Feasting on Asphalt - Thanksgiving Edition (wrap-up)

Although our road trip did not end till further down the line, I want to wrap it up in Little Rock Arkansas. I don't want to bore you by drawing this out to long...

Continuing on down Interstate 30 looking to meet up with 40 (in Little Rock) we took the President Bill Clinton exit to downtown where there are shops, markets, and restaurants galore...and for some reason everything is 'flying'. Like the flying hot dog, the flying buffalo wing, things of that nature...whats with the flying?

Well anyway...we ate at the (yes you guessed it) Flying Fish Restaurant!

Stephanie and I had a fabulous grilled grouper po'boy sandwich with fried calamari and pickled green tomatoes. NO, the pickled green tomatoes were not good, they start out being OK for a new taste, but it leans more towards being a watery sugared green tomato, than a pickle tasting pickled green tomato. The calamari was excellent, but some of you would be surprised that it was breaded with seasoned cornmeal not flour. The dipping sauce for the calamari was good & different, but if you don't like heinz 57 sauce then I would not suggest using it, thats what the 'base' flavor tasted like to me.

Very good food, no frills, order food, wait, pick it up, seat yourself...you get the picture. But the restaurant is fun and entertaining. Lots of things to read and see hanging up on the walls.

I took a few pictures but since my posts are more about experiences and letting YOU know about them I would suggest the following website for more pictures and detail: http://www.galenfrysinger.com/little_rock_flying_fish.htm

Although you may look at my album which has more pictures of the different places we were at during this time. Oh, almost forgot...make sure you check out the Billy Bass Adoption Center at the above link, fascinating...

From Feasting on A...

Emeril Lagasse gets kicked down a notch...

Food Network to Cease Production of Emeril Lagasse's 'Emeril Live'

NEW YORK — Food Network is kicking Emeril Lagasse down a notch.

The celebrity chef's "Emeril Live," which has been on the air for 10 years, will cease production Dec. 11, Food Network publicist Carrie Welch told The Associated Press.

"However, Emeril is under contract with Food Network," Welch said Tuesday. "We love him, we support him and look forward to a long partnership with him."

Welch wouldn't comment on Lagasse's contract.

Asked why the show was canceled, she told the AP: "The only reason would be that it hit a ton of television milestones and, you know, all good things come to an end."

The Food Network will continue producing Lagasse's "The Essence of Emeril," and he will take part in "specials and other development opportunities in the future," Welch said.

The network will also air reruns of "Emeril Live."

Feasting on Asphalt - Thanksgiving Edition pt.3

Coffee here we come! After experiences at 2 other places in the Texarkana area we still needed to find some coffee to go with our previous purchases (see prior Feasting on Asphalt - Thanksgiving Editions)...although after having had the bread pudding heat up we greedily ate that right away! Only saving the Kentucky Butter Cake to enjoy with a much-needed coffee fix.

We found out from a local that the coffee shop we were looking for had closed down, and tried to point us to a well known national one, to which we expressed our dismay. She then pointed us to a local place that was pretty popular.

tip*~take a few minutes to research areas you are going thru, you would be surprised the local establishments that know a good web presence can 'grab' a few more customers even if they will never be a chain or franchise but don't miss asking the locals because this is not always the case, if in doubt ASK THE LOCALS~

tip**~one more things since the previous tip reminded me, ask people who work at pizza or food delivery jobs for directions and/or local popular places (once I pulled into a pizza delivery place, hopped out of the car, and asked one of guys taking a smoke break about local hot spots and motel directions, he was SPOT ON/CORRECT and simple for every turn or landmark whether he knew the road names or not~

The Doughnut Cafe & Coffee House is serving up beignets, coffee, and espresso drinks. It was inspired by New Orleans cafes. With a combination of South Louisiana doughnuts and a large variety of the finest roasted and brewed coffee available (ok so I stole a little from their description on the website)...they also take orders online then you can pick them up in the drive-thru. Ironically their French Market Coffee w/Chicory is the actual coffee that is sold by Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans (pronounced Nor'lens or Naw'lins) Louisiana. The (now) typical beignets are a square yeast doughnut highly dusted with powdered sugar (I would ask for a light dusting, or eat outside standing up with the wind blowing away from you coming from behind)... But I would suggest their Blueberry Cake Doughnut made fresh...or whatever they call it, maybe just blueberry doughnut, but it is of the cake texture/variety. Very good!

OH! Almost forgot, free wireless access as well as 2 computers for free customer use...see slide show below.

This is off of the Richmond exit in Texarkana, Insterstate 30. From their website, you can print directions and see the map.

Feasting on Asphalt - Thanksgiving Edition pt.2

The cafe next door actually turned out to be Cobbler Shoppe Restaurant. And from the picture you see it boasts of Espresso and Cappuccino (and if you can't see that, click to go to the album picture which is much larger).

From Feasting on A...

Directions for this place was in the previous Feasting on Asphalt - Thanksgiving Edition post, its right next to Spices Unlimited.

Ironically, or maybe just humorous we didn't get coffee or cobbler! Once inside we found several options that were more interesting (and we were not ready to eat a regular meal). On the erasable marker board they listed a bread pudding with vanilla sauce that caught both Stephanie's and my eye...so we ordered one to go. And why they were preparing that, heating it up...There was a delicious, moist, and 'good crumb' looking cake on the counter that was calling my name.

I asked one of the ladies what kind it was and she said it was a Kentucky Butter Cake. Oh yeah, give me a piece of that too!

Suspiciously I asked (or was it Stephanie, we often think alike in situations like this) wait a minute, do you make everything yourself or is this 'imported'? Oh no, we make it all ourselves!

From Feasting on A...

In hind site I wish I had took pictures of the cake and bread pudding, DELICIOUS! The vanilla sauce for the bread pudding looked caramel-e but with a definite vanilla taste and appeared to be riddled with vanilla specks like when you scrape a vanilla bean clean after splitting it. The bread pudding itself looked something like this:



But was not as compressed looking as this, notice towards the bottom or the rest of the picture after the top that this bread pudding looks more like a solid? Our bread pudding had more of the 'top' consistency all thru it but still held together for a clean slice...and it was bigger and taller than this one. Ok, I tried to give you a picture.

For the Kentucky Butter Cake I found this recipe from the Allrecipes.com for what I am sure almost exactly covers the taste of what I experienced.

Our cake led you to believe it was made in a big bundt pan and soaked with a brandy or rum icing on the top, bottom, and sides. I know the reason I loved it so much was because it used some of my favorite ingredients; butter, vanilla, and buttermilk. But ours also had the addition of what we believed to be fine ground roasted almonds that you could actually see spotted throughout the cake...almost looked like poppy seeds or cracked peppercorns, but of course I am sure they were not. It looked relatively similar to this one:



Now on to finding the coffee to go with it!

Feasting on Asphalt - Thanksgiving Edition pt.1

Stephanie had viral meningitis (read our other posts to catch up on this) and went back in for an appointment (she was released on the Friday previous from the ER as a patient) to reassess her condition and they request that she not come back to work till the following Monday. If she was not feeling better she would have to come back in for further testing...

That being the case I felt that Stephanie indeed needed more rest and a relaxing environment. Our room that we live in at the IOC at Mercy Ships was quite stuffy and I felt it was time for at least a temporary change. I already had a four day weekend coming because of the Thanksgiving holiday so I loaded Stephanie up in the car and took here for a 'countryside' ride. She had plenty of pillows, medication, and a special neck pillow for our journey.

After researching online for coffee shops I found an interesting place that was called Spices Unlimited that fell under the coffee category even though it was not a cafe or coffee shop. It sold coffee, all kinds of packaged as well as bulk spices...most I had seen before but there were a few surprises. They also had a section in the back called 'The Cellar" or at least thats what I think it was called, it had an extensive collection of equipement, materials, replacement parts, yeast, hops, barley, and other ingredients for the simplest to most sophisticated home-brewer of beer or wine. Very interesting...Although I personally do not care to venture into that region of recipes and what not.

From Feasting on A...

Spices unlimited is located in Texarkana exit 223a off of Interstate 30. That exit deposits you on highway 71 or N. State Line Ave. After about a half mile you should see it on your left. It is in the middle of a couple of other businesses that are attached.

From Feasting on A...

After talking extensively with the Lady who was running it, she also told us that they supplied the coffee, spices, and other supplies for the cafe next door. Actually while we were there the cook from next door came to get a refill of some 'meat seasoning'.

Join me next time as we visit the cafe next door.