thanks for reading.

What I’ve been up to…

Celebrating babies, marriages, engagements – the explosion of spring brought on lot of life events for family and friends.

Missing my mom. She ventured down South for a visit and we had a great time. I also ate out for at least eight meals in seven days, yikes.

Running. See above item.

Hawking t-shirts for Batson Children’s Hospital in the Hal and Mal St. Patrick’s Day parade. Running around with a little red wagon full of $5 t-shirt couldn’t have been more fun, and in a couple short hours we raised $9k.

Soaking up the beautiful weather and enjoying the city. Last night we went to the street party Arts, Eats and Beats in Fondren. We danced in the street and checked out some friend’s new record store Morningbell Records.

Naming countless blessings. Colorful flowers. Fresh water. A warm church body. Possibilities. And one powder blue El Camino.

Fancy Pants Pimento Cheese Sandwiches

Nearly a year ago I had my first, and most likely last, experience making cake balls for an annual work party. Annual events have a pesky way of popping back up and once again, I was snookered into being part of the food committee.

The theme for our office booth was Mad Men (and Women), echoing the 1960s style and feel of the television show on AMC featuring the likes of Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks and January Jones.  On a side note, I loved dressing up to fit the part and by some amazing feat I wrestled my hair in an up-do thanks to this bun hairstyles for long hair tutorial on YouTube. See the hairstyle pictured below.

Attempting to emulate the tastes of the era, we decided on serving meatballs with a sweet beer sauce, herb cream cheese sandwiches on rye bread, pimento cheese sandwiches on white bread and chocolate wine bundt cake. We nearly went with deviled eggs, cocktail wieners or fondue but had budget and logistical constraints to consider. I did insist on using fancy ruffled cellophane toothpicks and olives for garnish.

The party has come and gone, and although we didn’t win any of the award categories (not a good year for contests), a women returned to our booth asking for the pimento cheese recipe. I count that as a personal victory.

For the pimento cheese sandwiches I used the famed Parlor Market recipe with a few minor alterations. I remembered being pleasantly surprised by my first taste of pimento cheese and figured it would be a crowd pleaser. It is easy to make and what’s not to love about a recipe that includes bacon, cream cheese, cheese and more bacon. Amusingly enough, it does not include pimentos…which is why an olive garnish is perfect.

Parlor Market Pimento Cheese
I used three loaves of bread at 20 slices a loaf, to assemble 30 sandwiches. (60 slices of bread total = 30 sandwiches) They were then cut into four triangles, which resulted in 120 small cocktail sandwiches. I altered the amounts used from the original recipe.

Ingredients
2 – 8 oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature
3 c. mayonnaise
5 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
1 lb. bacon, cooked and diced
4-6 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and a good spoonful or two of sauce
2 green onions, minced

Directions
Beat the softened cream cheese and mayonnaise together in a medium size bowl. Once combined fold in the cheddar cheese, bacon, chipotle peppers, a couple spoonfuls of adobo sauce and green onions. Refrigerate and spread on bread or toasted crostini rounds.

For a print-friendly version, click the new Print & PDF button below. For more recipes check out my Recipe page.

Rears, cowboys and wranglers is romance at it’s best. Even if the rears belong to livestock.

In honor of Valentine’s day, my husband and I went to the Dixie National Rodeo last Friday night. Yes, I wanted to go to the rodeo and no, I’ve never been before.

We explored…stables holding cows, horses and goats being vacuumed (grooming?) and had such shiny, soft coats.

We ate…once we entered the coliseum which was a serious misstep. There were fair food stands open outside and next to nothing inside, our options were gloppy pizza, limp foiled wrapped hamburgers and popcorn saltier than the Gulf of Mexico.

We watched…a long welcome presentation, a blonde woman singing karaoke songs, a progression of six American flags throughout history, the national anthem, a prayer, pyrotechnics and then a parade of politicians riding horses.

We learned…that this was an actual competition and now just a show. Okay, so I was surprised to discover these events were scored by judges and they had strict parameters such as – in bronc riding the riders can only use one hand and they needed to hold on for eight seconds.

We sang…up close and personal along with Chris Cagle, well, I did for the two songs I actually knew.

We held out…until the very end, three hours later for the bull riding grand finale.

For Valentine’s day I Got My Country On.

Crackberry

Valentine’s eve is upon us. It’s cold, rainy and all I can think of is Pinkberry. Or as it’s known on the streets, Crackberry.

Pinkberry has no need for one more iota of press or undying confession of admiration. It probably scoffs at my undeterred crush.

For whatever reason I haven’t researched more thoroughly yet, I feel as though their frozen yogurt is a superior quality and if they would let me, I’d position myself with an unhinged jaw directly under the pineapple/coconut flavor levers. One shining difference between them and other mainstream froyo places is that you buy a size and then have the opportunity to fill the space with any of the available toppings (versus paying per ounce). I made my mom eat their glorious frozen yogurt with all the toppings the container could hold twice in one day.

The nearest Pinkberry is in New Orleans or Birmingham and I haven’t decided whether that’s actually a good thing or not. Right now, not. To get your Pinkberry fix, there are two locations in New Orleans – one near the French Quarter on Canal and one on Magazine in the Garden District/Uptown.

Pinkberry
French Quarter
300 Canal Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
Phone 504-899-4260
http://www.pinkberry.com

Uptown
5601 Magazine Street
New Orleans, LA 7011
Phone 504-899-4260

Super Bowl Party Apple Pie Throw Down

Move over New England Patriots.

As it turns out, I didn’t win the $1000 catered Super Bowl party. I didn’t win the office NFL play-off bracket. And, I didn’t win the Apple Pie Thrown Down contest. In light of recent events, I also put off dashing over to Louisiana in hopes of securing my retirement by purchasing fistfuls of lottery tickets.

Nevertheless everything worked out for the best, as life often does.

Prior to this whole Super Bowl contest rigamarole, we had no intentions of hosting a party (unless we won). When my name was not announced Saturday evening, I dodged a fury of last minute cleaning and begging friends to come over who already had plans. No matter, because Friday morning as I reached for the door knob about to leave for work, my husband dashed to the bathroom and threw up. Our weekend was spent recovering on the couch.

Determined to bounce back from defeat, much like Tiquan Underwood after the Patriots cut him the day before the Super Bowl, I refocused my energy on the Apple Pie Throw Down.

Awhile back a friend made a grand sweeping statement, that a particular store bought apple pie was better than any homemade pie she’s ever had. Pshaw. Taking this bold proclamation in stride, another friend and I challenged her to a pie tasting contest. In conjunction with our work Super Bowl party (where we announced the winner of the bracket contest -  not me), we held our apple pie throw down.

Yesterday we lined up the two homemade pies next to a store bought version, insisted our co-workers sample each one and vote for their favorite (disregarding presentation).

At the end of the day we peeled back the ballot and to my dismay, the store bought pie had won! It was baked with aspartame, my crust included real butter. What a bust.

Befuddled by three consecutive losses, I reminded myself that it’s not whether you win or lose but rather how you play the game. Tiquan is a Patriot again and there’s always next time.

When life gives you lemons…squeeze a little in some apple filling, top your pie with ice cream and call it a day.

In college I helped lead a co-ed flag football team and am thrilled my alma matter, the University of Missouri, joined the SEC. Each year at work, I organize an NFL play-off bracket contest and celebration pot-luck. Normally I’m the commissioner for a girls only fantasy football league titled Girls Playing the Field (we took a break this year). Imagine my excitement when I heard this.

The Mangia Bene catering company, owners behind Sal and Mookie’s, Broad Street Bakery and Bravo!, is having a contest for $1000 worth of Super Bowl party food. A never-ending sucker for a bargain, awhile back I signed-up to receive their coupons and was automatically registered for this contest. Little did I know until recently, I actually qualified at random as one of ten finalists!

How to Help
Starting today and ending at 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, I need as many votes as possible at this survey link. Please vote only once. This is how you can help:

* Click the survey link and vote for me – I’m listed first and my name is Erin
* Spread the word by using one of the Sharing buttons below (Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit)
* Bribe your friends with cookies to do the same (it’s the path I like to take most often, cookie bribery)

Incentive
To my loyal readers and random internet users, if I prevail in this contest then I will post self-deprecating, chubby childhood photos for your viewing pleasure. People are regularly doubtful that I went through a rather round period from fifth to eighth grade. These photos exist and I’m willing to prove it.

I apologize now for the upcoming promotion of this throughout the week and as always, thank you for reading. In the wise words of Hank Williams, Jr. – let’s get ready for some football!