Cornbread Celebration

I am just going to go ahead and give myself a little pat on the back. I finally found a job! We have been in Florida for almost two months now (two months already!) and I have been on the hunt for work. I have been telling myself that I want to be choosy. There are numerous jobs available, but being that we have the gracious opportunity to stay with my in-laws, I decided that I'm not going to get just any job. I had Frankie and Johnny's New York Pizza call me after replying for an ad on Craigslist to an unnamed restaurant looking for an experienced server. "Yo, dis is FrankIE, you lookin for a job? Cawll me, we'll tawlk." Um....no thank you. Most other restaurant jobs were the 4-11pm shift, 5 nights a week. And when you are as in love with cooking as I am, two nights a week of cooking just isn't enough. Plus I would like to spend some time with my husband.

I randomly found a posting for a retail wine shop so I sent over my information. I was asked in for an interview and was happy to find that the young owners had a genuine passion for wine without the pretentiousness. Last night I went back in for a second/working interview and helped out with a charity wine tasting event. They also sell craft beer too! Bonus! I throughly enjoyed myself and am so excited for the opportunity. I have much to learn, however, so it is a little overwhelming. Although I have a solid knowledge of varietals and the major wine producers, they specialize in smaller wineries, many which I am not familiar with. But it is just like learning any other wine list - of which I had to do in my restaurant jobs - this one just happens to be a bit bigger, 400 to be exact. I am so grateful to have found something that is along the lines of my passions for food, wine and beer. I have found that keeping a positive outlook helps immensely. There were times I just wanted to curl up and disappear, bored out of my mind and hopeless that I wouldn't find anything outside a restaurant job. I think writing this blog has helped keep me in a positive mindset. It's nice to have something to focus on daily, challenging my mind to be creative. "When life gives you limes, make margaritas!"

I have been in such a great mood today. I finally feel like things are coming together for us down here. I kind of breathed a little sigh of relief. I will be making some money so I don't have to keep such a tight budget and I can concentrate on enjoying living in southwest Florida rather than spending my days job searching. Today I took the dogs to the dog beach. It is so beautiful out, deep blue sky without a cloud to be seen; breezy and not too hot.

Today I'm going to share with you one of my most favorite recipes. I'm feeling good, in a positive mindset, so I thought something sweet would be appropriate. Some of you may have had this cornbread because I make it so often. It has become my standard cornbread now. It's actually more like a cake than bread, that's probably why it tastes so heavenly. This recipe is out of At Blanchard's Table - A Trip To The Beach Cookbook by Bob and Mel Blanchard.

Caribbean Cornbread

Recipe from At Blanchard's Table

Serves 8

1 cup flour

1 cup cornmeal

2 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups canned cream style corn

1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat the oven to 325 F.

Butter and flour a 9 inch glass cake pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar. While the mixer is running, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. All the corn, pineapple and cheese and mix to blend. On a low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix until blended well.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a tester stick in the center comes out clean. Bout 1 hour and 15 minutes. Do not under cook the cornbread. It should be golden brown on top when done.