If you’ve been to Southwest Florida, you’ve probably seen or been to stone crab restaurants (Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami is the most famous).  Stone crabs are just the claws of the crab (one claw is removed and the crab is returned to the ocean to regenerate it) and they are deserving of the name “stone” since the shells are incredibly hard. Stone crab is a pricey delicacy and is in season from October to May, so this is a winter and spring treat. Stone crab is an excellent reason to head to Florida in the winter! You can’t find it up north.

Instead of spending tons to enjoy stone crab in a restaurant, we prefer to buy our own (still expensive but less than if you’re dining out). Stone crab is best bought at fishmonger, although you can find it in grocery stores (where it is likely not as fresh). You will always want to buy it fresh, not frozen. Stone crab comes in several sizes (you’ll usually see medium and large or XL). The bigger the size, the more expensive it is per pound. We usually buy medium and pay $25 a pound. The rule you must never forget about stone crab is to ask for it “cracked.” This means the shells are broken so you can just pick them off. It’s possible to go at it yourself with a hammer, but in all likelihood you’ll end up hurting yourself, making a mess, and still not being able to get at most of the crab!

I serve stone crab with a lemon mayo dill sauce as well as lemon butter (melt a tablespoon of butter in a small ramekin and squeeze in the juice from a wedge of lemon). The crab itself comes to you completely cooked and you serve it cold. You’ll need thin seafood forks to get every last flake out of the shells. You’ll want to set your table with an empty bowl for shells as well as napkins and damp towels.

Lemon Mayo Dill Sauce

Serves 2

1/3 cup light mayonnaise

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp dill

juice of half a lemon

If you’ve been to Southwest Florida, you’ve probably seen or been to stone crab restaurants (Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami is the most famous).  Stone crabs are just the claws of the crab (one claw is removed and the crab is returned to the ocean to regenerate it) and they are deserving of the name … Read more →

One of the hottest tickets in Naples Florida these days is The Royal Scoop, a local ice cream shop that now has two locations, but the homemade ice cream is also sold in shops and restaurants around the area. We stopped in to try the ice cream recently. I’ve never seen such an operation! You wait in line to order. Then, like a fast food restaurant, your order is put into their system and you’re shuffled off to wait at another counter for your order. It didn’t feel very efficient and several orders seemed to be coming out wrong as we waited (and waited). The line was gigantic and the place felt like it needed a good scrub down. The ice cream was good, but it wasn’t worth the wait.

However, while we waited, I found myself enchanted with their display of ice cream scoops. Some were quite old while others were whimsical and fun. It got me thinking about how interesting it would be to collection one type of kitchen tool and display it. I do have one grandmother’s rolling pin displayed in my kitchen and the other grandmother’s tin liquid measuring cup, but it might be fun to expand those collections. At one time I had a display of antique cookie cutters on a wall in the kitchen at our old house. It was a nice display and an inexpensive collection to add to (you can pick up old cookie cutters at flea markets).

Do you have any kitchen tool collections?

One of the hottest tickets in Naples Florida these days is The Royal Scoop, a local ice cream shop that now has two locations, but the homemade ice cream is also sold in shops and restaurants around the area. We stopped in to try the ice cream recently. I’ve never seen such an operation! You … Read more →

One of the best places to eat in Southwest Florida is Gramma Dots on Sanibel Island. It’s a tiny little place in the middle of a marina, off the beaten path on the island. If you want to go during the busy season, be forewarned that people line up before they open to get a table for lunch, so get there early! Their homemade potato chips are to die for, but you also can’t beat their grouper sandwich.  With all the wonderful fish we brought back from our fishing trip, I decided to make my own sandwich. The grouper we caught wasn’t in season, but we brought back a lot of wonderful mangrove snapper, so I used that.

Cut a fish filet about the size of your bun. Dunk it in an egg wash then coat it in breadcrumbs (I used gluten-free) that you’ve seasoned with salt and pepper and dill. Pan fry the fish in some olive oil until it’s cooked through and the coating is crunchy.

Spread mayo on both sides of your roll, then spread some Dijon mustard on one side as well. Place some lettuce and a slice of ripe tomato on the bottom. When the fish is done, place it on top. Next, squeeze a big wedge of lemon on top of the fish. Top with your bun lid and enjoy.

You can make this sandwich with other types of fish as well – halibut or haddock are choices that are easy to find.

One of the best places to eat in Southwest Florida is Gramma Dots on Sanibel Island. It’s a tiny little place in the middle of a marina, off the beaten path on the island. If you want to go during the busy season, be forewarned that people line up before they open to get a … Read more →

First catch of the day

Everyone in this family knows how to fish. A lot of time is spent in the summer with lines in the water. Lake perch and bass are only so exciting however. For some real fishing, we decided to take a deep sea charter from Naples, FL. Captain Tom Robinson took us out on the Sea Legs for a 3/4 day trip (6 hours). Last year we did a half day trip and honestly I wouldn’t waste the money. You spend an hour and a

I caught one!

half getting out to fish and the same amount of time coming back, which doesn’t leave you a lot of time to actually fish.

Captain Tom leaves from the Naples City Dock in Naples Bay. He’s been leading fishing charters for 37 years, so he’s got this down pat. We arrived at the dock at 7:30 am. I brought:

• sunscreen (we applied it when we got there, then again around noon)
• lots of water
• sandwiches and snacks in a cooler with blue ice which then functioned to bring our fish home
• hats for everyone
• a beach towel (in case anyone got wet, but also to cover myself with in the cool morning)
• seasickness patches and pills just in case (not needed, but better safe than sorry)
• cash to tip the captain (although he takes payments with credit cards, there is no way
  

  The beautiful sea and sky

  to add a tip to that)

The drive out from the dock is spectacular because you pass through the most expensive and elite section of Naples – Port Royal, filled with multi-million dollar mansions. Jon Bon Jovi has one of the most remarkable houses.  Once you’re out on the open ocean, you sit back while the boat throttles ahead full speed. We liked Sea Legs because it has an indoors area and it also has a bathroom!

The boat is aptly named, because even though we were out on a relatively calm day, you do need to learn how to move around a boat – mostly this means holding on as you’re moving and if you’re standing to fish, wedging your knee against the side of the boat for balance.

The water was a beautiful color, and we enjoyed seeing the land fade behind us as we made it 19 miles offshore. Once you’re there, all you see is ocean. There’s no land and no boats. It’s just you and the water and the sky. The boat rocks gently and all your worries drop away.

Our catch

Captain Tom got us started with lines baited with chunks of herring which we sent to the bottom of the ocean (50 feet down) and we immediately began pulling in fish. We caught lots of red grouper (which are quite heavy and a challenge to reel in), but they weren’t in season, so back they went after we admired them. We were able to keep mangrove snapper, lane snapper, and mackerel. All in all we brought home 16 keepers and threw back many, many more. We fished at 4 different spots, all reefs or wrecks Captain Tom had marked in his GPS. The fish we pulled in were so beautiful  – brightly colored and sleek.

The three hours of fishing went by in a blur because we were so busy bringing in fish, one after another.  An exciting moment was when we saw a shark swim by.

The last fish on the lines was on mine and it was so big we had no chance of bringing it in. The fish bit and my pole bent completely over. I knew I had no chance! I

Captain Tom showing off the fish’s teeth

handed the pole over to my son who fought with it for a while, but we had to say goodbye and break the line.

After about 3 hours of fishing, it was time to head back, but as we were pulling in our lines, we spotted a sea turtle. It was a fitting end to our trip. We sat back and enjoyed the ride into shore. When we got back to the dock, Captain Tom artfully cleaned all of our fish, sharing the skin and bones with the waiting pelicans.

If you’d like to take a deep sea fishing charter, inquire about rates. We paid $800 for a private 3/4 day charter (plus optional cash tip), but there are plenty of boats that offer group excursions.  If you’re in Naples, just take a walk down the city dock and pick up the brochures posted by the boats.

The pelicans shared our bounty

The best part of the day was dinner. I cooked some of each kind  of fish we brought home so we could sample them all fresh from the boat. There is no comparison between fresh caught fish and fish you buy in a store. Our fish was sweet, clean tasting, and tender. The fresh fish keeps for an entire week if you keep it in a ziploc bag on ice in the fridge. We also froze much of it for future use.

Next year we’re planning to head out on another charter. I wonder what we’ll catch?

Everyone in this family knows how to fish. A lot of time is spent in the summer with lines in the water. Lake perch and bass are only so exciting however. For some real fishing, we decided to take a deep sea charter from Naples, FL. Captain Tom Robinson took us out on the Sea … Read more →

This recipe was in the recent issue of Paula Deen’s Magazine. My intention was to try it and then experiment with the concept to make it my own, but it was so good I’m not going to do much of anything to it (I did use gluten free orzo and while Paula gives amounts for salt and pepper I prefer to say to add to your taste. I also used chicken breasts, whereas Paula used cutlets). The only change I might try is to substitute milk for the cream and then cook it a bit longer to thicken it more, or maybe add some cornstarch, to reduce the fat. It was rich and delicious and was a great weeknight meal.

For the chicken:
4 chicken breasts
salt and pepper
3 tbsp butter
1 shallot, chopped
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp whole grain mustard
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
For the orzo
1 16 ounce package of orzo
1 6 ounce bag fresh baby spinach
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a skillet. Season the chicken with salt and pepper then add chicken and cook over medium high heat until cooked through (165 degrees).

Remove the chicken and melt remaining tbsp of butter. Add the shallots and cook for 2 minutes, stirring. Add the vinegar and cook for 1 minute. Add the cream, mustard, tarragon and salt to taste, stirring until sauce thickens. Add the chicken and reheat it then, place chicken and sauce on a serving platter.
While you are cooking the chicken, make the orzo:
Cook the orzo according to package instructions. Drain it and return it to the pot. Stir in the spinach, oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper until the spinach wilts. Serve with the chicken and spoon sauce over orzo.

This recipe was in the recent issue of Paula Deen’s Magazine. My intention was to try it and then experiment with the concept to make it my own, but it was so good I’m not going to do much of anything to it (I did use gluten free orzo and while Paula gives amounts for … Read more →

No matter how much of a foodie you’ve become, I will bet there is at least one packaged snack you still love. As a kid, you probably ate more of these kinds of foods than you might want to admit now. As for me, I still have a thing for cheese puffs (although I now buy the organic, gluten-free version) and I have fond memories of Hostess cupcakes, mostly because I watched other kids get them in their lunches and I never did (as an adult, I found them pretty bad: dry and tasteless, but they remain as a symbol of childhood to me!). Oreos and Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies were other childhood favorite of mine though and I have a weird memory of taking an empty egg carton and putting one Oreo in each section and eating out of it while reading one of the Little House on the Prairie books.

Whatever your secret craving or childhood obsession, you probably never thought you could recreate that food at home yourself. Now you can. The fun new book, Classic Snacks Made From Scratch by Casey Barber (Ulysses Press) has 70 recipes for all sorts of foods you could only buy in a package until now. Nutter Butters, Oreos, Fudge Stripes, Mallomars, Entenmann’s Donuts, TastyKakes, Twinkies, Cheez-Its, Pop-Tarts, Doritos, BBQ potato chips,  Klondike Bars, Funyuns, Fudgsicles, fruit roll-ups, and even Peeps made it into the pages of this book of 70 recipes.

This isn’t a cookbook you’re going to cook from every day or even every weekend, but it is definitely a fun resource to have on had, particularly if you have kids, or if you just like to challenge yourself to recreate foods.  Barber calls for some ingredients that might be harder to find (like cheese powder or buttermilk powder), so plan ahead for your binge. The recipes are all rated for difficulty level which is a nice feature, but there is no nutritional information (probably a good thing!). This book is simply pure fun. Just paging through it will give you a thrill as you slip past all the stuff you used to eat (or still eat on occasion) or dream about eating.

I made the tater tots recipe from the book. I had some trouble grating the potatoes, but it may be that my potatoes were cooked longer than they should have been. When I mixed it up, it just looked like mashed potatoes – it lost the texture of grated potatoes (again, I think this was my bad). They fried up nicely though and looked good. My kids both liked them. They tasted like potato balls to me, mostly because it didn’t have the right texture, but it got a thumbs up from the people who really matter. I probably wouldn’t make this again – I make fried food very rarely as a special treat and I think I would rather have French fries! But if you’re looking for a good tots recipe, I would definitely try this one.

Tater Tots

 

Print

Author: Casey Barber

Cuisine: American

Ingredients

• Tots
• 1 lb russet potatoes
• ½ cup flour
• ¼ cup Pecorino Romano cheese
• ½ tsp garlic salt
• ¼ tsp kosher salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• Coating
• 1 egg, whisked with 1 tbsp water for egg wash
• 2 cups panko

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Scrub potatoes, then puncture with one or two tines on all sides with a fork. Wrap in foil and bake for 45 min to an hour until on the tender side. They should retain some firmness.
3. Unwrap the potatoes and allow to cool, then peel the skins off by hand.
4. Grate the potatoes into short and chunky strips using a box grater. Mix with flour, cheese, garlic salt, salt, and egg in a bowl, using your hands.
5. Put the egg wash in a bowl and the panko in another bowl. Roll a small ball of potato with your hands and form into the cylinder tot shape. Dip in egg, then in panko. Repeat. Place on a baking sheet and freeze for an hour.
6. Heat 2 inches of vegetable oil to 350 degrees. Cook in batches, until golden brown then place on a paper towel on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt.

3.2.1215

No matter how much of a foodie you’ve become, I will bet there is at least one packaged snack you still love. As a kid, you probably ate more of these kinds of foods than you might want to admit now. As for me, I still have a thing for cheese puffs (although I now … Read more →

Before

Before

I have been fighting a losing battle with the linen closet for a while now. It was so full that it didn’t seem to matter how much straightening I did. Towels, sheets, blankets and tote bags were falling out all over. I spotted some Space Bags while at Marshall’s a few weeks ago and couldn’t get them out of my mind! Finally I went on Amazon and ordered a set. I got 5 jumbo, 4 large and 2 medium bags, as well as 3 of the roll up bags for $34.

Space bag pre-vacuum

Space Bags are heavy duty plastic storage bags you vacuum the air out of. They compress things down, making them easier to store. The roll up bags are meant for travel – you remove the air from them by rolling them.

The bags were easy to use. We filled them to the fill line, zipped them and then held the vacuum hose to the nozzle in the bag. It sucked the air out and quickly compressed the bags down. It was actually quite amazing how much space we saved – it reduced it by about 2/3, which is a significant difference when you’re tight on space!

We used 4 space bags and have tons left for future use. They were very easy to pack and shrink. They’re waterproof and reusable and also airtight. It’s a great solution if you need to store something in an attic or basement. I can also see using these to

Space bag after vacuum

store winter clothes if you are pressed for space.

The bags solved my closet problem. I had lots of blankets, comforters, mattress pads, pillows and sheets that we don’t use but I can’t bring myself to get rid of. No one likes flannel sheets, but I keep them thinking “What if we lost power for a week and were cold?” I also can’t help but think that my kids will soon be going out on their own and they will want to have extra blankets and pillows, so it seems like a waste to get rid of them!

As you can see, the space bags made my closet much easier to organize. The things we don’t use are now in the bags, compressed down and completely contained, leaving room to neatly stack sheets and towels we do use. Nothing is falling off the shelves and I can see everything now.

I did do a little purging. We donated some of the tote bags I always seem to have too many of, as well as two pillows. I had been hoarding those plastic zipper

After!

bags sheet sets come in, but I threw out a ton of those. Now that I have Space Bags, I don’t need them.

After!

I have been fighting a losing battle with the linen closet for a while now. It was so full that it didn’t seem to matter how much straightening I did. Towels, sheets, blankets and tote bags were falling out all over. I spotted some Space Bags while at Marshall’s a few weeks ago and couldn’t … Read more →

I got my ears pierced the summer before 6th grade. It was a big deal since my mom didn’t have pierced ears. I can still remember the earrings I got: they were gold with a center that looked like a pearl. That was more than 30 years ago. A girl collects a lot of earrings. And unlike clothes, they don’t take up a lot of space, you don’t change size, and there’s no reason not to keep most of them. I have culled some out of over the years, giving them to my daughter or to charity. But I still have a lot. My storage solution for earrings is very inexpensive. Buy cheap plastic divided boxes – the kind used for fishing tackle. Take the lids off. Glue them together and put them in a drawer. Presto.

If you don’t have 30 years worth of earrings, you could keep one pair in each compartment. I have a few pairs in each, but find it works well and makes it easy to find what I’m looking for.

I got my ears pierced the summer before 6th grade. It was a big deal since my mom didn’t have pierced ears. I can still remember the earrings I got: they were gold with a center that looked like a pearl. That was more than 30 years ago. A girl collects a lot of earrings. … Read more →

We made this with a photo I took of my son snorkeling in Hawaii with one of my favorite ee cummings quotes. I framed it and hung it in my office.

We made this with a photo I took of my son snorkeling in Hawaii with one of my favorite ee cummings quotes. I framed it and hung it in my office.