I am not from Louisiana, nor have I ever lived there.  I do, however, have some Louisiana ties (my mama’s mama’s people are from Shreveport), and I grew up drinking Coffee with chicory and eating things like gumbo and shrimp creole and putting Tobasco sauce on just about everything.  The holy trinity is in my […]

If you had asked me two years ago how I felt about Brussels Sprouts, I probably would have made some horrid face and said something along the lines of: “they’re too bitter,” or “ugh – gross, tiny cabbages are funny looking and should be outlawed” or maybe even “DIS-gusting. Blech.”  Which is mature. Had you […]

It was never my intention to take a leave of absence from this space, but it seems that it happened anyway.  Oops. If I’m being perfectly honest, it was kind of nice.  Not being tied to a camera or a computer for a little while.  I might try it more often. Not that I don’t […]

Remember the Telephone Game from when we were kids?  The one where a bunch of people sit in a circle, and one person starts by whispering a message into the ear of their neighbor, and that person turns and whispers (what is supposed to be) the same message into their neighbor’s ear, and so on […]

Wishing everyone who’s celebrating today a peaceful and bountiful Thanksgiving. In our house, we have a tradition of going around the table before the Thanksgiving meal and sharing something for which we are thankful.  So, in the spirit of tradition, I thought I’d give a little thanks here, as well. I’m thankful for family, near […]

November. It’s always been one of my favorite months of the year.  The weather is cooler, the sky is clear and impossibly blue.  It’s a month of celebrations in our house: my youngest’s birthday, my birthday, Thanksgiving. Lots of opportunities to consume ridiculous quantities of delicious food.  And cake.  And pie.  November is a good […]

I’d like to tell you I was thinking of you when I made this recipe.  I really would, because then, somehow, I could justify having eaten as many as I did. The truth of the matter is, I haven’t thought about much of anything lately except these cakes. And maybe (perhaps?) the fall/Halloween festival at […]

If you worry that Autumn signals the end of bright, colorful salads, then you clearly haven’t tried this one. The boys over at The Bitten Word brought this salad to my attention.  A couple of weeks ago, they decided to include their readers in an October food magazine cover to cover challenge.  They had a […]

This week has been a bit of a whirlwind.  For someone who is happily content to exist within a 3-mile radius, I have traveled outside my usual stomping grounds on more than one occasion in the last seven days. And I’m exhausted. But also enlightened and inspired. On September 20, I had the privilege of […]

This title may seem incongruous at first glance.   And possibly at second glance, too.  The truth is, I don’t care.  I want to talk about both, and this here is my blog, so I’m gonna do what I want to do. So there. Back in January, I made a commitment publicly – right here in […]