Month: July 2006

I’ve updated my original post, but I wanted to post here that I did hear back from Dick Blick, Pebeo Porcelaine, and Adorn magazine (where I got the idea for the ceramic paints project) about the food safety of using the paints on food surfaces. Although when I got emails back from Dick Blick and Pebeo Porcelaine, I concluded that the paints were not really food safe, I received this message from the editors at Adorn:

“Hi Ginger. We have contacted Pebeo and have confirmed that the Pebeo Porcelaine Paint 150 used in our Adorn feature is food safe. The paint has been tested at Duke University, and was reported non-toxic and food safe for food contact.

Though the paint is non-toxic, it is not recommended for use on a dinner plate because sharp objects, such as a steak knife, could damage the design and bacteria could potentially become trapped in cracks caused by utensils. However, the paint itself is not harmful to ingest even if scraped off.

The reason the paint is not currently FDA approved is cost. The cost for FDA approval is approximately $50,000 per paint color, which Pebeo may pursue at a future time.”

I’ve updated that post – you can read all the information I got back from all three sources there too – but I think just to be on the safe side, I won’t use the paints on any food surfaces.

We just got back from spending the last few days in New Orleans. The Monteleone was great. We last stayed there about four or five years ago.

The lobby is beautiful – the grandfather clock was made in 1909:

The rooms aren’t very large, but they’re pretty…and comfortable:

The hotel’s Carousel Bar — the seats revolve around the center bar once every fifteen minutes:

It was really okay that Mulate’s wasn’t that great, because we decided to visit Joe’s Dreyfus Store Restaurant for dessert. We’ve been wanting to go there for *ages* – so we drove to Livonia and had a fabulous time!

I ordered the bread pudding and it was soooo wonderful:

Av ordered the cheesecake, and it was fabulous!:

Everything we saw being served looked (and smelled) so great…so we are definitely going to try to come back for supper soon!

Av and I went to our first Neshoba County Fair this week. It was wonderful!

Here’s the entrance (oh! and I have to mention that people parked what must have been miles from the entrance, but Av just drove up and got a practically the best park in the whole place! hahaha!):

There was harness racing going on when we first got there, so we watched a race:

…then we went inside one of the exhibit buildings (this is always my very favorite part of any fair):

And then there’s this

…and one of the very neatest parts of the Neshoba County Fair – what makes it different from any other fair I know – is that people live here! Families have cabins that they’ve held for generations that they only live in the eight days of the fair. Some of them have sold for over $100,000!

Av and I were on television! For a three seconds. And you couldn’t even tell it was us (we had our backs to the camera) – but I so tickled to see us in “Holy Smoke Over Birmingham” which was shown on Alabama Public Television this week! A few months ago, we were in B’ham and had lunch at Carlile’s Barbecue…and while we were there, a filming crew making some shots…so now we know!

This show was made after another Alabama documentary was done – that one is called “A Taste of Hog Heaven” and it features barbecue restaurants all over the state. They feature:
Sho’nuff in Alex City, 13th Street in Phenix City, Dreamland in Tuscaloosa, Boar’s Butt in Winfield (update: closed now), Big Bob Gibson’s in Decatur, Dallas Soul Food in Camden, Jim’s on Hwy 82 close to Billingsley, and The Bar-B-Q Place in Ft. Payne.

Both of the shows were really good – and the one that covered the whole state showed some places we didn’t know yet. Hmmm…..

Av and I had such a nice little “mostly 100-mile” (from the last post) supper tonight – I made chicken piccata (with local free-range chicken), and we had bell peppers (from the organic farm) for our vegetable. This afternoon, I picked up some gorgeous, sweet-smelling Chilton County peaches (Chilton County is where they have the famous peach water tower!), and decided to make a cobbler with them for dessert. This is my own recipe, enough for four to six servings.

Ingredients:
8 small/medium-size peaches (soft…not too soft, but not at all hard)
1/6 c. sugar plus more to sprinkle over the top
1 c. flour
1/2 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. butter (4 tbsp. for the dough, 2tbsp. for the peaches)
1/2 c. buttermilk

Directions:Preheat the oven to 400*
Peel, pit, and slice the peaches into bite-size pieces.
Add the peaches to a baking dish and add the 1/6 c. sugar, and stir.
Take 2 tbsp. butter cut into small pieces and dot over the top of the peaches.

In the Cuisinart, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the 4 tbsp. butter and process until it starts to resemble coarse meal.
Pour in the buttermilk, and process until it comes together into something of a sticky ball.
Take the dough out and place it over the peaches in the baking dish. Stretch/mash/push it over the peaches to form a cover, and sprinkle a little more sugar all over the top of the dough (but do better than I did about and make it a more uniform sprinkle):

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top is a nice golden brown:

Serve warm (add vanilla ice cream if you like!):

Yum!