the velveteen cuisinart . . .

old and new . . .

when i was little i used to sleep with piles of stuffed animals because i did not want to hurt anyone’s feelings.  i would start off with one or two and get into bed and then i would look across my room and see all of the other buddies on my window seat and one by one they got added to the bed with me.  well, things haven’t changed much and it seems francie has the same problem becuase you can’t even find her in her bed sometimes.  yesterday, i got a new 16 cup capacity cuisinart.  needless to say, i feel very badly for my old one that still works.  it has been loyal to me for about 15 years.  we’ve shared good times and bad times . . .  it has shredded pounds and pounds of cheese for me and little chef.  don’t get me wrong, i am bursting with excitement over this new machine and all of its glory.  the blade locks in so you don’t have to hold it with your finger, it has three bowls, the blades and discs all fit nicely into a storage box, the bowls have pouring spouts, the electric cord retracts, the buttons light up, it holds 16 cups versus 8 . . . .  i could go on and on.  i had similar feelings when i got a new santoku knife last year and stopped using my original chef’s knife.  mitch refuses to use the new one and picks on me about the betrayal.  seems he knows me too well!  it always starts with good intentions, like, “i will use the old cuisinart for this, and i’ll use the new one for that.”  then, slowly, the good intentions turn into excuses.  maybe i should just drape a tea towel over the old cusinart so it doesn’t have to witness its own abandonment . . .

now, that's better . . .

there was a trip recently to thibodaux, louisiana to tour the nicholls campus.  our hunter has expressed an interest  in attending the john folse culinary program there.  so we loaded him up and went to take a look.  we toured the campus and listened to chef sheramie about the culinary tract there.  i was grinning from ear to ear and hanging on his every word, wishing i was eighteen again only to be able to experience it.  every now and again i would catch mitch looking at me and just shaking his head.  i don’t have any doubt that it is an excellent school and i believe that no one should leave the state of louisiana to learn how to cook for heaven’s sake.  that would be like leaving our sportsman’s paradise to go fishing.  the culinary school is the fastest growing major at the campus and is doubling its facilities.  i loved the size of the campus- not too big.  hunter seemed to really like it there too.  can’t get too much out of a teenager though . . .  i would love for him to go there, but it is a long way from home and i know that he shares that concern.  that boy can’t get too far from his own hunting and fishing holes and let’s face it- he is sort of a mama’s boy!!  he loves to cook with me and we’ve been having weekly lessons here at the house. like these oyster po-boys and last monday’s red beans and rice workshop.

chef hunter brown

best bakery bread from houma, la available at captain avery seafood

fried oysters

hunter's fried oyster po-boys dressed

easter ham bone red beans and rice kinda monday

well i turned thirty six this year.  crap.  on the good side- though.  i always use my birthday to bribe jesse home for a weekend from austin and come throw me a crawfish boil party.  he has gotten really really good at boiling crawfish to the point that he caters boils in austin for the texans.  i once interviewed him on his techniques over the phone and later typed it up.  it was a four page crawfish boil dissertation!!  he couldn’t believe that i actually typed it, until i handed him a copy while he was here.  at the end of it- there is a grocery list as well.  he was so impressed.  he threw my party at his house on bayou lafourche and he boiled four sacks of crawfish. there were none left . . .

birthday crawfish

hunter and jesse working the pot

reggie bush playing with the crawfish

bye y’all

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