Last night we popped into the Rajin’ Cajun Piano Bar in Alton, Illinois,  to check out one of our local places and to get a bight to eat.

The place oozes atmosphere. Awesome.

We are not fussy people.  We are happy with decent food and decent service.  It doesn’t have to be first class stuff, just pay us a little attention, give us a little respect and serve us edible food at the temperature at which it was meant to be served.

The Ragin’ Cajun failed at every one of these aspects….  oh, the food was decent, but it was COLD, and it was not meant to be cold.  Trust me.

Last night we experienced seriously bad service.  We waited 25 minutes to be asked if we wanted a drink.  An hour to have our food order taken.  Waited another hour and a half for our meal to be served and were treated with utter frustration and disdain when we had the nerve to suggest that they may want to get their act together, because the slow service had become a joke and the talk of the entire restaurant.

The kicker?  Not a single apologetic word.  From anyone.  I emailed the restaurant last night as soon as I got home and I really hope they write back because that place is awesome, except for the service, and I really want to go back.

Thank God for Charlie.  Charlie was the Pianist.  Charlie rules.  Thank you Charlie, for making our night tolerable.  You are the only reason we stayed so long.

The fabbo frustrated guy was stolen borrowed from here.

Crispy little mouthwatering morsels of oniony goodness.  Yeah Baby!  I love me some Funyuns.  When I get off my diet, I’m going to try the Wasabi variety.  *drools*

Fried Green Tomatoes

These sound really gross, right?  Oh no…. they’re completely awesome!  I can’t describe them as it would make them sound worse, but trust me, if you get a chance, give them a try.

Ribs

They’re everywhere and they make my mouth water just thinking about them…. oh gawd, there I go again.  I’ve always been a ribs fan, but had no idea of how good they are until I got to the South.  OH.MY GOD.

BBQ Pork Sandwich (Pulled Pork)

I tried this for the first time at Marlowe’s in Memphis.  I’d never heard of it before and wasn’t all that fussed on trying it as it didn’t sound terribly appealing.  Brad, however, insisted and I’m glad he did.  It’s slow roasted pork, shredded and mixed with bbq sauce.  Really moist, tasty and nom!  It’s served on a burger bun.  SCRUMMY!

Marlowe’s was fabulous.  The food was dirt cheap and very good ($6.95 for the BBQ sandwich meal which was WAY to big for me to eat).  We walked out after spending $25.00 on drinks and food AND they pick you up and deliver you back to your hotel in their pink stretch limo.

Popeye’s Chicken – “is fuckin’ awesome”.

I’d been wanting to try Popeye’s since seeing “Little Nicky”.   He’s right, it IS fuckin’ awesome!

Dairy Queen

This and Frozen Custard are the two things I miss the most since changing my eating habits.  Dairy Queen is the best soft serve ice-cream on earth.  Seriously.

Pretzels

Oh God!  Talk about more-ish! Pretzels are big, soft, tasty and insanely addictive.  The more salt the better.

***With the exception of the Dairy Queen photo, I totally stole all the graphics from the internet.***

There were several deciding factors, but the main one was receiving the results of a chest x-ray, which was completely clear.  After smoking for 35 years, I was utterly floored.

I decided that this was my second chance.

Brad and I were recommended a book (thanks Simon!) called ‘Allen Carr’s Easy to Way To Stop Smoking” and we both read it.  It was the turning point in both our lives.  This book made it ridiculously easy to stop.  It’s impossible to explain, you have to read it for yourself. If you are ready to stop smoking, read it, I promise it will change your way of thinking about stopping.

Brad and I are both overweight, and have wanted to go back on The Zone diet for some time now, but have lacked the motivation.  Now that we have stopped travelling and are settling into a routine here, we have started the diet and are feeling SO good….. so good in fact that we did the unthinkable this week.

WE SIGNED UP AT A GYM!  I love that it has a pool and I can swim for fitness. At this stage I am able to swim 650 metres after doing 10 minutes on a fucking Elipter *shudder*.  I couldn’t have done 50 metres 3 months ago.  I’m stoked!

Elipter’s need to die a horrible death, also the person who invented them, and their dog.

I want to puke just thinking about all this healthy shit…. but it feels so GOOD to feel good!

For Brad’s first Thanksgiving in Australia, I had to find a good Pumpkin Pie recipe.  That was not as easy as you might think as, at the time, the vast majority of recipes included a ‘can of pumpkin pie filling’.  I have never really been a ‘can of’ kind of girl, and have always made things from fresh ingredients, so when I came across the following recipe, I couldn’t have been happier.

He says it’s the best pumpkin pie he has ever eaten… but don’t tell his Mum!

This recipe makes enough for two pies – don’t halve it, as both pies will disappear in no time, but they do keep very well for several days in the fridge, so they can be made well ahead of time.  They also freeze very well.

Ingredients:

● 3 eggs
● 1/3 cup brown sugar
● 1/3 cup caster sugar
● 2 cups mashed pumpkin – jap or queensland blue
● 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
● 1 tsp. ground ginger
● 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
● 1/2 tsp. ground allspice
● 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
● pinch salt
● 3/4 cup thickened cream
● 1/2 cup reduced fat cream
● 1 cooked 23cm shortcrust pastry case (recipe to follow)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 220C

2. Beat eggs and sugars together until light. Stir in pumpkin, spices and salt and mix thoroughly. Stir in both lots of cream. Pour filling into pastry case.

3. Cook the pie for 8 minutes, then reduce heat to 160C and cook for another 40-45 minutes or until filling is set (a knife inserted in the centre will come out clean). Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.

Short Crust Pastry – enough for 1 pie.

Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cups (250g) plain flour
• 125g unsalted butter, chilled, finely chopped
• 1 egg, chilled

Directions:

1. Process flour, butter and a pinch of salt in a food processor until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Whisk egg and 1 tbs chilled water in a bowl until combined, then with food processor motor running, add to flour mixture. Process until mixture begins to form large clumps, stopping machine before mixture forms a ball.
3. Turn pastry out on to a work surface and knead gently to bring together. Form into a disc for a round tart or into a log shape for a rectangular tart. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours

Have fun, and let me know what you think!

Put the heaped tablespoon of salt in a huge pot of water and bring it to the boil.  While boiling, add the chicken breasts, then bring back to the boil.  As soon as it comes back to the boil, cover with a tight fitting lid and remove from the heat .  Leave covered for half an hour.  Yes, it stays OFF the heat source.

Roughly chop the parsley and mint, then place in a bowl with lemon and salt,  tomato and extra virgin olive oil.  Allow to sit while the chicken is poaching (at least 10 minutes).  Steam or blanch the beans only until they are a bright green.  Drain and divide among 4 serving plates.

Remove the poached chicken and thickly slice against the grain.  Arrange on top of the beans, then spoon over the tomato sauce.

Serves 4 (this is a small meal size for our family, and would have been better suited to three people.)

Taken from Marie Claire Fresh + Fast and changed slightly for my own pantry limits.

Normally I’m one of those people who gets distracted by the shiny, colourful cover of the cookbook and  purchases it never to make anything from it, because ultimately, the damned thing sucks.  But hey, they look fab on my bookshelf!

Last week I bought another new, shiny (shiiiny…) and colourful cookbook.  I started looking through the pages and REALLY liked what I saw, so while I was out, I purchased a few necessary items.  The last few days I have been trying out some recipes and, so far,  they are AMAZING!

All the family have loved the food so far.. even our normally noncommittal 22yr old son reported “That chicken fucking ROCKED!” (Yeah, I gave up trying to get him not to swear…. it was a little hypocritical to try, don’t you think?  LOL)

Simple fresh ingredients, fast to prepare and extraordinarily tasty.

The book is Marie Claire Fresh + Fast.  You need it…. trust me.