I have decided to join the Eat Local Challenge in June! I am thrilled that it is being offered and I signed up today.

The Eat Local Challenge begins on June 1 and lasts 30 days. It promotes not only a healthy community but also a healthy lifestyle. I try to buy and eat as much local produce and products as I possible can but there are times that I sort of fall off the local truck and I think this may be a good way to get back on track.

There are so many reasons to eat locally, for me it is all about supporting my community and a healthy environment. Southeast Louisiana has always been proud of its heritage foods and to celebrate we have festivals honoring a single ingredient or dish. There are crawfish festivals, gumbo festivals and even frog festivals. We are blessed to have access to an enormous variety of seafood and wild game. Our climate supports a long growing season, I still have Swiss chard and beets in my garden alongside the tomatoes and cucumbers.

Urban farms have been popping up all over New Orleans, people are raising chickens in their backyards, interest in  bee keeping has increased and a kitchen garden is becoming a must. Restaurants advertise where they get their milk, meat, and produce proud to display a long list of regional farmers.

People who only eat local ingredients are called locavores. Locavores vary depending on how strict they want to be. Some people are able to go without spices, coffee and tea, sugar and flour. Others try their best to eat as much local and seasonal ingredients as possible but really need their morning coffee. That’s me! I love ice coffee and am not sure I can function without it. I will try to give up wheat products since we don’t grow wheat here but luckily Louisiana does grow its own sugar, there is no shortage of hot sauce and there are salt mines here as well. Instead of California or French wines I will switch to locally brewed beers.

I am both excited and a little nervous about this challenge. I will do my best and keep you up to date on my progress. Posting recipes and photos of local food stuffs. Wish me luck!

Here’s the link:
http://www.nolalocavore.org

 Jazz Fest is one of my favorite music festivals. I have been going to Jazz Fest most of my life, even when I lived in New York I would fly down for at least one of the weekends. I love the atmosphere, so laid back, everyone is really out to have a great time enjoying the music, the food and usually the weather. It is such a great event, so well organized and of course it really benefits New Orleans.

I will be heading out there this weekend with some friends this weekend. I already know what I going to eat. I guess I usually get many of the same things every year, although I have branched out before. My critic’s picks are as follows: Crawfish Pie, Boudin Balls, Vietnamese Spring Rolls or the Vermicelli Bun with Shrimp, Cochon de Lait Poboy, Crawfish Monica, Quail and Pheasant Gumbo, Rosemint Tea and Strawberry Lemonade.

Speaking of Strawberry Lemonade, Daphne Derven our Special Projects Manager will be volunteering at the Fest this year with Cafe Reconcile selling lemonade. If you are around you should stop by and say hello. The proceeds benefit Cafe Reconcile which is a non profit restaurant located in New Orleans’ Central City neighborhood. It encourages young adults within the community to lead productive, happy and healthy lives. It is an incredibly cool program. Jon Bon Jovi visited the restaurant when he was here last week! www.reconcileneworleans.org

Next week I will post my pics from the fest. I cannot wait to get out there this Saturday and maybe Sunday too. The weather here is fantastic right now! Hope Friday flies by.

The test kitchen was working on a show about cooking Portuguese food with chef Emeril’s mom Ms. Hilda. We have used her recipes before and love having her input. This time Ms. Hilda actually came to the kitchen to cook with us. I was working on a recipe for Pork and Clams, a dish I have made several times before. I have always liked this dish but it never really bowled me over until now.

This is a classic Portuguese dish generally made from special black pigs in the Alentejo region. The fatty pork is matched with salty, briny clams, hot smoked paprika, pimenta moida, tomatoes, white wine and a little orange juice.

Hilda guided me through her method of making this dish and it turned out fantastic. We used a pork butt since I don’t have access to the special black pig but it was fatty enough and really just melts in your mouth. It is best to have a good loaf of bread on hand to sop up the juices.

Throughout the cooking lesson, Hilda told us stories of dishes her mother made for her and gave us tips on Portuguese cooking and tidbits of Portuguese culture. She had so much information to share and we enjoyed her company. It is always a pleasure to have a guest chef in the kitchen with us.

I’m a huge football fan. Whether it’s a small family gathering at the house, or one of those big parking lot grill-outs before the game – it’s all about having fun!

Check out my collection of recipes – these are some of my favorite party snacks and tailgating classics like burgers, wings and dips. They’re perfect for game-time!

• EJ’s Simple Oven BBQ Ribs
• Totally Sloppy Joes
• Spicy Sausage, Bean and Cheese Nachos
• Chili-Rubbed Shrimp Wraps
• Grilled Fish Tacos with a Roasted Chile and Avocado Sauce
• Southwestern Turkey Sliders
• Grilled Vietnamese-style Chicken Wings
• Emeril’s Con Queso
• Kicked Up Spinach and Artichoke Dip
• French Bread Crostini

Yesterday I headed out to the Po-boy Festival not as a reveler but as a vendor. My cousins are potters and had a tent in the Artist Village to sell their wares. I volunteered to go out and give them a hand.

The Po-boy Festival is now in it’s third year and is more popular than ever. The fest is on  Oak Street which has won awards and accolades for historic preservation and main street revitalization. Oak Street is hip, funky, chic, dirty and downright eccelctic. In just a few blocks there is an upscale wine bar, several yoga studios, coffee shops, resale boutiques, the local hardware store and residential property. Maple Leaf bar, one of New Orleans’ most famous music venues, is also located on this little stretch along with a barbecue joint, sushi bar, and a panini shop. It’s got a little bit of everything, some more shabby than chic but definitely cool.

This Sunday almost 40, 000 people walked up and down this little stretch of street stuffing themselves with the best po-boys New Orleans has to offer. This year there were 36 food vendors!! Unfortunately, I didn’t get to taste everything and I am pretty sure that would be impossible to do. There are no tasting portions here only regular size po-boys. I had a shrimp po-boy to start, good but ordinary. Then I moved on to the fried lobster po-boy which was out of control delish and I ended my day with outrageous fish tacos from Woody’s. Sadly, I missed out on Delmonico’s pork cheek po-boy, the booth was too far away. Maybe next year I will plan my eating strategy a little earlier.

The rebirth of Oak Street has been amazing and The New Orleans Po-boy Preservation Festival has considerably boosted the revitalization project. Each year the festival is more streamlined and more crowded but so far has been a great addition to Louisiana’s long list of festivals.

Kamili and I volunteered to work with the Lagasse team preparing the dinner for Carnivale du Vin. Last week we had the opportunity to meet and work with some of the guest chefs at the event. They were here at Homebase prepping for parties and events leading up to the big night. It was so inspiring to have them in the kitchen with us and loads of fun.

Behind the scenes at Carnivale was pretty exciting if not a little daunting. The event was held at the Hilton hotel here in New Orleans. As soon as I arrived at the hotel to report for duty I was completely overwhelmed. If you have never been in the under belly of a large hotel it is something to see. Mainly because under these huge hotels is a labyrinth of kitchens, wine rooms, pastry shops and garde manger kitchens, room service, you get the picture. I quickly found Chef Chris Wilson and the rest of our crew and set to work getting organized. Kamili and I worked with Chef Dana D’Anzi setting up the raw bar, which by the way looked amazing. The Grand Raw Bar consisted of entire tables, bowls and sculptures made of ice designed to show off a grand spectacle of at least 6 varieties of raw oysters, both bay and sea scallops, local shrimp, lobster, mussels, octopus and tuna.

From here Kamili and I headed over to the pastry kitchen to set up cheese plates and mignardise that would be the final course of the evening. There is virtually an army of chefs working behind the scenes to make this event happen. Kamili and I joined our predesignated team and began the process of plating up a five course dinner for 700 people.

Dinner moves quickly, there is about 15 minutes between courses, which gives us just enough time to clean our stations and watch each guest chef give a demonstration on how to plate their course.

Once dinner has been served Kamili and I along with many of the other chefs take a sneak peak into the ballroom. The event has gone very well and it seems the guests have had a great evening.

Congratulations to the entire Emeril Lagasse Foundation and to everyone who worked so hard to make this event happen.

Every day we check the progress of our garden, assessing which seeds have sprouted, if the boxes have enough water and whether or not our herbs are happy and growing. About two weeks ago we made an unexpected discovery, ANTS. Our precious boxes had been invaded by a band of tiny marauders. They found our sweet dirt nearly irresistible and had completely moved in. I guess we forgot to put up a no trespassing sign.

The sight of hundreds of fire ants setting up shop in my garden made my skin crawl at the same time ants have a sophisticated social system and it can be pretty interesting to watch them work. The thing is ants can be bad for the garden because they damage the roots. Since we are gardening organically we had to do a little research to find out how to rid our boxes of these invaders.

The first thing we tried was Diatomaceous Earth (DE) which is tiny, crushed, fossilized water plants that look a little like baby powder. It is an all natural method of pest control and is basically safe for both the plants and humans. DE has razor sharp edges that when ingested will shred the insides of the insects. Pretty grizzly business! It should be handled with care as it will dry out your skin, eyes and nose as well. Wear gloves and a protective mask when working with DE.

The DE worked well, it eradicated the majority of the ant colony but it is a slow process. It doesn’t work over night and I had to treat the boxes several times before the ants were gone. I also used a couple of other methods to deter the ants from returning. I read that orange oil and peppermint oil both act as ant and insect repellent. I sponged down our tables with both oils and spritzed the plants with Dr. Bonner’s peppermint soap. Not only was I helping our garden I was getting a little aromatherapy as well. I like this method of pest control it seems very civilized.

Since there were still a few ants hanging around, I decided to buy worm castings which work both as a fertilizer and ant repellent. I never would have guessed I would be so excited about getting a shipment of worm poo. The amazing thing is that its working!!

Our test kitchen at Homebase looks out onto an alley and as with most alleys it isn’t very pretty. Gravel, weeds, dumpsters and concrete define our view. For years we have fantasized about a lush garden, secretely located behind our kitchen and strategically placed between two buildings and a couple of parking lots. An urban oasis of sorts. A kitchen garden just for us.Well, the kitchen garden has gone from fantasy to reality. Thanks to Daphne Derven and Chris Wilson a plan was hatched, specially designed organic growing boxes were ordered and a garden was born.Once the grow boxes arrived, Mark Lagasse set to work building tables for the boxes to fit into. The tables keep the boxes off the ground and saves our backs from too much leaning over while planting, watering and harvesting. The grow boxes were ordered from a company called Earth Box and they come with just about everything except for the seeds. The idea behind the Earthbox is that they grow more with less water and less fertilizer. We shall see!We filled our boxes with a special concoction of dirt and organic fertilizers and then planted seeds and starts. We allocated 4 boxes for herbs, 4 boxes for lettuces and greens and two boxes for Padron peppers (these are for Chef Chris Wilson).Since I am a beginner gardener I am seriously excited about growing vegetables from seed. I usually buy starts for my own garden mainly because I am a little impatient and quite honestly I have not had much luck with seeds so far. But alas the seeds have sprouted and are doing fairly well. Our garden is growing!

Hey guys!

I know it’s been a while and apologize for the long interim. The Culinary Department here spent the last few weeks helping Chef Emeril with edits on the testing, writing and editing of his cookbooks and assisting him on the Home Shopping Network (amongst a couple of other things as well). Phew! But it’s been a good kind of busy.

Not until recently have I had a chance to enjoy my work days at a bit of a slower pace before tackling new and upcoming projects. I’ve also been able to conduct a couple of experiments as well: pickled watermelon rind and cabbage kim chi.

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I finally made it back to New Orleans and now have a chance to share some photos with you from my Christmas trip to California.