FabSugar

A Few of My Favorite Things: New Orleans and Beyond

OnSugar Blog — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:07:26 PST

Get ready for your mouth to water. Food Orleans invites us to share some of her favorite iPhone food photos from New Orleans and beyond.

I've been cleaning out my iPhone photo roll and came across some great shots that made me swoon, laugh, and shake my head at how good this stuff was. This year I got to go to my first LSU game in Baton Rouge, and although I probably lost a small percentage of my hearing, I had a great time. And the jambalaya was great! We're also enjoying some shucking-good oysters these days. Come visit!

Creole Creamery: knock your flip-flops off good!

a fried-potato omelette from Camellia Grill (Riverbend). I think this should be on everyone's to-eat list.

For more, keep reading.

Snacking Good: Natchitoches Meat Pies

OnSugar Blog — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:07:39 PST

We've always wanted to take a stab at rolling out a few Natchitoches meat pies. Thanks to an easy recipe from Food Orleans, this might be a dream realized sooner rather than later.

[Baked or fried? You decide.]

Natchitoches meat pies are one of those special little treats with a name as fun to say as they are to scarf down. Nackadish - that's how you say it - is a small town we drive through on our way north to visit Alexandria or Oklahoma, and it's where Steel Magnolias was filmed, and it's famous for these little pies. It's a beautiful little place, with a picturesque riverfront lined with shops and restaurants that have their own sort of French Quarter-ish wrought iron balconies (remember the Easter scene where Jackson slapped Ouiser? That's the riverfront!). But you don't have to go into the actual town to get yourself some meat pies; just stop at any gas station right off I-10. They all fry them up and they're all pretty wonderful.

For her recipe, continue reading.

Linguine With Sea Urchin and Caviar

OnSugar Blog — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:01:25 PST

Sea urchin is often a polarizing ingredient. Yoo Eatz encourages us to muster some courage and embrace this culinary adventure in the form of pasta.

What's so gross about sea urchin? Even some of the most adventurous eaters I know will make the most horrific faces when the topic comes up.

I asked my husband about this - he generally recoils when I suggest that we share a pair of nigiri at the sushi bar - and he offered that it's a textural thing. Some people say it resembles phlegm (or worse), and I heard one person characterize the briny bits as "little orange tongues" (although, let's face it: the truth of what uni is may actually be harder to stomach!). But a lot of these same people will tell me that the flavor doesn't bother them; in fact, they find it quite pleasant.

For more, plus a recipe, keep reading!

Ginger Fried Rice

OnSugar Blog — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:18:42 PST

After a long day of football-watching and cocktail-drinking, this ginger fried rice topped with a fried egg from Fresh Tart sounds like the perfect hangover helper, don't you think?

OK yes, I realize that I'm posting yet another fried egg dish, but this one is just too good to not share. I had actually forgotten about it, which is rather amazing given how many times I've made the dish since Mark Bittman first wrote about it in the New York Times two years ago.

This is a Jean-Georges Vongerichten recipe, simple and elegant and exactly how I like to cook and eat. The fried rice itself has but three ingredients: oil, leeks, and rice. You wouldn't expect just rice and leeks to be so addictive, but they are, particularly when topped with a fried egg and crispy ginger and garlic. A drizzle of soy sauce and sesame oil to finish makes the whole thing completely sublime.

If you make an effort to keep leeks around, count this as a perfect quick dinner when you invite someone over and forget to swing by the store to pick up ingredients. I don't often find myself with leftover rice, so I make a fresh batch and cool it on a baking sheet before continuing - works perfectly.

For the recipe and many others, start following Fresh Tart, and if you're feeling creative, start your own OnSugar blog!

Love. Write. Win. Introducing the OnSugar Blogging Challenge!

PopSugar — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:55:35 PST

Everyone has their passions, and now's the chance to share yours. To celebrate OnSugar's new features, we're challenging you to pick up your keyboard and start writing. We want to know what drives you and your passions. Are you up for the challenge?

During February, we'll post a new question each day to get you thinking. As incentive, we're giving away four weekly HP Pavilion dv6t laptops to bloggers who have the most likes, comments, followers, and reblogs. As if four weekly laptop prizes were not enough, the blogger who inspires us the most will win the OnSugar blogging package, including an extraordinary HP Envy14 Spectre and an external drive! Keep reading to find out how to enter.

Ahoy (Again) to Peg Leg Pete's Grouper Sandwich

OnSugar Blog — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:12:02 PST

Between the Bread has a knack for offering up drool-inducing photos and descriptions of the many sandwiches she samples. But her story of her most recent encounter with Peg Leg Pete's fried grouper sandwich has given us a major craving.

I have already sung the praises of Peg Leg Pete's fried grouper sandwich, but one visit wasn't enough. So on my last trip to Pensacola, dad, Dee, and I took Andrew to taste the strange deliciousness of American cheese on fried fish.

Thankfully, Peg Leg's did not disappoint. We ordered two dozen oysters, an afternoon bushwacker, and a few fish sammies. I got the Cajun grilled grouper this time (below), and though the fish is just as succulent and buttery, the fried version still wins out.

Keep reading for more.

Shocking Truths About the Underemployment of College Graduates

OnSugar Blog — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:15:10 PST

OnSugar blogger Beauty and the Budget shares the shocking unemployment statistics of college graduates.

As a teenager, it seemed as though the next few steps in my life were going to be easy. You go to college and you get a job. That's what all of the older kids did. What I didn't know was that I would graduate college one year after the recession began and that my dream job would be even harder to grasp, much less finding a job with a good salary and benefits.

Since graduation, I have not been able to find a job that pays more than $10.50 an hour. Even though I have liked my jobs, that doesn't mean I am not financially stressed. I have around $40K in student loan debt - and that's even after receiving a $10K scholarship. Sometimes I feel like I could have skipped college altogether considering I have worked jobs that don't even require a college degree. On the optimistic side of things, I still feel like getting a college degree is a good idea. I just wish I'd have known then what I'd be getting myself into and that I wouldn't just magically graduate with a good job.

Read on for more.

Winter Views on the Sea

OnSugar — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:00:32 PST

Here's a post from OnSugar blog House of Anaïs:

Here's some special winter decor for the patios and gardens. Snow, giant lanterns, plants, and reindeer furs - totally weird yet so cute it makes me wish I could do the same!

The combination is so unusual that it definitely wins the eclectic inspiration award prize for the day. Just love this garden setup and that fab sea view!

Like what you see? Start following House of Anaïs to read more! Or start your own OnSugar blog and maybe it will be featured here as well!

Source

How Often Do You Compare Yourself Financially to Others?

valeriekw — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:55:45 PST

Ever find yourself comparing your finances to other people? OnSugar blogger Beauty and the Budget talks about this dangerous habit.

In a society where everyone wants to keep up with the Kardashians, it's hard not to covet a fancy lifestyle - success, money, material possessions. When you find yourself in a financial rut, it's easy to compare yourself to others. Even if you don't give a hoot about the Kardashians, you might be comparing yourself to other people you know, and that could be a dangerous habit.

Because I've dealt with financial hardships for the majority of my life, I've practically based my entire life around this entire ideology that just about everyone has more than me. In high school, all of my friends had nice cars, and I didn't even have a car - I shared an old beater with my mom. While my friends' parents took them on shopping sprees, I had to work for anything I wanted. But through it all, I gained integrity and learned the value of hard work. That's not saying that my high-school friends aren't hardworking - they really are! It's just that I had to work a little bit harder to get what I wanted.

Even now, as I struggle to find the perfect job that will kick-start my fashion-career aspirations, I face financial hardships through student-loan debt. And let me tell you, making a few dollars over minimum wage at my current job it isn't easy!

When you get down about your finances or feel like you don't have enough, you have to remember that it could be worse. As a self-proclaimed "glass half empty" pessimist, I can assure you that the idea that things could actually get any worse doesn't seem possible. But in all honesty, we have it pretty good as Americans. Just look around you. Not only do we have food on the table, we also have cell phones and iPods, and if you're reading this article, you've got a laptop and an Internet connection, too. When I reflect on those tumultuous times growing up, and even now, I realize that I never actually needed for anything. Aside from financial difficulties, all of my needs are met daily. I just sometimes can't get the things I want, which leads me to comparing myself to others.

What about you - how often do you compare yourself to others?

Want to see more? Start following OnSugar blog Beauty and the Budget or start your own OnSugar blog for a chance to be featured on the PopSugar network.

From the Community: Exercises to Avoid Later in Pregnancy

OnSugar — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:31:42 PST

Recently, OnSugar blogger Coach Lark Says offered advice on how to work out while you're pregnant and in your first trimester. Here's a follow-up post with more advice on exercises to avoid in your second and third trimesters.

In my last post, I went over the benefits to exercising while pregnant and listed some basic guidelines.

In the second and third trimester, you should limit or avoid altogether:

Supine (back lying) exercises, especially exercises where the legs are not moving. These can cause some circulatory problems with blood returning back to your heart from your uterus.

Two more exercises to limit in your second and third trimesters after the break.