Another Jax Food Blog

Have you ever heard of Taste Memory? It's a food blog I discovered a while back but haven't had a chance to scour until recently. I'm glad I rediscovered it and wanted to share it with you. It's quite a smorgasbord of a blog, with restaurant reviews, smatterings of personal history, interesting recipes, delicious pictures, and links to other fantastic food blogs.

The best part of this blog is that there is a link to a collection of TM Girl's favorite restaurants in Jacksonville. She is quite the foodie, and you might appreciate her persnickety taste. Now that I've had a chance to read through some of these reviews I must say I'm excited for our next dinner out!

A Great Way to Eat Vegetables

This is a good dish to get all the goodness of vegetables you can't stand the taste of. The sauce masks the taste of the bell peppers, which I don't like but are so good for you.

Asian Coleslaw

6 T Rice Wine Vinegar
6 T Vegetable Oil
3-5 T Creamy Peanut Butter (depending on how much you like peanut butter)
3 T Soy Sauce
3 T Brown Sugar
2 T powdered Ginger
1 ½ T powdered Garlic

Mix sauce and then add to:

1 bag Coleslaw from the store
2 Red Bell Peppers (may substitute any combination of colors of peppers)
2 Carrots (shredded)
6 Green Onions
½ c. Cilantro
and any other vegetables you can think of

Let sit for 15-20 minutes, it gets better as it sits.

Love Affair With Pietro

Ryan introduced me to Pietro.  It was love at first taste.  I admit I was hesitant, eating pasta on top of lettuce, topped with this foreign dressing, but reluctance gave way to indulgence. Honestly, an addiction will form if you try this.  You can also just serve it as a regular salad dressing, but, somehow, I love it the way I was first introduced to it.  We had a constant source in Dallas (Central Market), but haven't been able to find it here in Jacksonville...until now.  I'm sorry I don't have an exact address for the place, it's a new little Japanese grocery store that just opened up in a strip mall on Beach Blvd, on the south side of the street called Japanese Circle.  Served here, I used whole wheat pasta, cooled before serving on a bed of romaine lettuce.  Even the kids love it.  What more can I say?

p.s. the Shoyu flavor is the best, but please don't create a shortage, 

or I'll have no choice but to stop sharing my favorite discoveries!

Picnic Pretzels

I got this recipe from a food storage recipe book I have. They turned out great and it was a fun, quick and easy activity to do with Kylie - Ashlyn just liked playing with the flour.


1 T. dry yeast
1 1/2 T. sugar
1 1/2 c. warm water
1 t. salt
4-5 c. flour
1 egg, beaten
coarse salt

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water; let sit about 5 min. Stir in the salt and 2-3 c. of flour to make a soft batter. Knead in enough flour to make a stiff flour to roll out.
2. Take a lump of dough about the size of a peach and roll in between to make a 8-12 inch rope about as thick as your finger.
3. Twist the rope into a pretzel shape, place on a greased cookie sheet, bruch with beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse salt.
4. Repeat the last two steps until dough is used up.
5. Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes, until the pretzels are golden brown. Remove from sheet and cool.
6. If you want to add flavor, add 1/2 t. caraway seeds, very coarsely ground.

I Heart Chocolate Cake

We've all heard of Sports Illustrated, but have you heard of Cook's Illustrated?  It's akin to The Consumer Digest, except everything to do with food.  They test out recipes, cooking gadgets, ingredients, etc., and give recommendations for anything to do with food.  Well, they have compiled their tried and successful recipes in a few different cookbooks.  We have "The Best Recipes" and "The Quick Recipes" cookbooks that rarely ever fail us.  I thought I'd share one of our favorites around here:  The Ultimate Flourless Chocolate Cake.  Not very many things deserve the title including the word "ultimate", but this certainly does.

8 large eggs, cold

1 lb bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1/4 cup water

Confectioner's sugar or cocoa powder for decoration

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.  Line Bottom of 8-inch springform pan with parchment and grease pan sides.  COver pan underneath and along sides with sheet of heavy duty foil and set in large roasting pan.  Bring a kettle of water to boil.

2. Beat eggs with handheld mixer at high speed until volume doubles to approximately 1 quart, about 5 minutes.  Alternatively, beat in bowl of electric mixer fitted with wire whip attachment at medium speed to achieve same result, about 5 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, melt chocolate, butter and water in large heatproof bowl set over pan of almost simmering water, until smooth and very warm, stirring once or twice.  Fold 1/3 of egg foam into chocolate mixture using large rubber spatula until only a few streaks of egg are visible; fold in half of remaining foam, then last of remaining foam, until mixture is totally homogenous.

4. Scrape batter into prepared springform pan and smooth surface with rubber spatula.  Set roasting pan on oven rack and pour in enough boiling water to come about halfway up side of springform pan.  Bake until cake has risen slightly, edges are just beginning to set, a thin glazed crust (like a brownie) has formed on surface, and an instant-read thermometer registers 140 degrees, 22 to 25 minutes.  Remove cake pan from water bath and set on wire rack; cool to room temp.  Cover and refrigerate overnight to mellow (can be covered and refrigerated for up to 4 days).

5. About 5 min before serving, remove springform pan sides, invert cake on sheet of waxed paper, peel off parchment pan liner, and turn cake right side up on serving platter.  Sieve light sprinkling of confectioners' sugar or unsweetened cocoa powder over cake to decorate, if desired.

Katy's notes:  I actually prefer a simple raspberry sauce with this cake, rather than frosting of any sort or the powdered toppings.  Simply dump some frozen raspberries in a pan with sugar to taste, cook over low heat and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Blend in blender and strain to remove seeds.  I could eat just the sauce.

Welcome to the Mandarin Second Ward Food Blog!

This blog was created and will be run by all those foodies out there in the Mandarin Second Ward.  We want your food thoughts along with photos (you know, for extra flavor.)  Please share: your current culinary endeavors, fun food finds, and anything else pertaining to the pallet.  We want included requested recipes from social events, good food-storage user recipes, and those secret family recipes that have been guarded for centuries (okay, you can keep those a secret, but at least bring them to share!)  

So, while I'm add it, I thought I'd start the rolling pin....rolling.

If you thought all butter was created equal, I'm sorry to deflate your souffle.  It isn't.  Of course, this shouldn't be a regular indulgence, but on occasion, snatch this sumptuous, shiny little parcel off the grocery shelf (found at most grocery stores these days), hide it until everyone else is in bed, and butter yourself a nice crusty piece of baguette.  Now, don't skimp.  Just enjoy.  Or, as the culinarily wise French put it so well:  Bon Appetite!