Mauritius in the South: Tasty Tuesday and recap

Time flies! I've been away from my blog for quite some time, mostly because I don't blog from lab, and by the time I get home, I'm so drained that I don't even switch on the laptop. It's especially hectic this week, since I have a big committee next week, and we're dealing with some serious lab drama. I may not blog for a while, who knows!

On this edition of Tasty Tuesday:

CRAWFISH IS BACK!
I met with my BFF Nate last weekend and had a nice relaxing Sunday afternoon. It's crawfish season! How to eat crawfish at anytime of the day on the weekend: Courtyard Southside and Courtyard 280 start their all-you-can eat crawfish at 11:30 am and they run out in about 2-3 hours. Cafe Firenze on Hwy 280 start their crawfish feast at 3 pm. It's all for $15 per person. I love Courtyard Southside - Tom and I went there this Saturday and they let us take Tom's uneaten plate home. There will be no wasted crawfish in my home! Peel 'em and throw them on some lettuce (of course, from the garden), with some cherry tomatoes, sliced onions - yum!

Matt fighting the crawfish

As Tom's last birthday treat, I made him heart shaped eggs with toast and jelly. This is all he eats before his soccer game on Sundays. This past Sunday night, I attempted my first quiche, and made pastry dough from scratch. I used broccoli and mushrooms in the filling. I think it was tasty. And I didn't have to cook for two days! :)

Broccoli and mushroom quiche

Today while I was at lab, I got a special cake request from Tom, watergate cake (http://southernfood.about.com/od/coconutcakes/r/blbb262.htm). I've never made this cake and I hope it turns out ok. It's cooling on the kitchen counter, then it's frosting time.
Since this is for his lab, I had to make sure that ingredients were gluten-free and did not have red food color. I used yellow cake mix instead of white (Betty Crocker makes a gluten-free yellow cake mix but not in white). I used twice the coconut, no pecans, since the pecans packaging said traces of wheat. The only food color was yellow and blue in the cake mix. I substituted the dream whip powder with cool whip, and instead of milk, I used water. I'll let you know next time how it turns out (with pictures if possible) and whether anyone had an allergic reaction.

Garden recap:

All is well in the garden, lost one lettuce head. Three still left. The peppers and gladiolus are doing so much better after I transplanted them. The morning glories have twisting vines. They need a trellis, soon, really soon. Maybe we'll get one this weekend. I can't wait for my Dahlia to bloom.
We have some contamination, I think it came from the potting mix used (got the cheapest one at Lowe's).
Found some pretty flowers on a walk around the neighborhood. Used an old but clean garlic glass jar to display them.
And last but not least, Tom is eating off the garden! He is always drawn to this plant. Can you guess what it is? He had the same plant by his mailbox back at his parents' house.