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Day 4 - Key West

The first part of the Oversea Highway On the evening of Day 3, after our mango adventure, we drove down to Key Largo and along the Oversea Highway to Marathon, about halfway to Key West. The first part of the road was not a lot different from any built-up area around here. That was something of a disappointment.

We did notice that on every island there seemed to be a Sandal Factory store, or some name like that. It mystifies me how many sandals people can wear out down there, that there's such need for that many stores.

Driving along the Overseas Highway After Islamorada, things were much less built up and we saw more of that wide-open, sea-on-both-sides view that you see in the tourist brochures. There were still power lines and scrub on the many little islands that you pass along the way, and for much of the way we were accompanied by the remains of the Henry Flagler's 1912-era Bahia Honda railroad bridge, which connected the keys before cars were common.

Day 3 - Fairchild

Do you like mangoes, avocadoes, dates, nectarines, pistachios, kale, quinoa, soybeans, winter wheat, cherry blossoms, bamboos, or pima cotton? Thank the brilliant early 20th century botanist and plant explorer David Fairchild. Here he is in his later years with his wife Marian (daughter of Alexander Graham Bell) at The Kampong, their garden-home in Coconut Grove.

Fairchild wrote Exploring for Plants, The World Was My Garden, The World Grows Round My Doorstep, and Garden Islands of the Great East, memoirs of his travels, discoveries, and work building the USDA Plant Introduction Service. I have read and enjoyed them all. Today was my long-awaited day to explore palm trees and mangoes as brought to us by Dr. Fairchild.

Day 2 - Miami Beach

Art Deco Hotels Miami Beach did not thrill us. Its heyday was back in the 1920s, '30's and '40s, even into the '50s. The long waterfront was developed in those days, and the structures, mostly hotels, are fine examples of Art Deco architecture. But toay Ocean Drive is just a fancy setting for partiers and beachgoers. The shopping was disappointing and good food is there to be found, but you have to look for it. Of course, I might have been more charitable if I'd had the sense to go in January...

Some of the places do try to maintain a sense of "another time", especially 1957, the last year of pre-revolution Cuba. Here we have an authentic cigar girl, going from table to table hawking cigars, cigarettes, and more modern versions of the combustible vices. Naturally none of the cigars are actually from Cuba, but they all play to that forbidden fruit mystique by claiming to be made from tobacco grown from Cuban seed, or using names like Havana Especial (made in Honduras). If she sold a cigar, she would open it and cut it for the customer and lend him a lighter so that he could bless us all with his romantic vaporous exhalations.

Day 1 - St. Augustine

First Florida Palms On the first full day of our expedition, we drove the short distance north to old St Augustine. This is where we really knew that we weren't in New England anymore.

Of course it was hot and humid, but that happens sometimes at home. But the whole setting was different - the trees and the buildings, the big sky view unobstructed by hills, even the way people dressed.

St Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied town in the current USA, predating Plymouth by 55 years. Plymouth's claim to fame is that, due to where the Mayflower finally reached shore, it was outside of any charter except their own, the Mayflower Compact. St Augustine was the well-supplied and well-supported administrative center of an important Spanish and later British colony for over 200 years. The fort is impressive and well-preserved.

Across the street from the fort is the busy historic shopping district, mostly along pedestrian-only St George Street.

In retrospect, we see that this was some of the best shopping that we found in the Sunshine State, certainly better than Miami Beach and Key West, if you like independent bookstores, gourmet shops, kitchen supplies, etc.

By John, 21 June, 2021

Boye Sparkle Cocktail

"Boye Sparkle Cocktail" Lorna discovered this gem at the Mo Bay Grill, a Jamaican restaurant in Sebastian Florida. We were on a little one-week vacation during a lull in the Covid period, and we took the opportunity to visit her cousin Billy and his wife Judy.

I can find very little history about it. It's along the lines of a Bellini, fruity with sparkle, but it's pretty, refreshing, and not too alcoholic.

The restaurant menu description says strawberry juice but the online recipes say strawberry liqueur. Lorna's seemed to have strawberry juice, and I think that worked just fine. To be honest, I've never seen a strawberry liqueur worth drinking. I used strawberry juice in the recipe here; to make it, puree some strawberries and then squeeze them out through cheesecloth. You don't need a lot of it, and it's OK if it's a little pulpy.

By John, 16 May, 2021

Onions in the Neapolitan Style

These clove-studded Cipolle di Napoli made a great side dish for the Pork Roast in the Florentine Style. I expect they'd be good with any pork or poultry dish that's not too highly seasoned.

A funny thing happened: as the onions cooked and the water inside them expanded, the innermost part of the onions got squeezed out! You can see them in the photo, above the front left-hand onion like bunny ears and to the right of the front onion like a jaunty beret! The next time I make this, I will try cutting an X in the top of each onion to see if that helps.

By John, 15 May, 2021

Zucchini alla Scapece Napoletana

Zucchini alla Sapece This is a tasty summertime dish for hot weather. The scapece part of the name derives from the Spanish escaveiche and ceviche (raw fish marinated in vinegar) but the Neapolitans use it to describe many things dressed with vinegar.

This takes a long time, but it's not a time-consuming dish. You need to allow time for the cut zucchini to dry in the sun, and afterward more time for the vinegar to settle in and mellow. Drying the zucchini helps it to cook up crunchy rather than mushy, so it stands up better to the vinegar.

Note that this recipe is not an agrodolce; there is no sugar.

By John, 15 May, 2021

Schwammersuppe

Alpine Mushroom Soup Here's a delicious mushroom soup with Italian sensibilities applied to an Austrian ancestor, from Trentino-Alto Adige in the Italian Alps on the Austrian border.

Mushrooms are an important part of Alpine cooking and northern Italian cuisine in general. Note that this includes an opening saute in butter instead of olive oil seen further south.

This soup represented that alpine region in our Northern Italy all-star feast.

By John, 13 May, 2021

Beadlestone Cocktail

I'm not excited by this one. I wonder how something so simple got such a long name?

Well, Melanie Belshee did the research at her very good Alcohol Infusions blog and it seems to be named for a fellow with a deep connection to the bar where it was developed.

The best I can say about this is that it's a fairly light summer refresher. I made it with an ordinary Highland Scotch and Martini & Rossi Dry Vermouth; a more robust Scotch or a less assertive vermouth might have had better results.

By John, 9 May, 2021

Italy All-Star Feast: The North

I described in Italy All-Star Feast: The South how a blog about New England food and drink came to focus temporarily on Italian traditional cuisine, wrapping it up with a trio of all-star feasts exploring the 20 provinces of that ancient foodie culture. This was a tricky one, as I had to squeeze in eight provinces, each with long and distinct culinary traditions!

For the Northern Italy feast, I included the big provinces of Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna, plus the smaller Alpine border provinces of Val d'Aosta (on the French/Swiss border), Trentino-Alto Adige (Austria), Friuli -Venezia-Giulia (Slovenia), and little coastal Liguria, home of Genoa. Our companions were our old friends David and Diane Peck. Here's how we did it:

By John, 24 April, 2021

Italy All-Star Feast: The South

For about a year, from late March 2020 through April 2021, when our New England travels were limited by Covid-19, I focused on the traditional cooking of Italy. After Lorna and I were vaccinated, we celebrated with a series of 10-course Italian all-star feasts highlighting recipes from Northern, Central, and Southern Italy. I wanted to have something from each of Italy's 20 provinces.

For the Southern Italy feast, I included Campania (Naples), Basilicata, Apulia, Calabria, Sicily, and Sardinia. Our companions were our old foodie friends John Morse and Christina Cochrane. Here's how we did it:

Aperitivo: Limoncello brought back from Campania by John M's son.

Antipasto: On the platter there's some of the usual fare, plus Luchanico sausage from Basilicata, oil-cured black olives from Sicily, and 'nduja spicy sausage paste from Calabria in the glass sherbet dish. In the bowl are Cruschi, dried red pepper chips from Apulia (I had to order these online). The other sherbet dish next to the crackers has a veggie caponata from Sicily.

Then we moved into the dining room and opened a bottle of chilled Greco di Tufo white wine from Campania.

By John, 4 April, 2021

Chestnuts Braised with Thyme

Chestnuts braised with thyme This is a delicious cool-weather dish to accompany a rich meat dish, or just on its own. It's a classic accompaniment to roast goose, and it's fine with roast turkey, too, especially for a holiday table!

You can get perfectly good chestnuts in a jar, so there is no need to go through the tedious and finger-tearing process of peeling whole chestnuts.

By John, 21 March, 2021

Osso Buco alla Milanese

Beef shanks with gremolata sauce This Lombard classic is beef or veal shank slow-cooked until meltingly tender, and then served with a savory sauce and a contrasting zippy lemon gremolata. It is traditionally served with the beautiful golden Risotto Milanese.

By John, 21 March, 2021

Tipperary Cocktail

Here's a flavorful treat for St Patrick's Day or any other day that you're feeling Irish!

In WWI, "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" was a popular song among Irish soldiers on the front lines far from home. The story is that a man walked into a bar one night, humming that tune. The patrons suggested that the bartender invent a cocktail to honor the tune and the men who sang it so long ago.

What he came up with is definitely a mix of Irish Whiskey, Sweet Vermouth, and Green Chartreuse with bitters, but recipes vary. Chartreuse has a very strong, bittersweet flavor, and it can easily overpower the other components. The Mr. Boston Official Bartender's Guide has it as equal parts like a Negroni, but other sources vary the proportions. I have tried it the Mr. Boston way, and more like a Boulevardier with two parts Irish to one each of the others, but the one I like best is recorded here. This one is more like a Manhattan Cocktail, with the Chartreuse much diminished but still very present.

By John, 21 March, 2021

Zucchini Trifolati

Trifolata is Italian for "sauteed", so this is simple zucchini disks sauteed in olive oil with chopped fresh parsley and a crushed garlic clove. It is easy to prepare and it goes with pretty much everything, especially beef, pork, and poultry dishes.