Mayhaw Man

Can you take the tube out and move the blade around that way? Maybe drill a hole and poke at it that way? You can always epoxy the hole. Or use duct tape. A real man would use duct tape.

As far as the staff meal goes, I am certainly happy to feed everyone. Dave will have some leftovers that we can perhaps sell to unknowing passersby.

I would like to see any and all things okra. I've never found a preparation method that I didn't love. ← I fully intend on an okra onslaught. With the exception of my friend Sidhartha Mitter, I fully intend to become the "go to guy" for all things okra. Just call me "Brooksie Okra Seed"

Actually, no matter how you slice it up, that many bands for that price is pretty much of a bargain. The Meters regularly get $30 or better in small venues here in New Orleans like the House of Blues and Tipitinas and Sonny is often that much (and worth it at many times the price). The Jazz Fest in New Orleans used to be even more of an extreme bargain, and ticket prices have climbed steeply in the last few years, as a gate ticket as late as $92 was going for $12 in advance and something like $14 at the gate. I was looking on line at music venues and there is a place in Baltimore, The Funk Box, that might as well be here. Jon Cleary, The Meters, The Iguanas, The Subdudes, The Rebirth, The Radiators, etc. Were I a resident of Baltimore, there would be a bar stool with my name on it in that place. As far as the food aspect goes, where else would you have even had a chance to try that stuff up there on that particular day, especially with all of the music going on?

Actually, if you know where to look, you can get Pilsner Urquell draft at the Fairgrounds. ← Well, where should I look? ← Unfortunately he's talking about the New Orleans Jazz Fest. Crawfish Fest in NJ isn't so lucky. Michelob Amber will be the best we can do... ← In New Orleans you look cattycorner to the Gospel Tent, against the track, next to the ATM. It's there. But IMO, if the music and the company is right, it's all good anyway.

Actually, if you know where to look, you can get Pilsner Urquell draft at the Fairgrounds.

That looks like a pretty swinging party. How can you beat crawfish, couchon de lait po boys, Sonny Landreth (the best slide guitar player in the world, bar none) . and all of those other guys for that price? I think that if you are within a 2 hour drive that you should be there or be square (or you could be both-but you should be there),

Greetings Guy. Long time no see! Who cooked those things? I would think it would be hard to find a 500lb rig up there. What kind of beer were they serving? Were they any good? Did they know what to do with them? What else did they have with them? Where did they come from? Brooks

She can save the drive. You will be not far from Bayou La Batre. You can go buy some oysters and do a reasonable facsimile of them yourself. You'll be there at the peak of Oyster time (the holiday season is the biggest month of the year for oyster sales, thanks to all of that oyster dressing that has to be made) They might not be exactly the same, but they'll be close enough for government work.

Honestly, I wish we could have stayed another week. All my friends are in town right now for the Red Hat Linux summit and I heard the weather cooled down quite a bit. ← That's what the deal was! I went out looking for a pocket protector to go with my cool new short sleeve dress shirt and they were all out. Now I know why. Seriously, Jason and Rachel did more food related stuff in 7 days than many people do in years of visiting. It was fun watching them and it was great seeing them for the short time that I did. And I would like to point out that they decided to do this on a Wednesday and showed up on a Saturday morning a couple of hours later. No plans. Just a book and a gps. This year, when the nominations are requested in Gambit for the "Big Bad Ass, Bulletproof, Bottomless Pit Tourist Award", if these guys don't win, the whole thing is rigged. It cooled down alright. It's been raining for 4 days. Alot.

I have a bag from a bottle of Royal Salute that has to be twenty years old. With the exception of the one night that it held the bottle (and I really don't remember much of it ), it has been holding scrabble tiles ever since. What I want to know is why there are so many consonants in that bag? It's like it has some kind of evil "no vowels for Brooks" spell on it.

I would have no trouble using stock that has been frozen for a year, as long as it was put up well with little or no air space in it. In fact, given the complete lack of organization of my deep freeze and the "mysterious dating method" that I use, I probably do it more often than I realize.

Want to hear a report on what you cook the night after you get The New Gadget. BTW, a garage can never be too big. We went from small two car to a four car garage (two cars wide, two cars deep) and the thing was full before we were fully moved in. Anyway, start planning. How long before Amazon delivers? I want to know I need one of these things, because I am a gadget/power tool Queen. ← Actually, I am thinking a full on prime rib. I don't do that very often and I love the things. It seems like a big gesture is the way to go when you get something new. I mean, sure, I could practice with a few chickens, but what fun would that be? Of course, it's thinking like this that prevents my wife from letting me take any more flying lessons. Really. I rarely use good judgement when something looks like fun. Prime ribs, airplanes, whatever. I like to run things at top speed right off of the bat. Kind of see what they're made of. You know? And as for the new garage-that is not an entirely accurate term-it will be a studio for my wife, a storage area, and an outdoor kitchen (the kitchen space will be built but not finished out at this time due to budgetary restraints and the fact that an indoor kitchen comes first in the minds of my loved ones (even though I think that they are clearly misguided).

I took a 3/4 inch hole saw and cut a hole in the top of my Weber, a bit off of center next to the end of the handle, right after I replaced the old one about two years ago. I bought a very pricey dial type oven therm and rammed it through a teflon cork (any lab supply has these and suprisingly, many hardware stores do too). This setup works great as an interior temp thermometer and it can be easily cleaned. I, of course, patented this brilliant scheme. If you do this to your own grill, just send me a small check. Or some ribs.

Lotta meat left on those bones. Need I bring up the starving children? Again? I didn't think so.

Too late. I just ordered one from Amazon. I really needed something else to fill up my new garage. I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough junk, but I am well on my way. Actually, my theory is that if the rotisserie sucks, that ring will be worth it. The ring should add a fair amount of height to the thing, allowing me, with the help of a few rivets and some sheet metal, to put a second grate on it for smoking stuff or to allow me to put meats much higher off of the coals ( I love my Weber, but I kind of agree with Steingarten here). I can't wait to put the thing through it's smoky paces. So, I will keep you posted. Thanks for all of the advice.

I just found this cool rotisserie add on for a 22.5 inch Weber Kettle. I want this. I covet this. But I already have so much cooking gear that I need your help in convincing me that this is a great idea and that I will use it. Does anyone have any experience with one of these things? Are they dependable? I am kind of assuming that they are well made because they are made by Weber, but you never know with mechanical stuff. Any info would be appreciated.

Here is a little more information about those guys. It is a very interesting little sidebar in Louisiana history. I fish in Delacroix alot (except when it rains cats and dogs like it did this weekend) and really like that end of St Bernard Parish. los islenos info They just had their annual festival last weekend, and I know that they have a website for it, but I can't find it at the moment. I'll be on the lookout for a copy of that book.

That's because all of them are not in there yet. I will try to get this task completed this week, with the help of a certain angel from Mont...no, wait.....Angel from Minnesota. I apologize for the delay. It has been a really, really busy month.

Jeez Louise, a gps? It's at 21st and Ridgelake (Ridgelake runs parrellel to Causeway and 21st is across the from Lakeside Mall). How hard it that? But you are right. It is totally a locals place and they have some of the most dependable seafood of the type around.

This could not be more true. A, ummm, close friend of mine, has distilled many, many runs of rum in a pretty scientific and controlled manner. I can tell you, without a doubt, that the stuff that he makes from beer (generic term for liquid that is being distilled-which in the case of many grain based beverages, is in fact, unhopped beer) that has been fermented in a controlled manner is far superior to that which has been basically allowed to ferment wildly. This seems to be true for all manner of spirits that my friend has made. In particular, whiskey made from corn or other grains. The distillate resulting from controlled fermentation (temp. control to keep the sugars from being metabolized by the yeast too quickly) is always much tastier as a young beverage-i.e. straight out of the worm-also, the head of the run seems to be much shorter-meaning that the level of fusels and other volatiles that give home brew some of it's more colorful names-such as "jake leg", "pop skull', etc. -meaning that the yield per gallon of fermented base seems to be a bit higher. There have been studies on this, but the information, as with much distillation research, is not available on line or even at your local library. This stems from the fact that most research done has been done by private companies and also from the fact that making distilled beverages at home is, if not outright illegal (depending on where you live), usually pretty close to it.

Marlene. put the wet and the dry bread pudding stuff together pretty close to the last minute. It tends to get heavy on the reheat. Really, I would rather eat it as a room temp dish than I would as a reheat. Come to think of it, I generally would rather eat it out of the pan and dispense with the plate altogether. I find that this is most enjoyable late at night with the pan balanced on the door of the ice box. There are no witnesses to criticize, and I can follow it up with milk out of the carton. PANTRYMAN strikes again!

I don't think that stories like this can be done to death. Newspapers at their best are there to cover issues that are important and, most of the time, current. Ms. Hull has certainly achieved this in spades in this well written story. This piece (and, admittedly, many others similar to it) touches on so many issues that should be of concern to all of us. I can't possibly continue this without leaving food and going into a giant political diatribe, but I will say that using the kitchen worker as a metaphor for the huge division between the classes in this country is a valid one. And I agree with Steve that this story would be decent required reading for anyone who is considering a career move to the back of the house. It's a tough racket and not for the faint of heart. Hats off to Ms. Hull and good luck with the awards.

Bear Bryant, a famous Southern Philosopher, once said, "To be a winner, you have to play with pain." Marlene is merely demonstrating that she can. One tough cookie is Marlene, my hero

The last that I heard from Jason and Rachel was that they were heading off to Jacob's in LaPlace to get some andouille and then were going to head over across the Manchac swamp to Middendorf's. Maybe they got lost out there in the swamp. There's only one road, but I guess you could do it if you try.