Mayhaw Man

You may find this thread helpful (if you haven't already looked at it). Cheap Eats in New Orleans I should also add that no one mentioned Taqueria Corona, an excellent Taco Joint on Magazine street up by Audobon Park. I, for example, was there last night and was accompanied by Mrs. Mayhaw, the little Mayhaws and a couple of thier freeloader friends. All of us ate until we were stuffed and I got out for under 60 buck (no drinking included). Edited to say that after Bacchus tomight I will be taking the boys to Frankie and Johnny's for whatever (hopefully crawfish, but it is a bit early although I had some excellent example of those tasty little critters at a party yesterday). The place is a typical neighborhood bar and restaurant and has been around a long time. The food is dependable New Orleans fair and the service is pretty quick (this is important with starving teenagers whose tolerance for their parents-no matter how hip they are -is limited to dinner and borrowing money. Frankie and Johnny's is not retro New Orleans, it just hung around long enough to be cool all over again.

It's funny how things work out. I got home from the parades tonight and there was a message on the machine from my Mom. My parents have decided to take a spur of the moment trip to Harlingen, Tx (by way of Austin where my one year old nephew currently reigns as the king of the grandchildren, but I am sure this has nothing to do with the trip ) to visit her Baylor roomate. She called to see if I wanted anything from across the border, as they go over for lunch and dinner a couple of times during these trips (and my Dad has a bootmaker there who is amazing and he usually orders a pair. Nothing like fitted cowboy boots to dress out the well fitted gentleman farmer ). I said, "Well, oddly enough I was just discussing this on egullet......." I ordered a quart of vanilla, a large citrus squeezer (they break eventually), a new tortilla press (aluminum), and a case of Penefiel (sic) Agua Mineral (I know it's just soda, but I love that stuff). Thanks for the suggestions, even though they weren't exactly for me.

I will post them over Sunday p.m. and next week. Robin, the boys, and a various assortment of revelers have already bolted across the lake with the camera and I am following her as soon as I can leave work (I am off until Thursday as soon as I walk out of here). The lawn jockey costumes were great. The garden gnomes were hysterical and the Queen Bees were a vision of lovliness (in their beehive hair and their large protruding stingers sticking out behind ). Dinner tonight will consist of a giant taco repast at Taqueria Corona. A wonderful taqueria on Magazine up near the park ( I always forget to tell people about it when they are looking for cheap and good, but it is a great place and I highly reccomend it).

Now this is the kind of review that I can get behind. Talk about not "mincing words"- I bet his keyboard sounded like an AK-47 as he was slapping out this piece. Rarely have I seen a thrashing that was more fun to read. It looks like he did his best to make sure that he was fair (3 visits, many dishes, some of them several times). Thanks for the link Fifi.

Parades, Parades, and more Parades! Today will be our Town Parade in Abita Springs -The Krewe of Push Mo-THe theme is "Lawn Ornaments Through the Ages" -The little Mayhaws will be Lawn Jockeys and some of our friends children who came over from New Orleans will be garden gnomes and my wife Robin will be parading with her Krewe-The Queen Bees (who were queen bees along time before Jill COnnor wrote the Sweet Potato Queen book and they will be glad to tell you about it )- Later in the day over to New Orleans to catch the end of Iris and Tucks across from the Columns hotel on St Chuck Ave. Sunday will be Bacchus in the late afternoon. A "superparade" with tons of floats and lots of bands and a stupid amount of throws. Monday we will be going to Proteus (a beautiful old line parade-all of the floats are mounted on wagons that are 100 plus years old) and then Orpheus. Orpheus is Harry Connick Jr's parade and while alot of people were intially pissed that he bought his way into carnival, everyone has lightened up now as it is a great parade with wonderfully decorated (amny of the floats are animated and have lots of cool neon) floats and a full marching band between each float. Lot's of oddball marching groups are thrown into the mix as well and it is really a fun parade. Tuesday morning will find us out in the Faubourg Marigny joining up with all of the art types and other misfits to march through the Quarter with the Krewe of St Ann. An informal marching group (just show up in a great costume and you are in) that prides itself on disorder and disorganization. This is usually the most fun thing I do during Carnival. Later in the day I will go watch the drag contest until I have to escape and back home. The Little Mayhaw's (who are not allowed anywhere near the quarter on Mardi Gras Day) will be riding in a parade in Covington, Louisiana and throwing all of th stuff that they have collected over the last ten days. Recycling at it's best. I hope that the world keeps on spinning everywhere else, because down here we just can't be bothered with worldly events and problems for the next few days.

Robyn, Make this delicious Tomato Basil Pie with all of those extra toms. You'll be glad you did. (you can replace the crawfish tails with shrimp, or even scallops if you can get them) This is a great recipe and kind of has Springtime written all over it. Since you are cooking for two you can do them as tarts and freeze what you don't eat. THis recipe freezes really well.

Citrus Squeezers (the cast aluminum kind, get a couple of sizes, irreplaceable) Wooden Spoons, stirrers, pushers Vanilla

Robyn, We don't have Costco, but we do have Sam's. They have the same deal on the peppers and I have stopped buying them anywhere else. It kinda makes you wonder how the grocery can get a buck and a half a pop for small yellows and reds. Actually, I don't buy alot of produce there as I have a really good veg stand in my little town and a great farmers market 2X weekly, but I do buy peppers and a few other things that I use regularly as the price is kinda hard to beat.

My mother may actually be Iron Southern Grandmother (although it would be very highly polished, tasteful iron ). If Food Network set up a battle between her and Bobby Flay there would be some serious stomping going on. By the time she got finished with him Bobby would be saying yes ma'am and no ma'am and behaving like a gentleman. It would be a great match.

What on your student budget to you consider cheap? New Orleans, in fact, is probably one of the best places to dine inexpensively and well in North America (as I once pointed out to someone her - Some of our gas station convenience stores have better food (really there is some awesome stuff out there ) than many places have in their restaurants). Gimme a budget and we'll get you fixed up.

If I come with a carload of seafood I suppose that I would be even more welcome. I will pm you and maybe we can work something out.

Welcome Saturnbar, Given your name I though that you might enjoy this thread. Go to page 8 and there is some discussion about the Saturn and other dumps in NOLA Dive Bar Thread

I use colored peppers all the time instead of green. My wife doesn't like them much so I tend to replace them with something else. The bell peppers are the important part, not so much the color. In Gumbo the colors add a lot to the visuals as well as the flavor and I use them by choice most of the time (unless the price is stupid, which it often is. In the summer and fall I have them in my garden so price really isn't an issue. Personally I love green bell peppers, but it seems as though many people don't.

I keep getting mental picture of somebody driving the pigs into the barn and hooking them up to the milking machine. It is not a pretty picture I have in my head.

If anyone ever saw the episode of Home Improvement with the "Manly Kitchen" you would know exactly what I want. Actually, I am working on what I want right now and hope to start construction in the late spring. I want an outdoor kitchen (picture a large screen porch with counters and cooking equipment rather than chaise lounges and coffee tables). My home was originally designed with one (as were all of the large houses down here of similar age) and there was certainly a reason for it. 14 ft. ceilings on both floors can hold a shitload of heat and the central cooling bills will choke a horse. By moving alot of the cooking out to the out of doors I will be able to listen to Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Louis Jordan, and anything else I feel like at top volume and also not heat up my house. Concrete floors with drains for cleaning up after boiling seafood and a new brick pit (I already have a great one (4x2, built of firebrick with multiple grates for heat adjustment), but it not under a roof and we get 60 plus inches of rain per year, so no roof can be inconvenient).

Nick-I fixed the link. Sorry about that. HJshorter-The minimum order has to do with the way that the bugs are packed as they come from the packing house. They are loaded into onion sacks and the average weight is somewhere between 35 and 45 pounds. Here in crawfish world that would be enough for about 8 people if you are using the 5 lb. per person measure.

My children would rather eat at the bar at NOLA than anyplace in New Orleans. It may have something to do with the constant stream of mini treats from everybody for the boys, but I could be wrong.

Sumac, Thanks for the report. Sounds like you ate your way to a good time. What happened at Brigsten's? I don't think I have ever had a bad meal there, and am constantly telling people that their early bird is one of the best deals in town (2nd only to lunch at Commander's Palace-one of the best dining deals in the US).

I should probably start this somewhere else, but for those of you that attend the World's Greatest Food and Music Festival, you are welcome to come to wherever the hell our annual rediculously large and slightly complicated crawfish boil will be. Sometimes on the Northshore at my house on the second Wednesday (this year that would be April 28) and sometimes at various locations on the Southshore (New Orleans proper) on the second Thursday (April 29 this year). This year it will likely be on the Northshore at my house as lots of people involved in this don't go home between the weekends and we are usually looking for more stupidity after resting up from the first weekend on Monday and Tuesday. It is usually big deal (in an understated "New Orleans-we're happy in the second world" kind of way ) and we pretty much let friends bring friends (as long as they bring libations and ice ) so I don't see why we shouldn't plan this as an event of some sort. So I will think about the mechanics of it all (and discuss it with my co-conspirators) and get back with you soon. Anyway, if you're around you would certainly be welcome.

I am invited to my first big crawfish boil of the season this Saturday and I am way more excited than any right minded person should be. I love those little devils and the whole cooking operation that surrounds them. The big onion sacks filled with writhing crustaceans, the onion, lemons, garlic, artichokes, bell peppers, sausages, and all of the other crawfish boiling accoutrement. I like the giant pots of steaming, spiced water and the sound of a burner bringing it up to a boil. I love the sound of beer cans being cracked open and the music coming from the speakers on the porch. I like the sound of the kids playing in the yard while the men stand around a watch water boil (dispelling any truth to the old saw "a watched pot never boils"-because it does, I have seen it many times . Marcelle Bienvenue on Crawfish In today's Picayune Marcelle Bienvenue has her first crawfish related article of the season (she will write five or six before summer comes) and it contains a good story (as always involving her family, neighbors, and her long suffering husband Rock. THere are a couple of strong recipes at the end of the article (Crawfish Cardinale and Fried Crawfish) that some of you might like to try. And I would also like to take a little space to appeal to those of you that buy crawfish meat to make sure the package says "Product of Louisiana" on it before you buy it. Our fishermen need all of the help they can get and we would all appreciate your support. Sure they cost a little more, but you will find that if you buy a package of Louisana Crawfish Tails and another package of some import that in ONE side by side taste test that the Louisiana tails are far superior in taste, size, and in the amount of delicious fat contained in the package (most imports have steamed washed tails and have no flavor and even less fat, the essential ingredient for great crawfish dishes).

THe title of this article should have been Really Bad New Trend in King Cakes Invades City for Carnival, but it was not titled this way. Fortunately there are some recipes at the end for those of you that want to figure this phenomenon out for yourselves. And for you Emeril bashers out there-Last nights Muses parade (Muse Reads the Tabloids) featured a float with Emeril at the head of the float with a giant, gaping, bloody hole in his chest and a very shocked look on his face. The title of the float was "Bam!". THe headline on the fake "Weekly World Muse" was "Emeril accidentally ingests explosive sausage and exploded all over his TV studio audience". It was very funny and really well done. This was a wonderful parade and after only four years it has become one of the "must sees" for parade traditionalists in the small parade category.

WHen I was a kid I used to see people putting Tom's Peanuts into Dr. Pepper. I always thought it a bit strange, but my brother still does it if he finds both items on the shelves at a zippy mart. Then again, HE is a bit strange.

Sure. Bread, various kinds of preserved italian sausages, olive mix, etc. Pretty much everything in them is preserved already and they travel pretty well. Sounds like a pretty good dining schedule you have lined up for yourself. Have fun!

I have an oval roaster that I got from my grandmother. It is a cast iron thing with insert that goes in the bottom (for roasting, I rarely use it) and is stamped on the bottom-DripDrop Baster, Patent Pending 1913. I have never made Gumbo in any pot but that one. I have tons of really nice cookware that would be better suited for the task (and certainly easier to clean up) but I always grab the same one. I just like the familial continuity I guess. There is something very satisfying cooking in a pot that your grandmother made the same stuff in while you were watching. Other than that I am all for modern innovation and adapt to change pretty well.

Ugggheeemmm. Alright kids, remember it's Carnival Time and everybody is supposed to be having fun throwing babies out the window and letting their houses burn down, etc. I have an idea for all of you who are becoming a bit too touchy. Go to a Parade. One of the best parades in all of Carnival (Muses-all women krewe- so handsome men like me clean up on throws ) is tommorrow night and I think it would be a good idea if all of you got away from your computers and went to a parade. I will be watching it from the neutral ground on the riverside of Napoleon Ave. at Prytania (for you out of towners-all directions in New Orleans are Lakeside/Riverside-Uptown/ Downtown and this somehow makes sense to everyone, even though it is almost never geographically accurate ). I will be wearing the same handsome headgear that I have on in my avatar photo and so will a number of my friends and the entire Mayhaw Family. As an added bonus, it is right across from St. Stephens and you can walk up to the window in the front of the rectory and buy a beer from a smiling Nun who will give you a hard time if you are just getting one ("Don't you want one for your friends? C'mon-it's Carnival!"). I love those Nuns and there is something secretly thrilling being served beer by religious authority figures. I will also be more or less on the same block of Napoleon on Sunday evening for Bacchus and on Monday night. Drop by. The more the merrier. Tuesday will be marching in St. Anns in the Faubourg/Quarter until noon or so then on the bike and uptown to find some indians. Tuesday night will be sleep. Life begins again on Wednesday for about 7 weeks and then comes the Big Daddy of them all-Jazz Fest! Now. Play nice and go out and enjoy a parade.