Easing into the New Year

Christmas recon

A brief word on Christmas and then we’ll move on. The top culinary gift we gave was some of Vin Phat’s (Florida Boulevard, 2.5 miles east of Cortana Mall) daikon kim chee for a relative in Georgia who loves the stuff. This Asian market is amazing – a true Baton Rouge gem, and, by the way, it has incredible take-away goodies, many of them fabulously mysterious.

Our favorite gifts received were a 6-inch Santoku (hate to be a joiner, but this knife rocks!), John Folse’s mammoth Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine (haven’t read it yet, but it’s surprisingly dominated by recipes) and 12 pints of Graeter’s Ice Cream, which my husband received by mail from a family Secret Santa. Being ice cream fanatics, it’s been all we can do not to down a pint each night, as the hand-packed stuff has a rich, creamy egg custard base and comes in ridiculously decadent flavors, many of them with chips the size of D-batteries. So much for cutting the fat! In the spirit of true food-snobbery, though, the ice cream of organic micro-dairy, Strafford Creamery in Strafford, Vermont still holds the gold medal.

A cheese doofus find

This past weekend, the Red Stick Farmers’ Market was the perfect antidote for the early January doldrums. It always makes me feel good to go down there. Despite being between seasons and sorta lean on produce, the market was its normal cheery self, even showcasing the first of the strawberry crop, which by the way, already tastes sweet (and better than last year, which I thought was sub-par, flavor wise). Why I didn’t pick up a half flat, I’ll never know.

For some reason, I hadn’t yet tried the artisan goat cheese produced by Belle Econce Farm, a relative newcomer to the market from St. Martinville. At $10.25 (.82 lb), the disc I bought was pricey, but was nicely textured and perfectly balanced in flavor. The four or so choices are each rolled in herbs and veggies, but the one everyone fights for is “the Italian,” with sun-dried tomato and herbs. It was beautifully crafted, great tasting and went well with some of Le Potager’s (another market vendor) chewy, crusty ciabatta. In fact, with a bottle of Rioja, it made the perfect Saturday night dinner.

Happy eating this New Year.