Yesterday afternoon, I got home from work, took a long walk with Chance, and sat on the screened-in porch.  With a good glass of bourbon in one hand and the Steve Jobs biography in the other, I took in the lush green and bright blooms all around.  Yesterday was a particularly good time to be in Atlanta, with some of the early spring heat relenting to mild, low 70s perfection.

One of our joys with food is the seasonal aspect, and that’s why you frequently see us posting a change-of-pace menu item to welcome new seasons on 2frugalfoodies.  We didn’t really get a chance to post much in Spring, but hopefully this bright, cheerful, light and refreshing fish preparation can bridge the gap between Spring and Summer.  The flavors go really well together, and the effect on the plate is really beautiful with contrasting green and orange.

The best of the peaches still haven’t come in yet, but maybe you could cheat and make this a little early.  To be fair, we actually made this last summer, but we’re excited to post it here in anticipation of more good things to come!

Recipe:  Pan Roasted Cod with Peach and Mint Puree

Admittedly, we’ve been fairly silent this month on 2frugalfoodies.  We’ve been eating great food this month, but the problem is, we haven’t cooked most of it.  The highlights of our restaurant-binge-spree have been trips to New York and Washington, DC, where we dined in some pretty incredible places.  This post could go on for pages about those trips, but we can boil it down to two tips:  In NYC, go to Colicchio and Sons – it’s worth it.  In DC, go to anything that Todd Thrasher owns in Alexandria.  We went to at least 3, maybe more, of his places and each one was fantastic.

Back to the udon noodles.  They’ve become a new staple in our diet.  Found mainly in Japanese cuisine (as that’s where they originate), they’re delicious, perfectly textured wheat noodles that add just enough of their own flavor to Asian-inspired dishes.  Toss with shrimp, veggies, or maybe some Soy-Ginger Halibut…. and you’re good to go!

Recipe: Soy Ginger Glazed Halibut

We don’t have extensive pickling experience.  It wasn’t part of childhood traditions to pickle fresh food at the end of the summer and then rely on it all winter.  Though we have become acquainted with mason jars in the jelly making process,  we haven’t really done much pickling of our own, either.

That said, the whole idea and process seems like a wonderful tradition of American agriculture that should be, and is to some extent, making a comeback.  Growing crops all summer, and then taking the fresh, bright, summer produce and preserving it, sounds wonderful.  Even without a garden, the idea just sounds great.  It goes well with seasonal eating patterns, sustainability, and tasty food.

Not only do we like the theoretical idea of pickling, we love pickles.  We’ve talked about Fried Pickles before, and a plain old dill pickle out of the jar makes a great snack.  But pickles don’t have to be limited to cucumbers.  One of our favorite small plates at The Family Dog is a pickle plate, comprised mostly of root vegetables with  bell peppers and other veggies thrown in here and there.  Pickled watermelon rind is a Southern favorite – and though a bit funky at first, thoroughly enjoyable.  Pickles are everywhere – and we love trying new varieties (except, maybe, for pickled pigs feet).

So – when were making pulled pork a few weeks ago, and were looking for accompaniments beyond the typical slaw n sauce, we turned to pickling.  We found a simple and delicious recipe from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc Cookbook, and it added just the right briny, yet sweet & oniony flavor to the pork.  We think the recipe is a great starter for pickling, and we hope to do much more in the coming months.

Recipe: Pickled Red Onions

When you think of Eric Ripert, chef of Le Bernardin in NYC, host of Avec Eric and friend to Anthony Bourdain, fried rice probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind.  Another thing that probably doesn’t come to mind is frugality.  A look at the website listed above shows the chef’s tasting menu at Le Bernardin to run $330 per person with wine pairings.  Granted, the menu looks ridiculously good, but that’s not the kind of food/prices that we can get away with on a website called 2frugalfoodies.

For the home chef, however, Ripert has some incredible recipes and ideas.  He can take known go-to favorites, turn them on their head, and make you like it even more.  Such is the case with the recipe we cooked last Friday that we found on his Avec Eric website.  The fried rice is loaded with unexpected, but subtle goodies – banana, apple and almonds compliment the spice and tropical flavors of the fish.  Follow his directions to cook the fish perfectly (this is something you would expect associated with Eric Ripert!).  Put it all together and you’ve got a gourmet, delicious, somewhat-frugal, somewhat healthy Friday night dinner.

Recipe: Eric Ripert’s Coconut Curry Snapper and Fried Rice

Sounds harsh, maybe…but seriously it was the most atrocious outdoor space ever. It looked like this…

It was full of ivy, poison and otherwise, and probably snakes and all kinds of other gnarly creatures. Well, as soon as the spring weather came to town, we’ve been working ourselves to death. We looked out there with hesitant eyes and decided that maybe just maybe it could be awesome one day. We started mapping out a plan and exploring the options. In the process we filled 19 yard bags and hauled off a tree (or three) worth of dead limbs and branches.

The first few bags and limbs...

While digging and clearing, we found a bunch of pieces of slate and about a million old bricks. We decided to build a slate path and a brick patio and path, where we’ll eventually put a grill. We defined a flower bed around a prominent tree, and filled it with cedar mulch. We rebuilt a dilapidated fire pit and started planning where to plant flowers and shrubs.  Although we have an enormous amount of work left to do, we’re feeling very proud of ourselves at the moment. It’s going to be a very fun summer – with lots of evenings and weekends spent in the backyard – especially once we actually purchase a grill.

Have you tackled or planned any spring cleaning projects? We’d love to hear about them!

Happy spring!

Oh, and Happy St. Patty’s day! In 2010 we made some awesome chocolate cupcakes with Guinness…which we think you should try this year. ♣

We made this dish as our dinner on Monday night – and we both loved it. It was sufficiently filling and super tasty and healthy. There’s also something about eating a huge pile of fresh vegetables that makes you feel really good about life.

Recipe: Vegetables a la Barigoule with Vanilla

We did it… and then we took a 10 day vacation from blogging. We’re sorry that after we completed what seemed like a monumental feat (blogging everyday for 29 days), we’ve taken quite a break! We’ve been on a 10 day relaxation course… this weekend, we’re in Montreat, NC (with our pup, of course), and have enjoyed being relaxed and removed from the stresses of work.

Chance got a little stressed when this gigantic swan chased him around Lake Susan, but that’s been our only worry in the past 24 hours, and it’s been luxurious.

she was huge, and curious.

Tonight we’re having red wine, delmonico steak, brussel sprouts, and mushrooms… but we’re not posting any of that here yet… instead, we’re posting a cocktail I had last week that involves champagne and bourbon… it’s the non-girliest girly drink I’ve had in a while, and I think you’ll like it, too.

Recipe: Seelbach Cocktail

We hope you’re having a lovely weekend and that the coming week will be sunny, easy and worry-free. If it isn’t, visit our Drink tab for assistance.

PS – We’ve gotten some constructive criticism about the blog – that it would be helpful to know exactly which one of us is talking to you – so until we figure out a more subtle way to do it, we’re just going to start each post with our name.

We challenged ourselves to post every day because we are usually very sporadic bloggers. We were curious what would happen if we succeeded – would the number of visitors to our blog increase? Would we get more comments or more subscribers to our blog?

One thing’s for sure: we had more views on our blog in February 2012 than any other month since the blog was created in March 2009.

To celebrate, here’s some Foie Gras:

We couldn’t exactly add the recipe for this to our 2frugalfoodies repertoire, but we can at least share some celebratory food pictures.  (By the way: take 2 1/2 inch slices of foie gras, score them, season with salt and pepper, and sear 1.5 mins per side.  Top with diced apples, sauteed in butter and finished with cinnamon and ginger ale.)

Now that we haven’t shared any absurdly expensive food recipes, we hope you’ve had a great February, a great leap day, and that your Spring is fantastic.  We promise to post again soon, though it may not be every day!

But late last week, while at Trader Joe’s, we tasted a simple, healthy quinoa salad. (I LOVE the tasting table and coffee bar at Trader Joe’s.) We bought the ingredients thinking – this will be quick and easy to throw together for lunches one day this week.

Turns out, the recipe was equally easy to throw together for a 9pm dinner, and we couldn’t have been more pleased with the results. It tasted healthy, delicious, and was surprisingly filling, too! We’ve also both commented about how glad we are that we didn’t go out tonight – we don’t feel uncomfortably full, we were able to eat in our sweatpants, and we got to hang out with our puppy and give him some much needed attention. I’d call that a win-win-win.

Recipe: Southwest Quinoa Salad

As it turns out, when you combine it with Domaine de Canton (the ginger-flavored liquor we keep talking about), it softens the bite of the scotch just enough for me to not only sip scotch, but enjoy it. Each time I make this cocktail, I do a little less Domaine de Canton and a little more scotch…maybe one day we’ll come home after a long day and each pour ourselves a glass of scotch on the rocks…but until then, this tastes delightful.

Recipe: Ultimate Black & Ginger

P.S. – We bought two of these cute glasses at a thrift store for $1.50 each this weekend! Like them?