Tuesday, February 22, 2011

MARDI GRAS 2011



The 2011 Mardi Gras season is underway. It began for Stacey and me Feb. 11 at the Osirus Ball where I was elected President of the U.S.
It was their 30th. 30 and Dirty was their theme this year. The Osirus Ball is the best. Always fun and entertaining. We had a table right up front and that give one a really good view of the tableau. Of coarse it was all about Dirty. Dirty Laundry, Dirty Martini, Dirty Politics ect.

We have also enjoyed a few parades and the Juno Ball. The Juno was good fun also. Lots of dancing. They had two good bands, one old school and one playing the latest dance hits.

The Mystic Fish are set to roll out their 19th parade. The float committee has been hard at work.
The food committee has been hard at work. Everything is in order and it's sure to be another great weekend for the Fish. The Mystic Fish are a very eclectic group with folks coming from all over the United States to participate. The Mystic Fish are by far the greatest Mardi Gras Krewe in the world. Here's a peek at this years Fish Float.


Tuesday, February 15, 2011

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

If you really want to get to know someone there are a few ways to go about it.
You can play golf with said person, travel to a foreign country with that person, or donate art to said persons fav charity. I have used all three ways to learn about a person and all three ways work.

Recently I had a lady ask me to donate a painting to an organization she is part of for a fund raiser. She even ask me to paint a particular subject for the event. She even went so far as to give me photos of veggies to work from. I told her I would try and paint a picture of vegetables as she wished, but I told her I did not think veggies would work so well with my painting style. I also told her not to worry I would have a painting ready and I would make sure it got them in time for her event as I had for the last 4 years.

Well I must say the veggies worked out well and I really like the painting. This is it.



So I took the veggie painting and a pig painting to the event site and let them pick which painting they would want for their fund raiser. Of course they picked the pig painting cause everyone in Atlanta is watching Kevin Gillespie cook pork all the way to a TOP CHEF championship. Pig is really hot right now and I knew they would want the pig. Here is a photo of said pig. Called it SOUTHSIDE. Clever huh.



Then I sent an email asking the nice lady who ask me to donate a painting for fund raiser if I would be comped 2 tickets to fund raiser event as I had been for the last 4 years. Here is where I learned what this nice lady who ask me to donate painting really thought of me and my art work.

In the nice ladies attempt to find out if I would be comped two tickets to the fund raiser I was cc'd in, I'm sure by accident, on an very insightful exchange of emails.

Did you decide on this? How should we respond….either way is fine. He really delayed on all this and the painting will probably not bring in much so if we say we are sold out at this time I am just fine with that.

Sorry…thought you got this…each artist gets 1 comp ticket and one ticket to buy for $50, but we are sold out, so he can only get his one comp ticket at this point.?

Some nice lady huh?
As Mr. Janky would say "OH WELL"

Monday, February 14, 2011

HOW TO BE HAPPY

Published: January 16, 2010
Want to be happier in 2010? Then try this simple experiment, inspired by recent scholarship in psychology and neurology. Which person would you rather be:

Richard is an ambitious 36-year-old white commodities trader in Florida. He’s healthy and drop-dead handsome, lives alone in a house with a pool, and has worked his way through a series of gorgeous women. Richard’s job is stressful, but he spent Christmas in Tahiti. Unencumbered, he also has time to indulge such passions as reading (right now he’s finishing a book called “Half the Sky”), marathon running and writing poetry. In the last few days, he has been composing an elegy about the Haiti earthquake.

Lorna is a 64-year-old black woman in Boston. She’s overweight and unattractive, even after a recent nose job. Lorna is on regular dialysis, but that doesn’t impede her active social life or babysitting her grandchildren. A retired school assistant, she is close to her 67-year-old husband and is much respected in her church for directing the music committee and the semiannual blood drive. Lorna believes in tithing (giving 10 percent of her income to charity or the church) and in the last few days has organized a church drive to raise $10,000 for earthquake relief in Haiti.

I adapted those examples from ones that Jonathan Haidt, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia, develops in his fascinating book, “The Happiness Hypothesis.” His point is that while most of us might prefer to trade places with Richard, Lorna is probably happier.

Men are no happier than women, and people in sunny areas no happier than people in chillier climates. The evidence on health is complex, but even chronic health problems (like those requiring dialysis) may have surprisingly little long-term effect on happiness, because we adjust to them. Beautiful people aren’t happier than ugly people, although cosmetic surgery does seem to leave patients feeling brighter. Whites are happier than blacks, but only very slightly. And young people are actually a bit less happy than older folks, at least up to age 65.

Lorna has a few advantages over Richard. She has less stress and is respected by her peers — factors that make us feel good. Happiness is tied to volunteering and to giving blood, and people with religious faith tend to be happier than those without. A solid marriage is linked to happiness, as is participation in social networks. And one study found that people who focus on achieving wealth and career advancement are less happy than those who focus on good works, religion or spirituality, or friends and family.

“Human beings are in some ways like bees,” Professor Haidt said. “We evolved to live in intensely social groups, and we don’t do as well when freed from hives.”

Happiness is, of course, a complex concept and difficult to measure, and John Stuart Mill had a point when he suggested: “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.”

But in any case, nobility can lead to happiness. Professor Haidt notes that one thing that can make a lasting difference to your contentment is to work with others on a cause larger than yourself.

I see that all the time. I interview people who were busy but reluctantly undertook some good cause because (sigh!) it was the right thing to do. Then they found that this “sacrifice” became a huge source of fulfillment and satisfaction.

Brain scans by neuroscientists confirm that altruism carries its own rewards. A team including Dr. Jorge Moll of the National Institutes of Health found that when a research subject was encouraged to think of giving money to a charity, parts of the brain lit up that are normally associated with selfish pleasures like eating or sex.

The implication is that we are hard-wired to be altruistic. To put it another way, it’s difficult for humans to be truly selfless, for generosity feels so good.

“The most selfish thing you can do is to help other people,” says Brian Mullaney, co-founder of Smile Train, which helps tens of thousands of children each year who are born with cleft lips and cleft palates. Mr. Mullaney was a successful advertising executive, driving a Porsche and taking dates to the Four Seasons, when he felt something was missing and began volunteering for good causes. He ended up leaving the business world to help kids smile again — and all that makes him smile, too.

So at a time of vast needs, from Haiti to our own cities, here’s a nice opportunity for symbiosis: so many afflicted people, and so much benefit to us if we try to help them. Let’s remember that while charity has a mixed record helping others, it has an almost perfect record of helping ourselves. Helping others may be as primal a human pleasure as food or sex.




Thursday, February 10, 2011

I'M GETTING OLD

I PURCHASED THIS TODAY. YES, IT'S FOR ME.
DAMN DAMN DAMN

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

RECENTLY.....


LOCAL THREE KITCHEN AND BAR OFFERS OVER ONE HUNDRED DIFFERENT BOURBONS. IT'S AN ACTUAL WALL OF THE BROWN STUFF. THE BOYS AT L3 WANTED A PAINTING FOR THE WALL OF BOURBON AND THEIR ONLY INSTRUCTION WAS THAT IT NEEDED TO SAY BROWN TOWN SOMEWHERE ON THE PAINTING. THIS IS WHAT I CAME UP WITH.
I HUNG IT THIS MORNING. CLICK ON IT AND IT GETS BIG!



THESE ARE VINES AND TREE LIMBS I FOUND IN MY YARD AND FASHIONED INTO TAP HANDLES FOR THE MANY DRAFT BEERS AT LOCAL 3.



TABLE AND BENCH FROM ANTIQUE PINE. I BOUGHT THE LEGS CAUSE I DON'T TURN WOOD. THESE WILL BE DELIVERED TONIGHT TO PETER AND STACI. NICE STUFF.



THESE 9 TOPS ARE FOR A COFFEE SHOP IN TENNESSEE. ANTIQUE PINE WITH EBONY STAIN. THEY WERE PICKED UP MONDAY.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

DIM SUM BITCHES

Riddle me this Fat man. Where can one get shark fin, chicken feet and jelly fish off the same menu?
The Answer: CANTON HOUSE RESTAURANT.

http://www.sixthseal.com/images/miri/premium%20dim%20sum.jpg

And I love this restaurant. But, you can have the chicken feet and the jelly fish. The shark fin? Well, it is cooked in a dumpling, very little shark fin is used cause it cost so much and it taste good. Although I'm not sure you really taste the fin, as it is in the middle of this dumpling.


So were talking DIM SUM here. What is this Dim Sum you may ask. Let's check in with the All Mighty GOOGLE,

The unique culinary art of dim sum originated with the Cantonese in southern China, who over the centuries transformed yum cha ( tea tasting ) from a relaxing respite to a loud and happy dining experience.
Travellers on the ancient Silk Road needed a place to rest. Thus teahouses were established along the roadside. Rural farmers, exhausted after working hard in the fields, would go to teahouses for a relaxing afternoon of tea. At first, it was considered inappropriate to combine tea with food, because people believed it would lead to excessive weight gain. People later discovered that tea can aid in digestion, so teahouse owners began adding various snacks.

Two things from the quote above really describe my dim sum experiences, which I have enjoyed the last three Saturdays in a row. First it is a loud and joyful dinning experince in a large dinning room full of hungry people and the last two words "various snacks". What an understatement. Further down the page is a list of some of the "various snacks" one can enjoy at the Canton House Dim Sum every Saturday and Sunday late morning to early afternoon.

Our friend Kim Trent turned us on to dim sum over 15 years ago. Lil Lady and I fell in love with this meal the minute the first tea cart arrived. This is how dim sum is served. You are seated and ask if you want tea. We usually have Chrysanthemum, but you can have Oolong, Green or Pu-erh. This is also the time to tell you server you want all the condiments. Hot mustard, sweet and sour, chili oil and soy sauce are common at dim sum. And before your tea and condiments get to you table the first tea cart is pushed up to your table and the server ask if you would like some .......... from here on it is nonstop, one cart after another. And the variety is awesome.
One cart will have shrimp cooked many different ways. Butterflied and fried, wrapped in bacon, skewered with a small stalk of sugarcane and fried or with eggplant and black bean sauce and on and on. See the list below for more details. But, I swear it's endless. There is duck, you can get a plate of greens and the sticky rice. I love the sticky rice. It comes a few different ways. It can be cooked in a small crock or it can be steamed in a large lotus leaf, my fav. Inside is a sweet sticky rice with little tidbits of Chinese sausage, mushrooms, pork ribs ect.



There are more dishes available then I would ever be able to describe and there is always something new. Dim Sum can be found in most cities these days. If I were you I would find my local Dim Sum restaurant and try it out.


  • Gao / Jiao (餃, Dumpling; 餃子 jiao zi): Jiao zi is a standard in most teahouses. They are made of ingredients wrapped in a translucent rice flour or wheat starch skin, and are different from jiaozi found in other parts of China. Though common, steamed rice-flour skins are quite difficult to make. Thus, it is a good demonstration of the chef's artistry to make these translucent dumplings. There are also dumplings with vegetarian ingredients, such as tofu and pickled cabbage.
    • Shrimp Dumpling (蝦餃 har gau): A delicate steamed dumpling with whole or chopped-up shrimp filling and thin wheat starch skin.
    • Chiu-chao style dumplings (潮州粉果 chiu-chau fun guo): A dumpling said to have originated from the Chaozhou prefecture of eastern Guangdong province, it contains peanuts, garlic, chives, pork, dried shrimp, Chinese mushrooms in a thick dumpling wrapper made from glutinous rice flour or Tang flour. It is usually served with a small dish of chili oil.
    • Potsticker (鍋貼, gwoh tip / guo tee-yeh [guo tie]): Northern Chinese style of dumpling (steamed and then pan-fried jiaozi), usually with meat and cabbage filling. Note that although potstickers are sometimes served in dim sum restaurants, they are not considered traditional Cantonese dim sum.
    • Shaomai (燒賣 siu mai): Small steamed dumplings with either pork, prawns or both inside a thin wheat flour wrapper. Usually topped off with crab roe and mushroom.
    • Haam Sui Gaau (鹹水餃, salt-water (i.e. savoury) stuffed-dumpling, alternatively 鹹水角 (haam Sui Gok): deep fried oval-shaped dumpling made with rice-flour and filled with pork and chopped vegetables. The rice-flour surrounding is sweet and sticky, while the inside is slightly salty.
  • Bau (包 bau or 包子 bao zi): Baked or steamed, these fluffy buns made from wheat flour are filled with food items ranging from meat to vegetables to sweet bean pastes.
    • Char siu baau (叉燒包, char siu baau): the most popular bun with a Cantonese barbecued pork filling. It can be either steamed to be fluffy and white or baked with a light sugar glaze to produce a smooth golden-brown crust.
    • Shanghai steamed buns (上海小籠包 seong hoi siu lung bau): These dumplings are filled with meat or seafood and are famous for their flavor and rich broth inside. These dumplings are originally Shanghainese so they are not considered traditional Cantonese dim sum. They are typically sold with pork as a filling.
  • Rice noodle rolls or cheong fun (腸粉 cheong fun): These are wide rice noodles that are steamed and then rolled. They are often filled with different types of meats or vegetables inside but can be served without any filling. Rice noodle rolls are fried after they are steamed and then sprinkled with sesame seeds. Popular fillings include beef, dough fritter, shrimp, and barbecued pork. Often topped with a sweetened soy sauce.
  • Phoenix talons (鳳爪 fung zao): These are chicken feet, deep fried, boiled, marinated in a black bean sauce and then steamed. This results in a texture that is light and fluffy (due to the frying), while moist and tender. Fung zau are typically dark red in color. One may also sometimes find plain steamed chicken feet served with a vinegar dipping sauce. This version is known as "White Cloud Phoenix Talons" (白雲鳳爪, bak wun fung jau).
  • Steamed meatball (牛肉球 ngau4 juk6 kau4): Finely-ground beef is shaped into balls and then steamed with preserved orange peel and served on top of a thin bean-curd skin.
  • Spare ribs: In the west, it is mostly known as spare ribs collectively. In the east, it is Char siu when roasted red, or (排骨 paai4 gwat1, páigǔ) when roasted black. It is typically steamed with douchi or fermented black beans and sometimes sliced chilli.
  • Lotus leaf rice (糯米雞 lou mai gai): Glutinous rice is wrapped in a lotus leaf into a triangular or rectangular shape. It contains egg yolk, dried scallop, mushroom, water chestnut and meat (usually pork and chicken). These ingredients are steamed with the rice and although the leaf is not eaten, its flavour is infused during the steaming. Lo mai gai is a kind of rice dumpling. A similar but lighter variant is known as "Pearl Chicken" (珍珠雞 jan jyu gai).
  • Congee (粥 juk1): Thick, sticky rice porridge served with different savory items. The porridge one will see most often is "Duck Egg and Pork Porridge" (皮蛋瘦肉粥 "pei daan sau ruk juk")
  • Sou (酥 sou): A type of flaky pastry. Char siu is one of the most common ingredient used in dim sum style sou. Another common pastry seen in restaurants are called "Salty Pastry" (鹹水角 "haam sui gok") which is made with flour and seasoned pork.
  • Taro dumpling (芋角 wu gok): This is made with mashed taro, stuffed with diced shiitake mushrooms, shrimp and pork, deep-fried in crispy batter.
  • Crispy fried squid (魷魚鬚 yau yu sou): Similar to fried calamari, the battered squid is deep-fried. A variation of this dish may be prepared with a salt and pepper mix. In some dim sum restaurants, octopus is used instead of squid.
  • Rolls (捲)
    • Spring roll (春捲 cheun gyun): a roll consisting of various types of vegetables — such as sliced carrot, cabbage, mushroom and wood ear fungus — and sometimes meat are rolled inside a thin flour skin and deep fried.
    • Tofu skin roll (腐皮捲 fu pei guen): a roll made of Tofu skin
  • Cakes (糕)
    • Turnip cake (蘿蔔糕 lo bak go): cakes are made from mashed daikon radish mixed with bits of dried shrimp and pork sausage that are steamed and then cut into slices and pan-fried.
    • Taro cake (芋頭糕 wu tao go): cakes made of taro.
    • Water chestnut cake (馬蹄糕 maa tai gow): cakes made of water chestnut. It is mostly see-through and clear. Some restaurants also serve a variation of water chestnut cake made with bamboo juice.
  • Chien chang go (千層糕 cin cang gou): "Thousand-layer cake", a dim sum dessert made up of many layers of sweet egg dough.

Thursday, February 3, 2011



DELECTABLE DISHES FROM TERMITE HALL

I WAS LOOKING THROUGH A COPY OF THIS BOOK, WENT ON LINE TO LEARN MORE AND THIS IS ONE OF THE ARTICLES I FOUND ON THE BLOG COOKBOOK OF THE DAY. I LOVE THIS COOKBOOK. IT IS INTERNATIONAL AND SOUTHERN AT THE SAME TIME. WALTERS TRAVELED THE WORLD AND LIVED ABROAD FOR AN EXTENSIVE TIME. YOU CAN BUY THIS BOOK AT AMAZON.COM COOKBOOK OF THE DAY


COOKBOOK OF THE DAY


23 January 2010

Delectable Dishes From Termite Hall


Originally, Termite Hall was coaching inn located halfway between the Mobile, Alabama courthouse and Spring Hill College. It was known appropriately as the Halfway House. It was a place Eugene Walter knew well. The house came to its name honestly. There are several stories all a means to the same end. One has it that Mrs. Marston, the lady of the house, was walking through the house when the parlor floor gave way because of the termites. Another has the children sitting on a balustrade on the porch. When they got up, it collapsed, eaten away by the termites. Either termite story was sufficient for the house to become Termite Hall.

Eugene Walter was a consummate cook and food writer on a par with M.F.K. Fisher. He was a consultant on the Time Life Series, writing American Cooking –- Southern Style. He was also an award winning novelist and poet, a singe, actor and composer, and a general bon vivant of colossal proportion. For more on Eugene Walter, check out our post at Lucindaville. For more on his cookbooks, stay here.


Delectable Dishes From Termite Hall takes its title from the fine old three-story building seen above. Eugene Walter was not the kind of man to walk away from a good tale and falling through the floor at Termite Hall was a great tale.

Since he was a boy, Walter collected recipes the same way some kids collected stamps. As an adult, he compiled many of these recipes into a several cookbooks. In an introduction to this edition, novelist Pat Conroy writes,
“I have not come across a bad recipe in the book, and certainly, not a dull one. It was Eugene who told me that as a cookbook writer he was always trying to disguise the fact that “my real job is to be a philosopher king and prince of elves.””
Here is Eugene Walter at his elfish best on the subject of Jerusalem artichokes, grown everywhere in the South.
“Twenty-five lashes with a dead flounder to whichever publicity genius dreamed up the name Sun Choke. The plant has been known since the early 1600’s as Helianthus tuberosus, topinamber, and Jerusalem artichoke. …I love the French topinambour: I’ve always felt that if Rumpelstiltskin or Pinocchio had a little sister her name would be Topinambour.
Here is an old recipe for an even older vegetable.
Stewed Topinambour – Old Mobile Style

Melt some butter and bacon fat in the skillet and brown a thinly sliced onion, sprinkle in a tablespoon of flour, stir until nicely colored, not dark. Add a small glass of dry white wine, mix and let simmer a minute then put in a crushed toe of garlic, some freshly-ground black pepper, a dash of nutmeg, and a pound or so of small peeled Jerusalem artichokes. Simmer until the vegetable is cooked but not mushy. Before serving add more butter, salt to taste, and a sprinkling of chopped parsley or chives.
If you have never tasted Jerusalem artichokes, give this recipe a try. And please, please, read Eugene Walter.