Change We Need

I am changing the tenor of the blog to reflect the new mood in the country. I am going from the old "what I did last weekend" to a more reflective theme. I have lots of red flags and pet peeves to share. It will be hard to keep it positive but "Yes, I can!" The most important pet peeve right now for me is to be offered everyone's opinion about the Sylvester Croom debacle. The only people who have a right to weigh in are those who buy season tickets, belong to the Bulldog Club and encourage others to do so as well. We can't change the past--the Slyvester Croom Era is over and the program is in better shape than he found it. I trust Greg Byrne will make a good hire and we will move on--it does no good to rehash all the mistakes of the previous administration. I hope we as good Bulldogs can get behind the new coach and move on.

The Snowcrow

The only problem we discovered in DC was the presence of pigeons on the patio of the apartment. No other balconies that we could see hosted any pigeons or their refuse. We, being from the country, knew that scarecrows would get rid of the pigeons. I offered to buy an inflatable owl for the balcony but they found a stuffed snowman instead and pink duct-taped it to the top rail. Hopefully the apartment management will be understanding and not make them get rid of the snowcrow for aesthetic reasons.

Best of DC

We spent a wonderful long weekend in DC visiting Camille. The weather and company were perfect. We saw the Museum of Natual History, the National Art Museum and the Air and Space Museum all on Friday. Had a great dinner at Rosa Mexica on Friday night where we learned to love pomegranate margaritas. Saturday we drove around the city and Georgetown and somewhere Camille wants to live next year and to Alexandria. Saturday afternoon a Wingo tradition was observed w/endless football games. Dinner at Ruth Chris w/Marion was the only break we had from the games of the good. Sunday morning we ate at family fav, Ted's Montana Grill, and Dean sped off on his own to go to the monuments we missed earlier--especially the war monuments. I stayed behind and took the girls to Target and Harris Teeter, Camille's favorite grocery store. Dean got back in good time for Camille to take us to the airport for an uneventful but teary flight home. I am fine today.

Washington Monument

Dean took this while I patiently took the girls to Target and the grocery store.

Cowbell Chandeliers and Cooking School

We saw this chandelier made of our beloved cowbells and were quite taken w/them. When Lindsay and Camille were little we didn't have all these fancy tents and the Junction and a great atmophere---our team wasn't very good back then, either.












This is a picture of the shrimp w/remoulade sauce that we made in the New Orleans appetizers cooking class I took Tuesday. It was my all-time favorite menu: crayfish etoufee in filo cups, marinated mushrooms, praline cheesecake, of course the remoulade and a crab and artichoke dip for baguettes Tracy is one of my favorite teachers at the Viking Cooking School and she did not disappoint.



This is a view of our "fixins" from the New Orleans class. The dishes don't show up well but you can get some idea of the size of the hands-on kitchen. We always get to eat what we have made. This particular class only had four participants so we had lots of fun and opportunites to "chop."

Delta Blues Dinner Cooking School

I don't know why I signed up for this night class but it was an interesting menu of food that is characteristic of the Mississippi Delta. We had fried pickles (which I think Lindsay and Camille would have liked) and tamales (which I liked) and a mile high coconut creme pie that I know Dean will like and a parmesean crusted catfish filet that is probably the only thing I will probably make at home. The good thing about the pie was that we ate a slice there and got to bring a tart sized pie home to our loved ones I went by myself, of course, and had to pair up w/a married couple who were okay. Whenever men are in the class, they act obnoxious and very know-it-all. That could be considered a very sexist statement but it is true. Period. At least we didn't have to talk politics The teacher is the chef at Bonefish in Collierville and she tried really hard but was about as organized as I am . I gave her a good rating for her efforts. This particular class had not been tried before and the entire meal was way too complicated to be very successful. We spent most of our class worrying about the 11-step pie. When Camille gets home for Christmas and maybe Lindsay is here, I might try it again. When the girls were little we used to make a lot of stuff and the highlight of the year was dyeing Easter eggs. That tradition went on until Lindsay was in high school I think. Tomorrow I have a class on New Orleans hors d'ouerves I hope I don't have to touch an oyster or anything slimy

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Ugly was the football game. Bad was the football game. Good was the basketball exhibition game v. Montevallo--we are not sure if Montevallo is a country or a place in Alabama. It was the most exciting exhibition game we have ever seen--and we have seen a lot of exhibition games. When Camille and Lindsay were little we used to go to Shipley's donuts in Starkville but now we only go when we are really depressed (see:football) so this morning I went to get 6 glazed and I didn't see any out for sale. I asked the guy if he had any glazed and he said it'd be another 30 seconds before they came dripping off the rack. You cannot imagine how good they were--I would hate to look at their nutritional analysis! They were worth the risk.