Ponderous

"Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?" Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night."

Charles M. Schulz

Cajun Seasoning Blend

• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano leaves
• 2 tablespoons dried sweet basil
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon white pepper
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon celery seed
• 5 tablespoons sweet paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt

Canned Heat

I'm going up the country, babe don't you wanna go
I'm going up the country, babe don't you wanna go
I'm going to some place where I've never been before

I'm going, I'm going where the water tastes like wine
Well I'm going where the water tastes like wine
We can jump in the water, stay drunk all the time

I'm gonna leave this city, got to get away
I'm gonna leave this city, got to get away
All this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure can't stay

Now baby, pack your leaving trunk, you know we've got to leave today
Just exactly where we're going I cannot say,
but We might even leave the USA

'Cause there's a brand new game that I want to play
No use of you running, or screaming and crying'
Cause you've got a home as long as I've got mine

Coming: Best Chili In Houston

Saturday November 18, 2006

Houston Championship Chili Cook Off

Dionne with scary smile.

I never thought I’d have to worry about pictures of my wife being on the internet . . . until my family members started their own websites. This is as good of a picture as I have ever taken of Dionne. I promise that she is not this happy looking in real life. Just give her the food and run!

BJS

Grandma Gregori

New Orleans Style Red Beans and Rice

Ingredients

2 lbs Camilla brand red beans
4 Ham hocks
2 lbs spicy sausage
4 large onions
2 bell peppers
1 bag celery
4 tablesppons seasoning mix.
8 bay leaves
2 clove crushed garlic


Seasoning Mix

The amounts listed here are parts of a whole. Any measurement above a tablespoon will work. So just mix it with these ratios.

2 garlic powder
1 cayenne pepper
2 black pepper
1 white pepper
2 ground thmye
4 paprika
2 salt

How to Cook Em

Soak the beans overnight and they will swell up and take a lot of the water so you want to be sure to have enough water. Some people drain the water off and start fresh when they are done. With beans there is a certain ... ummmm flautulence factor.

First crank up the music and open a bottle of beer or wine and indulge yourself.

Okay so you got the beans in the water having been soaked overnight. I use a 5 quart stock pot for this with a very low flame. In fact I put the stock pot on top of a cast iron pan to keep from burning the beans. Works pretty good.

Add the ham hocks now.

Next comes the trinity - Onions, Bell Peppers and Celery. Chop them up good and stir fry till the onions are "clear". That is the point when they become translucent. Dump them all in the pot.

Slice the sausage. I like to cut about three inch lengths and slice them into two parts. Brown them. Dump them into the pot.

Adding the Seasonning Mix

Now I cook this recipe for about four hours and add three tablespoons of the seasoning immediately. I know what I like. After about the third hour you can adjust the seasoning to taste. It is easier to add and very difficult to undo if you get too much. So I recommend adding it in increments till you get what you want. Taste it every half hour or so and add what you like.

Add whatever garlic you like in about the last half hour.

Serve with fried eggplant, a salad and some wine.

Houston Music : Main Street

" Main Street is a music group consisting of four highly-talented musicians from the Houston-music scene. Main Street was created with a goal in mind to entertain by performing an eclectic mix of music suitable to about any audience imaginable. The level of the members' musicianship help to combine an atmosphere of professionalism and fun the crowd will never forget."


From their web page. We watched and listened too three sets at our local hangout, The Abbey Pub, and came away wishing they weren't quite so eclectic.

"..to entertain by performing an eclectic mix of music suitable to about any audience imaginable... "

The musicianship is as advertised, despite having a stand in bass player. I think they would be more effective and entertaining if they commited to one of the genre's in their mix.

http://mainstreet.drumart.net/

First Annual Crawfish and Margarita Festival

Debbie's Killer Margaritas

1 can of frozen lime-aid in blender
1/2 of same can full of Cuervo gold
1/4 of same can triple sec

Fill blender with ice and turn on till smooth.

Slice fresh lime and rub on rim of glass. Salt same rim of glass and pour in frozen Margarita . Top of with splash of Chambord or Grand Marnier. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Quote of the Day

On the Republicans $100. 00 fuel rebate ..

"How could a party go from a visionary like Ronald Reagan who changed the world, not to mention restoring American optimism, to the tunnel vision of his illegitimate offspring who seem to care less about change than perpetuating themselves in office? "


Cal Thomas ...

Listen to the Mustn't

Listen to the MUSTN'T, child,

Listen to the DON'Ts

Listen to the SHOULDN'Ts

The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'Ts

Listen to the NEVER HAVEs

Then listen close to me--

Anything can happen, child,

ANYTHING can be.


Shel Silverstein

They

Texas U.S. Representative

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 10
CONGRESSMAN MICHAEL T. MCCAUL
Address: 415 CANNON HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2401

State District Offices

Texas State Senator
SENATE DISTRICT 17
SENATOR KYLE JANEK
Capitol Office: CAP 3E.16
Capitol Address: P.O. Box 12068
Austin, Texas 78711
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0117
District Address: 7777 Southwest Freeway, Suite 102
Houston, TX 77074 District Phone: (713) 272-8929

State District Offices

Texas State Representative
HOUSE DISTRICT 132
REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAM A. "BILL" CALLEGARI

Capitol Office: EXT E2.608
Capitol Address: P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0528

District Address: 1550 Foxlake Dr., Suite 114
Houston, TX 77084
District Phone: (281) 578-8484

Texas State Board of Education Members
SBOE DISTRICT 6
MRS. TERRI LEO
District Address: 23516 TWIN OAKS DR.
SPRING, TX 77389

Where's the LAG KNEE UP ??

Our Mission: Crawfish Boil

Now I had to work Good Friday but Brian, since he has a real job, was off. Louisiana Foods, which sells crawfish is just around the corner from where I work so we decided to do lunch, then he would pick up the mudbugs there.

Turns out Louisiana Foods was out of crawfish. Well the alternate plan was Fiesta and it worked out well enough. Our recipe was borrowed from the Gumbo Pages and is posted here.

So check the list of ingredients:

"30 pounds live crawfish
15 ounces cayenne pepper, plus 5 ounces additional Lagniappe
2 ounces Tabasco sauce
20 cloves garlic, cut cloves in half, do not peel or crush ng
3 dozen lemons, sliced in half
1 cup olive oil
20 bay leaves
4 ounces Louisiana hot sauce
52 ounces salt (approximately 2 pounds)"

This plus corn, sausage and those little potatoes. Yes Sir !!

Now most of this stuff is easy to find. I knew he had purchased the crawfish and the plan was to get the other stuff the next day. Well we are sitting on the patio at Son In Laws house beside the pool enjoying a cold one and I mention "the stuff".

With an expression of mild alarm he says, " I hope you didn't buy the stuff !"

"Dionne and I bought all of it. The corn on the cob was pricey we only bought eight ears instead of ten....." he continued. "... but we couldn't find the LAG-KNEE-AP ...."

My wife and I smile to each other.

" Couldn't find what ?" I said, making sure I got this right.

" The 5 ounces additional LAG-KNEE-AP"

" ummmmm ... that would be lagniappe .."

From the New Orleans Dictionary .

LAGNIAPPE - Pronounced LAN yap. A little something extra. Also, the name of the entertainment pull out section of the Friday edition of The New Orleans Times Picayune.

Now in fairness Brian is from Chicago. However, Dionne, coulda, woulda shoulda knew, being born in New Awlins. I think she is a Texan now. She forgot what the neutral ground is.

Bunny Matthews

Searching for the Bunny Matthews cartoon where the crawfish are eatin' humans.

Found this one.

The Art of George Rodrigue

The Art of George Rodrigue

Immigration Assumptions

"Ask real Americans (citizens and legal aliens) if the federal government lets them break laws to "improve their economic circumstances." Ask the guy who holds a commercial drivers license. Ask the broker who trades stocks. Ask the Klamath Falls farmer or the fisherman on Oregon's coast how many federal laws they are allowed to break just to keep their jobs -- and not multiply their wages tenfold as the average illegal does.

The thousands of children from families of illegals who crowd school classrooms puts a lie to the claim that illegal workers contribute more than they consume. Tell me how many pay the $10,000 in taxes that a single child costs to educate for a year in Oregon schools."

Immigration Debate

Lars Larson

Crawfish Boil

A recipe from The Gumbo Pages





The boiled crawfish recipe was adapted from the old Jazz and Heritage Festival Cookbook, now sadly out of print. This is the way boiled crawfish were prepared by Jazzfest food vendors The Fontana Family, of New Orleans, Louisiana. Comments and instructions from the original recipe are in quotes; all other comments are mine.
"The Fontanas are one of the largest, oldest, and best known Italian families to settle in New Orleans, originally coming from various parts of Italy and settling in Louisiana in the early 1850's. This recipe is the one served at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival boiled crawfish booth. The secret is to serve hot."


30 pounds live crawfish
15 ounces cayenne pepper, plus 5 ounces additional Lagniappe
2 ounces Tabasco sauce
20 cloves garlic, cut cloves in half, do not peel or crush ng
3 dozen lemons, sliced in half
1 cup olive oil
20 bay leaves
4 ounces Louisiana hot sauce
52 ounces salt (approximately 2 pounds)
10 bags of Zatarain's crab boil, or 10 recipes seafood boil seasoning
"Place all ingredients but the crawfish in the biggest pot that you can get your hands on and bring to a good boil for about 15 minutes. As all comes to a boil, put you face over the steam and take 10 deep breaths, as the boiling cayenne, garlic and lemon mist is good for your soul - being careful to breathe only throughyou nose.
"In the meantime, the crawfish should have been soaking in cold fresh water, with a couple of boxes of salt emptied into it as to allow "mud bugs" to be spitting out the mud.

"Put crawfish in boiling water. After water comes to boil again, add 10 ears freshly peeled corn of the cob and 20 small potatoes. Allow 8-10 minutes cooking time. Remove and add a bag or two of ice to cool the crawfish water, and allow the crawfish to soak in the pot for another 10 minutes after turning off the boiling water. Strain and serve the crawfish hot with the garlic cloves, potatoes and corn." (Alternate method: Remove the hot crawfish from the boiling pot and layer in ice chests with sprinkled Tony Chachere's seasoning.)

Some people also like throwing anything from andouille sausages to whole heads of garlic to hot dogs into the boil ... be creative, but not foolish!

For a great seafood dipping sauce, take some ketchup, add horseradish and Tabasco to taste, and finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (never use that swill out of the bottle). Mix and dip. That's how we do it in Louisiana.

Eating instructions: Find the biggest crawfish in the pile. Break the tail off of the crawfish, and slurp all the good juice and fat out of the head (optional). Peel off the first section of the crawfish tail shell, pinch the bottom of the tail, and the meat pops right out. Eat. Drink. Repeat. (Some people save time by pinching the tail and removing the tail meat with their teeth and eating it immediately, rather than wasting a few precious seconds getting the meat out with their hands. As one hardcore native crawfish eater once put it, "That way I could eat four crawfish to maybe y'all's one."

Offensive

Free Speech

"Borders and Waldenbooks stores will not stock the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine because it contains cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that provoked deadly protests among Muslims in several countries."

Read here .

Free speech is only a freedom if you fight for it.

Welcome to DhimmiWorld.

I HATE CILANTRO

Okay Debbie .... its here.

Afghan Man Faces Execution After Converting to Christianity

The Afghan man, Abdul Rahman, was arrested two weeks ago. His parents reported him to the police for converting to Christianity 16 years earlier while working for a Christian aid organization in Pakistan. He was hauled before a judge, where he said he had no regrets. "If he doesn't revert back to Islam, he's going to receive the death penalty, according to the law," an Afghan Supreme Court judge told Agence France-Presse. More here

Where I Want To Be

In Memory of Laura H. Gregori

And Death Shall Have No Dominion

And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.

-Dylan Thomas

I Corinthians 13

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
and have not Love,
I am become as sounding brass,
or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy,
and understand all mysteries,
and all knowledge;
and though I have all faith,
so that I could remove mountains,
and have not Love,
I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
and though I give my body to be burned,
and have not Love,
it profiteth me nothing.

Love suffereth long, and is kind;
Love envieth not;
Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly,
Seeketh not her own,
Is not easily provoked,
Thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies,
they shall fail;
whether there be tongues,
they shall cease;
whether there be knowledge,
it shall vanish away.
For we know in part,
and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come,
then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child,
I spake as a child,
I understood as a child,
I thought as a child: but when I became a man,
I put away childish things.

For now we see through a glass, darkly;
but then face to face: now I know in part;
but then shall I know even as also I am known.

And now abideth faith, hope, Love, these three;
but the greatest of these is Love.

"Stupid in America" And this is why...

Answering the Teachers Unions
By John Stossel

".... And I was especially surprised by one history lesson they taught me: "Public schools are what distinguish democracies from every other system in the world," and a country without strong public schools "lends itself to authoritarian thinking."

Fascinating. I guess the Communists all went to private school."

Find this here

Love

Doubt that the stars are fire
Doubt that the sun doth shine
Doubt that truth be a liar
But never doubt that I love.

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me
(i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it

(anywhere i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear no fate
(for you are my fate,my sweet)
i want no world
(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

The Daily Zen

Blending with the wind,
Snow falls;
Blending with the snow,
The wind blows.
By the hearth I stretch out my legs,
Idling my time away
Confined in this hut.
Counting the days,
I find that February, too,
Has come and goneLike a dream.

- Ryokan

Council on American Islamic Relations

C.A.I.R.

There website is here.

"CAIR's mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. "

Another view from the Middle East Quarterly here.

Senator Charles Schumer (Democrat, New York) describes it as an organization "which we know has ties to terrorism."

Senator Dick Durbin (Democrat, Illinois) observes that CAIR is "unusual in its extreme rhetoric and its associations with groups that are suspect."

Of particular note are the American Muslims who reject CAIR's claim to speak on their behalf. The late Seifeldin Ashmawy, publisher of the New Jersey-based Voice of Peace, called CAIR the champion of "extremists whose views do not represent Islam."

Inks Lake

Our favorite place.

Its my fault. I voted for him.

At a recent Cato Institute forum Bartlett argued that Richard Nixon "is the model for everything Bush is doing."

Story in the Washington Post is here.

Conservative.

Immigration policy ? Economic policy ? Schools ?

Baked Beans

1 pound bacon diced
2 cups diced onions
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 pound dried navy beans, soaked overnight and drained
1 gallon chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1/2 cup bourbon
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat a large pot, add the bacon and render until crispy, about 4 to 6 minutes. Add the onions and cook until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and beans and cook for 1 minute. Increase the heat, stir in the chicken stock and bay leaves, and bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook the beans for about 2 hours, or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add the molasses, brown sugar, ketchup, mustard and bourbon. Continue to cook for another 30 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and flavors have come together. Season the beans with salt and pepper, to taste, before serving.

Free Speech

"...In Canada, a teacher drew a suspension for a letter to a newspaper arguing that homosexuality is not a fixed orientation, but a condition that can be treated. He was not accused of discrimination, merely of expressing thoughts that the state defines as improper. Another Canadian newspaper was fined 4,500 Canadian dollars for printing an ad giving the citations -- but not the text -- of four biblical quotations against homosexuality. "

From John Leo here

Set !@#$%

Got beat by my grandaughter in this silly game. Got beat by my son in law in Madden. Well ... she cried when I beat her in chess. Now I don't feel so bad. Son in law won't play chess.

Willie Nagin

"You waited until it was too late. The mandatory evacuation was too late and there were people who drowned," said an emotional and tearful Jefferson.

"Now you want us to vote for you?"


Read this here

Dirty Little War

More Americans kidnaped along the Mexico - American border than in Iraq. Read about this here

Desolation Row

I remember when this house was built.

And I remember moving into it.

New Orleans East is gone.

Seems like some of our past is gone.

Pictures here.