With rising food and gas prices, sometimes it’s hard to justify the expense of gourmet food ingredients. However, according to Christiane Jory, the author of 99¢ Only Stores: The Cookbook, shopping at discount stores (at least occasionally) may be the answer.
According to the book’s description:

Tired of forking over hundreds of dollars for entertaining her friends and family, Christiane Jory challenged herself to create more than 100 gourmet recipes for appetizers, side dishes, main courses, and desserts-solely with items she found at 99¢ Only Stores. Her recipes include:

• Artichoke Spinach Bake on Homemade Pizza Bread
• Green Beans Au Gratin
• Chicken Tetrazinni
• Pinot Noir Poached Pear Tart

This 224 page book is filled with sample menus, as well as a glossary of cooking terms. Each recipe includes the estimated cost of the meal and helpful kitchen hints, such as uses for recycled milk cartons and how to freeze egg whites.

By the way, Christine has a blog in which she shares recent bargain store finds, photos, and recipes.

There are 262 99¢ Only Stores in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas. (Here’s a link to the store locator.)

Because we live in South Carolina, I have never been to a 99¢ Only Store. However, we do have Dollar Tree Stores which offer all items for $1.00 which are located all over the East Coast.

Among the things we’ve found there are gourmet snacks and crackers, organic soups and broths, large containers of spices, bread and baked good mixes, marinated artichoke hearts and musrooms, Hungarian Ajvar (and myriad other condiments), kitchen knives and cutlery (not exactly Henckel quality, but if you’re bringing over a cake to a friend you won’t weep if you lose your implements), microfiber kitchen towels, and more.

When we lived in Western New York State, there was a small, local supermarket chain that offered all groceries for $1 as well as a variety of independent dollar sores that sold everything from #10 cans of chocolate syrup, an assortment of gourmet ice creams and cheeses, large jars of various pestos, fancy honeys and mustards, imported olives, and tapenades, and other culinary items that make me weep at the memory of the incredible savings.

Here’s a funny video of Ellen DeGeneres clowning around in a 99 cent store.

“Olga Berman had something to confess: She is frequently guilty of involuntary porkicide. ‘I’m the girl who kills pork,'’ she wrote in an e-mail. ‘I always overcook pork chops, and they come out dry.’Even after three years of a part-time culinary program at Sur La Table, Berman didn’t have the chops to cook chops.”

But Olga Berman is nothing if not supremely fortunate. According to this article in the Miami Herald, when Southern cookbook author Nathalie Dupree heard about Berman’s pork curse, she showed up Olga’s DC apartment to play fairy godmother and show her the secret of unforgettably succulent pork chops.

“Then the two started the chops by heating butter and oil in a sauté pan. Dupree laid two chops in the pan, explaining that you always cook the prettier side first because it will get more nicely browned than the second side. ‘When the pork starts talking, you start listening,’ Dupree intoned. ‘It’s sizzling because it’s putting water out into the hot fat. When it stops sizzling so much, it’s time to turn it.’ Dupree turned the chops with her hands, as the pros do…”

You can read more about Nathalie Dupree’s 911 Culinary Intervention here.

The first woman since Julia Child to film more than 100 cooking shows for public television, Charleston’s Dupree is the author of 10 cookbooks (you can preview four of them free of charge here) which have sold over half a million copies so far.

You’ve doubtless heard the term “out to lunch” as used to describe someone who’s not fully engaged in what they are doing; just going through the motions.

In contrast to that I’d like to add the phrase to the verbal pantheon “out to dinner” to describe someone deeply savoring each and every bite with great attention and awareness; someone truly alive to all the sensual possibilities and satisfactions that only a great meal can provide.

Do you remember the first time you had corn on the cob cooked up and buttered only minutes after it was harvested? Your first cream puff, bursting at the seams, swirls of chocolate drizzled pastry brushing your nose? The thrilling sinus rush of wasabi harmonizing with the buttery notes of fresh tekkamaki? The intoxicating scent of Vidalia onions caramelizing on the grill?

Then you’ve been fortunate enough to have that “out to dinner” experience.

Recognized for giving many people that “out to dinner” feeling early in their careers, these chefs were named the 2008 Best New Chefs in America by Food & Wine. Seeking to discover tomorrow’s superstar chefs in the making, Food & Wine’s previous awardees included Thomas Keller in 1988, Nobu Matsuhisa in 1989, and Rick Bayless in 1988.

ETV Road Show has a nice video feature on Gullah basket making in the Charleston South Carolina which you can see below.

Here’s a nice photo of sweetgrass baskets at a stall on Highway 17.

Looking for a a very simple and homey recipe you can whip up in 30 minutes or less? Try making this recipe for Oyster Croquettes or Fritters from the folks at About.Com: Southern Food.

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup milk
2 cups flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups oysters, drained and chopped

How to Make Oyster Croquettes or Fritters
See More of Hugging the Coast’s Fish For Friday Recipes

The folks at Amazon.com have put together a complete list of all the cookbooks nominated for this year’s James Beard Cookbook Awards.

(Last year, Charleston natives Matt and Ted Lee were awarded Cookbook of the Year for The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook.)

Many fans of Southern cuisine will be happy to hear that James Villas’ The Glory of Southern Cooking and Jean Anderson’s A Love Affair with Southern Cooking: Recipes and Recollections were both nominated in the Americana Category.

The James Beard Foundation also maintains a list of Who’s Who in Food and Beverage in America, with new inductees added annually.

José Andrés, Bobby Flay, Dorie Greenspan, and Michael Pollan were all inducted last year.

Just how addicted to coffee are you? Do you ever wish you could be permanently hooked up to a coffee I.V.? (If so, see the cartoon to the right.)

What about using coffee as a homemade beauty treatment to firm and tone the skin? (Supposedly you can.) Do you have Starbucks Finder installed on your handheld PDA so you can get your fix anywhere you go?

Then cooking with coffee is the next step in your addiction cycle.

Beyond tiramisu and other obvious coffee flavored desserts, coffee and/or espresso can be used to make a wide variety of interesting marinades, rubs, and sauces. If you’ve ever known the deep pleasure of eating country ham and red-eye gravy, you’re already well on your way to enjoying coffee as a culinary enhancement.

Here’s a few main meal recipes featuring coffee as an ingredient:

• Steak in Indonesian-Java Marinade from Kate’s Global Kitchen

• Charred Buffalo Medallions with Coffee BBQ Sauce from The Food Network

• Grilled Pork Chops with Coffee Barbecue Sauce from About.Com Home Cooking

• Chicken And Coffee Barbecue Sauce from Cooking With Gourmet Coffee

• Coffee Glazed Roast Leg of Lamb from CooksRecipes.Com

• Beef Short Ribs & Coffee, Ancho and Cinnamon Sauce from VisualRecipes.Com

By the way, it is said that French writer Honore de Balzac drank up to 40 strong cups of coffee a day. He went on to write 92 novels and his essay, The Pleasures and Pain of Coffee, gives one a fascinating/horrifying glimpse of his all-too-caffeinated life.

As Balzac goes on to write in the essay…

“For a while - for a week or two at most - you can obtain the right amount of (creative) stimulation with one, then two cups of coffee brewed from beans that have been crushed with gradually increasing force and infused with hot water.

For another week, by decreasing the amount of water used, by pulverizing the coffee even more finely, and by infusing the grounds with cold water, you can continue to obtain the same cerebral power.

When you have produced the finest grind with the least water possible, you double the dose by drinking two cups at a time; particularly vigorous constitutions can tolerate three cups. In this manner one can continue working for several more days.

Finally, I have discovered a horrible, rather brutal method that I recommend only to men of excessive vigor, men with thick black hair and skin covered with liver spots, men with big square hands and legs shaped like bowling pins. It is a question of using finely pulverized, dense coffee, cold and anhydrous, consumed on an empty stomach. This coffee falls into your stomach, a sack whose velvety interior is lined with tapestries of suckers and papillae. The coffee finds nothing else in the sack, and so it attacks these delicate and voluptuous linings; it acts like a food and demands digestive juices; it wrings and twists the stomach for these juices, appealing as a pythoness appeals to her god; it brutalizes these beautiful stomach linings as a wagon master abuses ponies; the plexus becomes inflamed; sparks shoot all the way up to the brain. From that moment on, everything becomes agitated. Ideas quick-march into motion like battalions of a grand army to its legendary fighting ground, and the battle rages. Memories charge in, bright flags on high; the cavalry of metaphor deploys with a magnificent gallop; the artillery of logic rushes up with clattering wagons and cartridges; on imagination’s orders, sharpshooters sight and fire; forms and shapes and characters rear up; the paper is spread with ink - for the nightly labor begins and ends with torrents of this black water, as a battle opens and concludes with black powder.

I recommended this way of drinking coffee to a friend of mine, who absolutely wanted to finish a job promised for the next day: he thought he’d been poisoned and took to his bed, which he guarded like a married man. He was tall, blond, slender and had thinning hair; he apparently had a stomach of papier-mache. There has been, on my part, a failure of observation.”

Balzac died at the age of 51. Ironically enough, Ebook Takeaway offers 51 of his books that you can download free of charge here. There’s also some great coffee trivia here as well as Food & Wine’s Obsessive Guide to Coffee.

There is nothing quite like an oyster roast. Standing elbow to elbow with fellow oyster lovers we await the bounty about to be served; oyster knives at the ready, shucking gloves tucked in our belts, bowls of crimson hot sauce scattered across the rough-hewn tables.

A popular coastal tradition, the best oyster roasts are both sacred and informal celebrations of the natural flavors of the sea that ideally take place not far from the waters from which the oysters were taken.

If you’d like to hold your own oyster roast, you’ll have to order several bushels of oysters from your local seafood supplier, but it’s much better to harvest them yourself if you’re lucky to live in an area with an abundance of oysters. There’s a nice article here about the finer points of gathering oysters and running a traditional oyster roast.

If you prefer to grill your oysters instead, Coastal Living has some good tips and recipes here.

According to Charlestonlowcountry.com, oysters are an excellent source of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C, and D. Four or five medium size oysters supply the recommended daily allowance of iron, copper, iodine, magnesium, calcium, zinc, and manganese. Charlestonlowcountry.com also has some nice in-home recipes here.

After you’ve held your roast, don’t forget to recycle your oyster shells so that they can be used to form new oyster beds for the next generation of oysters. South Carolina residents can recycle their oyster shells at various DNR oyster shell recycling locations. North Carolina also has an excellent oyster shell recycling program.

(Here’s a photo we took of an oyster bed vista in McClellanville, SC.)

Also, below is a taste of a few of the many photos we took at Pethelpers’ 2008 Sucking It Up to Save Lives Oyster Roast at Bowen’s Island in Charleston, SC. The event raised over $13,000 to benefit the new no-kill animal shelter.

While we were at the oyster roast, we were fortunate enough to come across something small and hard in one of our oysters…a pearl!

Alas, unlike Florida’s George and Leslie Brock who were lucky enough to come across a really valuable purple oyster while eating our Apalachicola Selects, our “Pethelper Pearl” is small and rough textured; a rare specimen mainly remarkable for its extremely high sentimental (if not financial) value.

By the way, if you’re curious about how oysters make pearls, click here.

Courtesy of Travel Industry Wire.Com:

A recent Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) study, showed that 58% of all American leisure travellers say they are somewhat/very interested in taking a trip to engage in culinary or wine-related activities.

With this in mind, editors of the website Travelocity say they scoured the globe to highlight unique foodie finds.

Due to its access to top-notch chefs and fresh ingredients, Charleston, SC made the list

Travelocity’s 10 Delicious Destinations for Foodies: (in alphabetical order)

• Barcelona, Spain

This Spanish city started getting recognition just within the last five years. Catalan influences dominate both the culture and cuisine with French and Mediterranean inspired dishes more prevalent than traditional Spanish fare. Catalan cuisine features a unique combination of ingredients such as red meat and fish; poultry and fruit; and pork sausage with white beans. Each dish is unique, original and utterly impossible to put down.

• Boulder, Colorado

It’s no secret that Boulder is about as eco-friendly and earthy as it gets, but what may come as a surprise is how the recent addition of urban dwellers has led to a more sophisticated and trend-setting approach to organic dining. Take The Kitchen Café for example, which offers an eclectic menu with superior organic ingredients, but moreover, is completely green-they even compost all of the kitchen scraps and use wind power. On top of this green approach, Boulderites have access to some of the country’s finest boutique ingredients, such as hormone-free Colorado lamb, local cheeses, and even organic microbrews.

• Charleston, South Carolina

Some may call it soul food, but in Charleston they call it Low Country cuisine. Prevailing as the undisputed local favorite, this culinary specialty infuses restaurant menus with dishes such as Frogmore Stew, She-Crab Soup and Hoppin’ John. Rice, grits and fresh, local produce play an integral role in the creation of these truly Southern meals, and the waters that surround South Carolina’s Low Country inspire local cooks more often than not with seafood dishes found on just about every menu.

• Las Vegas, Nevada

In the spirit of Liberace, Vegas’ recent restaurant boom is completely over the top-and we mean that in the best possible way. If you want your foie gras topped with shaved truffles and dusted with gold, it’s a sure bet it can be found here. Top chefs from NYC, Paris, and London are opening namesake outposts in hotels and casinos with much fanfare, so keep an eye out for Emeril, Thomas Keller, and Bobby Flay. Fortunately for our wallets, Vegas’ famous buffets are still a beloved part of life on The Strip.

• London, United Kingdom

London is shaking its reputation for having mediocre cuisine (we think it was undeserved anyway!). Celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsey have built on the English penchant for exquisite service and fine surroundings, and have made the current restaurant scene world famous. All the while, specialty gourmet shops have continued operations for nearly 300 years, as in the case of Fortnum & Mason, known for its fine teas, and Paxton & Whitfield, cheesemonger to the royal family. Choose from afternoon tea, Indian curries, and classic pub fare, like shepherd’s pie-then wash it down with a black and tan before hitting the museums.

• Montreal, Quebec

Known ubiquitously for its French cuisine, the Montreal culinary scene also boasts imaginative carte du jours from more than 80 countries. Dine at one of the city’s 5,000 restaurants, or spend the day meandering through local markets in search of the same culinary treasures used by Montreal chefs. While there, sample a Montreal-style bagel topped with cream cheese or a smoked meat sandwich, two local treats.

• New Orleans, Louisiana

Many first time visitors head to New Orleans to experience events such as Mardi Gras or JazzFest, but they return time and time again for its food. NOLA’s most famous restaurants include Emeril’s, Commander’s Palace and Antoine’s, but local favorites such as Jacques-Imos and Port of Call deserve a spot on the map of culinary treasures as well. Cajun and Creole dishes throughout the city tempt the taste buds, and no visit to Crescent City is complete without indulging in a beignet dusted with powdered sugar and a cup of café au lait laced with chicory at Café Du Monde.

• New York, New York

Cabbies and billionaires alike clamor for the city’s famous slices, pretzels with mustard, and roasted chestnuts in paper bags, but beyond streetfood, NYC boasts more restaurants per capita than any other American city. Whether one is looking for a neighborhood Italian joint or sweeping views of Central Park at Per Se, there’s something for everyone. The city is also home to some of the best foodie souvenir shops around, including DiPalo’s homemade mozzarella, the Doughnut Plant’s pistachio glazed version, and Vintage’s Long Island wines.

• Rome, Italy

Dining in this Italian capital is an experience that’s arguably just as pleasurable as seeing the sites the city has to offer and surprisingly, finding the best fare is as easy as pie. While Northern Italy is famous for its pesto and truffles, Tuscany for its olive oil and beans, Sicily for its sweets, and the south for its seafood and spice, Roman cuisine boasts all of this and more. From home-style Italian cooking in charming trattorias to innovative fare in designer restaurants, the old streets of Rome will have you savoring la dolce vita.

• San Francisco, California

Alice Waters is credited with changing the way Americans eat, and now her local, seasonal approach to cuisine is now an integral part of San Francisco’s venerable restaurant scene. With Wine Country vintages at hand, Bodega Bay oysters on the half-shell, and Northern California’s bounty, visitors are able to try ingredients they wouldn’t have access to at home. As if that weren’t enough, the City by the Bay is a hotbed for artisanal products, such as Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt. Tam cheese, McEvoy Ranch olive oil, and Scharfenberger chocolates, all of which can be found at the foodie mecca known as the Ferry Building.

Checkout this dramatic video of an unusual sandstorm on Charleston’s Folly Beach in September of 2007 from Shadowofyou30.

Looking for a savory and comforting recipe you can whip up in 60 minutes or less? Try making this recipe for Creamy Seafood Pot Pie from the folks at MyRecipes.Com.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1 sweet potato, cubed (about 2 1/2 cups)
2 small leeks, white parts with 1 inch of green, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups milk
1 1/2 pounds cod or halibut fillet, cut into 2-inch cubes
1 1/2 cups halved green beans or haricots verts, blanched
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 (17.3-ounce) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon water
How to Make Creamy Seafood Pot Pie
See More of Hugging the Coast’s Fish For Friday Recipes

1. Chow.Com’s Wonderful Herb Primer Videos
How to select, cut, and use many popular herbs.

2. How to Peel and De-vein Shrimp Easily

3. How to Grow Your Own Bean Sprouts in Less Than a Week For Salads, Soups, and More!

1. How to Roast Bell Peppers

2. How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken…and Save Money

3. Chow.com’s Handy Tutorial on the Joys of Browning Butter

With its sleek modernist lines reminiscent of Bauhaus architecture, South Carolina’s Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse may be less charming than its neighbor, the Morris Island Lighthouse, however it still provides a useful service.

According to the Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse Page at LighthouseFriends.Com:

“When erosion threatened the Morris Island Lighthouse, located south of the entrance to Charleston Harbor, the decision was made to place a replacement beacon on Sullivan’s Island, north of the harbor’s entrance. Although the triangular tower, built of concrete and steel and clad in a skin of aluminum, doesn’t have much Southern charm, it does have some redeeming qualities. Inside the tower, the keepers of the light are treated to air conditioning and an elevator that can quickly whisk them skyward. After the elevator ride, it is still necessary to scale a small staircase to reach the lantern room, where a powerful light source is housed. Originally, the light produced an amazing 28 million candlepower, but this powerful beam proved dangerous and was downgraded to a light of just over a million candlepower that has a range of twenty-six miles.”

By the way, with the exception of Boston Light, the oldest station in America, all lighthouses in the U.S. are fully automated, although some properties may have on-site caretakers to help prevent vandalism or to run tours through the facility.

You can read some interesting lighthouse trivia here. If you’re interested in learning more about the historical role played by lighthouses in both South and North Carolina, you can read excerpts online from Terrance Zepke’s book, Lighthouses of the Carolinas: A Short History and Guide.

Want a taste of what it’s like to live in a lighthouse? Below are 3 cookbooks full of recipes from lighthouse kitchens,

• Cooking Lighthouse Style: Favorite Recipes from Coast to Coast by Fred Stonehouse

• The Lighthouse Cookbook by Anita Stewart

• Horton Point Lighthouse Cookbook by The Southold Historical Society

From the British newspaper, The Independent:

“For decades it was merely a slightly exotic option for holidaymakers in Spain, Italy and Greece, but a growing number of cooks experimenting with recipes involving tentacles and black ink have turned squid into a fashionable dish in British kitchens.

Although still less popular than other seafood such as prawns, the amount of squid sold in the UK has risen by 49 per cent in the past 12 months, according to the industry body Seafish.

The cephalopod’s new-found popularity owes much to the growing appeal of fruits de mer and to the promotion of a Mediterranean diet popular in Italy, France and Spain, where it is cut into rings and fried.

Among the chefs who have encouraged the eating of squid is Rick Stein, whose gastronomic tour of the Mediterranean was televised by the BBC last year. He suggested serving sautéed squid and chorizo with garlic, rocket (arugula), tomatoes and chick peas.”

You can read more of the story here:

One of the most popular ways to eat squid in America is as fried calamari, long a favorite of Italian cuisine. Squid is also commonly used in the cuisines of Spain, Japan, and China.

Here’s a recipe for fried calamari from Giada De Laurentiis of the Food Network.

In Japan, shredded, dehydrated squid is a popular salty snack and sold in small bags (it’s far tastier than it sounds). You can also get squid flavored ice cream (as well as a variety of other unusual ice cream flavors) in Japan.

Here’s one more squid recipe: Andalucian Fried Squid With Alioli from Tapas Recipes Andalucia…enjoy!

Here’s a short video from Ttueni that shows Charleston’s Folly Beach Pier under a glorious sky with the waves rolling in…enjoy!