Family | Gourmandistan

Chunky crispy peanut butter chocolate layer cake totally fit for totality

August 30, 2017 by Steve

Too many things in our hype-infested world seem to overpromise yet underwhelm. Superlatives are attached to every service, product and event. However, we’re happy to report that, should you be lucky enough to experience a total eclipse of the sun, it is one of the few things actually deserving of the word “awesome.” And while we will say this chocolate cake is quite good, it in no way matches an eclipse—but it did help make the experience even more exceptional. […]

Categories: Baking, Cake, Chocolate, Desserts & Sweets, Family, Food, Recipes

Saying goodbye to Fil with sukiyaki

June 26, 2016 by Michelle

After 94 years of curiosity, crossword puzzles, conversations, travel and more, Steve’s “mom,” Filomena DeMarzo Farley, died last week. Fil was the older sister of Steve’s real mother, who died when he was a toddler. Fil was born in Orange, New Jersey and grew up as part of a large, interrelated Italian family. Gourmandistan has brought you bits of Fil’s childhood before, told through stories of struffoli and eggplant parmesan, and we may very well visit Mechanic Street again. But on the […]

Categories: Beef, Cooking, Family, Food, Japan, Onions, Recipes, Tofu

Roasted green bean, corn and okra salad, our shrimpless salute to Dewees Island

June 2, 2016 by Steve

Yet another Dewees Island trip is drawing to a close. As we do at the shore, we indulged ourselves in local seafood, particularly shrimp, which Michelle managed to eat for at least one meal every day but one. Much as the local fishmongers might argue to the contrary, however, one cannot exist completely on shrimp. Instead, we present you with this delightful green bean, corn and okra salad. Before we gift you with the recipe, we will again relate the loveliness of […]

Categories: Cooking, Corn, Family, Food, Green beans, Okra, Salad, Vacation, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Shrimp and grits pâté part of new Thanksgiving tradition

November 29, 2015 by Steve

Last year’s Gourmandistan Thanksgiving was a lovely gathering where everyone enjoyed themselves, including both Michelle and Steve. One reason, aside from some delightful company, was the decision to limit ourselves to simple, Southern-influenced items, many of which we could make ahead of the actual meal. Centered around country ham and roast chicken and featuring cornbread/biscuit stuffing, broccoli casserole, cranberry sauce and multiple pies, our dinner was such a lovely time we decided to do it again this year—and to share this simple […]

Categories: Appetizers, Family, Food, Holidays & Events, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Shrimp, Thanksgiving

Strawberry delight just one of many found on Dewees

May 23, 2015 by Michelle

Gourmandistan has once again been lucky enough to decamp with Michelle’s family to Dewees Island, a little eco-slice of paradise just off Charleston, South Carolina. The week we have been here has seemed to fly by. The weather has been just about perfect, and, as always, we have reveled in the sun, sand and extraordinary solitude of the island. We have stumbled across starfish, snails, storm clouds (which only provided picturesque light, not rain), hermit crabs and other wonderful things as we’ve […]

Categories: Cooking, Desserts & Sweets, Family, Food, Fruit Desserts, Ice cream, Recipes, Strawberries, Vegetarian

Matzo ball soup made better with brownness

September 25, 2014 by Steve

In her charming 1989 book, Cooking with Memories, Lora Brody had a chapter called “Gourmet Chicken Soup,” which related her dismay at a Passover Seder where she was forced to endure a “highfalutin’ chicken soup” that lacked matzo balls. She wrote that her mother made the comment, “Escoffier would be proud”—a sly insult because the promulgator of haute cuisine “wasn’t Jewish and neither … [was] this soup.” Brody continued the chapter by offering her own chicken soup recipe, which includes cubes of chicken bouillon […]

Categories: Cooking, Family, Food, Holidays & Events, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Soups & Stews

While solitude wanes, we Frogmore Stew

May 24, 2014 by Michelle

After some years (and as some consolation for skipping this year’s trip to Europe), Gourmandistan has returned for the fourth time with Michelle’s family to Dewees Island, an eco-conscious community constructed on an old rice plantation slightly north of Charleston, South Carolina. Accessible only by ferry, Dewees allows no automobiles, has no golf courses, enforces strict building rules focused on maintaining the beach, wetlands and wildlife, bans wedding receptions and/or wild parties, and to our continuing enjoyment seems always mostly empty. […]

Categories: Cooking, Family, Food, Recipes, Seafood, Shrimp

Pee, pan-dairy pancakes & a pledge you should make

March 15, 2013 by Steve

Gourmandistan is not normally a territory enthused about the prospect of kidneys. Even a fan such as Jaques Pépin is forced to describe their flavor as “an assertive taste that some may not find inviting.” Putting it bluntly, kidneys pretty much always taste of urine, quite possibly because their primary function is producing the stuff. While we’ve received them in several whole animal purchases, we’ve usually (somewhat secretly and shamefully as nose-to-tail enthusiasts) allowed them to go to waste. Today, however, […]

Categories: Breakfast, Cooking, Family, Food, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Vegetarian

Boiled custard, the gossamer thread to Nanny’s Christmas Eve

December 22, 2012 by Steve

For a Christmas Eve treat, Michelle’s paternal grandmother always made a Southern tradition, boiled custard. After that, things get a bit hazy. Boiled custard itself can be confusing, especially to someone like Steve who has sketchy (and Yankee) Christmas traditions. While both eggnog and boiled custard arise from the mists of Anglo-Saxon odd drink traditions (along with wassail, posset and caudle), the former is often made with raw eggs, while the “boiled” custard popular in the Southern U.S. cooks eggs […]

Categories: Beverages, Christmas, Cooking, Dairy, Family, Food, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Vegetarian