Mimi's Spice Muffins

Know what I miss most about living in Arizona?  Not the year-round warm weather.  Not the Dodge Theatre, the Diamondbacks, or Firebird Raceway.  Not the pretty cacti, desert landscape or an invigorating hike up Camelback mountain.  Not even the indoor Swap Mart or Glendale's Catlin Court (although it runs a very close second.)

I miss Mimi's Cafe.  Corny, I realize.  But here in PA, the closest one is in Ohio, and I ain't going to Columbus for anything. 

Mimi's, like so much else, holds a certain sentimental value.  Mimi's reminds me of late dinners with my friend Kevin after an evening of theatre.  Mimi's was the typical lunch spot for my pal Remy and I during a busy work day.  I insisted that Todd go with me once, and he hated it.  Too "fru-fru", he says. 

I took my Dad and Nancy there after a morning hike during their first visit.  My Dad swears his lettuce attacked his face.  I don't think he was too impressed, either. 

Maybe I like Mimi's because it's as close to an authentic French Bistro as we'll ever find stateside.  Maybe I like Mimi's for the atmosphere and comfortable surroundings, especially sitting on the outdoor patio.  I think I really like Mimi's because the food was always great, my favorite being their chopped Cobb salad.

I know, a Cobb salad.  What's so great about that?  Chopped up veggies, bacon, egg and bleu cheese.  No magic there, I suppose. 

My husband brought home some avocados the other day, and they gave me some serious Mimi's Cobb salad cravings.   I was trying to remember exactly what was in theirs (as you know, each chef has their own additions).  I decided to look up Mimi's online, and see if their menu had a breakdown of ingredients.  It did.

But they also had recipes for some of Mimi's specialties.  I remember their muffins with a certain fondness.  They have a recipe on their website, but to save you the trouble of going there to look it up-  here it is!

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

3 eggs

2 & 1/2 cups flour 

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon buttermilk

Nut Topping:

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup walnuts, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375.  In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and the butter together with an electric mixer.  When they are thoroughly mixed, add eggs and beat one more minute.

Sift the flour into a separate bowl, together with the baking soda, nutmeg and the cinnamon.

Add the flour and the buttermilk to the first mixture, mix at low speed until smooth.  To avoid lumps in the batter and the wet and dry ingredients alternately, in small amounts.

Make nut topping; Mix all ingredients in a separate small bowl.

Grease muffin tins with butter or margarine.  You can also use paper baking cups.  Fill each cup 3/4 full of batter.  Add a full, rounded tablespoon of nut topping on top of each muffin cup of batter.  Bake immediately or the topping will sink to the bottom of the muffin.

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.  A toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin should come out dry.  Home ovens heat differently from commercial ovens so you may need to adjust the temperature or the baking time accordingly.

Norm's Shrimp Ceviche

Many years ago I knew a guy named Norm.  Norm was a tall, lanky white man in his mid-50's with bowed legs, silver hair, and a handlebar mustache.  He wore heavy duster coats and cowboy hats all the time, even in Phoenix's 100 degree heat. 

Norm was a boyfriend of a friend of ours.  He was hilarious.  He went to a college bar with us once to hear a death metal band, and was totally moshing on the dance floor in his coat, hat, and silver-tipped boots.  The college kids loved him.

When Norm wasn't moshing or helping his irresponsible daughter move for the 1, 546th time (that's another story for another day) he was making Shrimp Ceviche.  And for that I will always be thankful.

Recently I've been thinking about Norm.  Sometimes you will cross paths with a person, and then you'll never see them or hear from them again.  I wonder what ever happened to good old Norm.  I wonder if he's still living in Phoenix, or if his daughter ever stopped moving around so much.  Maybe he's on Facebook.  I'll never know.  But Norm-  thank you for the good times.  Thank you for loaning me that George Strait CD. (I never did return it.)  And thanks for the Ceviche.

2 lbs. small, cooked shrimp* (tails off)
1 small red onion, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely minced (add more if you like the heat!)
1 English cucumber, peeled and diced
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro, plus a few sprigs for garnish
2 lemons or limes, juiced
1/2 to 2/3 cup Clamato juice
hot sauce, dash or so
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and cubed
1 to 2 Roma tomatoes, small dice (optional, Norm didn't always add tomatoes)
chopped scallion, for garnish (optional)

*You can use fresh shrimp for this recipe, simply do a quick boil in salted water until the shrimp are white.  You can add a little lemon juice to the water.  Allow shrimp to cool completely before mixing the Ceviche.

In a large mixing bowl, combine shrimp, onion, jalapeno, cucumber, avocado, tomatoes (if using) and cilantro.  Add hot sauce, lemon/lime juice and Clamato juice.  Gently toss to avoid smashing the avocados.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator 20-30 minutes.  Garnish with cilantro sprigs and scallions.  Serve cold with tortilla chips.  Norm was particularly fond of the Tostitos scoops with this Ceviche.

Vintage Valentine Greetings!

Remember when Valentine's Day cards had personality?  (Back before Spongebob took over the Valentine universe?)

 My 2nd-grade son picked out the most incredibly ugly, non-Valentine-y cards imaginable to pass out to his class today.  They don't even come with envelopes anymore.  His were Extreme Sports Valentine's Day Cards.  They have pictures of skateboards and motorcycles and jet skis.  They say dumb things like "You've got MAD skills, Valentine!"  and "Dude, you are AWESOME". 

It was depressing, sitting at the kitchen table last evening helping him address these silly little, well, I guess you can call them cards.  I wanted to rush out and by some cute little pink and red doilies and glitter and stickers and have him make his own.  But he would have suddenly had a sore throat when he woke up this morning and begged me to let him stay home.  I mean, really- who takes the time to actually make their own cards nowadays?

Reminisce with me for a minute- I'm about to get all Dick and Jane.  And if you have a colored printer, click on the images and print these REAL Valentine's Day cards off on some card stock and glue them to heart-shaped paper doilies, and pass them on for some nostalgic Valentine's Day fun!