I am in Oxford, Mississippi. I can give you some suggestions for foods to try out while you are visiting and places to see if you have any free time. We met several years ago at a NowServing LA lecture you gave.
If you are near the Square on Friday evening, I’ll be signing books at 5:30 at Square Books. It’s part of SFA. (This is a new development.)
I mostly know John Currence’s spots and love what Vish Bhatt cooks up. I do have a couple of lunch holes to fill but other than that SFA fills my dance card. Let me know your thoughts. Thank you!
If you have time to stop at John Currence’s Big Bad Breakfast it has some good gifts to take home. His jam is the best. Their biscuits and gravy as well a the grits are true Southern food. Vish Bhatt’s Snack Bar is excellent for dinner. The two restaurants are next door to each other. On Saturday morning there is a farmers market in the same parking lot. There is also a little antique mall there too. The only really local food I haven’t seen anywhere else is Mississippi Delta hot tamales. You can probably ask the conference organizers to get you a few to try. Ole Miss university is worth a quick drive through. It’s a beautiful southern campus with a conferderate burial ground, a plaque for a Civil War hospital, and the fingerprints of slave children in the bricks of the buildings. Rowan Oak, William Faulkner’s house is worth a visit if you have any time. My department just started excavations on a slave quarter behind the house Faulkner used as a BBQ smokehouse. Chicory market or the farmer’s market should have some local fruits to try such a specific apples, pears, and grapes. Have a safe journey and I hope you eat yourself silly. The people here are very warm and welcoming( a nice change from LA for me, hahaha.)
Hi Christine, thanks for these terrific tips. I love good grits and will definitely pick up some from BBB. Ditto for southern biscuits. I had no clue about the Saturday morning farmer's market and the Civil War hospital.
Excacation work like what you do is priceless. It must be incredibly rewarding. Eating myself silly... no problem there. Same with having awesome conversations with folks too. Thank you kindly for your warm southern hospitality.
When I first read about your event at Revolution Taco, I was also reading through a Lao recipe for pork and buffalo patties. In the spirit of “cooking across borders,” my husband said he was planning to make a meatloaf with those meats we already have in the freezer. I said fine, as long as we could use Lao seasonings! 🌏
For your fritter recipe, is Bob’s Red Mill rice flour preferable or interchangeable with Asian rice flour? When I make this recipe, I think I’ll use a mandoline to make thin slices and then cut them into strips. Also, I’m happy someone from Everything Cookbooks convinced me to invest in a kitchen scale. ⚖️
One more thing… can you recommend a how-to resource for fancy vegetable cutting techniques? 🔪
So how did the Lao American meatloaf do? It sounds great!
I wrote the recipe for regular rice flour which is dry milled coarser. Use it for crispier results. Asian rice flour is wet milled so its great for EGV recipes like the Hue Rice Crepes, which has a variation with supermarket dry-milled rice flour but there's a note about the result. If you use Asian rice flour for these fritters, you have to finesse other factors. It gets too complicated. I want my recipes to be as less complicated as possible for people.
And, a regular vegetable peeler is fabulous for shaving the sweet potato. No need for a mandoline, which you may have to adjust for thickness. I have a reliable OXO vegetable peeler.
What kind of fancy vegetable cutting are you looking to do?
We haven’t made the meatloaf yet, but it’s definitely in my cache of recipe ideas now. Thank you for the rice flour info. I may have to buy the coarser dry milled kind, even if my pantry bursts at the seams. There isn’t a specific type of vegetable cutting I’m looking to do, I just want to expand my skills and jazz up certain veggie situations. Your pic with the flower shaped carrot got me thinking about it again (I’ve looked for books and YouTube videos before but haven’t found a source I favor).
I am in Oxford, Mississippi. I can give you some suggestions for foods to try out while you are visiting and places to see if you have any free time. We met several years ago at a NowServing LA lecture you gave.
Hi Christine! You are in Oxford? Fabulous!
If you are near the Square on Friday evening, I’ll be signing books at 5:30 at Square Books. It’s part of SFA. (This is a new development.)
I mostly know John Currence’s spots and love what Vish Bhatt cooks up. I do have a couple of lunch holes to fill but other than that SFA fills my dance card. Let me know your thoughts. Thank you!
Made the shaking salmon for my husband and me. Loved it and so made it the next evening for our son and his family. Gotta have the skin crispies.
Side note:,I’ll be at SFA and will for your there. Love SFA
Susan -- back to back shaking salmon! Woohooo! So happy you enjoy the recipe.
And, we get to see each other at SFA. Double happiness. Safe travels to Oxford.
If you have time to stop at John Currence’s Big Bad Breakfast it has some good gifts to take home. His jam is the best. Their biscuits and gravy as well a the grits are true Southern food. Vish Bhatt’s Snack Bar is excellent for dinner. The two restaurants are next door to each other. On Saturday morning there is a farmers market in the same parking lot. There is also a little antique mall there too. The only really local food I haven’t seen anywhere else is Mississippi Delta hot tamales. You can probably ask the conference organizers to get you a few to try. Ole Miss university is worth a quick drive through. It’s a beautiful southern campus with a conferderate burial ground, a plaque for a Civil War hospital, and the fingerprints of slave children in the bricks of the buildings. Rowan Oak, William Faulkner’s house is worth a visit if you have any time. My department just started excavations on a slave quarter behind the house Faulkner used as a BBQ smokehouse. Chicory market or the farmer’s market should have some local fruits to try such a specific apples, pears, and grapes. Have a safe journey and I hope you eat yourself silly. The people here are very warm and welcoming( a nice change from LA for me, hahaha.)
Hi Christine, thanks for these terrific tips. I love good grits and will definitely pick up some from BBB. Ditto for southern biscuits. I had no clue about the Saturday morning farmer's market and the Civil War hospital.
Excacation work like what you do is priceless. It must be incredibly rewarding. Eating myself silly... no problem there. Same with having awesome conversations with folks too. Thank you kindly for your warm southern hospitality.
LOVE LOVE LOVE
Your tote is out for delivery!!! Yay!!!
When I first read about your event at Revolution Taco, I was also reading through a Lao recipe for pork and buffalo patties. In the spirit of “cooking across borders,” my husband said he was planning to make a meatloaf with those meats we already have in the freezer. I said fine, as long as we could use Lao seasonings! 🌏
For your fritter recipe, is Bob’s Red Mill rice flour preferable or interchangeable with Asian rice flour? When I make this recipe, I think I’ll use a mandoline to make thin slices and then cut them into strips. Also, I’m happy someone from Everything Cookbooks convinced me to invest in a kitchen scale. ⚖️
One more thing… can you recommend a how-to resource for fancy vegetable cutting techniques? 🔪
So how did the Lao American meatloaf do? It sounds great!
I wrote the recipe for regular rice flour which is dry milled coarser. Use it for crispier results. Asian rice flour is wet milled so its great for EGV recipes like the Hue Rice Crepes, which has a variation with supermarket dry-milled rice flour but there's a note about the result. If you use Asian rice flour for these fritters, you have to finesse other factors. It gets too complicated. I want my recipes to be as less complicated as possible for people.
And, a regular vegetable peeler is fabulous for shaving the sweet potato. No need for a mandoline, which you may have to adjust for thickness. I have a reliable OXO vegetable peeler.
What kind of fancy vegetable cutting are you looking to do?
We haven’t made the meatloaf yet, but it’s definitely in my cache of recipe ideas now. Thank you for the rice flour info. I may have to buy the coarser dry milled kind, even if my pantry bursts at the seams. There isn’t a specific type of vegetable cutting I’m looking to do, I just want to expand my skills and jazz up certain veggie situations. Your pic with the flower shaped carrot got me thinking about it again (I’ve looked for books and YouTube videos before but haven’t found a source I favor).