Hungry Sam on the Road: Cuban Sandwiches and Guava Cheese Pastries in Miami

My travels continue! Last you heard, I was raving about excellent barbeque in Alabama and a ginormous ball of cheese from Mississippi. Since those storied days, I've been on similar work trips to California, West Virginia, Florida, and Illinois. Missouri is next weekend, and then, in rapid succession and for more personal reasons, I'm off to Arizona, home to Maine, then to North Carolina for a wedding.

In the midst of my travels, however, the only place where there's yet been a confluence of awesome food and decent pictures is Florida. After the business end of the trip, I spent the weekend with family down in Miami; Jen joined, and our friend Clare took us out for Cuban coffee and a bite on Sunday morning.

We hit up Cafe Versailles, a strange, vividly real Cuban cafe in Little Havana filled with locals out for brunch after church. Apparently it's an institution, and was filled to the brim with loud chatter in Spanish, little kids bouncing off the walls, and the occasional bemused tourist (played by Hungry Sam). The walls in the restaurant were mirrored, which means they were probably two-way glass so the CIA could watch us drink ultra-sweet coffee and complain about the Castro regime (or whatever it is we were supposed to be doing). I ordered with my weak but enthusiastic Spanish, and this guava and cheese pastelito is (part of) the epic result:

I ordered this pastelito mostly because the filling combo sounded too interesting to ignore -- sort of a Cuban version of a Danish. The pastry wrapping itself was crisp and buttery and flakey; the interior oozed sweet and savory flavor with just a little tang from the guava. It went perfectly with the cuban coffee and milk I ordered on accident. Very, very good.

Then, even though I wasn't hungry, because you have to when eating at a place like Cafe Versailles, I ordered a Cuban sandwich. Folks, THIS is where it's at: 

And this is also where it's at:

Imagine: melty, buttery cheese, with tangy mustard and pickles covered in ham and chopped pork on the most perfect crispy Cuban bread you can imagine. Crazy Cafe Versailles, Hungry Sam salutes you.

So damn good. 

Until we eat again, stay Hungry!

Garlic-Thyme Sweet Potato Fries -- Baked, Not Fried

I know, I know; I have long been absent from your RSS reader, Facebook feeds, and Twitter thingies. What can I say? I'm traveling a great deal, often without a computer (and blogging from the iPad is nigh insanity-inducing), including on the weekends. I did eat spectacular food in San Francisco -- including, quite literally, the most sublime Thai food ever -- but did not take too many pictures. Hungry Sam Fail.

HOWEVER! To appease and appeal to you, dear readers, I'm including a recipe and some semi-sweet photos of one of my favorite side dishes: Baked Garlic-Thyme Sweet Potato Fries!

Loyal, long-time readers of mine know that I've mentioned my propensity to whip up fast and easy baked sweet potato fries in the past, but this here is a different recipe (after the jump).

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Sweet Tea, Barbecue, and Giant Cheese; or, Things I learned in Mississippi & Alabama

Note: To any MS/AL natives, proponents, defenders, or Mississippi/Alabama state tourism bureau officials who may read Hungry Sam -- this list of food-oriented lessons learned is not exhaustive, significant, or even planned out. Don't worry about it.

1) Lesson Number One: Sweet Tea is Sweet

Sweet tea, as it turns out, is very sweet. Very, very, very sweet. Wicked sweet. Extraordinarily sweet. And is served in quantities far greater than I could reasonably stomach.

I have somehow lived my life to date without ever trying true southern sweet tea. Now, that has been rectified. Let's move on, before I offend anyone.

2) Lesson Number Two: Birmingham has Pretty Damn Good Barbeque

I have a hard time comparing barbeque because of the endless varieties and styles and meats and all that good stuff. You might say I'm a barbecue relativist -- I appreciate (most) individual barbecue experiences for what they are.

That said, I managed to find some seriously legitimate barbecue in Birmingham, at a joint called Jim 'N Nick's BAR-B-Q. Below, revel in the glory of my combo pulled pork and spare ribs platter with a side of corn muffins, bacon collard greens, and baked beans. (I wasn't hungry for another 18 hours.)

and...

3) Lesson Number Three: At Mississippi State University, You Can Obtain a Giant Ball of Cheese

I know this because I was given a four-pound ball of Edam cheese from Mississippi State University as a thank-you gift by the members of my org's Mississippi state affiliate. I kid you not. It's the size of a medium-sized canteloupe. Or a canonball, which was apparently the origin of the mold size.

IT'S AS THOUGH THEY ALREADY KNEW I LOVED CHEESE!!!

Thank you, AAUW of Mississippi, for the cheese.

In Which Hungry Sam Goes to Mississippi & Alabama

Good morning, dear readers -- I have some new news that may or may not be delicious in nature.

I am, starting today, beginning about six weeks of gone-nearly-every-weekend travel for work, commencing with the Great Southern States of Mississippi and Alabama! So right off the bat: Is anyone aware of any quintessential, can't-miss Mississippian or Alabaman food I should seek out while I'm down south? If so, comment below!

Anyways, between now and early May, I'll be trekking cross-country to such exotic locales as Huntington, West Virginia, San Francisco, California, Columbia, Missouri, and elsewhere -- and I plan to bring back some finger-lickin' good food photography and adventures for you all to enjoy.

I have very little sense of what this means for my cuisine and eating habits, but please enjoy the break from recipe-centric blogging and the foray into travel food posts!

Stay Hungry, my friends.

The Best Brunch in All of Atlanta

I have a favorite brunch place in several cities. Visiting Portland, ME? Bintliff's is the absolute bees knees (get the corned beef hash, made with huge chunks of house-made corned beef). Swinging by Rochester, NY? Hit up Simply Crepes (and order a crepe. Duh). In Washington, DC for the weekend? I do dearly love Busboys and Poets (pretty incredible crab benedict; they call it "The Neptune").

If you live in, are stopping by or just within a couple throusand miles of Atlanta, I'd like to recommend The Best Brunch in All of Atlanta: Murphy's.

Why Murphy's? There are the basics (great service; superb coffee and espresso drinks; shafts of brilliant sunlight which shine through the open french doors; the calm breeze which meanders through and around the restaurant). Oh, you want three really, AWESOME, food-related reasons? OK:

1) SHRIMP. AND. GRITS.

Oh my God. You might think you don't like grits. I betcha you'd like them if someone were to, say, cook them in cream and cheddar cheese, cover them in a piquant tomato and andouille sausage stew, toss on a handful of giant spice-rubbed grilled shrimp, and top it all off with a perfectly poached egg and scallions for good measure.

Seriously. I have dreams about this shrimp and grits. It's what brings me back to Murphy's every time I visit Atlanta (every two months to see Jen). They're so good, I'm salivating just writing about them.

Two more reasons and a Hungry Sam Housekeeping Note after the jump!

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Pineapple Curry Chicken Salad; and How I Develop New Recipes

I have never claimed to be a real chef, nor do I have the credentials to really say I know what I'm doing when I have an adventure in the kitchen. Mostly, I just sort of channel lots of enthusiasm toward whatever my end goal might be (dinner, normally) and hope for the best.

But anytime I want to make a new dish, or add some Hungry Sam flair to a food I already like to eat, I find that a little forethought and a general strategy helps. I follow three steps whenever I develop a new-to-me recipe:

1. I pick a general type of dish.
2. I think about similar foods I've cooked before.
3. I think about similar foods I've eaten before.

That's it! So easy -- easy, because if you don't feel your cooking experience is sufficient, you can let your eating experience fill in the gaps. You can do this. Trust me. 

Today's dish follows just this approach: Pineapple Curry Chicken Salad!

This, of course, is the end goal. We'll get here. Strategy, more pics, and the recipe after the jump!

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Crystallized Ginger; or, a Very Hungry Sam Valentine's Day

Ok lads and ladies, readers and readettes, get ready for a Very Hungry Sam Valentine's Day 2012! Last year, we explored home-made ginger-cognac truffles, which were impressive, delicious, and pretty easy. This year, keeping with the ginger theme, I offer for your gift-giving and tasting pleasure a related treat: Simple crystalized ginger!

Yes indeed, folks -- you can make your beau (or yourself, dammit) some intense, spicy, sweet, nicely-textured ginger candy to celebrate/rage on this most-contrived holiday! The best part? You can do this tonight for under five dollars and still be super impressive tomorrow evening.

(Sidebar: If eating too much candy gives you a stomach ache -- what my friends and I call "candy belly" -- but ginger is good for settling your stomach, is this the candy you eat when you have candy belly?)

Answers and the recipe after the jump!

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