[Chick Yellow Coquelle]

Please join me in welcoming this yellow addition to my cocotte collection! Coquelle is a line of Le Creuset cast-iron pots designed by Raymond Loewy in 1958. They come in different colors, shapes, and sizes, but all of them share the same old-fashioned futuristic look, as if they were just about to take off from your stove and fly away to some distant planet where unattended stews do not scorch enamel and milk does not boil over.

I had spotted a re-edition at a Parisian department store earlier this year, and it looked glossy and seductive, but what I really wanted was one from the original production, in good enough a shape that I could use it, but with enough signs of wear to show it had been previously loved.

I first turned to a small store in my neighborhood called Et Puis C’est Tout! that specializes in objects and furniture from the 50’s to the 70’s — Ricard pitchers, plates with disco flower patterns, and bright orange plastic lamps. The owner knew what I was talking about, he didn’t have any in stock, but he explained that he did come across these cocottes from time to time, and that I should check back. And check back I did, every week or so, until I didn’t even need to ask anything anymore. I would pop in, wearing my most hopeful smile, but he would invariably shake his head with sympathy, “Sorry, no luck so far.”

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I am celebrating my 27th birthday today, and the weather is happy with frequent bursts of thankfulness. Twenty-seven has always been my lucky number so I am not all that surprised, but I have to say this has been an excellent vintage: my first year working for myself (I do recommend it to anyone who likes to work in his pajamas and dislikes being told what to do and when), my first cookbook completed, plenty of gratifying and challenging projects, a few fun-filled trips, more splendid meals than I can count, and more chocolate than I care to admit.

My plans for today involve a blissful mix of doing nothing at all, spending time with the people I love who are close by, and thinking about those who aren’t. And as I do just that, I will keep my fingers crossed, and wish for another year just like this one.

[Cashew Butter]

My jar of old-fashioned chunky peanut butter having mysteriously evaporated somewhere between the store where I bought it and the apartment where I thought I’d brought it back, I had to devise a strategy to assuage the feeling of disappointment and vexation, the kind that makes you bang your fist on the kitchen counter as you mutter a few well-selected swear words through clenched teeth, and try hard to remind yourself that this was just peanut butter after all.

And then I thought: just peanut butter? Yes, just peanuts and salt, ground together at high speed until the oil from the peanuts decides to come out and see what all the ruckus is about, and all of a sudden the mixture stops being just peanuts and salt, and becomes something much, much more interesting: something you can spread on your morning toast, something in which to dip apple slices in the afternoon, something that can be turned into a sauce for steamed veggies at dinnertime.

I had never made nut butter before, and I didn’t have any peanuts on hand, but I did have cashews, unroasted and unsalted. That would do. After a short roasting to revive their flavor, I gave the nuts a little turbo ride in the mini food processor that came with my stick blender, one of the most versatile and most often used appliances in my kitchen. I had my doubts at first — the nuts seemed reluctant to go anywhere beyond the fine powder stage — but I insisted until, miracle of miracles, creaminess appeared at the center of the bowl, and quickly spread to the entire content.

It turns out that cashew butter is a fine thing, its flavor more subtle than that of peanut butter, its shade paler, and its texture a bit drier, more paste-like than oily. Not wanting to waste too many cashews in case the experiment failed, I had only made a small batch, and this was gone in no time at all. A few days later, I applied the same method to pecans, shooting for a chunky consistency this time, and was very pleased with the results too, although I got a bit overenthusiastic with the initial salting, and had to add more nuts to compensate.

And in the meantime, a very kind reader who lives in Paris and shares my passion for all things peanut and chunky was generous enough to part with one of the jars she keeps in her stash, so I now have both chunky pecan butter and chunky peanut butter in the fridge. Life is good.

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As a post-scriptum to the notes from my roadtrip across the US, I have put together a list of the restaurants we enjoyed (plus a handful of non food-related stores/services), should you find yourself in the areas we visited.

~Florida~

—Miami

Jerry’s Famous Deli
Huge diner-type deli — breakfast served all day.
1450 Collins Avenue – (305) 532-8030

Puerto Sagua
Old Cuban diner in South Beach.
700 Collins Avenue – (305) 673-1115

Versailles
Cuban restaurant-cum-bakery in Little Havana.
3555 SW 8th St – (305) 444-0240

—Key Largo

The Crack’d Conch
The seafood shack of your dreams, with an alligator-shaped mailbox — if that doesn’t make you want to go, I don’t know what will.
105045 Overseas Highway – (305) 451-0732

~Alabama~

—Mobile

The Brick Pit
Self-titled “The best d*** smoked bar-b-que in the great state of Alabama”. Everything expertly sloooooow-roasted (pulled pork, ribs, chicken), great coleslaw, superb banana pudding.
5456 Old Shell Road – (251) 343-0001

Satori Coffee House
A coffee shop and used record store in what used to be an individual house. Comfy porch, free wi-fi. (Right next door to the Brick Pit.)
5460 Old Shell Road – (251) 344-4575

~Louisiana~

—New Orleans (Log on to nomenu.com to see which restaurants have reopened post-Katrina.)

Acme Oyster House
Oyster bar — also serves the usual suspects of Louisiana cuisine (&eacuteltouffée, gumbo, jambalaya, etc).
724 Iberville St – (504) 525-1160

Bon Ton Café
Louisiana dishes — generous crawfish jambalaya, service a bit curt.
401 Magazine Street – (504) 524-3386

Maison Bourbon
Jazz club — “for the preservation of jazz”.
641 Bourbon St – (504) 522-8818

—Breaux Bridge

Café des Amis
Cajun cuisine with a sophisticated touch — loved the softshell crab and the stupendous cane syrup cake.
140 E. Bridge Street – (337) 332-5273

Mulate’s
Large bustling restaurant with a cosy bar area. Live Cajun music every night.
325 Mills Avenue – (337) 332-4648

Norbert Leblanc
Swamp tours on Lake Martin — incredible guy, just meeting him and listening to his delicious Cajun-French would be worth the price he charges ($20 per person).
(337) 654-1215

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