A Southern Life

French Quarter Fest

By Cindy · Comments (2)

Wednesday, May 1st, 2013

The French Quarter Festival is the intro to New Orleans’ jam packed spring season, and of course we were there! In its 30^th year, it’s the largest free music festival in the southeast. We hit the event rather late on its Saturday afternoon. With rain the day before and more predicted, a whopping 303,000 people were enjoying the beautiful day. Our strategy was to avoid the crowds by patronizing the smaller bands, and we discovered some gems.

We love our festivals for the quirkiness, especially the people watching. But music is the heart of the event, so here’s some samples. Sorry I can’t give much attribution to the “unofficial” groups who play for the love of music and the occasional tip.

Here’s Doreen’s, a Dixieland band with soul. The trombone player was a character!

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Categories : New Orleans, Southern Fun, Southern Living

How to Boil Crawfish

By Cindy · Comments (2)

Wednesday, April 17th, 2013

Crawfish boils are a rite of spring in New Orleans. They combine two of our favorite activities – eating good food and visiting with friends. We recently spent a picture perfect Saturday afternoon in a beautiful setting eating to our heart’s content. Here’s the star of the show.

We are lucky here to have boiled crawfish readily available. You can buy a few pounds, still hot from the pot, at a lot of groceries this time of year. There are specialty caterers who will bring their equipment on site to cook for larger parties. But it’s a lot more fun to cook them yourself.

My friend Chris, a master crawfish boiler when he’s not behind his desk at an investment firm, shared his cooking secrets with me. It’s as much an art as a science, and the results are delicious!

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Categories : Southern Entertaining, Southern Food, Southern Living, Southern Recipes

Caring For A Dining Table

By Christi · Comments (3)

Monday, April 15th, 2013

I have always enjoyed entertaining. It is a great way to get together with friends and family and show them how much you care with a beautiful table setting and wonderful food. However, occasionally, when you entertain, a dish gets broken or a water ring or heat ring is left on your beautiful wood dining table. Don’t fret. Dishes are created to be used and breakage is just a part of life and . . . you can’t take it with you anyway. The table is another matter. With the right supplies, you can fix that table right up.

I did that just recently with my dining table. After a dinner party, I noticed some heat marks and a few water rings. No problem, just got out my supplies and added a little elbow grease and took those marks right out of the wood. Here is how I did it.

These are the product I used.

I started with the Restore-A Finish product. You apply it with a cloth in the direction of the wood grain. For stubborn heat or water marks, you can use a fine grain steel wool (0000). Read More→

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Categories : Southern Entertaining, Southern Living, Southern Table

Roundup Time

By Cindy · Comments (4)

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013

Today we’re talking cattle, not killing weeds! We visited the ranch over Easter, and I thought I’d give you a close-up of working the herd. The task was to spray the cattle for flies and other pests, and to vaccinate the new calves. Arnold, our foreman, had his nephew Mike (who was a champion bull rider in his younger days) helping out.

Each group of cattle needed to be rounded up and brought to the pens. (It is important to control who fraternizes with whom, since bulls are not discriminating as to their partners.) The trick is to get one of them moving in the right direction, and the rest will generally follow. It’s easiest to do this on horseback, but the last batch was cooperative in following the pick-up truck, which they identify with people bearing treats.

Our cattle are gentle. Despite the ominous looking gate, which is capable of holding a cow’s head still, they seemed to take it all pretty well.

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Categories : Southern Living

Let’s Go Fly A Kite

By Christi · Comments (1)

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013

This beautiful spring day with its gorgeous blue sky and soft Southern breeze was screaming for us to get out and enjoy, so . . . we did. We grabbed our kite and string and headed out to the Mississippi river levee area in New Orleans called “The Fly” which is located at the river end of Audubon Park and enjoyed a lovely afternoon.

Getting the kite ready to fly.

Up, up and away . . .

kite above the trees

High into the sky!

kite flying

Higher and higher . . .

kite flying

With my fist holding tight, to the string of my kite

kite flying

A day that just made me smile . . . so, I wanted to share it with you!

Outdoor Wednesday with A Southern Daydreamer

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Categories : New Orleans, Southern Fun, Southern Living

Spring on the Porch

By Christi · Comments (1)

Monday, April 1st, 2013

The weather in New Orleans tends to be mild, year-round. However, this past winter brought many cool/cold days (though no frost or freezing – it’s all relative). Now that Spring is officially here, it is wonderful to get outside and enjoy the front porch.

We spend so much time on the porch that I am constantly changing up the look for the newest season. You may remember how it looked during the Carnival season:

A purple cloth and Mardi Gras beads adorned the table and the columns were adorned with purple, green and gold bows and ribbons.

Here is the Spring look:

A new look on the swing and table: Read More→

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Categories : New Orleans, Southern Living, Southern Porch

City of the Dead

By Cindy · Comments (1)

Saturday, March 30th, 2013

As Easter approaches our thoughts turn to loved ones who are no longer with us. I made a trip recently to Metairie Cemetery, where my family is buried, to place flowers on the tombs. While newer than a number of the city’s cemeteries, it is one of the largest and most historic.

It was previously the site of a horse racing track, Metairie Race Course, founded in 1838. During the Civil War it was used as Confederate Camp Moore. The track went bankrupt during reconstruction, and the site was chartered as a cemetery in 1872, with its design influenced by the oval layout. In 1991 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The cemetery is the resting place of over 9,000 people, including 9 Louisiana governors, 7 New Orleans mayors, 49 kings of Carnival, and 3 Confederate generals. With the largest collection of elaborate marble tombs and funeral statuary in the city, the artistry alone is well worth a trip.

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Categories : New Orleans, Southern History, Southern Living, Southern Places

Fish on Friday

By Cindy · Comments (0)

Friday, March 29th, 2013

New Orleans is a very Catholic city. I’m not Catholic, but I heartily endorse one of the faith’s tenets – the “sacrifice” of eating seafood as opposed to meat. On a recent Friday during Lent, I decided to honor the occasion by featuring Louisiana specialties from the sea.

For starters, we had Crawfish Bisque. I have to confess that it wasn’t my creation – it was stashed in the infamous freezer after a catered party I hosted. The main course was Trout Pecan accompanied by a rice pilaf. My husband caught the trout while on a male bonding office outing, and it arrived home cleaned and filleted. (Any time, dear!) The dessert was a praline parfait.

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Categories : New Orleans, Southern Entertaining, Southern Food, Southern Recipes

St. Joseph Altars

By Cindy · Comments (0)

Monday, March 25th, 2013

March 19 is the feast of St. Joseph, and it’s a big deal in New Orleans. We are one of several areas of the country, most in the northeast, where descendants of Sicilians organize St. Joseph’s altars. The tradition dates to the middle ages, when residents prayed to the saint to end a severe drought in Sicily, promising a feast in return. The altars appear in churches, schools, and homes. I stopped by one at St. Stephen’s Church in the Uptown area, now part of Good Shepherd Parish.

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Categories : New Orleans, Southern Holiday, Southern Living, Southern Traditions

Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon

By Cindy · Comments (0)

Tuesday, March 19th, 2013

On a recent Sunday morning 16,000 runners from all 50 states and 23 foreign countries took to the New Orleans streets. My running days are over, but I can’t resist going to cheer them on, and sympathize with their pain. It was a perfect, cool winter day, with the sun peeking over the oak trees as the runners filled both sides of St. Charles Avenue.

In New Orleans we can turn any event into a party! A jazz band from Tulane University started up at 7 AM. Cheerleaders from a local high school sang their encouragement, waving big records as part of their routine. Neighbors lined the route just as for a parade, though most were drinking coffee rather than the typical beer. We brought our coonhound to cheer them on, and she provided a welcome distraction to the monotony of 26 miles. Read More→

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Categories : New Orleans, Southern Fun, Southern Living

Throw Me a Cabbage!

By Cindy · Comments (3)

Monday, March 18th, 2013

We have lots of folks of Irish ancestry in New Orleans. Irish immigrants in the 19^th century dug the canals that drain the city, and we will forever be grateful for their backbreaking contributions. It is no surprise that we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with not one, but four parades – Uptown (starting in the Irish Channel), Metairie (an adjacent suburb), and two in the French Quarter/Downtown area. Yesterday I put on my green T-shirt and fuzzy headband with shamrocks on springs and headed for a party in the ‘burbs.

These parades are not known for their artistic merit. They are a great place to watch the antics of the marchers (who typically have consumed a bit of beer), hang out with friends, and most importantly, to catch the complements to your corned beef.

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Categories : Southern Fun, Southern Holiday, Southern Living

Cream Soup a la John Besh

By Cindy · Comments (0)

Friday, March 15th, 2013

I attended a program last week featuring the noted chef John Besh as speaker. A native son, he is “dedicated to promoting the foodways of Southern Louisiana”. Chef Besh owns nine restaurants and hosts a syndicated TV show, but he gets equal satisfaction from cooking for his wife and four sons. He prepared cream cauliflower soup for us, a simple dish in line with his latest book – My Family Table: A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking.

This is my kind of cooking – no firm recipe, just throw in a bit of this or that. Use ingredients that you have on hand, and feel free to make substitutions. (I doubt if my creations would turn out nearly as tasty as his!) Of course, a couple of non-staple items can add a special pizzazz. While the soup was cooking, Chef Besh gave lots of cooking tips, and entertained us with stories from his cooking career. Read More→

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Categories : New Orleans, Southern Food, Southern Living

Second Line Brunch

By Christi · Comments (0)

Thursday, March 14th, 2013

This past Sunday, my husband and I attended a lovely brunch at New Orleans’ Second Line Stages, which is a movie production studio, owned by Susan Brennan. The luncheon was a fundraiser for Young Life which is wonderful, Christian organization for young people.

The theme for the brunch was a second line. (See this past post for a description (and video) of a second line.) It was held in a sound stage at the studio.

You can see that this is a very large area and it was certainly a fun place for the brunch. Read More→

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Categories : New Orleans, Southern Food, Southern Table

Container Veggies

By Cindy · Comments (1)

Tuesday, March 12th, 2013

March 2 is the last spring frost date in New Orleans, and I usually try to get my first vegetables planted around then to beat the summer heat. That was my project for a recent cold weekend, with lows in the mid-30’s but no frost. Since yards in the old part of town tend to be small, I’ve been container gardening for over 20 years.

In went the tomatoes and peppers. Also for good measure bibb lettuce (a little late), green beans, and a basil plant. I passed on the eggplant for now even though they were available because cold weather supposedly stunts their growth. I usually plant them in the beginning of April. The okra will get their turn sometime in early summer.

Comments (1)

Categories : New Orleans, Southern Gardening

Supper in the Kitchen

By Christi · Comments (3)

Thursday, March 7th, 2013

I love my formal dining table and setting it for dinners is always fun, however, sometimes, when we are just entertaining another couple, that table is really just too big. I always think about the old movies where there was long, formal dining table and a couple was sitting at opposite sides, being waited on by formal servants who are summoned by a bell. Remember that? I hope so, otherwise, I’m just sounding crazy . . .

Anyway, in cases of a small group, I like to set a less formal table in the kitchen, like this:

Add some flowers . . .

Some food, wine and most importantly, people and . . .

let the fun begin! (Note: I have cropped the identity of my friends – I need to start letting people know that they could show up online when they dine here).

We had a lovely evening sitting around the table, eating, sipping wine and visiting.