Destination # 2 - Houston, TX.

Strangely, I've visited the great (as in size) state of Texas a few times. I have very little explanation as to why other than life landed me there, "Deep in the Heart of Texas! clap clap clap clap" on more than one occasion and through a myriad of cities. I even once took a road trip with a friend (who happened to live in Plano at the time) from Dallas to Austin. We were seventeen. All I can remember about that road trip was that it was very flat and that I was entirely unaccustomed to having the air conditioning blasting in the car; that it literally made it hard for me to breath, but what choice do you have when it's 150 (give or take) degrees Fahrenheit outside, right? Austin is also the lucky city to claim my very first gay bar attendance. I was two years yet from understanding that I was gay but it was a memorable and exciting experience nonetheless and I have nothin' but positive things to say about the city of Austin in general. Years later I found myself in Houston, TX. for work-related training and my oh my did I walk away with a lot of impressions. Not all bad. Not all good. For starters, I like the name. I've always wanted to have a small southern baby and name him "Houston" but that's neither here nor there. A brief smattering of impressions: everything really *is* bigger in Texas. Giant hotel rooms, big wide streets (no sidewalks/no pedestrians), and BIG BIG BIG portions of food. Oh - and all the girls wear their hair parted on the side but whatever... let's get back to the food! Everything I ate during my week stay in Houston was pretty much delicious. A little Texas BBQ, and equal parts of a shit-ton of Mexican food and Margaritas. AH-MAZING Margaritas, I should clarify. The best. Sincerely. Which leads me to why we chose to do Carnitas for Texas. Obviously, Texas has a lot of classics where cuisine is concerned but personally I will always associate crazy awesome Mexi food and Margs with Houston, TX.

Pulled Pork Carnitas - recipe courtesy of America's Test Kitchen

1 (3.5-4 Ib) boneless pork butt, fat cap trimmed to 1/2 inch think, cut into 2-inch chunks

1 small onion, peeled and halved

2 bay leaves

1 t. dried oregano

1 t. ground cumin

table salt and ground black pepper

2 cups water

2 T. juice from 1 lime

1 medium orange, halved

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat the oven to 300 degrees. Combine the pork, onion, bay leaves, oregano, cumin, 1 t. salt, 1/2 t. pepper, water and lime juice in a large Dutch oven (the liquid should just barely cover the meat). Juice the orange into a med. bowl and remove any seeds (about 1/3 cup juice). Add the juice and spent orange halves to the pot. Bring to simmer over med-high heat, stirring occasionally. Cover the pot and transfer to the oven; cook until the meat is soft and falls apart when prodded with a fork, about 2 hours, flipping the pieces of meat once during the cookbook.

2. Remove the pot from oven and turn oven to broil. Transfer pork to a bowl; remove orange halves, onion and bay leaves from the cooking liquid and discard (do not skim fat from liquid). Place the pot over high heat and simmer the liquid, stirring frequently, until thick and syrupy, 8-12 minutes. You should have about 1 cup reduced liquid.

3. Using two forks, pull each piece of pork in half. Fold in the reduced liquid; season with salt and pepper to taste. Spread the pork in an even layer on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet or on a broiler pan. Place the baking sheet on the lower-middle rack and broil until the top of the meat is well-browned but not charred. and the edges are slightly crisp, about 5-8 mins. Flip meet and continue to broil until the top is well browned and the edges are slightly crisp, 5-8 minutes longer. Server with warm tortillas, tomatilla sauce (optional but we did), lime wedges, minced red or white onion, fresh cilantro leaves, thinly sliced radishes and sour cream.

Tomatilla Green Chili Salsa - recipe from Allrecipes.com

• · 1 pound tomatillos, husked

  · 1/2 cup finely chopped onion

  · 1 teaspoon minced garlic

  · 1 serrano chile peppers, minced

  · 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

  · 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

  · 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

  · 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

  · 2 cups water

  Directions

  1. Place tomatillos, onion, garlic, and chile pepper into a saucepan. Season with cilantro, oregano, cumin, and salt; pour in water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the tomatillos are soft, 10 to 15 minutes.

  2. Using a blender, carefully puree the tomatillos and water in batches until smooth.

Erae's (that's me) Homemade Skinny Bitch Margaritas

2 parts Tequila (preferably gold; Repasado if you want to get real technical)

3/4 - 1 part fresh squeezed lime (depends on how tangy you like it)

1/2 - 1 part Agave Nectar (depending on how sweet you like it)

3/4 part cold water (just do it)

shake the crap out of this in a shaker and serve, chilled either up or over ice.

Add more tequila as needed (ahem).

Drakey's Homemade Tortillas (this isn't necessary but well worth it)

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup water

Directions

1. Beat flour, shortening & salt until crumbly (3-5 minutes)
2. Gradually add warm water and mix until dough is smooth (3 minutes)
3. Divide into 3 pieces and roll into ball
4. Place on baking tray and let rest, covered, at room temperature for 15 minutes to 1 hour
5. On lightly floured board, roll into 10 inch circles
6. Cook on dry skillet 30-45 seconds per side

Destination # 1 - New Orleans, LA.

I should start by saying that we have no pre-planned map of how we're going to approach which states we tackle and when. We're flying by the seat of our pants but as long as we can check off one unique state a week for the next 50 weeks we should be on track to completing our challenge within a year. Choosing New Orleans, Louisiana to kick off our project was an easy and obvious choice for us. For starters, it's Mardi Gras Season. Whoop Whoop! Sadly, neither Drake nor I have ever been to New Orleans, which always comes as a shock to most people who know us as such things as Jazz Fest, loud and crazy hats/outfits, amazing food and partying until the cows come stumbling sideways home is sorta-kinda right up our alley. Hell, our figurative "alley" runs smack down the middle of Bourbon street. Not only should we visit New Orleans, we should probably MOVE to New Orleans. I mean, they even have a main drag named after booze!! Who does that? New Orleans, that's who! But alas, it's still an item on the "bucket list" yet to be checked off. I can't wait to see it; or rather "do" it. As I understand it, one does not merely "see" New Orleans as much as one "does" New Orleans. And so it came to be that New Orleans was the first place we chose for our "Culinary Road Trip" Geography challenge. Known for their Cajun, Creole, fiery spices and bold flavors, it was frankly difficult to chose just one dish to make because OMG THEY ARE ALL SO DAMN TASTY!!! Slow Cooker Jambalaya with Dirty Rice ultimately won out. We got the recipe off Allrecipes.com website, a user-driven interactive recipe site and hands-down our favorite online venue to browse new recipes. The meal turned out AWESOME!

Colleen's Slow Cooker Jambalaya
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
1 pound andouille sausage, sliced
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 pound frozen cooked shrimp without tails

Directions

In a slow cooker, mix the chicken, sausage, tomatoes with juice, onion, green bell pepper, celery, and broth. Season with oregano, parsley, Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, and thyme.
Cover, and cook 7 to 8 hours on Low, or 3 to 4 hours on High. Stir in the shrimp during the last 30 minutes of cook time.

Serve over your favorite rice.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 233 | Total Fat: 13.5g | Cholesterol: 98mg

As a bonus, we went to Toulouse Petit for brunch this weekend, a restaurant geared entirely toward New Orleans Cuisine, and had classic French Quarter style Beignets and Cajun Hashes. I took one for the team and had an AM cocktail, The Hurricane, for the sole purpose of providing a photo op for this blog entry, of course. Kids, I would not recommend drinking boozy bevvies before noon at home, unless of course it is loaded with nutritional juices, which this happened to be, so as far as I'm concerned it was health food and I've done my part in staving off scurvy for the week.

Photos courtesy of Ms. Drakey (the D-Dog) Reilly K.

What's your favorite Jambalaya recipe or New Orleans inspired cuisine?

Project Culinary Road Trip

Drake and I are embarking on yet another zany and ambitious project, cooked up late one night (most likely a "two-bottle night") of which the idea ended up on Facebook and much to my delight, exploded into a mess of brilliant ideas and suggestions, one of which was to start a cookbook or food blog to chronicle our way through this project. So first and foremost, THANK YOU Facebook friends. You know who you are. I love the idea and I'm excited to make it happen. So off we go... but first! - the relevant facts.

The Motivation: we are Geography stupid. Simple as that. Drake has a genius IQ but somehow has managed to concentrate all of those brain cells into everything BUT Geography. I, on the other hand, DO NOT have a genius IQ. Go figure. I do, however, have some intellectual curiosity as it pertains to travel and local culture and customs, primarily food and drink if I'm being 100% candid.

Tools: culinary ambition and a semblance of talent. We love food. We love to talk about it, read about it, plan it, cook it, eat it, dine in, dine out, dine all around and most importantly, learn about it. I want to be forever in discovery mode when it comes to food.

The Logic: what better way to learn about Geography than to tie it to food? DUH!

The Mission: "Project Culinary Road Trip" is a challenge to ourselves to research, learn about and cook up a minimum of one meal a week that is tied to a specific locale within the United States. It could be a city, a district within a city or the entire state but the rule of thumb is that it has to represent the local cuisine of that area.

Goal: to complete all 50 states within the next year. Bonus if we hit two cities within one state but we'll need to start knocking off states as efficiently as possible.

Your Contributions: we're going to need a lot of help. We are both from California, have lived in Seattle for the past 15 years and frankly have not traveled a whole ton. Please participate by sending in your own recipes or ideas as comments to this blog. I will make comments open and accessible to all so please share away but reference appropriately as we firmly believe in giving credit where credit is due. If you have your own blog, please include the link and I will reference back to you if we use a recipe or simply pick up one of your ideas as culinary inspiration. Secondly, feel free to play along with us. We'd love to hear your thoughts on recipes that we post here or your own versions of similar cuisine. The more the merrier.

Our first destination will be the Big Easy! New Orleans, LA. Stay tuned and Bon Appetite!