WARNING: if you’re squeamish STOP reading! (If you don’t WANT to read but can’t stop your curiosity, consider yourself warned!)

Although I’ve lived in a lot of places during my life, I consider Louisiana to be home. However, since our Exodus due to Hurricane Katrina, we haven’t had the heart to spend a lot of time back home. This is due to several reasons: nothing to go back to, family spread out all over the country, etc.

The biggest reason truthfully is that it simply hurt too much.

But, since time does heal some wounds, we decided to do Mardi Gras this year with our little family. My DH and I decided that we wanted our boys to have some fond memories (as we do) of family, friends and FOOD! So, sit back and indulge me as I digress…

Aside from the King Cakes in the stores and everything in sight being draped with purple, green and gold, nothing signals the advent of Mardi Gras as do crawfish. (That’s “crawdads” to y’all Yankees out there!)

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Remember the infamous Deli scene from “When Harry Met Sally” where the old woman replies to the waitress, “I’ll have what she’s having”?

Well, I had one of those moments myself yesterday.

Relax, this is totally G rated.

It all started with a trip to my local grocery store. In an effort to get people back to the dinner table, this Texas based store has an open area in the deli where you can watch a Chef prepare meals, side dishes, appetizers, etc right before your eyes. [Read more...]

One of my all time favorite movies is “Fried Green Tomatoes”. Quite arguably one of the best lines in the film is when Sipsy replies to an Alabama cop who’s just eaten some barbecue of “questionable” origin that he deemed the best barbecue of his life, that “The secret’s in the sauce”. This statement is meant to imply that a great sauce can cover up almost anything–even a dead man!

Last night, I put this theory to the test.

Warning: Do NOT try this at home!

(Yes, DH is still alive.)

For the new year, our family has cinched the purse strings and committed to dining out ONLY on weekends. This means that yours truly has gone BACK in the kitchen, where I’ve been absent for some time, to once again juggle the kids, the dog, the phone and everything else that comes my way while putting together a fabulous and nutritious meal for my family. I figure cooking is like riding a bike, right? So, I took my skills for a spin last night. [Read more...]

Does someone do something in your kitchen that totally annoys you? I wanted to share my list with you, then you can share yours. Hopefully our lists aren’t too long! Okay here goes mine;

1. Stacking dirty dishes in the sink. Why do this? Will they then wash themselves? Won’t we need to use the sink for something else, like meal preparation perhaps?
2. Using the flour sack dish-drying towel as a hand towel. You know who you are, you wipe your wet paws on these towels rather than the hand towel.
3. Using the “show towels”. Okay, if you don’t know what a “show towel” is, I don’t think I can help you.
4. Soaking dishes in the sink. Why? For how long? Oh and my favorite, who gets to reach into that scuzzy cold water later to pull the drain plug out?
5. Leaving an open jar of olives (juice included) in the fridge where I can easily knock it over. Yes this has happened more than once!

So there you have it. Wow, this is food therapy for me, I feel better already just getting them off my chest. Can anyone relate to any of these pet peeves I have? Please share!

Yes, another failed appliances. Are you seeing a trend here? John thinks it’s me, not the appliances. I believe they all just have tantrums or something. So I was attempting to make milkshakes in the Oster blender. Not an Oster blender like I remember my mom having, oh no, this is the new and un-improved, they hope you won’t notice, plastic facade of the blender of yesteryear!

Stop When You See Black Smoke!

So whirl, whirl around the blade goes, when it’ll chop up the ice no one knows. Soon I have black smoke and a horrible electrical-burning smell surrounding me. What gives? No milkshake for you! Wow, what a disappointment.

Cusinart – Because I’m Worth It

So it takes a few months to get over the thinking that all blenders are built the same. We venture out to see the Cusinart Blender, what a machine! Milkshakes for everyone! Ice chopping is no problem at all! It also came with a food processor attachment, we’ll go into that gadget later. I think we’ll skip the story about the hand mixer…it wasn’t me, it was my daughter that broke that!