Mayhaw Man

Great minds and beer, my friend. Great minds and beer. More likely just beer.

The area right around the Flora Bama took it pretty hard. I know two people who lost thier houses that live within a mile and another guy who has a house on swanky Ono Island and they still don't know where the boat is (big boat, hard to miss). I was just trying to imagine the permitting difficulties in rebuilding in two states. All mullet tossing jokes aside, the Florabama was an interesting place. Doctors rubbing elbows with truck drivers and college kids drinking along retired businessmen. You don't find a place where they all exist at once very often. Edited to add that if you are looking for a real estate bargain you might consult with one of the Gulf Shores Real Estate brokers listed in the google section of the page (sometimes that google deal is a great source of amusement for me )

Those little tiny stills are pretty entertaining, but a lot of patience is involved in getting that one shot, and considering that in virtually any distailation you will want to throw away the front (heavy in fusels and other undesirable/unhealthy elements) and the end (lots of water, not so much alcohol) the chances of getting anything that is worth drinking in that one little shot are pretty slim. I have one and it is kind of fun to use for entertainment, but I would not invest in it if you are going to try to make bottles of anything. Stills are pretty easy to build. A great place to start and an interesting read is the still lore in the original edition of the Foxfire Book. While I have a library of distilling lit., I still tell people to reference this one book before they go any further.

I know that you are in Chapel Hill and that this may not be of any help, but the nice people at Chicory Farms in Franklinton, LA make an interesting variety of artisinal cheeses, and they are in limited distribution throughout the Southeast. Sadly they do not have a functioning website, but you can find information on them and other Louisiana vendors here on the Crescent City Farmer's Market Website. While you are on the site you will also find Mauthe's (mao-tay's) Dairy located in Folsom, LA. They make the finest existing version of Creole Cream Cheese. This stuff is totally a New Orleans area classic product and delicious. If you like stinky cheese, Chicory Farm's Catahoula Blue is the stinkiest! I love it.

Go to August. It is a fine place to eat and arguably the best "fine dining" new spot in New Orleans, although in that price range and dining category The Grill at Windsor Court is as, or more, interesting. Between Napoleon House and Casamento's I would pick both. I am a serious lover of the Oyster Po Boy and Casamento's has as fine an example of that classic as is available in New Orleans (that would mean in this universe ), on the other hand the Napoleon House has the most highly underrated Muffelleta in town. It is warmed through and toasted bread on a Muff is the way to go. Morning call is not worth the trip. If you want good coffee and Beignets just head on over to the French Market and eat them at Cafe DuMonde. I love Elizabeth's, but I also like The Praline Connection (if you like fried chicken livers I would suggest ordering them here. They are crispy on the outside and warm and tender on the inside. Great desserts as well). La Petite Grocery is great. I would almost always include Upperline on any trip uptown, and Clancy's is pretty good as well, but not nearly as adventuresome as Uppperline-although the mussles are worth the trip to Clancy's anytime. I like them so much that sometimes I just get two orders as apps. and skip the entree. MMMM. Mussle broth with warm toast points. Have a great trip. Brooks

The first sports jacket that I ever had WAS PURCHASED to fulfill the dining room requirements at Galatoire's, and if I remember correctly there was a tie rule for gentlemen as well. I have a friend who used to insist on going to Commander's sans jacket so the he would be forced to wear the "plaid jacket of shame" that was given to customers who did not have a jacket for dinner. He is now a Federal Prosecutor in New Orleans. Go figure.

I am enjoying some of these, as I often do as a late night snack.

While many of us were hiding in the interiors of our houses away from windows and flying objects, at least on Louisiana man had his priorities straight from the Times Picayune Hurricane Special Section: This is the kind of clear thinking individual that makes up the population of our great state and I am proud to say that he lives here.

It's looking like I will get a chance to test my hurricane cooking skills this year, although it is a little early in the week to tell. That thing keeps moving west northwest and that will bring it pretty near us on the current route. Much the same path that Camille took, it looks like somewhere between New Orleans and Mobile Bay on the current path. Yuck Batteries and Plywood. Home Depot will be making our like bandits starting this afternoon if the thing continues like this.

I have a demolished kitchen and 5, count em, 5, 14 year old boys and 2-11 year olds here tonight as all of their parents are at an art opening with my wife tonight (I avoid those things like the plague-7 boys is the preferable choice everytime ) . It had to be easy and it had to be made in 2 pots and a grill. so: Angel Hair Pasta with Fresh Tomato/Basil Redsauce an fresh sweet italian sausage Fruit salad with poppyseed dressing (apples, plums, red grapes, bananas, and pears w/toasted pecans). Homemade bread sticks (Silver Palate Basic Pizza dough (with dried italian spices from Penzey's because I like em) rolled into sticks and thrown onto a griddle-it actually works great!) Grocery Store Brand Ice Cream Sandwiches for dessert Can you say wipe out? It looked like locusts passed through the back of the house. There was nothing left a couple of hunks of banana in the bottom of the salad bowl. Happy boys all round and not much to clean up as it was all served on fabulous paper plates with mardi gras cup crystal. Now if they would all just go outside and leave me alone I could listen to the game in peace.

Just asking. It is the gentlemanly thing to do. I will now retire to the barcalounger and watch SEC football while I await my meal. Try not to burn it. That was a nice piece of meat.

Do you girls need any help?

And you need help? You should be helping us.

That's really not very much money for even a minimal scholarship program. While I understand that many institutions give scholarships in kind to Beard, it still doesn't seem like much support given that part of their mission is to: How much "promoting excellence in all aspects of the culinary arts" can you foster when $27,000 won't even get two people a year of tuition at Johnson and Wales or CIA?

Would you say that I am correct in this is all being summed up by the interim/current administration as a "little accounting error" and that no major changes in operational systems are being considered? This doesn't seem much like Tony's wished for mea culpa. More like a, "Darn it, sure we had some problems, but we can handle it. Just a few bad apples in this otherwise fine and august organization. We will keep on doing the good work just as we have in the past. We'll just count better this time around." I would think that fundraising might be a bit more difficult in the near future for Beard House unless there are able to announce a little more of a change than this announcement apparently indicates.

Apologies for length? Are you nuts? That was a truly great piece of work. When you said you had a few things to post I thought that it was gonna be a short list or something. That was great! I'll save comments for later, but as far as your dishwasher goes, I have never had a problem running mine through the disposal, but I always make sure that I run the disposal clean before I run the dishwasher, as the drainage can be a bit slow otherwise. Thanks! I've got to read that thing again. And your hint about living with it for a while? We had already planned on it (I think I mentioned that somewhere in here). I want to see how the flow works before I sink more dollars into more cabinetry. Brooks

Dammit! My dad loves Webb Pierce. He worked at KMLB as a DJ in Monroe after the war (I think he was from Monroe or West Monroe, my hometown). I forgot all about that guy. Nevermind, the Country Music Hall of Fame has much more than that concerning Webb Pierce. Now, back to food, as I am as prone as anybody to drift off topic when it comes to food. Do you still go back to Abbeville at all? There are some seriously good places to eat in Vermilion Parish . Black's and Dupuy's are two of my favorites in Abbeville. I like Landry's Boiling Pot in Kaplan as well. I get invited duck hunting in Gueydan every year ( although the last few years have been terrible for that pasttime down here-no ducks-warm winters up the flyway )

Welcome to eGullet. Always good to see another one of us around here. "It has a sweetening effect on kids" would be a great ad slogan! Who is that cat in your avatar? Vin Bruce?

Sam I pm'd you, but for the benefit of other pleasure seekers Dean and DeLuca has it direct shipped from beautiful Abbeville, LA. The nice lady on the phone at the mill has a great voice. Steens also has an interesting website. I highly reccomend ya'll try that vinegar if you can get it. It's great stuff.

Robyn, I am kind of going on the assumption that you can make hot water, as you can make it on the grill if you have to. We usually use Sterno on a small chafing dish stand (I am guessing that you have a chafing dish ) to heat water and you can cook on it if you have to. I've been living in Hurricane land for along time. Then, go to Target, Amazon, or any decent coffee shop (Starbuck's is a choice obviously) and get one of these French Press coffee rigs. they are fool proof, make great coffee, and have NO learning curve. I use one every day pretty much because it makes a great cup, but it will work just fine for your purposes I think. You can read about them here as well Brooks

Well, one of my staples is boiled shrimp. I can stop and buy fresh shrimp on the way home about two blocks from my house, and have them done thirty minutes or so after purchase. Everybody is happy and it is easy to clean up. Roll up all of the newspaper on the table and go find a dumpster. I also find myself, like Susan G.., making omelettes and hash browns on lazy nights when I am in a hurry. Then there is our all time quickie favorite-Spaghetti Carbonara. I almost always have what I need and everybody in my house and all of our "entourage" of adolescent and teenage boys love it. I can knck it uut in thirty and all I have to do is clean a griddle (bacon) and a pot. That's it. Eat it on paper plates and get out of my kitchen. My kinda meal.

Don't misunderstand. We LOVE tourist. The more the merrier. But as with many things, Uslesich's was more fun when I could take out of towners there and not only had they never heard of it, but when they got down by the dairy and we were riding around looking for a place to park-they didn't even want to get out of the car.

The Uglesich's Cookbook. Butter and Garlic not included. As soon as I type this I will be running to the bookstore for a copy. This book is filled with stuff that I like to eat. For those of you that have never had the pleasure of being smashed into the miniscule dining room amid the mismatched tables and the Barq's, Dixie, and Abita cases, this book will afford you the opportunity to see just what Yugoslav/Creole is all about. I have not even seen the book, but I feel safe in highly reccomending it. I love the place. Frankly I loved it even more before all of the tourists made it a lunchtime mecca, but such is the cost of being good. Uggie can't find anybody he trusts to run the place, so this may be your only chance to try some of the simple yet delicious food that has been prepared in the tiny kitchen with all of that beat up cookware. Uglesich's has become another New Orleans institution, but unlike Galitoire's, Antoines, Tujagues, and Commander's Palace, this one is a one man band and the band has probably played it's last tune. Don't miss a chance to meet these wonderful peope if you get the chance. I am trying to reach the publisher for a tour schedule and as soon as I do I will post it here.

I have the day off today and I have spent it working on the house (pretty much how I spend every waking moment since the wind has been up in the Gulf for the last two weeks and fishing has been difficult-but good for those toughing it out). THe big stopper has been moving the laundry to a new space under the stairs. As this house is very old (110 years or so) and there was a huge addition put on it about 1970, I chose to locate the laundry RIGHT where the old house ties onto the new part-this meant that both wiring and plumbing are, if not difficult, extremely complicated. I finally got through all of that and am now sheetrocking the laundry. I should be finished hanging and floating it today and most of the way through cutting out trim. Because it is located under stairs (it is a big space, but oddly shaped) I had to go to New Orleans and buy three cypress doors at Armadillo South Architectural Salvage and now have to fit them into a custom frame. Not too difficult, really, but very exacting and that will take the remainder of my days off this week. Once the machines are moved I will float the floor (going on top of the original heart pine, as once I got through the layers, I realized that they are a) too far gone to reuse b) out of plumb by a couple of inches over the length of the room. No big deal, but once again this will take some time. After the floor is in the cabinetry along one wall which houses the dishwasher (I miss my dishwasher more than I miss being 10 years old), the ice machine, the sink cabinet, and a set of giant drawers will be installed. The fridge and the stove will go in on the opposite wall and we will use it for a few weeks to see if we like the placement of those two items. Once we are comfortable with placement we can go ahead and have the cabinet guy fab up the rest of the cabinets. We are only doing custom made on the floor cabinetry. The remainder is going to be a very cool mixed bag of stuff that my wife has been having alot of fun picking up. By the time we are finished (I am shooting for Halloween-or maybe I should say Los dias de los Muerte as that is what I will be if I don't finish by then ) we should have a very functional and a very, very cool space. I can't wait. The day I drive the last nail I have promised to rip into a bathroom. This will never end, but I enjoy doing it (mostly) and it is a great learning process. Thanks for asking and I will try to get some photos up here this week. Brooks

I'm 43 and I like it. But then again, as an aging hipster , I feel closer to that action there than I do alot of places around town. Besides, I love those chicken livers with toast points and that alligator cheesecake. ]