Not your granny’s frozen foods
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What’s for supper? This question arises as soon as parents return home from work. It usually means taking out the pots and pans, chopping and preparing meats and vegetables, firing up the oven and stove or heading out to a fast food joint.
Cornbread, a traditional staple given to the world by the Native Americans
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Had it not been for those inhabitants in the New World of the early 1700s, the European settlers would have surely perished. One of the life-saving staples offered to the settlers by the Native American Indians was maze, or corn, and the variations that could be derived from a simple plant.
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The Greek Goddess of love, Aphrodite, is said to have sprang forth from the sea on an oyster shell and gave birth to her most admired son Eros, the Roman Cupid, while Casanova reportedly started a meal by eating 12 dozen oysters, thus linking the Invertebrate to love.
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The year was 1941, the same year Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. Paul Theriot became a business owner when he purchased the equipment of a neighborhood grocery store at the corner of Hacker and Julia streets from Rosey LeBlanc for $750. Theriot set up shop in the same building and a legend was born.
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The popular South Louisiana phrase known the world over “Laissez le bon temps rouler, or Let the good times roll” is a description of what Mardi Gras means in the area. Mardi Gras means “Fat Tuesday” and represents the culmination of the season between Christmas and Lent, the Web site about.com reports. Fat Tuesday falls on the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. During the 46-day Lenten period, many Christians fast from eating of meat, either completely or on Fridays. They also traditionally give up a favored food, drink or habit. Fat Tuesday also is a last chance party excuse before a six-week period of abstinence for residents not just in Louisiana but around the world as well.
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For New Orleans Saints fans, the two weeks between the conference championship game and Super Bowl XLIV seemed to last forever. For several Teche Area residents, the time has been spent deciding upon the menu for the numerous parties held to celebrate the momentous event for their team.
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With a fast-paced lifestyle, sometimes healthy is forsaken for quick and easy. Looking around, food is available almost everywhere people go, at schools, businesses, drugstores, convenience stores and so on. It is very easy to fall off the wagon for healthier eating.
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Ask any accomplished cook or chef from where did they get a passion for cooking and the answer almost always will be by being in the kitchen at a young age, watching a mother, father or grandparent preparing a meal.
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Soup is one of the oldest methods of cooking. It is the act of combining various ingredients in a large pot, cooking the ingredients and transforming the recipe into a nutritious, filling and easily digested meal.
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As the temperature begins to sink to the freezing point and below, thoughts turn to a way to bring warmth back to a cold body. In South Louisiana, the answer is usually gumbo and to make a good gumbo it takes a good roux.
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All of the presents have been delivered and the Christmas ornaments are loaded into its storage cases. The holiday season is nearing its end. The refrigerator is loaded to the brim with leftovers. What to do?
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Cabbage rolls, check. Black-eyed peas, check. Cornbread, check. Grapes at midnight, check. It may not sound like a grocery list but these are a few of the food items thought to bring prosperity and good fortune to those who eat these for the New Year’s celebration.
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With the holiday season fast approaching, many Teche Area residents find themselves in a time crunch, trying to get everything needed to complete the holiday in a fast dwindling time period. For Blake Payne, the pressures of this crunch had somewhat put off his Christmas spirit.
Not your mom’s kitchen anymore
Food to the left. Food to the right. Food in the
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With the holiday meal menu under advisement, family members are sure to put in their requests for their favorite pie. The tastes for pie vary from one palate to another, with almost all being tasty.
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The Thanks-giving holiday is fast approaching and Teche area residents are busy planning the menu for the biggest feast day of the year. Louisiana’s contribution to this traditional meal has its roots planted firmly in the ground. The yam. A hybrid variety of a sweet potato which is considered naturally moist and tasty. It is reddish orange in color and high in natural sugars.
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The holiday season is fast approaching and masters and mistresses of the kitchen are busy preparing their menu. Turkey and cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes and green bean casserole, the staples of a good holiday meal. But, do not forget what some might think is the most important course of the meal — dessert.
A little of this and a little of that makes a good jambalaya
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It can be made with ham, chicken, sausage, fresh pork, shrimp and oysters, either separately or any combination thereof. It is one of the most popular fares at large public gatherings and everyone and his or her brother is an expert on it. It has a hard name to pronounce and even harder to spell.
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Dating back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, Halloween and all of its “gory” has become one of the more popular holidays, especially for children. According to Kevin Guthrie, author of “The Origins of Halloween and its Place in Modern Culture,” the Samhain marked the end of the summer and the death of the sun god Pugh. Jack o’lanterns and bobbing for apples are some of the customs followed for centuries.
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With its origins going back to China, the Japanese persimmon, “Diospyros kaki L.,” was introduced to the United States when Admiral Perry brought back a native Japanese variety to Washington, D.C., in the mid-1800s.
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Tailgate. Sometimes its a hinged flap on the back of a truck, and sometimes it is when a driver follows too closely behind another vehicle. It could even mean a style of jazz trombone playing characterized by improvisation in the manner of the early New Orleans musicians, according to the Oxford American Dictionaries. But, during football season it means FOOD!
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Andouille and courtbuillion, cracklins and etouffee, fricassé and mirlitons, words most people do not hear every day. Unless you are in Cajun country. This weekend the aroma of the way of life for the people of South Louisiana will be in full force when the Lydia Cancer Association presents it’s seventh annual Lydia Cajun Food Fest beginning at 5 p.m.Friday.
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The words to an old Hank Williams Jr. song sings of the simple life of a country boy, being able to survive by using what nature offers. The catfish has long been a part of that lifestyle and has helped many families make a living doing something they love, fishing.
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Does your mouth water at the mere mention of the South Louisiana delicacy of fresh Louisiana shrimp? Then you need to be in Delcambre this week for the annual Delcambre Shrimp Festival.
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BILL SMITH
THE DAILY IBERIAN
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Breakfast, the champion of meals. It is well documented the parents’ lament is true, “Eat your breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day.”
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BILL SMITH
THE DAILY IBERIAN
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By Bill Smith
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By Bill Smith
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By Bill Smith
