Bringing the Drama

Before Monday night I had no idea how to make a roux. I mean, I knew it was flour and oil, but I had never made my own before. I’ve made gumbo from a box. Please don’t stone me! This has all changed now. About a month ago, my aunt emailed me about a cooking class at this new store by her house and the class was on gumbo, from scratch. We signed up. I’ve wanted to learn how to make gumbo from scratch for a long time. I was tailgating for an LSU game one time where a guy made gumbo on a cooking stove. I wanted to learn how to do that.

I got there after work Monday night, and was the first one there. I thought the class was for 6, but it was actually 6:30. I was able to talk to the chef and walk around the store, so that was cool. She said how she’d need a volunteer to make the roux, so I volunteered. There were about 9 people in the class, and it was one of those places where you bring your own wine. When the class started we sat there and listened to the chef introduce herself and everything. She called me up to make the roux and walked me through everything. All I had to do was stir. I did not let it burn! It worked! It only took 5 minutes! It ended up being the base for a chicken and sausage gumbo that was DELICIOUS! She had some other guy make the seafood gumbo roux that was darker, but that worked too. Amazing! We all left full and happy. It was a great night, and now I know how to make a roux.

My dad and I have a very complicated relationship with my BR family. As an update to the last time I talked about this, I had somehow been cut off from my uncle and grandfather too. That was until this past November when a great thing happened. I ended up getting my grandfather’s phone number through a 2nd cousin and then calling him. I had literally dreamed of calling him before actually doing so. In the dream I started sobbing, it was ridiculous. And then it happened in real life. We talked for a while. I had gone years without talking to my uncle or grandfather. My uncle moved my grandfather to an old folks’ home, but did not tell my dad or I where or anything. I found out my uncle screens his calls and does not answer any calls from our area code. His wife told me that last time I called, because I started leaving a message and she picked up. That was before I was banned though. Luckily my dad’s cousin was able to help us.

My grandfather and I have talked at least once every couple of weeks since then. I went and visited him the weekend before Christmas. I had not been over to Plaquemine since I was a kid. He’s excited about the wedding, and says things like he wishes he could go but he probably can’t. I’ve been telling him not to worry about that, we will figure out a way. It sucks seeing him without a car and not being able to go anywhere on his own. Before his fall, he was still cutting his own grass, driving his Jeep around town, dealing with the d-bag college student neighbors parking their car in his yard, etc. His mind is all there, but the body’s not. I’ve been encouraging him as best I can to see the good things in his new situation. His sister lives around the corner, and his brother lives a couple of streets over. Our visit a couple of weeks back was fantastic. I’m going next weekend and bringing CZ, so I’m really looking forward to that. I know which side of the building to park and walk in on now too.

The goodness of the trip did not stop there. On the way home from Plaquemine, I stopped at the Five Guys in BR. I love Five Guys. This time I ordered a burger with no cheese, topped with lettuce, tomato, pickles, grilled onions, green peppers, and jalapeno peppers. The no cheese thing was kind of by accident, but it won’t be next time. Everything was so delicious, I did not need cheese. It was Burger Nirvana. The jalapenos added just the right flavor and now I will have to get that every time I go back.

I have a love/hate relationship with Quizno’s. I love it because the one near my house is really convenient, and I hate it because it seems every other location I go to sucks. The last year has brought horrible experiences the last few times I’ve been. I keep telling myself I should stop going. It is SO EXPENSIVE to eat there now. I’ve altered what I order so I only spend $5 or $6, but still. Don’t expect to get out of there for under $10 most of the time, and for that level of food, I think that’s expensive. The customer service also gave me bad experiences. When there’s no one in the store, the answer is not to go outside to have a smoke break. Also, when people pull up, don’t let them beat you inside to the counter. Maybe I expect too much from people. Expecting people to simply do their jobs is too much to ask from some.

I still stop at the one near my house because it’s easy to get to and I don’t have to fight traffic. Even though I’ve had bad experiences at other locations, the local one has not been a primary culprit. Fast forward to after church last Sunday. I found two new corporate policies that are troubling. This starts with a lady who does not know manners. The lady in front of me not only knocked the price marker for the chips off of the rack, she stepped on it and then did not pick it up. She had even looked down when she knocked it over. I picked it up when I shuffled past it. The nerve of her to think she must be better than to pick up something she knocked over. Anyway, the lady asks for salt and pepper on her sandwich, and the girl behind the counter says they are not allowed to do that anymore, but they did have packets over by the straws. Not allowed to put S&P on a sandwich? WHY? Are customers complaining that they are putting too much? Aren’t they supposed to tell the person to stop shaking? When it was my turn, I asked for red onion to be put on my sandwich. I love red onions. The girl looks at me and says “oh, we carry red onions anymore.” WTF? First the mysterious S&P rule and now they have stopped carrying red onions? Ridiculous. I don’t know if it’s corporate telling the franchisee what to do, or the franchisee just being stupid. That particular Quizno’s has probably changed hands 4 or 5 times, so maybe that’s part of the problem. I really should stop going to Quizno’s.

So at my new job, every employee gets a ham for Christmas. When we first got the email about it at the beginning of December, I thought someone was ordering hams and we would pay for them. No, everyone gets a ham already cooked and spirally sliced. How awesome is that? For a person who came from a cold corporation who gave no Christmas bonus of any kind, it is very awesome. The Tuesday before Christmas, we got our hams. The day was highlighted by the following text conversation with my sister:

Me: (Picture of ham box) Boom!
Her: Lol You know you work for a family-owned company when you get a ham for Christmas.
Me: It is awesome! Ham for everyone Friday!
Her: Stop being a ham!
Me: We will ham it up.
Her: I hope the Hamburglar doesn’t steal it in the night.
Her: Name a Dr Seuss book.
Me: The Cat in the Ham
Me: The Lorham
Her: FAIL! BOOOOOOO.

My family and I ate the ham on Christmas Eve. It was delicious. I still have a lot of it in my fridge. Also great on CE, giving my parents a harmonica playing raccoon.

Last week I was cutting my grass one evening. It’s been so hot lately that cutting my grass has been a multiple day process. I was mowing the side yard when all of a sudden I felt something bite me on my right big toe. [Yes, I mow my yard in flip flops, and I probably should not, but it's not like I'm putting my feet under the blade of the mower] It was like a nail being driven through my toe. I let go of the mower and said a bad word, then flopped to the ground like I had been shot. I looked around but did not see anything that would be the likely culprit for this pain. I looked at my toe and saw the bite, and it kind of looked like an ant bite, but it felt a lot worse.

I went inside and washed my toe, and googled to see if what bit me could have been a spider. I see spiders all the time in my yard, but they always run before the mower goes over them. I was bitten when I was walking behind my mower, so maybe it came from the side. I was comforted by the pain subsiding and not seeing fang marks, because apparently some spiders leave those.

I went back outside to at least finish the spot I was mowing, and looked at my neighbors’ fence. Between one of the boards for the gate and a post, I saw a wasp nest. There were about 4 or 5 wasps hanging out, and this was right near where I got stung. I went back inside and grabbed some Raid and then sprayed down the wasp nest. They have really advanced the technology of the killing power, because I remember my parents trying to kill wasps with spray and having to run as soon as they sprayed it because the deaths were not instantaneous. They are now, but it’s still nice to have the spray go more than a couple of feet.

I finished up in the yard, and googled some remedies for wasp stings. I found one talking about putting an onion slice on the bite area and holding it there for 20 minutes. Incidentally, this website also came in useful during my grad school class in the spring. I happened to have an onion in my fridge, so I sliced off the bottom and held it to my toe. It was not instant pain relief, but after a while the pain was just about gone, and the bite never swelled up.

So next time you find yourself mowing your lawn in flip flops, or anytime for that matter, and you get stung by a wasp, put an onion on it.

About a week and a half ago, I went and saw David Gray. I had heard of DG before, and remember him breaking with Babylon, and over the years have heard a couple of other songs I liked but that was about it. I really did not follow him to know he had 8 albums released now. That’s a bit Ryan Adamsian IMO. Right? How many singer-songwriters release that many albums in a decade? Anyway, the show was at the Mahalia Jackson Theatre in NOLA, a theatre they made a big deal about renovating and re-opening last year.

The plan involved dinner and since it was a Friday during Lent which sent us in search of seafood, we ended up at Sun Ray Grill. That place was awesome, I would definitely eat there again. I got the fish tacos, but the highlight was the appetizers we got that were these Sailfish Tostadas. DELICIOUS! The lighting could have been better though, because it seemed dark. The food was great though, which is the main thing.

We made it to DG in the middle of the opener. I’m at the point where I’ll get to a show late to save myself the time and miss an opener. I don’t really know Phosphorescent, and after seeing them, I don’t really want to get to know them any better. The singer actually referred to the band in 3rd person during a couple of songs, which was strange. There were also song names that were too long. Just because I like Wilco doesn’t mean I don’t think “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” is not an awkward song title. For an opener to intro a song with a long title, by the time they get to the end of it, I don’t care anymore. Opening band elitism!

We were sitting up near the top of the balcony (trying to save money considering there were other shows to pay for). I noticed pretty early on that the renovations of the theatre apparently did not include the ceiling up at the top of the balcony. Around each of the A/C vents (those big circle ones) were huge water stains. Really? Yes, really. I did not take a picture, but will be going back next week for Wicked, so I might get one then. The seats were not that bad in the end, the sound was fantastic from there.

DG came out and I was just mesmerized. I do not remember the titles of many of the songs, but I just was taken by the intensity and passion of each song. I have since gotten the latest album, and he led off with Fugitive (I’m almost certain). It was great. The lights he had going were also amazing. The song Nemesis (the one ‘new’ song that I was not going to forget the name of) was incredible. I could not get over how intense the song was, then when the lights had a light going on the mirror ball with light shooting out to every part of the theatre, and the spotlight was only on him as he sang. Incredible. Incredible. I almost did not want the song to end. I had brought my new camera, and tried to get a picture of that moment but it did not come out very well, DG’s head looks like a jack-o-lantern. Trust me when I tell you it was one of the most amazing concert moments I have ever seen. There was also a song where the intro and outro were just him with a hauntingly played harmonica, but I have not figured out what song that was yet. It was also very good.

The whole show was great. I did not expect to like it that much. I had no idea. I told friends afterward that DG may fill the Ryan Adams shaped hole in my music pantheon. He went from acoustic and electric guitar, to piano and back multiple times. Sound familiar? Plus I dig the way he talks, I mean, he’s from England after all. I wonder if he’s a United or City fan.

Shortly after making the Coffee Cake for Thanksgiving, I went looking for dessert recipes that involved coffee and buttermilk. I didn’t want to find anything that caused me to get 10 additional ingredients or anything, I wanted to use what I had, esp the buttermilk. I have two food blogs on my feed, Pioneer Woman and Smitten Kitchen. I searched both of those sites for a recipe and found the Tiramisu Cake. Not only did it look delicious, but it appeared challenging. I like a kitchen challenge. Thus began my odyssey for about a week to find mascarpone cheese. I finally found mascarpone at a local grocery, in their specialty cheese ‘boat’ near the deli. I call it the ‘boat’, because that’s what the person called it when I had googled.

I actually didn’t have the make the cake for an occasion, I was just making it to make it and use the buttermilk. I finally found time to make it the day I was going to be going to Kelly Clarkson. It wasn’t quite the rush job like the Coffee Cake, so I was able to take pictures of the process.

First the dry ingredients were mixed first.

BTW, I had a dilemma with the unsalted vs salted butter. I had bought both kinds (unsalted for baking and salted that I thought would be better for normal use), and had used quite a lot of the unsalted for different recipes I used (like the Bobby Flay biscuits I made earlier in the weekend), and the cake called for unsalted. I didn’t really want to go to the store for unsalted butter, so I portioned the butter and used probably 65% unsalted. Now I buy exclusively unsalted since now I have figured out the difference between the two, and don’t really notice a taste difference for normal use.

I greased and floured the cake pans. I’ve become quite good at it.

The wet ingredients came together and were ready to go quickly.

Of course, because I am one of the few people in the U.S. without a printer at home, I had my laptop open with all the instructions. I glanced at it quite often to make sure I was getting everything right.

The whole espresso extract thing, I just used the instant coffee I had. I was able to use my John Wayne coffee mug as a tool in this endeavor. The Kahlua is for the filling/frosting.

One thing I didn’t enjoy was washing the bowls DURING this operation. Maybe I should get more mixing bowls, but I’m just working with one set right now. Once the cakes were out of the oven, I put them on cooling racks and had to wait for them to cool so then I could ice them. (BTW, props to my friend Megan for passing down her extra cooling racks)

The ridges on the edge of the cake were from the parchment the recipe called to line the cake pans. I floured and parchment papered the pans, so maybe it was redundant, but I wouldn’t want to take any chances.

I pretty much just poured the syrup over the cakes, which kind of made a mess, but it worked. I might try something different next time. Getting the cakes from the racks to the plate was interesting, especially after they’ve been soaked with syrup. Making the filling and frosting was easy, and the mascarpone worked well. Once the cake was assembled, it went into the fridge to ‘set’ and left for the concert.

I got back probably at 11 pm and cut into the cake. It was excellent.

Sadly, I had to eat at least one piece of cake everyday during the week since I was going to be leaving for Nashville at the end of it. Don’t hate me.

I did end up with about 1/4 of it left after eating one piece a day and pawning off wedges to friends and family, and it still tasted fine when I got back. Win, win.

I woke up this morning and the morning talk radio guy was taking calls from people giving their predictions. I didn’t like the host doing that, because really, most people were just spouting off with homer type predictions. Some guy calls up and says “Saints 45, Patriots 14″. I laughed to myself and said “what an idiot”. I mean, I thought the Saints would win, but not by more than a couple of TDs at the most. I thought it’d be a close game, and in the back of my mind thought the Saints might lose.

Work today was rough. I kept thinking about the game. A couple of friends at work who were going to the game left early in the afternoon. I told them to yell loud enough for themselves and me. I on the other hand, was going to do exactly what I did the last MNF game, go to the gym, go to the store, and get home in time for kickoff. I’m a little superstitious about things if you don’t already know.

Sidebar: at the gym apparently now I can be looked at as a regular. This guy asked me in the locker room if I had been going to the gym for a while, and how did I like it. He was apparently shopping gyms. I told him I go to that particular gym because it’s conveniently located to where I used to carpool from, and I just kind of kept going. Then I found a way out of the conversation because I had a football game to watch.

The stop at the store nearly produced everything I went for but I did not find any mascarpone. I didn’t know if it’d be with the fancy cheeses (was going to take too long to look) or with stuff like cream cheese (I didn’t see it). Reason being I have found my next baking goal for this weekend, this Tiramisu cake. I might even make the Bobby Flay biscuits again to use up the buttermilk I bought to make the Coffee Cake.

I got home at 7:28 for a 7:30 kickoff. The game started off as expected, it was back and forth. On my way home I heard Reggie Bush and Jabari Greer were going to be inactive, which I was not excited about. I thought Reggie was going to play a huge part tonight, but I guess his knee is still bothering him. The Saints’ secondary has been banged up, and now we’re going to be relying on backups, including two guys who before two weeks ago were not even playing football. In this game though, those guys stepped up. My aunt’s favorite Saint was/is Mike McKenzie, who played for the Saints until last year. He was one of the guys just recently signed, in fact, signed last week. He made some HUGE plays including a game changing INT. Awesome. Then Drew Brees was just a surgeon out there, dissecting the Patriots at every turn. Did you see the ridiculously accurate throws? I mean, really, they were insane. I was pretty much in disbelief when it was 24-10 at halftime, and then when they answered the Patriots TD with one of their own to make it 31-17. Unbelievable.

Final score, Saints 38, Patriots 17. Maybe that dude who had called the radio station this morning knew something I didn’t. Or maybe he had more confidence than I did. Either way, the Saints are 11-0. WHO DAT!

This morning I woke up early and met my dad to go run the Turkey Day Race in NOLA. We got there in plenty of time to get our shirts. Personally, I hate having to get shirts ahead of time, because I have to walk back to my car to drop it off. I much rather races where we get the shirts and stuff after the race. Anyway, I was hoping to beat my time from last year, which was 48:16, with an unofficial goal of 45 minutes. I didn’t think I’d be able to keep a sub 9 min pace up for 5 miles, but I would try to get something close. The cool thing was it wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be, so I was able to forgo wearing a hat to run with.

The race started and I hit the first mile at 8:30 on the race clock, and I knew I had started about 15 or 20 seconds after that clock started. I felt pretty good, but knew it was only the first mile and to keep it up over the next 4 miles was going to be tough. I’ve been running pretty fast times during the week lately, but with my iPod sensor not really accurate, I had no idea how fast. It was off today too, which was frustrating, so basically my iPod was good for keeping time. I made it to the start of the 5th mile, and some guy was calling out times, and I heard him call out 35 or 36 minutes. I was flabbergasted. I might actually get 45 minutes! I almost tripped in a pothole, but saved it and kept going. The little bridges in City Park are a blessing and a curse. I hate running up them because they always seemed to be positioned at the end of races, but they are great to run down because you get a burst. I had a burst over one bridge during the last mile and it kind of propelled me the rest of the way. I saw some kid slow down to walk about half a mile from the finish and wanted to tell him “dude, it’s only half a mile, don’t give up!”, but then I thought maybe he was hurting or something. We finished inside the stadium, so when we broke out onto the track, I saw the clock counting just over 44 minutes. I found energy and bolted for the finish line, which was about 200m from where we entered. I passed a few people and stopped the iPod. 43:55. New personal best for 5 miles, crushed last year’s time, averaged 8:47 a mile! CRAZY! Of course, after the race things bottle-necked because they only had one person handing out timing slips. They really need to work on doing that better.

I walked over and grabbed some free beer and waited for my dad. While waiting I saw Megan finish! Yay running friend! BTW, the beer was Abita Amber. Way better than the Mic Ultra they had after the HALF MARATHON. My dad eventually finished, and we walked around and got a couple of the bananas being handed out. I don’t usually like post race bananas, because they are almost always not ripe enough, but this morning they were handing out fancy organic bananas. They looked like they’d taste really raw, but they actually tasted really good. I’ll have to scope those out next time I’m in the store.

After I got home, I sat in ice again. It worked again, so that was good. I took a shower and then set about making the salad to bring to Thanksgiving. With the coffee cake done, the salad was a snap to throw together. It was so nice to have the hard part already out of the way. I had bought two heads of Romaine, and I only needed one, so now I have an extra. I’ll have to eat more salad this week or something.

I got to my aunt’s just in time to see the turkey carved and then we sat around and talked and ate and watched football and traded stories. One of my aunt’s decided not to come this year, which was weird. I’m not sure anyone knew why. It sounds like she was sad about something, which caused her to not want to come, I don’t know. She’s a big Saints fan, so I said “The Saints are 10-0, no matter what else is going on in life, she can cling to that, and everything will be okay.” It was strange not seeing her, but I should be seeing her at Christmas. I stayed to talk to my aunts and uncles after most people left and learned some casino tips. I came home with a little less than a 1/4 of the cake left and one serving of salad. For the small gathering we had this year, I say it was a good day.

On my way home I saw 10-15 people sitting outside Best Buy at 7 pm. Apparently they wanted to stake out their spot for tomorrow and the super crazy deals. It’s going to get down to 31 here tonight, so I hope that cheap laptop or whatever they’re going for is worth the hassle and frostbite.

Things I’m thankful for this year: God, Jesus, family, friends, running, Yoplait yogurt, granny smith apples, being able to see the important things and not worry about the rest.

I left work early today so I could tackle the cake I am bringing to Thanksgiving tomorrow. After last year’s late night baking, I didn’t want a repeat. I was able to pick up some things I was missing on my way home, but it took a while. There was so much traffic. Maybe the world is over populated. Anyway, I made it home about 3 pm, and set about making the cake at a blinding speed. I don’t have pictures of the process, because I didn’t really have time to take pictures. Things happened really fast. Besides, you don’t want to see pictures of the coffee boiling over when being added to the boiling water and the butter melting in the pot. Next time though. The cake really wasn’t too difficult to make. The only thing I think I can do better is to let the cakes sit in the oven a bit longer. They were a bit mushy in the middle, but I was afraid I’d burn them or dry them out.

The icing came together PERFECTLY! I had gotten some tips from blog friend Mandy and my friend Mel on how to make frosting without a stand mixer and avoid the fiasco of last Christmas with runny frosting. I followed PW’s instructions and started with 2 tbsp of cream. I added a 3rd and then VOILA, frosting. It was amazing.

The icing spread really easy and it didn’t take long at all. I stuck it in the fridge to sit until tomorrow. I deem this foray back into baking (first time since the Baklava that I still have not properly documented) a success.

I was on a time schedule because of the Hornets game tonight. I was able to get the cake iced and in the fridge to set proper and make it to the game with a few minutes to spare. Then the Hornets rewarded me by gritting out a win in OT.