Sylvia's Scenario

Ever since we went to the Masters in 2010  with my sister and her husband, we have gotten together on Masters Sunday for a southern food feast and watch the final day of the historic golf tournament.  This year was exciting since one of our favorite golfers won, Rory Mcllroy, in a sudden-death playoff.  That was exciting.  My sister invited her childhood girlfriend and her husband who are also avid golfers to the Masters Sunday feast this year.  The more the merrier is our motto.  And we really had a feast, too.  The main entree this year was shrimp & grits, recipe from the NY Times that my sister made.  It was made with a flavorful tomato base with jumbo shrimp and she served it in bowls on top of cheese grits.  So good! This really could have been a meal on its own, it was so good.  But we had to include all the fixin's, mostly out of our notorious  Mrs. Wilkes Cookbook .  We both bought her cookbook after we ate at her d...

For our Masters Sunday meal yesterday, I came up with a menu of my favorite southern foods to cook, plus a few new items on the list.  One of the new foods was this pimento cheese dip.  I'm not a big fan of pimento cheese but it is so popular in the south.  At the Masters, they serve pimento cheese sandwiches for $1.50 each, one of the most popular concessions.  (the photo is compliments of Southern Cooking. ) The sandwiches are wrapped in green paper so they will blend in with the greens in case they end up blowing in the wind.  I could not take any photos when we were there in 2010 because they don't allow cameras or cell phones on the premises.  Such a shame.  In fact, you can't even take in a purse unless it's a very small size.  There are so many rules about Augusta National, period.  It was a very educational experience, to say the least.  We went with my sister, Barbara and her husband, Jim.  Bruce and Ji...

It was another soup night with temperatures in the low 30's again tonight.  I went back to the cookbook  Easy Soups From Scratch with Quick Breads to Match  and decided to make Sausage Gumbo.  There are lots of versions of gumbo and this one is quick and easy.  This recipe makes the roux in the microwave, which I've never done before but it worked quite easily.   It used Gumbo File powder that I found at a local deli in our neighborhood called Husky Deli. Husky Deli has been around since 1932 and I stop in there often since it is just a few stores down from Bakery Nouveau where I frequent often.  Husky Deli is a popular lunch spot with their wide variety of sandwiches  and paninis. They are also known for their homemade ice cream where there is usually a line of people and popular as an after-school destination.  The notes on this soup say that the soup is super-adaptable.  It calls for smok...

In honor of Fat Tuesday, which is tomorrow, I made a real New Orleans dish for dinner tonight. This is a take on Shrimp and Grits which is one of my favorite Southern dishes. This recipe uses creole seasoning, not cajun seasoning. I didn't know there was a difference but there is. Cajun seasoning consists of many different peppers, such as white and black pepper, bell peppers and cayenne peppers. Cajun cuisine also incorporates paprika, garlic, onion and celery. Creole seasoning primarily relies on herbs like oregano, bay leaf, basil, thyme, rosemary, parsley and paprika. You can probably guess that if your dish has tomatoes in it, the recipe will most likely be asking for creole seasoning. Creole seasoning will result in a well seasoned dish while cajun seasoning will give you something very spicy. This dish has creole seasoning and I can vouch that it was full of flavor. Creole seasoning may be hard to find if you don't live in Louisiana. There is a very common brand...