Love, Tina Marie Antiques

El numbero uno.

That mean's "The Number One", as in "The number one thing to-do on my "30 before 30" list was to establish my business in New Orleans. Originally the plan was to move my catering business down here and to open up a food truck. This plan existed before I found the awesomeness that is antiques. I know I sound like a little old lady, but I seriously LOVE this business. If you've ever seen "Storage Wars" or "American Pickers", I kind of do a cross between those two things. I buy items at auction and sometimes I pick items. This satisfies my love of shopping.

I also love to be crafty and restore old items, which I get to do in this line of work.

Earlier this month I high-tailed it to Texas and brought back a ton of stuff for my little shop.

I have a space in the Magazine Antique Mall.

3017 Magazine St

New Orleans, LA 70115

(504) 896-9994

(next to Sucre, across from the Cigar shop)

I have tons of "fun" items. (That one is for you Frank.)

My goal is to have pictures up on my website soon, so you can buy things from far, far away.

I'm so excited for this ya'll.

Love,

Tina Marie

Crossing off the List/ Recipe Time

I am finally (sort of) settled in New Orleans. I'm getting a lot accomplished on my 30 before 30 list, but there is one thing in particular that I need to start now, Number 22, blog twice a week for a year. Yep, as many times as I get too busy to blog, I no longer have an excuses. It's on my list, and I am determined to make it happen.

Today I'm going to share a recipe. It's no secret that I'm Catholic, and as a Catholic person I don't eat meat on Fridays during Lent. That being said, eating tuna sandwhiches and fried shrimp can get old really fast. I was on the phone with my mom last week and she reminded me of another dish that she made for me when I was younger. It's called Abondigas. Technically an abondiga is a meatball, I flatten mine and make them cakes. If you like crab cakes you will like this dish.

I start with a can of pink salmon.
The salmon has the bones in it, so you will need to pick out the bones.

After you have deboned your salmon you need to add about 8 saltine crackers crushed up. I just crush them in my hand before adding them to the mix. Next add one raw egg and half of a small onion, finely diced. Mix everything together and add a a pinch of salt (remember the saltimes have salt on them, so don't add to much) and a dash of pepper.

After mixing everything together form cakes, similar to crab cakes. Fry them until golden brown on each side. I used a little bit of olive oil in my pan, but you can use butter, any kind of oil, or the spray stuff. You just want to make sure they don't stick.

That's it! You're done! Your salmon cakes, or abonigas, are ready to eat. I like to eat mine with tortillas. But you can have yours on their own, or with bread or crackers. Enjoy!

Love,

Tina Marie

Deboning a Chicken: 30B430

I did it! I deboned the heck out of that chicken. It was awesome.

No bones... and it still looks like a chicken!

I have always wanted to debone a chicken. I especially wanted to try it after watching Julie and Julia (Seriously LOVED that movie). Part of my desire stems from wanting to learn more and more about cooking and skills in general. Because I'm not a trained chef I feel like I need to constantly strive to learn more and more about cooking. I've recently become enamoured with a few kitchen gadgets, and a new set of professional series knives, that I would have never known about had I not taken the time to talk to other foodie minded people. I know there is so much more to learn so this was just one step on that journey. I decided to use Jacques Pepin as my guide. He has a great youtube vide up. I watched it about 10 times before I made my first cut, and "rewinded" it about 5 times during the process. I made a few mistakes, but overall I would call it a success. I stuffed my chicken with spinach, monzerella, artichokes, and parmesean cheese. I baked it at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. It was so yummy, and got rave reviews all around. I really want to try it again soon and see if I can eliminate all the mistakes I made along the way. In the mean time, enjoy the Pepin video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAekQ5fzfGM&noredirect=1

Love,

Tina Marie