Living On Holiday

I read this phrase somewhere a long time ago, liked the sound of it and decided to go for it.

Now I know I got to have a few responsibilities, but can’t they be making the travel arrangements, packing the suitcases, get the travelers checks ? Can’t these be the things I got to do. But noooooooooooo, I gota work, I gota bring home a pay check, I gota do some house work and cook a few meals. I don’t mind, really I don’t.

I actually got it made and come real close to living on holiday. One thing that keeps me in the holiday mood is Mardi Gras. I get to do something Mardi Gras related all year round. Yesterday I bought 100 nerf footballs at the Dollar store. I got to have something to throw Mardi Gras Day.

I have been enjoying Mardi Gras to the max for the last 15 years. That’s how long we have been celebrating the Mystic Fish. It’s fun getting everything ready for the parade and reception and the party the night before. The golf tournament is fun as well.

But a few years ago things changed and now I get to fool around with Mardi Gras all year long, or as much as I want.

A few years back I was invited to join one of the older more established organizations. We have meetings (drink and eat) all year round. So whenever I’m around these guys it’s all about the parade. Who’s gonna ride where, what do the floats look like, how much money do I owe for my bad behavior from last year. You know, important stuff like that.

A couple times a year I go down to Mobile and visit my friend who builds the floats for KORs. It’s a lot of fun to check out the floats as they are being rebuilt, my favorite is when the building part is done and they all get a coat of white primer paint. It’s as if the floats are all covered with a very even blanket of snow, it’s something to see. Totally abstract to what you see on the streets.

There is so much involved with my year long love affair with Mardi Gras and really the best part is spending time in Mobile with all my friends and family.

Sushi, Sisters Of Mercy and Sake Bombs

Happy Birthday! Do you remember the Christmas show for Frosty the Snowman, one of the kids put a hat on him and he came alive and Frosty said Happy Birthday! Well the clock of life ticked once more for “Little Lady”, otherwise know as Stacey. And together with our new friends who run the local Sushi Bar, we all said Happy Birthday!

That’s kinda of what it was like last night at Wasabi. Wasabi is the only place in Atlanta where we eat sushi. This isn’t a rule , it’s just the way things work out. And yea, I know there ain’t nothing southern about Sushi, but come on, good is good, and this shit is good. They also make you feel at home, you know, that home where you mother makes sushi.

Tonight we about had the place to ourselves, which is rare, it is usually crowded. But that was cool for a change, we could hear each other and the music. I can’t think of nothing better then eating good food, listening to Sister of Mercy and hanging out with Stacey.

Nhan runs the place along with Jennifer and we always eat very well there. So tonight after Little Lady got home, she said she wanted to go to Wasabi for dinner. For her Birthday dinner that is.

On Wednesday it’s half price wine. Now That’s really good for two reasons. First, Little Lady likes wine, white please. And, two, these guys have a couple good wines that become even better at half price.

Anyway, we don’t really know these guys all that well or anything. We eat there and say hey and all that, but we haven’t really gotten to know them. Until tonight, that is.

So we were about done eating, it was another great meal, and no kidding this is good, someone has worked very hard to get seafood so fresh we can enjoy it in this capacity.

The place is not crowded , but it has gotten very loud and we realize the Chef is working the other side of the counter, so to speak. Tonight Nhan is happy, and having drinks with the customers, something I encourage all business owners to do every once in awhile.

He makes his way to our table and he knows our faces as semi-regulars. So he sits and chats, finds out it’s Little Lady’s Birthday and ask for three Sake Bombs. So we all drop a shot glass of warm sake in a half glass of cold beer and drink it down. We chat more with our new friend Nhan and suddenly, as if he just remembered something he ask Stacey, it’s your Birthday? He then calls for three more Sake Bombs, looks around the restaurant and then ask for eight Sake Bombs.

And so it goes.

Happy Birthday Little Lady

It’s a small world

Happens all the time. I meet someone and as we talk we find some common connection. I mean something like, same hometown, mutual friends or something like that. I don’t mean something esoteric and to hell with Kevin Bacon and 6 degrees, this happens often and the divide is small.

So my next door neighbor rents his house. The folks who own the house lived there not to long ago and we are friends. Anyway, neighbor that rents is also a friend and he is always doing home improvement projects to the house. Just recently he bought a real nice motorcycle. He keeps the motorcycle and other thing in the basement of the house. The door to the basement was old and loose in the frame so he decided to replace it. The old door was homemade, put together with 1 x 6″ lumber and painted white. I told him I wanted that door when it came off. Next day old door is leaning against my workshop door, thank you very much.

The bottom of this door was rotting away just beautifully. Not to much but enough to add a nice rugged look to it. So I took off old hinges and broken hasp and sanded the table down to where it was smooth but still had some white paint left on it. I then built an apron and attached 4 legs made of 4 x4″ post, just 17″ long as needed for a coffee table. I put a clear coat on it for protection and clean up and priced it $300 and took it to the market I was working that weekend.

Well low and behold here comes the neighbors that own the house next door. Out for a Saturday morning farmers market. Hellos are exchanged and we’re chatting and I’m talking with other customers. Next thing I know the neighbors are asking about the door that is now a coffee table. I tell them I got it off a trash pile in the neighborhood and worked it into this. They are thinking about buying it, I start laughing and have to tell exactly where it came from. They think this is great, didn’t know their tennant was replacing the door and buy it from me. I gave them a $50 discount considering where the door came from.

Fried Oysters

Fried Oysters.

Truly one of the best and most simple of dishes. Just put a bunch of Oysters in a zip-lock with panco, flour, salt and pepper. Red, White and Black pepper. The Oysters don’t need anything to get the fry mix to stick. Just throw them in a bag with this mixture. Then drop them in a cast iron skillet with vegetable oil heated to 350 degrees. When the Oysters float, let them keep floating till they are a golden brown. Get’em crisp and make a good tar-tar or some kind of tricked up sauce to dip them in.

So that’s what we did tonight. Fried Oysters and Gumbo made last Friday. Gonna make some pimento cheese soon. MF says my Grandpa used to have homemade “puhmenahcheez” with his Gumbo, all the time. I don’t remember. Bet it was good stuff.

Many years ago a friend made “puhmenaccheez” from scratch. All the ingredients came from a jar or can. But it was good.

Today you gotta roast your own red peppers, make your own mayo, get the best cheddar there is and then you got a good “puhmenahcheez”. It ain’t that much work and it’s really worth it. I will post a recipe soon.

Gumbo

Many Cajuns add potato salad to their gumbo and eat it with or without rice. Have you ever heard of this? I only recently have, I’m not sure where , but I’ve heard of this. We haven’t ever tried it, probably should.

Gumbo is one of those things. Either ya know it or ya don’t. You can cook or ya can’t. Look at all this on gumbo :

• Gumbo, a spicy, hearty stew or soup.
• Gumbois another name of the vegetable okra, also known as bhindi or lady’s fingers.
• Gumbo, a particularly sticky form of clay till. Gumbo (mascot), the mascot dog of the New Orleans Saints
• Dr. John’s Gumbo, an album by Dr. John
• Gumbo, the clay-rich and hard to work soil of Southern Manitoba
• Gumbo is the surname of the family in the comic strip Rose Is Rose.
• Comic Gumbo is Japan’s first ever free weekly manga magazine.

Now to me Gumbo is a lot of stuff, some of the things from the list above and some stuff that makes “my gumbo”, “my gumbo” well that would be “our gumbo”.

Let’s see, gumbo defiantly means Mardi Gras. Gumbo also means 30 minute roux or 2 beers consumed slowly. It also means the “holy trinity” of celery, bell peppers, and onions. It means you better have a lot of homemade chicken stock on hand. Gumbo means at least double the recipe, dumb ass. Christmas Gumbo means oysters and chicken.

Gumbo is best after a few days, whenever I make it I try to not pay attention to it, just ignore it and cook it and put it away for a few days and then eat it. I usually have to have something else to eat while I cook the Gumbo , so as not to think about eating the Gumbo I am cooking.

Here is a loose outline for 50 cups of Gumbo. You know what you like , so work it in to this recipe, sausage, chopped chicken, crab bodies are great cooked down in Gumbo. My Grandma Hartley used to always have crab bodies in her Gumbo. I remember Grandma Hartley had Gumbo often. I bet she had it on the table at least 2 days a week. It was regular at their house.

3 lbs shrimp cleaned

2 cup celery

4 cups onion chopped

1 cup bell pepper chopped

2 gallons fresh chicken broth (or use what ya got, slacker)

salt / pepper

2 cups roux ( take cup of Wesson oil and a cup of flour and cook it in a cast iron dutch over or heavy duty stock pot for about 20 - 30 minutes or until looks like peanut-butter, cook it hot but slow)

So do your roux and as it finishes add celery, onions, and bell peppers and cook til onions are clear, about 15-20 minutes.

Then add hot chicken stock and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Then add shrimp, oysters, chicken, sausage or whatever ya want and cook for another 20 minutes.

At this point you can always think about adding something like file, crab boil, or Zatarans is good.

You have got to let this cool for a long time uncovered and stir it every once in awhile otherwise it will “sour”.

So put it away for a day or two and when ya go to serve it, cook some rice to layer the Gumbo on.

You could just serve it on tater salad.

Monday Report

So another weekend, another Monday morning and time again to decide what to do this week. Work-wise, that is. Will I start on the king-sized bed that’s been ordered by the brilliant couple that ordered the shutter table? Will I paint another picture with a wine theme, per another request? Will I finish reading one of the three books I have started. I am about done with Sonny Brewers book about an old mans struggle with his spirituality? The name of the book is The Poet Of Tolstoy Park. All you monkeys down there in South Alabama should read it. Or should I finish the Walker Percy novel, The Moviegoer? I am not enjoying this one as much as I thought I would, it’s a bit to wordy. I could start on a painting I have been commissioned to paint. It’s for a guy, who among other things writes books. His latest book is named “zing”, it’s a book on idea spotting. He wants me to paint a large picture of 3 light-bulbs in a row, I think it will work well with my painting style.

So as you can see I got a lot of projects to choose from. That’s not all I got on my plate, but I really couldn’t list all the things I need or want to do. I think I’ll start the week with a bowl of cheese grits and a crab-meat omelette.

Eugene Walter said “I’ve had a great life, and it all happened because I didn’t plan any of it”. That’s gonna be my plan also.

Here is a link to the Mobile newspaper, a short piece on the book we use to find all the great hole in the wall places to eat in the southeast. A Southern Belly, by John T. Edge. http://www.al.com/living/press-register/index.ssf?/base/living/1187169849212160.xml&coll=3

Talk to ya tomorrow.

Monday Report on Wednesday

Today, Stacey went up the street to the Mexican Grocery Store for shrimp ceviche makings. She was getting a couple pounds of shrimps, about 7 or 8 limes, 2 oranges, a few tomato’s, couple of onions, a few peppers and cilantro. The peppers were probably poblano and they are whole roasted in a skillet with the tomato’s and garlic. Right now, as we speak I can hear and smell the peppers and tomato’s roasting in olive oil. And it is a good thing.

She, Stacey that is, will blanch the 2 pounds of shrimp we have just cleaned. She will rough chop the peppers and tomato’s, add all this together, squeeze the limes and oranges over the mixture, cover and refrig for 24. Hell yea. It’s good with avocado.

But that ain’t the best part. While she was there, she spied this woman buying a large amount of tamale fixings. Stacey commented to the guy who owns and runs the store ” I wanna go eat tamales with her”. So he gave Stacey the ladies name, Maria Hernandez, and phone #. But we’re gonna call him and just let him order for us, since Stacey thinks the tamale maker only speaks Spanish.

Here is a good book, if your looking for something to read. Milking the Moon, by Eugene Walter as told to Katherine Clark. I read it years ago and am gonna read it again. Soon I am gonna write a little something about Eugene Walter. I do remember it was an enjoyable and easy read. But I am partial to stories about Mobile and the monkeys who made it what it really is.

Shutter table is coming along just fine.

All is well, thanks. Hope the same for you.