Little Bites of Heaven

It’s definitely that time of year. The birds are chirping (sometimes all night), the azaleas are blooming, the grass is getting to that point where it always needs to be cut. It’s really and truly Spring.

Today was opening day for the Memphis Farmers Market. While we did sleep in a little too late to get some of the good stuff, we still managed to get a slice of sweet potato pie from Grandma’s Desserts for breakfast and to come home with bags of treats to flesh out our menu for the week.

We’ll be starting our day tomorrow with an omelet of backyard eggs with fresh mizuna from the Dodson family. Then, we’ll be having a chuck roast from Neola Farms for supper and then turn the leftovers into a stew on Monday. Tuesday will be a bread casserole with kale from the Dodsons, kalamata olive bread from Cucina, and smoked chevre from Bonnie Blue.

Wednesday will be Black Arkansas apples from Jones Orchard stuffed with golden raisins, cinnamon, and Peace Bee Farm honey wrapped in pork jowl from Barnes Farm. Thursday will be Delta Grind grits with venison sausage. Friday will wrap up the week with pickled Lauren Farms freshwater prawns and a cold rice salad.

Our mornings will start well with iced coffee made with McCarter Louisiana style coffee with chicory and Groovy Foods civil granola. It’s nice to be back to fresh local food, and I’m all excited about cooking.

But right after the market is no time to cook. And for that, we now have a new favorite stopping spot – Beignet Cafe on G. E. Patterson, across the street from Cheesecake Corner. It’s been open now for just a little over a week, but you wouldn’t know that from the food. Paul and I shared a 1/2 muffaletta, sweet potato fries, macaroni and cheese balls, and a couple of their cafe beignets. The muffaletta is done right: the right kind of bread and a really nice olive spread. The sweet potato fries are lightly battered and perfectly crispy. The macaroni and cheese balls are made from honest to goodness homemade macaroni and cheese all rolled up, breaded and deep-fried. So evil, but oh so good. We have it on very good authority that the Reuben is wonderful too.

But it’s the beignets that are just outstanding. They have two types to choose from. The New Orleans beignets are square puffs of fried dough, light and crispy with a nice dusting of powdered sugar. The cafe beignets are eggy rich balls of fried dough that literally melt in your mouth. A single order gives you three. Trust me — you’ll want more.

The service is friendly, and the staff is obviously excited to be there and seem to be invested in making this place a success. The space is wonderful — lots of little nooks and crannies and a nice patio for sunny days. They have Wi-Fi, so it would be a great place to get some blogging done with a basket of beignets. Powdered sugar should shake out of the keyboard, right?