My SIL sent me the link to this you tube video. It's actually a clip from a Tennessee news station where they are warning the general public of this new, and very scary way of breaking into buildings. I hope for the safety of yourself and your loved ones that you take a few minutes to watch and pass this along!
Lock Bumping
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
New Orleans Food
I found an article today on CNN.com titled "New Orleans: The food that got them through". While some of the article, in my opinion, was a bit much (or in some parts not enough) there were two parts that stood out.
"People in New Orleans are passionate preservationists of their city's food history, for it is a massive part of what has sustained them. Coming in as a first time visitor, it's impossible not to notice in the structures and the statements: every event is couched as "before the storm" and "after the storm." Bustling new eateries – more than 300 of them established in the past five years – abut grand dining halls that have served up pommes soufflé, Oysters Rockefeller and shrimp remoulade for over a century.
Tooker refers to these restaurants – Galatoire's, Arnaud's, Antoine's and the like – as "living food museums." Says she, "In France, they'd forgotten about some of these dishes. They're oddities. We'd never stopped making them."
She continued, "The average New Orleanian is only happy if she walks into one of these places and the Trout Meuniere and ideally even the waiter are the same as when she used to come in with her grandmother. Everything has to remain the same. You end up with a perfectly preserved food culture.""
Isn't that the truth!!! I've thought about it time and time again...other states and cities get hit with hurricanes all the time and for the most part, they clean up, rebuild, move on. The change for them is welcome because as we all know when it comes to the business of tourists, the newest and best is almost always what they are after. But for New Orleans and those of us who love that area, familiarity and comfort are what we love best. Katrina changed everything there...except for the fact that we love to eat.
The only thing that makes me sad here is that, unlike what the article states, many, many, many recipes, techniques and teachers of old New Orleans cooking are gone. Convenience and speed are the names of the game now and any good southern cook knows that neither of those are a part of those old recipes. :-)
On a side note, there was another part of the article that made me laugh quite a lot. I can STILL remember the look exchanged between my mom and dad whenever I'd get the baby out of the king cake. Apparently there are some New Orleans traditions that will never change. ;-)
"On Fridays between Twelfth Night and Fat Tuesday, no matter the secular or non-secular nature of a school, often there will be King Cake. Children learn to bite down gently so as not to chip a tooth on the small baby figure that may or may not be baked into their slice. The lucky recipient of the baby is crowned as royalty for the day and bears his or her prize home proudly to parents who might be less enthused; they're on the hook for providing the next week's King Cake."
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/02/16/new-orleans-the-food-that-got-them-through/?hpt=C1
"People in New Orleans are passionate preservationists of their city's food history, for it is a massive part of what has sustained them. Coming in as a first time visitor, it's impossible not to notice in the structures and the statements: every event is couched as "before the storm" and "after the storm." Bustling new eateries – more than 300 of them established in the past five years – abut grand dining halls that have served up pommes soufflé, Oysters Rockefeller and shrimp remoulade for over a century.
Tooker refers to these restaurants – Galatoire's, Arnaud's, Antoine's and the like – as "living food museums." Says she, "In France, they'd forgotten about some of these dishes. They're oddities. We'd never stopped making them."
She continued, "The average New Orleanian is only happy if she walks into one of these places and the Trout Meuniere and ideally even the waiter are the same as when she used to come in with her grandmother. Everything has to remain the same. You end up with a perfectly preserved food culture.""
Isn't that the truth!!! I've thought about it time and time again...other states and cities get hit with hurricanes all the time and for the most part, they clean up, rebuild, move on. The change for them is welcome because as we all know when it comes to the business of tourists, the newest and best is almost always what they are after. But for New Orleans and those of us who love that area, familiarity and comfort are what we love best. Katrina changed everything there...except for the fact that we love to eat.
The only thing that makes me sad here is that, unlike what the article states, many, many, many recipes, techniques and teachers of old New Orleans cooking are gone. Convenience and speed are the names of the game now and any good southern cook knows that neither of those are a part of those old recipes. :-)
On a side note, there was another part of the article that made me laugh quite a lot. I can STILL remember the look exchanged between my mom and dad whenever I'd get the baby out of the king cake. Apparently there are some New Orleans traditions that will never change. ;-)
"On Fridays between Twelfth Night and Fat Tuesday, no matter the secular or non-secular nature of a school, often there will be King Cake. Children learn to bite down gently so as not to chip a tooth on the small baby figure that may or may not be baked into their slice. The lucky recipient of the baby is crowned as royalty for the day and bears his or her prize home proudly to parents who might be less enthused; they're on the hook for providing the next week's King Cake."
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/02/16/new-orleans-the-food-that-got-them-through/?hpt=C1
Thursday, February 3, 2011
I thought you only had to do this with kids??
So we are currently near the end of day 3 of being iced in our house. Most of the nation got snowed in, but we got ice, with just enough snow on top to 1.) make it look pretty and 2.) cause people to believe they could drive on this stuff.
Well when we adopted Spencer last January we quickly learned that he does NOT like going out into the rain or snow. We'd have to lock him in the back yard (block the doggie door so he couldn't come back in) for a few minutes until he realized he wasn't coming in until he did his business. Well that's been all fine and dandy thus far, but then again, we've never had ice stick around this long.
At first Spencer just held it. And held it. And held it. That first night he ended up going in the house. :-( So we decided that he would again have to be locked out for a few minutes each day until he went potty. He quickly decided, "If I don't eat and I only drink a little, I won't have to go out very often!". So for days now the dog has been surviving on the random scrap of people food and the occasional treat that he's gotten. Tonight however, I realized that he's lost his chunk. Last winter and this, as soon as the cold weather was here to stay, Spencer went on an eating binge and put on some extra weight. It's only been half a pound each winter, but when you only weigh 12.5 lbs to begin with, that's a lot. He gets fat rolls and everything! So when noticed that the fat rolls were disappearing I knew he had to eat. So, I did what any good mommy would do. I tricked my "kid" into eating what's good for him. :-)
I refilled his food bowl and drizzled a couple tablespoons full of the juice from the brisket I currently have in the crock pot. :-) Just to make sure and seal the deal, I took a small piece of fat from the brisket, minced it up and mixed it in his food as well. It was just enough juice to coat it and more than enough that Spencer fell for it and has FINALLY eaten a full bowl of dog food. :-D
My mom told me a long time ago that this dog was sent to me as training for when I have a child. Hmm, from her mouth to God's ears I guess...LOL
Well when we adopted Spencer last January we quickly learned that he does NOT like going out into the rain or snow. We'd have to lock him in the back yard (block the doggie door so he couldn't come back in) for a few minutes until he realized he wasn't coming in until he did his business. Well that's been all fine and dandy thus far, but then again, we've never had ice stick around this long.
At first Spencer just held it. And held it. And held it. That first night he ended up going in the house. :-( So we decided that he would again have to be locked out for a few minutes each day until he went potty. He quickly decided, "If I don't eat and I only drink a little, I won't have to go out very often!". So for days now the dog has been surviving on the random scrap of people food and the occasional treat that he's gotten. Tonight however, I realized that he's lost his chunk. Last winter and this, as soon as the cold weather was here to stay, Spencer went on an eating binge and put on some extra weight. It's only been half a pound each winter, but when you only weigh 12.5 lbs to begin with, that's a lot. He gets fat rolls and everything! So when noticed that the fat rolls were disappearing I knew he had to eat. So, I did what any good mommy would do. I tricked my "kid" into eating what's good for him. :-)
I refilled his food bowl and drizzled a couple tablespoons full of the juice from the brisket I currently have in the crock pot. :-) Just to make sure and seal the deal, I took a small piece of fat from the brisket, minced it up and mixed it in his food as well. It was just enough juice to coat it and more than enough that Spencer fell for it and has FINALLY eaten a full bowl of dog food. :-D
My mom told me a long time ago that this dog was sent to me as training for when I have a child. Hmm, from her mouth to God's ears I guess...LOL
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Two good things are happening! (Not about moving home.)
Yesterday J completed (in record time I might add) all of his beginning of the year training and re-certifications. SOOO, what that means is, he can FINALLY start his new schedule!
You guys have no idea how happy this make us. Finally, after years of dealing with crappy schedules, he finally has hours that can be considered "normal". No, he still doesn't have weekends off, but the hours are good. This means that when I get up with him in the morning I can stay up for the rest of the day and not continue sleeping in two shifts. This means that I can have dinner cooked when he walks in the door so we can sit down, eat dinner together (something that hasn't always been possible due to bad schedules) and still have the evening for ourselves. This means having a pretty normal life now. :-) Well...as normal as normal gets for us anyway. LOL
But, the BIGGEST and the BEST news of all is that J is graduating soon!!!!!!!! His very last class is on Saturday, January 29th and he will be finished with his degree! That's just 6 days away! When he first started back to school this seemed like a never ending road. Between school and work I knew that things would be tough and couldn't imagine it coming to an end quickly. And while it was a tough road a lot of times, it also seems to have flown by. So many times J has started back to college only to be derailed each time by something or another. Every time he was more disappointed so when he started school this time I told him that no matter what, he would make it through. I would be sure of that. Even though I couldn't do the work for him, I would offer him the one thing he'd been lacking prior. Support. And I gave that to him. I've done as much on my own as I could to allow him time for his homework and studying and I always put his school work first. I know I may sound like I'm bragging here, I'm not. It's been tough on both of us and this is a big moment that we've both worked hard to get to. But it goes without saying that J did the majority of the heavy lifting through this. Not only did he deal with work, his home life and school, but he managed all of it AND a 4.0 GPA to boot! You guys have NO idea how proud I am of him and this accomplishment! So next weekend (our weekend, not the actual weekend) I plan on taking him out to celebrate! He deserves that and so much more for all of his hard work!
I love you, J! And I am so proud of you I could burst! Thank you for everything that you do for us, you are a wonderful man and I couldn't have asked for a better person to share my life with. :-)
You guys have no idea how happy this make us. Finally, after years of dealing with crappy schedules, he finally has hours that can be considered "normal". No, he still doesn't have weekends off, but the hours are good. This means that when I get up with him in the morning I can stay up for the rest of the day and not continue sleeping in two shifts. This means that I can have dinner cooked when he walks in the door so we can sit down, eat dinner together (something that hasn't always been possible due to bad schedules) and still have the evening for ourselves. This means having a pretty normal life now. :-) Well...as normal as normal gets for us anyway. LOL
But, the BIGGEST and the BEST news of all is that J is graduating soon!!!!!!!! His very last class is on Saturday, January 29th and he will be finished with his degree! That's just 6 days away! When he first started back to school this seemed like a never ending road. Between school and work I knew that things would be tough and couldn't imagine it coming to an end quickly. And while it was a tough road a lot of times, it also seems to have flown by. So many times J has started back to college only to be derailed each time by something or another. Every time he was more disappointed so when he started school this time I told him that no matter what, he would make it through. I would be sure of that. Even though I couldn't do the work for him, I would offer him the one thing he'd been lacking prior. Support. And I gave that to him. I've done as much on my own as I could to allow him time for his homework and studying and I always put his school work first. I know I may sound like I'm bragging here, I'm not. It's been tough on both of us and this is a big moment that we've both worked hard to get to. But it goes without saying that J did the majority of the heavy lifting through this. Not only did he deal with work, his home life and school, but he managed all of it AND a 4.0 GPA to boot! You guys have NO idea how proud I am of him and this accomplishment! So next weekend (our weekend, not the actual weekend) I plan on taking him out to celebrate! He deserves that and so much more for all of his hard work!
I love you, J! And I am so proud of you I could burst! Thank you for everything that you do for us, you are a wonderful man and I couldn't have asked for a better person to share my life with. :-)
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Keeping busy with crafts
Sorry it's been so long since I've written, but life has been busier than normal! I really thought that things would slow down once Christmas was over as far as crafting goes, but in truth there is no rest for the weary. Wedding season is fast approaching which means that bride-to-be's are already busy shopping for all of their wedding necessities. I've been working on tiaras again (making only my best sellers for now) and will have those listed soon.
In the meanwhile though I've realized that NOW is the time to really work on building up and promoting my Etsy.com and ArtFire.com shops. I've been selling my crafts on Etsy, through craft fairs and other venues for some time now and while I've always sold enough to replenish supplies and keep my work going, I've never sold enough to justify putting further time and expense into it. Until now. Christmas was a GREAT selling season for me! Every single day I was shipping out orders. I'd work throughout the day creating new products and spend part of my nights setting up shipments. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it because it gave me both the financial boost as well as the confidence boost I needed to go a few steps further in selling.
Today I set up a Facebook page to promote my items via my Etsy and ArtFire pages. I added a badge to my blog here so that you can link directly to the page and soon I hope to start doing advertising. Advertising is a big step though, so first I'll continue to work, work, work and build up my shop even more before taking that route. ;-)
Here are the links directly to my Etsy and ArtFire pages. The link to FB can be found just to the right of my blog posts. ;-)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DesignsByElle
http://www.artfire.com/users/DesignsByElle
Enjoy and Happy Shopping!
In the meanwhile though I've realized that NOW is the time to really work on building up and promoting my Etsy.com and ArtFire.com shops. I've been selling my crafts on Etsy, through craft fairs and other venues for some time now and while I've always sold enough to replenish supplies and keep my work going, I've never sold enough to justify putting further time and expense into it. Until now. Christmas was a GREAT selling season for me! Every single day I was shipping out orders. I'd work throughout the day creating new products and spend part of my nights setting up shipments. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it because it gave me both the financial boost as well as the confidence boost I needed to go a few steps further in selling.
Today I set up a Facebook page to promote my items via my Etsy and ArtFire pages. I added a badge to my blog here so that you can link directly to the page and soon I hope to start doing advertising. Advertising is a big step though, so first I'll continue to work, work, work and build up my shop even more before taking that route. ;-)
Here are the links directly to my Etsy and ArtFire pages. The link to FB can be found just to the right of my blog posts. ;-)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DesignsByElle
http://www.artfire.com/users/DesignsByElle
Enjoy and Happy Shopping!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Reality is setting in...
Well we stuck with our plan to start right after Christmas with packing up the non-essentials, etc. around the house. We have less than a month until J graduates and not a clue yet as to when we'll be leaving, if we'll be leaving or where (for sure) we'll be leaving to. Naturally our goal is to get moved back home to where our family and friends are, but only God knows at this point if that's our destination. (I'm praying like crazy that it is! LOL)
So along with packing up Christmas decorations, our lesser used kitchen items, books, memorabilia and such things that we can live without for a while, we've started doing leg work in the "finding work" and "finding a place to live" realm. I knew that when I started packing up stuff in the house that reality would set in that we really ARE going to be moving and that the opportunity to get home...or at least closer to home...was getting close. I had no idea though how much it would smack me in the face though once job and housing searches were under way! LOL I'm serious, it was like those stupid Tums commercials where the food starts smacking people in the face. I felt like the internet and my computer were doing the same! Don't get me wrong, the excitement of being home and being around our family and friends is THRILLING and I can't wait for that! But the logistics of this scares the bejesus out of me. LOL
But instead of sitting here with a roller coaster ride of a stomach and a headache developing out of my thoughts of finances, I'm going to use these feelings as motivation to get THAT much more packed up. THAT much more organized. THAT much more settled here, in order to make getting there THAT much easier.
So I ask that if you are a praying person to please say prayers that all goes well and that God has it in his plans to get us back home. And if you're not a praying person, well then good thoughts being sent out into the universe would also be appreciated. ;-)
So along with packing up Christmas decorations, our lesser used kitchen items, books, memorabilia and such things that we can live without for a while, we've started doing leg work in the "finding work" and "finding a place to live" realm. I knew that when I started packing up stuff in the house that reality would set in that we really ARE going to be moving and that the opportunity to get home...or at least closer to home...was getting close. I had no idea though how much it would smack me in the face though once job and housing searches were under way! LOL I'm serious, it was like those stupid Tums commercials where the food starts smacking people in the face. I felt like the internet and my computer were doing the same! Don't get me wrong, the excitement of being home and being around our family and friends is THRILLING and I can't wait for that! But the logistics of this scares the bejesus out of me. LOL
But instead of sitting here with a roller coaster ride of a stomach and a headache developing out of my thoughts of finances, I'm going to use these feelings as motivation to get THAT much more packed up. THAT much more organized. THAT much more settled here, in order to make getting there THAT much easier.
So I ask that if you are a praying person to please say prayers that all goes well and that God has it in his plans to get us back home. And if you're not a praying person, well then good thoughts being sent out into the universe would also be appreciated. ;-)
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
It's time for some major changes
I have an old school friend on FB who talks about the people who are on their friends list just because they want to be nosy...not because they truly care or are interested. Well, apparently I have a lot of those too. (And not just on FB, in real life too.) After offering support to so many, in so many ways...physically, emotionally, financially...one would (stupidly) hope that when the shoe was on the other foot, the support would be there. But apparently, that's just not the case. I now TRULY understand why it is said to give unselfishly. Because sadly, most of the people you give to are selfish and won't return the favor. This has unfortunately been proven to us time and time again, but lately it's just like a slap in the face. This is why we've learned to depend on just ourselves. We thought things were changing, we thought that opening ourselves up more would be a good thing. Instead it's done nothing but cause us stress, grief and financial hardships. So as far as I'm concerned, it's time for some changes to happen. Some people won't be happy with them, but too bad, because those people have proven over and over that our happiness means nothing, just theirs. It's time that we put ourselves first and not worry about their feelings for a change.
And funny that this is happening just in time for the new year. Oh yes, I think 2011 will be a MUCH better year!
And funny that this is happening just in time for the new year. Oh yes, I think 2011 will be a MUCH better year!
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