Tasty Tuesday Recipe

Another installment from my twin sister Alaine. Hope you enjoy the recipe (if not the commentary). hehe.

I'm trying to convince her to start a blawg, so if you have any words of inspiration or reasons why the Blogosphere is a wonderful place to hang out, please pass them on to her via the email at the end of her cookin' instructions.


Alaine’s Cajun Cornbread

1 box Jiffy Cornbread Mix
½ cup milk
1 egg
1 can cream corn
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 stick of butter
Tony Charchere Seasoning
2 jalapeño peppers
cracklin crumbs (amount up to you, but at least 1 cup)


* Preheat oven to 325°. Put half the butter in an iron skillet (**yankees will probably go ahead and use some sort of T-Fal type bakin’ thang, but be warned: NO self-respecting cornbread has ever been produced in anything other than a real-live iron skillet.) Place skillet into oven.

* Pour canned corn into a colander and rinse ‘cream’ off. Sauté chopped peppers in rest of butter. After 3 minutes, add in corn and “fry” til light brown. Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl. When corn/peppers are brown, add them too.

(I don’t have the energy to educate **yankees on the origin and definition of cracklins, so y'all just scoot over HERE for some schooling at deltablues.net! They'll learn y'all all the important information. Pretty dayum funny, too.) ps: Don’t embarrass yaself by referrin' to them as, “cracklings,” neither. They are CRACKLINS. Period. ‘Bout as stoopid as sayin’, “pee-can” or “crayfish.”)

* Add two (Southerners, add the real amount) shakes of Tony’s. Again: Tony’s is a necessary Southern ingredient. Part of the holy trinity spice group—Tony’s, garlic, Tabasco-(duh!).

* Mix ingredients and pour into skillet. Bake until golden brown. Pairs up well with white beans containing leftover Welcome Home Ham from last week. (Bean recipe, another day.)

**Yankees who can’t cook beans yet, go on and serve cornbread with chili or whatnot. Just not nothin’ like pate’, or Chilean sea bass, or tofu surprise. (Yeah, there's a surprise fer ya. Tastes like catfish guts if anything at all!)


Y'all enjoy now! alainedb@cox.net

 [Alaine’s usual disclaimer-explanation-don’t-sue-me-thingie: **“yankee” refers to all y’all people up in the cold dayum north, all y’all ‘coasters’ livin’ on a coast other than the Southern one, and the rest a y’all in the middle states. And yes, only Southern is capitalized.]

Blog Bling Happy Hour

Okay, before you think I've lost my mind by posting a recipe on a Monday instead of Tuesday, it's for a reason. We normally explore mindless trivia or brain food on Mondays, but today I'm deviating from the norm (whatever that is) because fellow Louisiana blogger Marguerite of Cajun Delights has passed along a neat blog award. Thanks, sha! Part of the requirements of accepting the new blingage is to concoct a special cocktail. Then I get to award it to four deserving bloggers with a note about the ways they "give good blog."

 So there ya have the method behind my madness.

Cajun Cosmo

5 oz. bottled or juice from one lemon
3 oz. Ocean Spray cranberry juice
1 ea. lemon and lime slice or curly garnish
1 oz. Cointreau
2 oz. Vodka
1 - 3 shakes Tabasco (depending on preferred "hawtness")
*Pickled green bean, optional

Shake all ingredients with ice. Pour into a chilled martini glass or champagne stem. Garnish as desired. 

Now the hard part -- passing on the cool award to only four folks. *sigh* I love all my bloggy friends, so for this particular badge of honor, I'm just gonna pass this bling on to two "old" friends and two new whose blogs resemble mine in some way: 

Vodka Mom is an obvious choice because her blog name mirrors the main ingredient of my Cajun Cocktail. Plus, she probably needs a drink with a little kick to it right about now due to her recent creep-stalking-my-daughter post. VM writes about the most interesting and funny things, has tons of followers, champions great causes and is an A#1 teacher. Visit her if you haven't already. 

Irish Gumbo. How could I pass this blog by when we share such a great food staple as part of our blog names? I enjoy the lovely lyrical writing and deep thoughts the lad shares regularly, and the total honesty with which he examines his life, dreams and experiences in order to share the mined nuggets with friends in the Blogosphere.

Moon Willow Whispers is a brand new friend who just started a blog. I hope you'll visit her and check out her lovely handmade jewelry. What do we have in common? She's here in Louisiana, and a cousin of my youngest son's godmother. Confusing, I know, but you'll enjoy her pretty ornamentations and her gently interesting ways.

And finally, to Tamika at The Write Worship because she writes womens fiction, loves Jesus and seems like a really sweet person. Oh, and beautiful too! (Now, we don't share that trait, but that's okay.) :D

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Have a great week and may all your roads be straight and without potholes or detour signs.

Boudreaux & Thibodaux - Cajun Prenup

Thank my daddy for sending this one!~~~

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Boudreaux done got old and his children done parked him at one'a dem old folks' homes near Breaux Bridge. At Shady Acres, Boo meets him a lovely lady from Texas, and bein' a fine upstanding Catlick, him didn't wanna do nuttin' against his religion. Derefore (Therefore), ol' Mr. Boudreaux axed (asked) for her hand trew (through) a proper marriage proposal.

Now, Boudreaux and Mabel were in dere (their) 80s. Mabel tells everyone at Shady Acres the good news. Miss Claudine, Mabel's best friend, tells Mabel since she's so wealthy, and da person she was about to jump da broom wit (Cajun wedding tradition) isn't worth a plug nickel, she should git (get) her a prenuptial agreement, yeah.

Mabel's swingin' on da porch swing wit Boo, and she tells him she'll jump da broom wit him if he'll sign a prenup. 

Boudreaux, him say to his lady love and betrothed, "I don' know what dat is, but I'll sign anyting you want, 'cause I love you dat much and more!"

Mabel, gets out her pen and paper to get started. She reads out to Boudreaux, "I want to keep my house down in Texas with all the oil wells."

Boo says, "Dat's fine wit me. I'll keep my shack on da bayou."

"I want to keep my Cadillac, BMW and Lexus." Mabel holds Boo's hand in case he's getting worried or put off.

Boo smiles, squeezes her hand and says, "Dat's fine wit me. I'll keep my pick-em-up truck."

"I want to keep my yacht that's moored near my summer home in Padre Island..."

"Okay, dat's fine wit me. I got my pirough."

"Okay, Mr. Boo, I want to keep all my jewelry too."

"Dat's fine wit me. I'll keep my stuffed deer head."

"Thank you, honey. Now, one more thing; I wanna have sex six times a week!"

"Hey, Mabel, dat's fine wit me too, yeah! Put me down for Fridays, sha (cher)." 

 
 

*Photo posted first here.

The Pecking Order

Do you believe sibling birth order predicts behavior, character traits, and even life success or failure rates?

Where do you fall in the birth order lineup?

Friday Foibles ~~ Ebay Oops!

What y'all been up to? I've been snowed under doing family stuff, cleaning the house, celebrating "Fresh Prince's" 19th birthday yesterday, working on some things for Rose & Thorn (yay for lots of good submissions!), and tackling some editing work.

But I can't let Friday pass without a giggle to get us all in the TGIF mood. Hope your weekend is grand!

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If you're unfamiliar with selling items on ebay.com, I can tell you it's of utmost importance to take crisp, clear, bright photos of the items you are putting up for bids. A great shot is almost as important as a detailed description of the item in order to attract and intrigue bidders.

That being said, there just may be a few exceptions to this rule...times when you might need to check for super shiny surfaces that do not reflect kindly upon the photographer...

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[I suddenly have an urge to sing, "I'm a little teapot..."] :)

Guest Recipe Post - The Southern Spread

Hey y'all, meet my twin sister Alaine. She made one humdinger of a meal at our parents' yesterday, and kindly sent me the recipes after I photographed her yummy dishes. (All comments and instructions hers.) :D

And, no, the title of today's post does not refer to the size of my bahonkus, but to the completely satisfying nature of the meal she put on the table. Ha!

ALAINE’S Git It Greens-n-Grits

(Oh go on and read it, **yankees, ‘stead of sayin’, “Ewwwwwwww.”)

1 1/3 cup instant grits
1 tsp. salt
Tabasco (Google it)
Tony Chachere’s (Google it)
Garlic powder
(Yes, spices are most important to those of us who actually cook GOOD food, rather than just boilin’ it without a grain of salt--that’s yankee food. I’m tryin’ to educate y’all on the philosophy of Southern cookin’ so y’all actually git it.)
1 egg
1 stick butter
6-12 slices smoked bacon
1 ½ cup cooked greens (Collards, mustard greens, etc.--yankees can substitute spinach, if y’all promise to cook them right, ie: cook down with salt meat, tasso, or pig tails.)
1/2 cup half and half
1 ½ - 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (No, brie or gouda won’t work—only cheddar, preferably sharp.)

*Grease your casserole dish (Rub with a stick of soft butter, or if you insist, spray with Pam.)
*Cook bacon in microwave, set aside. Squish liquid out of leftover greens, set aside. Git all other ingredients ready—grits cook quick!
*Cook grits (5 cups salted water, a splat of butter, stir constantly). Add cream. When starts to thicken, add egg in and whisk like hell til it intergrates into grits.
*Add cheese and half of crumbled bacon.
*Add 4 shakes of Tony’s, 4 shakes Tabasco, garlic powder, and salt-pepper to taste (ie: more than 4 grains). (If you’re Southern, you know what to do.). Stir til smooth and creamy.
*Pour into dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Arrange rest of bacon on top. Cover. If not serving right away, bake at 350° (preheated) til cheese melted, uncovered, ‘bout 13 minutes.

** “yankee” means all y’all people up in the cold dayum north, all y’all ‘coasters’ livin’ on a coast other than the Southern one, and the rest a y’all in the middle states. And yes, only Southern is capitalized.)

Welcome Back Fall Ham

2-3 lb. pork shoulder hickory smoked Cook's picnic ham 
½ cup brown sugar
1 small jar green maraschino cherries (red seems too summery)
1 can pineapple chunks
½ can of Coke (Not Pepsi. Coke.)
Wooden toothpicks

*Place ham in deep Magnalite pot with lid. Preheat oven to 375°.
*Drain cherries, drain pineapple and add that juice to pot, plus Coke.
*Spear a cherry and a p-chunk and stick into ham.
*Sprinkle ham and pineapple with brown sugar and a little salt to cut all the sweet.
*Bake 22 minutes/pound covered.
*Place ham on platter and serve warm. (Cold with lotsa mustard for sammiches next day.)

Butter Peas

2 cans of sweet peas
2 TBS butter
Granulated garlic powder
Add sm. can mushroom w/stems (optional).

*Add butter and garlic to peas, heat, serve.

Biscuits

*Serve straight from oven with butter. (Yes, yankees, biscuits go with any meal. So does cornbread. Use whatever mix or canned biscuits you want. Southerners have their own family recipes. And we don’t share ‘em.)

 The Big Easy Blackberry Cobbler

4 TBS butter, melted
2/3 cup milk
1 package Louisiana Fish Fry cobbler mix (Correct. It does say ‘fish fry’.)
1 16 oz. can fruit or pie filling (blackberry or peach is best)

*Preheat oven to 375° (put in oven with ham).
*Pour the melted butter into a 9 X 9 baking dish.
*Add mix and milk to a bowl, stir until smooth.
*Spoon ¾ of the cobbler mixture into dish.
*Add fruit on top, then the remaining cobbler mixture.
*Bake 40-45 min. until golden brown.


(Best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.)

***Enjoy, and have a good day now, ya hear? alainedb@cox.net***

Boudreaux & Thibodaux - Marital Bliss

Just popping in to say one thing ~~~ GO SAINTS! If you're not watching the NY Giants vs. the NO Saints in the Dome, you're missing it! "...and the South shall rise again!" LOL

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Boudreaux, dat bad Cajun husband, was walking down the wharf to go meet up with his friend Thibodaux.

Boo spots Thib and says, "Hey podnuh, how ya'll are?"

Thibodaux says, "Mais, tings is goin' ok."

Boo gets his fishing gear arranged, pops open a cold one and says, "I got a question to axe ya. How's ya wife been?"

"Mais, Boo, mah wife Clotilde, she's an angel, yeah."

Boo baits his hook and throws his line out. "Mais, you one luck sonnamagun, you. Mah wife, she's still living!" 

Kat's Got my Tongue...or at Least my Attention

Kathryn Magendie's in town. Yehaaaaaaaaaaaw! We're celebrating our first issue of Rose & Thorn going live AND she's here speaking at the Louisiana Book Festival. Can't tell you how good it is to see and visit with her. [Somebody remind me later to repeat what she asked me when we first saw each this visit. LMBFBO!]

So...I'll be hearing her book talk today. I know she'll do great. The author party last night was so.much.fun. Our husbands may just be long lost brothers. I got to scratch another thing off my bucket list -- meeting Wally Lamb! *More on that later. I'll be posting some cool notes and photos next week.

Okay, y'all have a great Saturday. And don't forget to check out Rose & Thorn Journal when you get a chance. Thanks to all of you who hosted information about or "open house" at your blogs. We've got the best blog friends on the planet!

What's on tap for you today?

Friday Foibles ~~ Speeling is Reely Impotent

Remember when your parents and teachers told you over and over how vital it was that you learn to spell correctly?


Well...they just  might've been right.....


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The Stork Has Arrived!

The big day has finally arrived! Kathryn Magendie and I are googly-eyed but happy.

Mega thanks to Managing Editor Cynthia Toups, Newsletter Producer Susan Kramer, and the rest of the staff who helped get Rose & Thorn Journal ready for our Grand Opening. It should have hit the airwaves after 12:43 (that's the time right now as I'm pecking out this post). 

Thanks also to our many blogging friends who helped spread the good news this week. 'Preciate YOU!

I've played around with a Word doc to create a baby announcement of sorts. Either there'll be something legible below, or just a big blob of garbled colors and letters. (But as it's after midnight Wednesday, and I've been up since 2:00 AM, just take my word that I'm nearly blind and crazy by this point.)

Here's the announcement I *tried* to upload, but with no success, so I took a picture of it on my computer monitor. ha!

Go by and check out the Rose & Thorn, and while you're there, don't forget to sign up for the quarterly newsletter. We'd love to hear your thoughts too. I promise, our new site is much better than my derailed attempt at a cute announcement.

Wednesday Writings ~~ UBER COOL STUFF!

I've been hit or miss in Blogland a lot lately. Most of my time has been taken up with getting our new website, newsletter and fall issue of Rose & Thorn Journal spit-shined and polished.

Across this great and supportive online blogging community, friends are helping Kat and I spread the word of our literary baby's entrance into the world as the newest edition goes live tomorrow. THANK YOU ALL!

We hope you'll sign up for our quarterly newsletter which announces each issue. Most of all, we hope you'll browse the new site when the locks are opened tomorrow, give us feedback (good, bad, ugly), and send us good wishes and prayers for success. :D We're truly excited about our new online home, and the prose and poetry content we're publishing!

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In other exciting writerly news, agent Nathan Bransford is having a first paragraph contest. Past winners who posted from their WIPs or completed manuscripts have been awarded representation by this most blogalicious agent. There are over 1,600 entries so far, but it's not too late to throw your hat into the ring. Hurry...contest ends tomorrow, 4:00 Pacific time! [Ooo, hope he doesn't mind my borrowing his blog ID photo. Is that a Piggly Wiggly logo on his shirt? Love it!]

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Freelance Writing Jobs hosts cool weekly job listings in their Morning Coffee Newsletter for every kind of freelancer. Check 'em out here. They carry employment opp links like this:  

SmartBrief is seeking freelance writers to help create daily online business and consumer news e-mail publications in the following beats...

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Okay, that's it from Gumbo's pot this Wednesday. Hope you have a great day, and thanks again for help spreading the R&T news!



**Coffee photo by: one2c900d

Pay it Forward Recipe

Okay, the recipe for today's Tasty Tuesday entry isn't edible, but that's a good thing, because it can't add calories, fat or other unhealthy things to your body! Instead, we're going to help a friend by following this spiritual exercise, good mojo making, karma strengthening, nice guy, pay-it-forward kinda recipe:

A friend to many of us, the famous Vodka Mom, is hosting a couple of tres cool contests. They are at the top left corner of her blog. Click on the blue birds to (in VM's words), 

"...spread the word about Dove's Program for Self Esteem and young woman."

The other contest involving this crazy lady is a Blogger's Choice Award up for grabs. Naturally, she's a nominee in the humor blog category. She needs your vote to prove to the rest of the blogging universe who don't already KNOW she's the funniest blogger alive, that she's the cat's meow. (Ooo, maybe I shouldn't mention cats and birds so closely together, but oh well, I'm too tired to think of another trite saying.) 

So...stop by Vodka Mom's place and get the scoop. It'll make you feel good. And, bonus, you won't have to clean up a mess in the kitchen afterward! :D