bavila

Or change your contact lenses.

New Orleans is my Ground Zero. I came of age amongst magnolias and oaks and streetcars and far too many Long Island iced teas. I met my husband there, went to college there, and had my first Big Girl job there. If you've lived in New Orleans, you don't ever really leave. The city becomes a part of you. This is why I must return. My husband doesn't want to go. He's scared. I'm scared too. I cry pretty easily. I have a feeling I'll cry alot. But I have to go. If I want to continue to call NOLA my own, I have to go claim my little piece of the sadness. If I don't, what will I tell my children when I teach them about that part of their heritage and the horrible thing that happened in 2005? That I couldn't glance at the piles of garbage that are burned onto the brains of every New Orleanian who's had the cajones to go back and make a go of it? No way. Besides overcoming my own fears about going back, I know I owe the city my patronage. I owe a trip to pay my respects and offer some infinitesimal glimmer of hope to its residents'. See you in January.

Oh God, Just the sight of that bread makes me want to cry! Ok, ok, I'm coming already! Even if I have to drag my husband kicking and screaming with me, I will!

I'm in the 3-ring binder with plastic page protector camp. And a few recipes on my computer, but not many since my computer is nowhere near my kitchen. I have a "system" of keeping recipes I want to try in the inside pocket of the binder. If they're keepers, they get into the plastic. Occasionally, though, I cull the whole lot and chunk about 80% of the untried recipes and about 10% of the binder residents. I highly recommend this. Very liberating. I figure if there is something I REALLY want to make, I'll find a recipe for it or figure it out myself. When my kids go out on their own, I hope to put together nice family cookbooks for them. Maybe I'll combine this with the scrapbooking idea... Oh well. I have 15 years or so to think about it.

I rely on the great outdoors and my neighbor's extra fridge and freezer. One year I brined a turkey in a garbage left in a locked pickup truck bed to avoid raccoons feasting on my bird.

I've never understood why this would be an endorsement. But my dad says the same thing.

Hubby and I have decided to carry on a tradition set by my parents which started with the family cat. Before I was born, my parents and two sisters loaded themselves into the car to head off to Christmas Eve mass. As they turned out of the neighborhood, they heard a screeching noise that was obviously coming from a cat. They pulled into the parking lot of the A&P and our big fat tabby (aptly named Tom Cat) ran out from under the car, hiding under another car nearby (not so bright, this critter). By the time my dad managed to wrangle the traumatized cat in the car, they were hopelessly late for mass. "Forget it," said my dad. "Let's go to Don's." They feasted on seafood gumbo that night, and every year since they've had dinner at the same restaurant in downtown Lafayette, Louisiana. Well I don't live in Louisiana anymore, but I thought I'd honor Tom Cat and his influence by starting a seafood dining out tradition with my family. And since we wouldn't be with them this year one of my sisters and I bought a gift certificate to treat my parents to their Christmas Eve dinner.

Oh, the rainbow stripes making me howl with laughter! It is beautiful to behold, and I'm sure it was fun to make. But I can't say I'd want to eat it. My daughter on the other hand...

Salmon-shaped shrimp mold here.

Is it really, really that controversial? Why can't we all just be friends? ← Well, Brooks, you were the one to throw down the gauntlet: Okra, yes or no-There can be no bystanders. A stewed okra and toms omelette sounds yummy.

Just discovered this thread today --- good one! Hubby was a submariner on fast attacks (Finback and Atlanta). There's been talk about being stowed for sea and having sheet cakes baking on angles for the boat's movement. One of my husband's COs actually drilled angles and dangles while the deep fat fryer was on. Yikes! As for special training, isn't the Norfolk (or is it Va Beach?) campus of Johnson & Wales used quite a bit by Navy MSs? I dined in the wardroom quite a few times when my husband had duty in port. The whole Russian-style service was quite interesting. There's a little buzzer under the table next to the CO's seat to ring in the server. And I really like the butler shelf (not sure of the exact term) where there was a little door between the galley and the wardroom for the mess crew to pass dishes back and forth instead of trying to walk through the doorway with all of them. One CO (the one who tried to set kitchen fires) was particularly hard on a really young MS for not serving his hot tea the way he wanted. I thought this was particularly bad form for him to do this in front of a guest (me). And really, the people who prepare your food are really the last ones you want to tick off, right?

Speaking of... At age six or so, I vomited into my sandbox after eating shrimp mold at a neighor's house. Double ack.

...to the Lord, praises be. It's time for dinner, now let's go eat... Beautiful jambalaya, Jason. As for the dried shrimp, I have no use for them myself, but I've certainly seen them used in gumbo (by a former co-worker from Houma), and I think in a cookbook by Marcelle Bienvenu. Must verify that.

Made toffee the other day for the first time. Cooked it until 315 degrees as directed, then cooled for 3-4 minutes (as directed) before toping with my chocolate pieces. I then cooled the candy over night in the fridge and when I went to break it up (using the tip of a chef's knife), a large plane of chocolate separated from my toffee. Was my toffee just too cool before I put the chocolate on or did I make some other error? Many thanks.

The green bean casserole thread seems to have crossed over into other lame foods allegedly favored by white people and carefully prepared from various and sundry packaged or frozen or canned foods, like jello salads. Go on egulleters, while we're baring our (or our phillistine families') souls about canned cream soup traditions or lack thereof, let's bring out our best (worst?) jello salad stories. My mom dutifully makes her cranberry gelatin salad every Thanksgiving and Christmas. Raspberry Jello, pecans, oranges, canned cranberry jelly. What kills me is that she'll make a vat of the stuff and section oranges for it. If you're going to go to the trouble of sectioning oranges, why not use fresh cranberries, throw them in the processor with orange zest and Cointreau for a lovely relish? Much easier... But all this Jello madness is surely not about being logical, or simple. I also remember something with lime Jello, evaporated milk, canned crushed pineapple and marshmallows. Ack. Blech. One canned gelatinous product I will serve is canned cranberry jelly -- sliced, then cut with a turkey-shaped cookie cutter that was my grandmother's. She died when I was 1yo, so this is my way of connecting with her and her own little tradition. Oh, and if there's already a thread on this topic, frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

Let's see...according to my 3yo, I'm "white", she and my husband are "brown", and my 3mo son is "pink". (Ain't kids the best?) We had the gbc also. I always dug the Durkee onions. My "brown" husband (he's Tejano) reports having it as well.

A friend of a friend has a Bosch and loves the quiet but hates the fact that they were constantly scraping food out of it. Apparently it is so quiet because it does not have a food grinding mechanism that other machines do. Worth asking about I suppose. No high-end appliances in my kitchen. We got a Maytag (I think they usually make the Kenmore stuff too) from Best Buy a few years ago and love it. Nice and deep and designed to hold a ton of dishes.

I see from neworleansonline.com that the Taqueria Corona on Magazine is open. ole!

The other day, the beaters from my daughters' birthday cupcake batter, and earlier today a bit of molasses-butter-brown sugar mixture for gingerbread cookies I'll be baking shortly. I usually don't leave much in the pot to be licked, but I almost always lick the tool with which I remove stuff from the pot.

What is it about our culture that so many of us put cereal above the fridge? Hmm... No cereal on the fridge in this house. One big artificial plant arrangement which fills the space quite nicely with a green accent for the VERY red walls. A small "boom"box (out of kiddies' reach), lunch boxes (behind the plant and stereo) and an Igloo water jug. Also an ice bucket and small coffee thermos. In a previous home with a galley kitchen we had the microwave above the fridge which drove my mother crazy -- she was sure we'd drop a boiling hot dish on ourselves sometime. We also used to have cabinets above the current fridge (which is in a corner and not adjacent to any other cabinets), but when I painted the kitchen red, I chucked the cabinets cuz they just held stuff I didn't use and looked weird all suspended by their lonesome.

Speaking of which, Brooks, what's up with the thread/list of companies up and running to order from? I'm trying to buy Louisiana merchandise for Christmas gifts.

Just an update to tell what I served. I was able to do (almost) all prep the day before except for the biscuits, which my neighbor (an excellent baker) did for me on Sunday morning -- I just had too much going on to be able to do it! Ham was glazed and brie was baked right befor guests arrived. Here's the menu: Veggie crudite with buttermilk peppercorn dip (Martha's Hors d'oeuvres handbook) chilled shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce and mustard tarragon sauce (Martha) baked smoked ham with orange glaze (Martha) biscuits: buttermilk, cheese, and pancetta sage baked brie topped with honey, with grapes and apples bowls of nuts and olives nice store-bought chocolates mimosas kir royales coffee & tea juice sodas If we hadn't been at church right before the party, this menu would have been a total breeze to execute. It was still pretty easy, but without my neighbor doing the biscuits, I'm not sure what I would have done. Thanks for everyone's input!

Just received a delivery of satsumas from a Lafayette friend who drove them in. I saw these buggers as hard little green baby fruits in the spring at her mother's house. Mine are completely orange, though, Jason. And the fruit is rockin'. The membranes are supple and the scent of the peel is heady. May try some juice out in a mimosa.

Serving champagne and kir royales at brunch on Sunday (after my son's baptism). How many (alcoholic) drinks should I estimate per person for lunch? I'm thinking 2-2.5. Or max 0.5 bottle per person. Merci

An update: the deli manager told me that "That's how they taught me to do it in New York." New York? "Boar's Head trained me to do it that way, so that's how I have to do it." Hmph. A call to Boar's Head may be in order. Yesterday the muffs even had lettuce on them. Ech.