Any excuse to eat mustard

I am of the opinion that some foodstuffs are merely an excuse to eat condiments. Most of them I could easily spoon straight into my mouth. You know I actually knew a woman who said she didn't eat condiments. What?!? That's like saying you don't like "smells." 

Josh and I went to Casey's here in Ann Arbor and to my elation there was a selection of seven mustards and four hot sauces. OMFG we were in heaven. So we did a taste test.

Zatarin's Creole Mustard - pretty mild but with whole seeds. Note that vinegar was listed as the first ingredient. Good for those who might want to try out a whole-seed mustard but can't necessarily handle a kick.

Delouis Fils moutarde a l'Ancienne - imported from France. Almost straight-up mustard (first ingredient is mustard seeds, unlike our Creole friend with vinegar topping the list). Quite a kick with a smokey, old-timey taste to it.

Honeycup Uniquely Sharp - this was by far the biggest disappointment for me. While it definitely had a zing (from finely ground mustard seeds, or mustard flour), it was a bit too grainy in texture and VERY sweet. Most likely because it listed brown sugar, vinegar, and oil before mustard flour. It was yummy, but more in a honey mustard kind of way.

Speaking of sweet mustards, Mucky Duck Sweet and Tangy fell into the same category, but I forgave it because it claims to be "pub style" and has a British flag on it (I never expect much from British cuisine).

These were the new ones we tried. The other three were: Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard (I still think baguettes are long bready excuses for slathering dijon onto), Gulden's, and French's (best taken on a soft pretzel with huge grains of salt).

***Update:
The day after our mustard taste test, we met an amazing woman selling mustard in Costco (and offering 5 kinds of mustards on pretzels). We got one of each! Just wanted to give a shout-out to Mustard Girl, operating out of Wisconsin and currently hoping Costco will carry her brand. Her story about seeking a sign from God on whether or not to start her business was especially touching and hilarious. Good luck, MG!

Mustard Girl found an easy customer in me :)

Beer-battered fish tacos

Beer-battered fish tacos. Yum!

Any trip to California has a prerequisite fish taco run. This trip was no different! I stayed in Monterey with my foodie friends Alex and Tiffany, and we made a night of it making fish tacos and watching Breaking Bad (seriously, they always get me into a new show whenever I visit).

The perfect fish taco looks something like this:
Two soft corn tortillas, you can tell they are homemade
Fish tenderly cooked (not overcooked, mind you) in some deliciously flavorful marinade
Chopped cilantro
Pico de Gallo

Our version took a slightly different, heavier form. We started by making mayonnaise, rather than using the store-bought version. I'm not sure Alex's exact recipe, but you can find some good ones online. I like to add a bit of lemon juice to mayonnaise to give it some extra zing. He had previously made a chipotle paste by boiling and reducing hot peppers. Alex added that to the mayonnaise, creating a chipotle mayo. For the recipe we based our version on, check out the Barefoot Contessa's site.

We took the codfish (we got it super fresh from the fish market in New Monterey) and coated it in beer batter (see the recipe). I was on salsa duty. Here's what I made for a yummy red cabbage version:


1/2 red cabbage, sliced thinly
1/2 onion, sliced thinly
3-4 tomatoes, diced
3-4 jalepeno peppers, sliced (seeds out unless you want a bite of hotness!)
2-3 garlic cloves, smooshed
1 lemon or lime juice, squeezed fresh
1/4 cup, or as much as you want, cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper