Mayhaw Man

Owen, What happened with the vacuum rig? Incidentally, thanks for the advice on how to convince my wife about my pressing need for expensive coffee gear. I am preparing an excel file for her to demonstrate the economic sense of spending upwards of a $1000USD on equipment to make a slightly better cup of joe. Sometimes black and white numbers are just what I need to put her on my side (sadly, this does not work anymore with fishing equipment-she has seen through my lies for the last time in that important shopping category )

You are correct about the urban sprawl and why my town still looks the way it does. St Tammany Parish has grown from 95,000 in 1990 to over 200,000 in 2000. The reason that Abita Springs has not seen as much of that growth is two fold: 1) WIth the traffic situation in the more Urban parts of the parish (Houston has nothing on parts of the Parish at this point, the congestion in Mandeville and Slidell on the main routes to New Orleans can be unbelievable) Abita is uniquely (and fortuitously) situated in such a way that "you gotta be coming here to get here". We are not on a main route to anywhere. The other part of this is that we are too far from downtown New Orleans to get there in time for a reasonable commute (considering the traffic). This situation has actually saved the town, although the property values have basically skyrocketed along with everything else around here-which is a plus for people who were stupid enough to suck up big, old houses in the eighties (like me). Part of this parish looks just like you have described it-big boxes everywhere, Target, Wal Mart, Home Depot-right next door to Lowe's , and incredible subdivisions with giant McMansions in them. My wife sells art to these people and is constantly amazed how many of these people who build these big ass houses and can't afford to put furniture in them. Big huge empty houses. Fortunately they still buy art. 2) We have a very forward thinking Board of Aldermen (old hippies are good for some things) and the zoning is tight. Abita Style architecture (this is an actual term) is all that is allowed for new construction in commercial and home construction. That cool looking gas station is pretty much what a bank has to look like if they want to be around. I will take a photo of a perfect Abita Style house (mine is not as we removed the side porch and added on a large, but in the guidlines, living room a number of years ago) (the guy who this website belongs to is the same guy sleeping at the party above-he is a fascinating character-check out the museum website). Lunch today (or is it breakfast?) is consisting of Gumbo over some cheese grits that were in the freezer. I thawed out a square, pan fried them in a little evoo, and loaded the gumbo on top. Yes friends, it is very good. I am eating it now. Dinner tonight is supposed to be fish, but I don't know what reality is yet. I will keep you posted. I may resort to Lucky Charms. I am going to make some Strawberry ice cream tonight though. That was a great idea!

Mosca's is on the West Bank of the River several miles past the Huey P. Long Bridge. On a map you will want to look for Hwy90, and Avondale or Boutte. Yes you can take a cab. It is really not very far and TOTALLY worth the trouble. Clancy's will require a reservation, especially during the week that you are going to be here. The food is really good and I love the place. I think I am going to be there this weekend as a matter of fact (my FIL loves the place and is taking Robin and I to dinner). Jacques Imo's and Herbsaint are two totally different animals. Herbsaint is kind of a laid back place with wery good food and J I's is a great place to eat filled with people, post apocalyptic folk art, and a serious hipster vibe. Herbsaint will take reservation and J I's will not except for parties of 6 or more (I think that the number is correct, but I could be wrong). During the Jazz Fest it is going to be packed from open to close, but you can always wait in the Maple Leaf Bar which is a very cool place in it's own right and conveniently located 50 ft. away.

I guess that I kind of knew about this. When Food Network had a program on Morimoto building his place in Philadelphia there was a portion of the show dedicated to showing his swell new Japanese freezer that kept fish at -60F. They weren't clear on if he purchased it frozen or if he froze the fresh fish himself. I know that much of of the tuna leaving New Orleans for Tokyo (it leaves virtually everyday and is on the market for the next morning's trade) is cut in Venice at the dock by Japanese fish buyers and sent packed in these specially built coffin-like ice chests and they use a special flaked ice to keep it perfect. I guess this means that some of it hits Japan fresh. It would be interesting to know how much of the fish goes across the Pacific and then gets shipped back to the East Coast. That is a long damn trip for a hunk of fish to make. No wonder it costs so much!

Actually that is a fine idea. I can make the custard before I go to sleep and cool it. At least one good thing will come out of this "night of the nerds". All night work is for people who don't like sleep. It is one thing to stay up late and do something fun, but this work stuff is awful. When I was much younger I did it all of the time, but I ain't young no mo..

Read it for yourself right here.

Do you remember those placemats? They cost a ton in antique shops now but I remember everybody having them when I was growing up. My grandmother made that thing (the grandmother that couldn't boil water but could sew anything and tat with two shugs (now there is a lost art)-she made beautiful things).

But do you have the biggest? The Canadians claim they do, but of course they have some damn fine specimens in Clute.

Thanks kind sir. If I had paid more attention to the mess on my stove I might have come out with some more attractive photos. (first one is a twin of my unit-clocks work and it has these cool deco salt and pepper shakers built into the top that I never use but like to look at) Damn cameras. They show everything. I need better retouch software.

One thing that I like about drinking in Ireland and the UK is the one drink bottles and cans. A major improvement over the omni present soda guns in the US. Schweppes tonic in Europe (UK and Ireland) is a much better product than in North America. The stuff over here is way too sweet.

This Watermelon with Chocolate Seeds in recipe gullet sounds pretty swell. Rachel Perlow made it and entered the recipe, maybe she can tell us. I need to crank up my ice cream maker and this might be a good time to do it. I went to recipe gullet and there were 7 recipes, including a couple of pretty off the wall ones (Michael Laskonis's Balsamic Vinegar was pretty odd, but on the other hand it might be great).

Martha says that cold is your friend when making pie dough of almost any sort. I have finally succumbed to her wily charms and follow her instructions completely and accurately. My pie crust is better than it oughta be. She is also not afraid of butter, and admits that lard makes many of her recipes better than butter (you tend to get a much flakier crust with rendered animal fat). I never liked her much, but I make all kinds of pies and just about never screw them up thanks to her stern but loving instructions. Incidentally if you order the oven from that link eGullet makes big bucks. This is your big chance to fulfill your childhood dreams. Go for it!

All right all of you pie crust morons-here's what you do- Wait until tommorrow when I am at home and can paraphrase it or search the web for Martha Stewart's Pate Brisee recipe and all of her unbelievably detailed instructions on making pie crusts that appeared in her excellent book (the only one I still am hanging on to) in Martha Stewart's Pies and Tarts. This is the best simple pastry book I have ever owned. Great basic pastry instructions and excellent recipes. Do like Martha-Be like Martha (except for the whole being mean and insider trading thing. I would skip that part ) As far as culinary nemesis go- I can't decorate cakes for shit. I can bake them perfectly and make the various icings and stuff like a champ, but when it comes to combining the two it often looks as if I made the cakes in an Easy Bake Oven.

No okra. I use it in seafood gumbo. File as well. I also add file at the table to the one I made today. File, when used properly in my opinion, is more of a condiment than an ingredient. I use the stuff that this guy makes all of the time. He is quite an interesting character and is at the Crescent City Farmers Market regularly. Lionel Key-The File Man (you will need to scroll down to the third entry) Friday is Okra Day. Did you think I would skip it?

A flat is 12 pint baskets. They sell for two bucks a pint or 12 bucks a flat currently at the place in the blog. She will also knock off a 2 bucks if you bring back 12 pint baskets. I don't think that they are worth that, but I guess that it is a way to get repeat business.

Nope-It is a flat edged wooden stirrer that is made for the purpose. I have them in several different sizes. I think that I bought most of them in a market in Tecate. They were so cheap I sort of bought a lifetime supply. I have various wooden implements in a box upstairs that have never been used (but they will be). It is great for getting all the way into the edges of a pot, which is hugely important when you are trying to keep from burining roux.

I spent the afternoon making gumbo and learning how poor my photography skills are and how when you make a mess of your cool 50 year old stove you should clean it up before you take photos. Nothing shows a mess like white porcelain and chrome. All that aside things turned out o.k. Here is what I did: I went to the meat market this morning and bought 3 lbs of chicken thighs. These are not Tyson's Plastic, but real chicken cut by real butchers. They are very good. I got 2 lbs of Richard's Pork Sausage and made a couple of stops to fill my vegetable needs. I partially skinned the thighs (I like to leave a little fat, adds to the flavor when browning). They were dusted with spiced flour (2 cups of flour had a tbls. salt, tsp paprika, tbls. cayenne, tsp. black pepper). I then browned them in peanut oil. I like peanut oil as it can take a pretty good beating, adds a nice nutty taste, and you can get it very hot without burning. Chicken thighs browning in peanut oil. These were turned once and hardly moved while they were browning. Chicken thighs after turning at the done point. After removing from grease they were placed on paper towels, set aside and drained. Great Sausage from Richard's-looks like cased ham! This stuff is just awesome. If you can get it I highly reccomend it. They make (imho) the best commercial pork products in the US. Sausage Browning. I like to get it a little toasty. It adds both flavor and texture to the dish. Light Roux. This consists of 1/3 cup AP flour and 1/3 cup peanut oil. The pan has been drained, but not scraped after the browning of the sausage and chicken. It is placed over very high heat (wide open on a normal burner) and stirred constantly. Scraping the remainder of the meat as you go. Scrape hard and get it all loose or it will all burn and you will have to start over. Medium Roux. At this point I have been stirring about 5 minutes. It is getting very hot. WARNING-This method of making Roux was popularized during Paul Prudhomme's stay as Head Chef at Commander's Palace in New Orleans. The kitchen staff came to call this type of roux "cajun napalm". If you splash and get it on you it will stick to you and burn you badly (if you try to wipe it off while it is hot the burn will just spread) so BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL. Dark Roux. Now we've gotten there. At this point (maybe 10 minutes in) the oil is just starting to smoke a little bit and I am ready to stop the process. Onion, celery, bell pepper and Garlic in. This stops the browning process with the flour and the oil. Stand back as you dump-it can be a pretty lively thing. You are, after all, pouring hot water into oil. Veg in mixed with roux/spice blends are added here. At this point I have just mixed the veg and the roux evenly. The bottom was carefully scraped, as were the sides, and I will turn the heat to medium low and slowly simmer with the top on. At this point I added some spice. 1 tbls. dried basil, 1 tbls. dried oregano, 2 tsp cayenne, 2 tsp. black fine crushed black pepper, 1 tbls salt. By adding now these spices will incorporate nicely with the veg mix and basically melt into the mix. Veg is getting there. This has been tightly covered, stirring and scraping a couple of times, for about 15 minutes. Veg is done. The veg has cooked down to a nice smooth consistency and all of the veg is soft and transluscent. I taste at this point and adjust spicing. (some like it hot, some not. I find that with this type of gumbo I do not prefer it so spicy. The veg, sausage, and especially the chicken all stand out on their own and don't need to be bammed to heavily with spice-but as always it is a matter of personal choice) I then add 6-8 cups of stock, the chicken, and the sausage. In this case I used some pork stock that I had in the freezer, but normally I would use chicken or turkey (because I have more of it and it is less valuable to my larder). It is all stirred well and brought to a boil while uncovered. Once it hits a boil, let boil for 5 min or so on low boil, cut the heat back down to medium low and simmer for one and a half hours with the lid on. Skim fat occasionally if you wish. There will not be much grease if you did the first two steps right and bought quality sausage. About ten minutes before finish of simmer time, add 1/2 cup coarsely chopped parsely and 6 or 8 chopped green onions (tops and bottoms). This It is ready to plate. Yessir Buddy! That's the stuff I was looking for (I wouldn't have showed it if I had screwed it up). It is a very nice color, thick but not too, and has a nice spicy tang to it while not being overpowering. You can taste the veg, chicken, and sausage nicely and the three really are working together the way that they are supposed to. Fit for Royalty. A bargain at any price. Enjoy with a biscuit and an assertive red wine. Big Cabs work with this pretty well. That's what I did today. The boys scarfed it up (they love the stuff) and I caught one of them while I was typing this digging chicken out of the pot. That's a compliment, but I yelled at him anyway. No use letting them think that they can eat me out of house and home. I have to work all night tonight and well into Thursday morning (if things go bad with the nerds coming to work on our servers I will be there til noon) so I will be on board tonight late, but I hope that I will be snoozing by lunch tommorrow. Incidentally-tommorrow night is going to be BBQ'd redfish (if I can get some, has been kind of scarce unless I make it to the fish house first thing in the morning). If I can't get fish it might be Lucky Charms for the lot. Make some of this stuff for yourself. The more you so it, the better it gets. The stuff freezes great. We usually divide it up into servings for two and reheat in a covered double boiler and it is as good, if not better, than it was when it was first brought off of the stove. Bon Appetit.

You know, come to think of it AB was advertising day old Bud at the Superdome for Saints games this year. I didn't think much about it, but it entirely possible as the brewery in Houston is only a few hours from here and I guess St Louis would not be much farther. Seems like they could do it pretty easily with draft, I think bottles might be a bit more problematic.

Have you ever had the salad at Charlie's Steakhouse? They are one of the last people in town making a classic/ 1/4 head of crispy iceberg w/ a ton of very thin sliced white onions and one of the strongest, thickest, blue cheese dressings ever concocted. It might make you rethink your salad requirements (if you like blue cheese). I vote for Clancy's for the atmosphere and Upperline for the food or maybe it's Clancy's for the food and Upperline for the atmosphere. They're both damn good. You won't be sorry with either one.

My name is Brooks and I too am an iced coffee addict. Currently this is how I make it. I make a pot of press pot and throw it in the freezer after it is done and cool(somtimes I forget about it and then I have coffee ice ). 2/3 Coffee (add a little sugar, not much, and stir BEFORE you add milk or ice) 1/3 Whole Milk (sometimes I add a little Hershey's Chocolate Syrup (outta the can-I love that package-don't know why exactly) Pour the whole thing in a huge iced tea glass over ice and slurp. I am drinking one right now as a matter of fact as I slave over my gumbo for tonight.

I suppose it's possible if you live in the right place that they could do this. There would be the problem of running it through a wholesaler (which, at least on paper, they have to do) before delivery to retail outlets. I don't know about day old, but I can tell you that unpasteurized Bud out of the conditioning tank at a brewery (I have had it in both LA and St Louis) is a sublime experience. If they could get THAT stuff out quickly it would be worth the trouble.

Hey Now! I resemble that remark!

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo tonight. No Okra. Fear not. Dinner on Friday night will include God's pod three ways! We're having some people over(just to give me an excuse to make something interesting for the sake of this project-anything for yogurt is my mantra ). If I can find any decent shrimp we are going to have a big batch of creole made with some of those awesome tomatoes that I showed earlier in this rediculously long project (I over do everything-always have-it's a miracle I am still alive ).

It's a tiny little place. Oddly populated by a serious rainbow of folks. Pretty heavy on old hippies and back to nature folks who moved over here in the seventies and never left. Now their children are living here and it makes for a pretty cool population mix when you throw in the old New Orleanian (and now aging fast) working class that moved over here afer WW2. And as far as following me goes, I was so jealous of that coffee bar you have I started working on scheme to convince my wife I needed a thousand bucks for a coffee set up (hell, we used to spend more than that drinking some months), but no dice. She might let me have one of those vacuum rigs though-how did the coffee come out?

This is gonna be kind of a long post so those of you with crummy internet connections may want to think about broadband before you tie up your life with the minutia of my life. I did not have to work today, but I did have to churn out a thousand word column on a local business association and tie it in with some Yugoslavian Folk Dancing event that they are sponsoring. Trust me, journalism is not all that it is cracked up to be and somebody has to cover the schoolboard and folk dancing. Just don't look for it on the next Pulitzer list. It won't be there. After that onerous chore I took myself to the Covington, LA farmers market. It had rained a bit overnight and this morning (gentle, slow, warm rain-just right for my tomatoes and whatever else is left of my garden after the invasion of the giant killer rabbits that occurred this weekend while I slept peacefully. They were out there enjoying a salad bar of baby lettuce and some okra sprouts with a side of pepper sprouts (who knew, even rabbits in LA like it hot). Mr. Pfhraumberg was selling some of his fine lettuces and I picked up a head or two for tonight's salad to accompany a little gumbo that I am constructing this afternoon. The tent that he is in is typical of the farmers market and there will be upwards of 50 of them on a good day-shrimp, lots of homemade baked stuff, hippie salads (made by my friend Norma Jean-founder of the Abita Cafe and a great dancer), milk from Mauthe's Dairy (check them ot of Slowfood, their web site is down for some reason but they sell real milk at real prices. Creamline whole, skim, 2%-none of it homogenized-they also make fabulous cream cheese and I am currently trying to get them interested in rediculously expesive ice cream (more on that as news breaks )). All of the people selling there are really growing the stuff they sell so the personalities range from hippies to housewives to the Snopes family out trying to sell their delicious collards and mustards. Mr Pfhramburg and his luminescent veggies How about them lettuces! $1.50 a head. Such a deal! On the way home I stopped into Rauch's Grocery and picked up some coffee and some gossip from a couple of the retired guys who populate the tables there. I really need to take some interior shots of the place. For those of you that don't have a clue what a rural grocery looked like in 1945 this is your big chance. I will do it this afternoon when I go pick up the boys from school. Built in 1913 the bar next to Rauch's has been in continuous operation ever since (including during that rediculous period when the Volstead amendment was in force, down here if ya got it somebody is gonna drink it and the sherriff just wanted his cut-so it worked out for everybody. Things haven't changed much) and the place has a beautiful back bar. Really wonderful woodwork. The breweries used to supply them if you gave them an exclusive and the best ones around were from the long defunct Regal Brewing Co-if you have ever been to Carrollton Station in New Orleans they have one similar to it, but not as long. I then walked across the street (all of these photos are basically taken within 100 yards of each other-you can see all of the buildings from THE stoplight ) and hit up the nice folks at our veg stand for some strawberries and some garlic. They carry all kinds of stuff and sell what they can get locally plus alot of stuff during the winter that they can't get here. It's great having them handy. I can walk there in 5 minutes. Here are the fabulous strawberries that are peaking out. Google on Ponchatoula Strawberries and you can learn much more. The things are wonderful and price to move. Check em out- The current going price here is $12USD a flat, but I found them in Hammond on the side of the road for $10USD. You can't beat that with a stick. MMMMMMMMM My next stop was an oyster po boy at the Abita Cafe. This place has been the same since it was started over 15 years ago, although it has changed hands a couple of times but has remained dependable. Great, above average quality lunches (not you usual stuff-kind of upscale meat and three with a few daily specials) and awesome breakfasts. On the weekend the place will be surrounded on Saturday and Sunday morning by the healthy set who have driven their bikes down from Mandeville or Covington on the St Tammany Trace. The snoball stand next door is open at three. It is kind of an every afternoon thing for my kids and many other (and older kids like me-currently my favorite is almond creme, but I change my mind alot). The guy who owns it only employees high school kids he knows and has managed to put three kids through college on the income from that place. That's all he did with the money from it for the first 7 years he had it. There's good money in ice and sugar. This is the brewpub. When it was still Abita Beer (before we moved) I spent a ton of hours of my life toiling to make that fine beverage. ANd no-I don't miss it. It was fun but everybody has to grow up. The foods good though and the beer is better and they do a good trade. When we still had the brewery we kept some chickens around and they used to nest and lay in that big live oak out in front. We had all of these chicks running around out front every Spring. Quite the photo op for the tourists. Check the oil, tires, filler up! This is our only gas station. Been in business since 1922. Outrageously priced full serve gas. They have the old lady trade cornered (or anybody else willing to pay a 15 cent markup to stay in the car and not pump it yourself. Nice people though. Dinner tonight. Excepting spices and a bunch of garlic I forgot to throw in to the photo this is where the gumbo, salad and dessert are coming from. More on that later. If you are wondering where the line between food enthusiast and food nerd is, I think that I just found it. I actually took a picture of a pot. BUT THIS IS NOT JUST ANY POT! This is my grandmothers pot. It is a Drip Drop Baster (patented 1913, according to the stamp on the bottom of the pot). This thing came to me with the roll of a pair of dice and that was one lucky hit. All of the grandchildren rolled dice for all of the stuff in my Grandmother's house that my mom and her sisters didn't want or need. It sounds weird, but it was really fun and I think all of us will remember that afternoon for the rest of our lives. I scored lots of stuff (including a table with these really ornate lions feet that was hauled in a wagon by my great, great grandfather from Georgia to East Texas in the 1840's) but the pot was the best. It has an insert for roasting and is of carbon steel construction (it is kind of a pain to keep shiny as you can tell from the photo, but it has a very thick bottom and cooks like a dream. The lid fits tight and the fact that I am cooking in a pot that my Grandmother cooked out of right after she got married and my Mom and her sisters ate out of when they were kids is just too much come times. I love that pot. I got some awesome tin cookie cutters that are God knows how old-they are shaped like barn animals-I love those things. You know you're eating good when you are eating sugar cookies shaped like chickens, cows, ducks, and mules. Gumbo Pages coming tonight (I am working an overnight shift tonight for the first time in two years due to some computer work being done on my office. I am not looking forward to it. I hope you still have some memory left after all of this bandwidth hogging. Brooks