Last weekend, my dad was in town for a visit. About an hour after his plane touched down, and on the recommendation of several friends, we went fishing for redfish, trout and whatever else would bite with guide and longtime Charlestonian Peter Brown. Though the redfishing was really good, the speckled trout ended up the highlight.

Speckled, or sea trout, are among of the lowcountry’s most succulent, tasty fish. This time of year they’re found inshore, mostly in shallow waters feeding on crustaceans, shrimp and small fish. After a solid afternoon of catching redfish (but none in the right size window for keeping), Peter put us on the speckled trout.

My first cast with a wiggling live shrimp quickly lured a three-foot bonnethead shark from the grass. The shark aggressively circled the shrimp, then took it. With a little luck I eventually brought him in and let him go — fun fight and a good picture, but not what we were after.

After a few more casts (and several smaller fish), I finally brought in a sea trout big enough to keep. We put the spotted iridescent beauty in the livewell to keep him fresh, then headed back to the dock where we cleaned, scaled and otherwise left the trout whole. We packed it ice, and headed home for dinner.

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Now that fall’s here, I’m settling into my new home on a small barrier island near Charleston, SC. And after a long summer hiatus, my cookbook writing and testing has begun in earnest — an exploration of the relationship between Southern (U.S.), and Southeast Asian food and cooking. More on that later.

Meanwhile, I started the workweek off today with a hearty breakfast combining good old oatmeal with ingredients prominent in Southeast Asian cooking — coconut (milk), bananas and cashews.

First, I combined a handful of steel cut oats, twice as much water, and a pinch of salt in a large microwave-safe glass bowl, covered the bowl in plastic wrap and cooked the oats at 80% power for six minutes. Then I moved the partially-cooked oats to a saucepan, barely covered them with coconut milk, and stirred in a tablespoon each of butter and brown sugar.

I simmered the oats, stirring often, until they were soft — another five minutes. Then I topped them with a sliced banana, a handful of cashews I had crushed in a mortar and pestle, and a drizzle of honey.

Things that grow together definitely did go together here: the coconut milk, bananas and cashews were a great match, especially anchored by the underlying warm nuttiness of the oats.

This space has been quiet for the past couple of months, and we’ve neglected to explain why. The short answer is that we’ve had a really busy summer.

My book about the pluot was published last week by Bloomsbury and is now available at bookstores everywhere. In The Perfect Fruit: Good Breeding, Bad Seeds and the Hunt for the Elusive Pluot, I tell the backstory of the pluot and its creator, Floyd Zaiger.

In its review of the book, Publisher’s Weekly wrote that “Brantley’s engaging mixture of agronomy, reportage and food porn… goes down easy.” For more information about the book, you can visit chipbrantley.com, follow me on Twitter, or check out Bloomsbury’s page on The Perfect Fruit. To keep track of upcoming readings and author events, please join The Perfect Fruit (the book) group.

One more personal note, Elizabeth, Angus and I moved to Alabama in June, and we’re slowly getting settled to life at the edge of the subtropics. Elizabeth and I grew up in Birmingham, and while we miss our life in MA, we’ve loved being closer to our families and reconnecting with old friends. Birmingham is also one of the best food towns out there. Come visit us and we’ll prove it.

In Cookthink news, we’re excited to announce that we’ve recently partnered with Weather.com on a syndication deal. We’ll share more details on that closer to the end of the summer, but be sure to check out the re-design at Weather.com–they’re adding a lot of interesting features.

One thing we’d love to see: Al Roker talking more about the impact of weather on our food cravings. As anyone who’s read Cookthink for a little while knows, that topic is one of Brys’s obsessions. In fact, he’s been busy this summer researching and writing a cookbook about the influence of weather and climate on cooking. (Right now, he’s studying the food of a certain humid coastal plain.) Look for updates from him later this summer.

More news soon. Stay cool in August.

I just got back from a good long trip to the panhandle of Florida along the Gulf of Mexico coast, where we’ve been vacationing since I was little. I’ve always appreciated the amazing seafood down there, but there’s one thing in particular I look forward to each trip — the shrimp.

Shrimp, of course, look and taste reflective of the water they live in. When raw, these glisten clear and just a little opaque, with a hint of coral and aqua. When barely cooked through they’re bright white and pink, firm, sweet — the best of both shrimp and lobster in a single crustacean.

This year, a few miles from the beach on a bridge crossing a large coastal bay, I came across a shrimp boat selling shrimp caught the night before. Jackpot. I went back again and again.

Because they’re so delicate, for all the ways I cooked them when I was there (I must have eaten six pounds), my favorite was simply boiled for one minute with crab boil, chilled, peeled, then eaten straight up with a glass of crisp white wine. I miss them already.

Recipe: Southern Boiled Shrimp
Recipe: Spicy Shrimp Salad Sandwich
Recipe: Spicy Shrimp And Corn Fritters

This morning in Paris, I was waiting in line at the police station next to Notre Dame to get my visa renewed as I do every year with the foreign-born Parisian masses requesting permission to stay. It was chilly but the purple lilac trees were in bloom and the two policewomen doing crowd control were passing the time trading recipes.

Specifically, they were discussing the fine points of Quiche Lorraine, the French classic that is a simple mixture of eggs, lardons and cream. “I’m from Lorraine and I make a real Quiche Lorraine,” French policelady number one was faintly bragging to her sidekick. “Pas de fromage!”

“Oh, really?” said policelady numéro deux, before being treated to a blow-by-blow of the recipe by her colleague, down to oven temperature and the correct number of eggs (it was three).

All of which just goes to show you that nothing is sacred when it comes to cooking — and even French people don’t always know that an authentic Quiche Lorraine doesn’t include cheese. Nevertheless, we say skip the fromage — the real thing is rich and creamy enough without it.

Recipe: Quiche Lorraine (Cookthink)

My favorite food blog these days is The Fruit Blog, written by “Evil Fruit Lord”, a berry breeder in California. You won’t find recipes here, but if you love fruit or fruit breeding (better still, both), then read this blog.

The Cookthink kitchen has been shut down for a few days for renovations, and not having a kitchen has reminded me how much I enjoy cooking comforting, cozy food in winter.

The other day was the coldest so far this year, and as the afternoon rolled around I was craving a one-pot dish with pork and greens. Even though I couldn’t cook (and ended up getting takeout for dinner), I found myself fantasizing about a pasta dish with prosciutto, Brussels sprouts and cream that I made the night before the kitchen demolition started.

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Once a week or so, I forget that I have bread toasting under the broiler and then remember it only when the smoke alarm goes off.

The other thing I routinely forget to do? Cover the pot when I’m bringing water to a boil. This has the double effect of 1) taking the water longer to come to a boil and then 2) evaporating faster so that once it does come to a boil, I’ve got less water to boil in.

It’s fall.

Angus turns 1 year old today. At his party on Saturday, he took one taste of cake and proved, once and for all, that he’s inherited his dad’s salty tooth.

(And you know, you can search for birthday recipes at Cookthink.com)