St. Andre Cheese

A great portion of our time in New Orleans was spent trying to think of a particular cheese and even chacha couldn't answer. The correct response was St. Andre. It goes great w/pinot for you pinot lovers out there. It looks so good I think it might even be good w/cabernet as well. I am featuring St. Andre on my blogsite this week I am so crazy about it. P.S if you haven't tried chacha, you should. You can text the site and ask most any question and you will get a text response quickly. We also use the site to settle a lot of sports arguments that arise at the dinner table. www.chacha.com or text your question to 242242.

Muffaletta Madness

This is the sandwich that saved the fam from starvation on the train--if we'd just had some chips it would have been out of this world--but we were trying to be healthy.

Salad Midi at Muriels

A fabulous salad of heirloom tomatoes, feta and avacadoes on a basil chiffonade. Not exactly New Oleans brunch food but a wow!

New Orleans

The Big Easy Trip

After Christmas with no family around and no basketball games, we decided to take the City of New Orleans train from Memphis for a mini-vacation and family food fest—The train ride was seamless—rather a nice way to travel other than it leaves at 6 am from downtown Memphis. Memphis looked pretty shabby as we left and as we got further into the weekend in NO it looked like a resort area. When we landed and checked into our room at the Royal Sonesta we immediately took off for Pat O’Briens—it was good as usual and while Dean had a traditional hurricane, I had a rainbow drink and Cam, the traditional margarita—we decided on a one drink limit because we were on the Concierge floor of our hotel and had happy hour to anticipate. The happy hour was indeed happy as we could sit outside on a balcony and drink white wine and eat wonderf cheeses and crab au gratin—The only kind of cheese they didn’t have was St. Andre. The cheese board was a nice piece of slate that I found intriguing because they could write the name of the cheese on the piece f slate. Dinner reservations were for Galatoires where we wanted a real New Orleans meal. It was an exercise in gluttony—Dean had mass quantities of crab au gratin that would have fed a basketball team. I had stuffed eggplant that turned out to be a large lump of dressing w/shrimp in it—I am sure there was crab and eggplant somewhere but it was enormous. Camille had lemon fish w/artichoke, crab and mushrooms—also rich as it could be. We started then to reconsider our reservations for the rest of the weekend. We had scheduled a jazz brunch at Arnaud’s for Sunday am and then just couldn’t pull the trigger on another meal like we’d had at Galatoires. Saturday we walked around the quarter, had muffalettas at Central Grocery and went to the Aquarium. This time at happy hour we paced ourselves better and didn’t fill up before dinner—Dinner on Saturday night was early at 6:30 so we had a much lighter and less filling meal at August—reported to be the best restaurant in the city but it could have been in any city so I thought it lacked any NO ambience. We took a cab there but realized we could have walked so we did walk back, changed clothes and headed for a stroll down lovely Bourbon Street. Everyone just had to have a frozen drink to walk down the street. Dean and I had pina coladas and Cam had some funky margarita like drink that I detested.

Finally the last meal in New Orleans (for a long time as I am concerned) was chosen and it was hands-down the best overall move of the trip. Dean had puppy drum, Camille a marinated in champagne tomato salad and I had grits and grillades that were great—The best part of the whole meal was the very best milk punch I have ever had—Remembering how awful the food on the train was Camille decided to run to the Central Grocery and get us some muffalettas to go so we could have edible food on the train—good move Camile. So shortly thereafter we headed back to the hotel which I highly recommend the concierge level and got our luggage and headed for and boarded the train where this story stops for awhile.

Santa Puppy

We have tried about 50 times to get him to smile for the camera w/his Berek Santa sweater on but we settled for a sweet look. This dog loves to wear costumes.

Vicarious National Champs

Who knew when we sent Camille to Richmond that they would be national champs in their division in football in her lifetime--haven't we waited a long time for something like this to happen to our beloved Bulldogs?? I am very happy for her and her friends that they got to experience such a priceless and world-changing event. In this day of gloom and doom, I am glad to have something to rant and rave about. It is a huge thing for Richmond and their newest alumni--so glad Dave was there to share it. Additionally, I want to thank Saunders on behalf of him AND Jordan for calling in the score and Lindsay who was happy as well. Robo, where were you?

Waiting on the Ice Storm

My favorite phrase forever has been "Shelby County Schools are Closed Today." I have been out of the classroom for 23 years now but I cannot get that out of my system to wish for snow, sleet or ice and hope and pray that I don't get stuck in it. It was actually a week of snow that is the reason we now live in Bumble. Shelby County schools were closed for a week and we were dividing our time between Memphis and our respective parents and happened to find this subdivision under construction while we were here. It used to be so beautiful at Christmas as all the homeowners put single white lights in the windows and used red bows on the mailboxes. We had luminaries that were a tourist attraction and brought out the best of the neighbors. Now all kinds of decorations are here and the luminaries got cancelled for the first time in 23 years due to the fact that the city didn't pick up the leaves and it is a mess. It is sad. I loved the luminaries. I don't have a red bow on the mailbox. I do have the white lights in the windows. My Richmond Spiders are playing for the National Championship in football Friday night and I am so pumped.

New Football Coach at Mississippi State

We are excited to have a new football coach on board who could be the one to lead us out of the wilderness, doldrums or whatever is the matter. Hopefully, he can turn the program around quickly and we can enjoy football again--The national media seems to be impressed w/our hire of up and coming Dan Mullen as well--rebs, beware!

Better Than Cooking School

Chicken and dumplins are probably every Southern person's favorite meal. They remind you of your grandmother(s) and look so hard to make that they are nearly impossible to find. Cracker Barrel may pretend to have them and some other Southern soul food restaurants but......I had some at Jordan and Saunders awhile ago that were wonderful. They claimed they were so easy to make, etc. so I have been wanting to try to make them for Camille when she gets home. So for a week we have been planning to have dumplins on Sunday night when we had all the time to cook them. Today was the day and after great debate in the grocery store about whole chicken v. a whole chicken cut up and real soup v. reduced sodium, etc. I had the right ingredients and Saunders came over to start the class. Five hours later, when Jordan joined us and it was halftime of some football game, we got to taste the results and they were fantastic, awesome or any other adjective that means wonderful. I can't believe how easy they were and Dean couldn't believe how good they were and it was a great day for cooking. The leaves can get raked tomorrow.

A Fabulous Menu at Cooking School

Today was the last in my series of cooking classes this year and it was by far the best menu we've had. A savory cheesecake topped w/smoked salmon roses was the feature of a celebration brunch menu. We also made a delightfully orange-glazed pork tenderloin and an asparagus and mushroom strata. The two very best dishes were the softest biscuits I had ever tasted and brown sugar bacon. The bacon was seasoned w/black and red pepper and brown sugar and baked on a rack in the oven. The brown sugar practically caramalized on the bacon and everyone raved. I was in a group w/a guy from Jackson, TN and two girls whose kids went to St. George's. It was notable that I had taught one of their husbands at GMS. His wife couldn't believe I remembered him. If she only knew how many of my students I could never forget! I love my cooking classes at Viking and highly recommend them to any of my friends who likcook or eat--which leads me to the thought for the day: Politics and religion are topics not for the table at a cocktail party but talking about food is very acceptable and brings people together better than any other subject. Think about it--does anyone like you less if you say you you like or dislike sushi rather than Sarah Palin?

Collierville Christmas Parade Boycott to End

The last Christmas Parade I saw I was in. Ten years ago Camille and Lindsay and Dean, Roberta and I were all happily riding in the Fire Truck when the parade abruptly stopped behind us and it took a long time to figure out what was the matter. There had been an accident and the emergency equipment couldn't get to the scene because it was so crowded. The parade circled the Square (if that makes sense) and had to be moved to a safer location the next year. It is now located on the straight lined Byhalia Road on the first Friday of every December and makes traffic unbearable for us who live nearby. The reason I am no longer boycotting is that we now have a mayor from old Collierville who would move it back to the Square if he wanted to. It is probably best where it is but I was mad because the outsider mayor that we had for so long had wanted to keep it off the Square and I waged my unsuccessful boycott. I am now no longer admonishing people not to go to the parade. I might even take a peek.

My New Hobby

Changing the look of the blog is fun and I think I really like this one. Camille and Linds you can tell me what you think! I set a new world's record today. I went to Walmart at 1:15 and when I looked at my watch, it was 3:oo. There were so many things and people to see. It had gone from dreary gray to sunny skies by the time I went out in the parking lot and by that time, I had no idea what door I entered and who knows where the car was! My next goal is to change the fonts.

Condemned to the Stupid Snowmen

My nourishing friends, Jordan and Saunders, taught me how to change the look of the blog but the only background that seems to work for me is what Saunders referred to as the "stupid snowmen" I love snowmen so what is toxic to one is apparently nourishing to someone else! Thanks you two! I will practice all day tomorrow and have a surprise background by tomorrow night! It's now a personal challenge.

Be Surrounded by Nourishing People

A long time ago a colleague brought up the fact that there were two kinds of people: nourishing and toxic. Toxic individuals are to be avoided as they suck out every conceivable ounce of energy you and cause great pain and suffering. Nourishing people, on the other hand, give you what you need and allow you to be the best you can be. It is ironic that some people who are toxic to one may be nourishing to another. If at all possible, identify the toxic people in your life and try to avoid them. It is a wonderful feeling to be surrounded by nourishing people.