Very Warm, Very Cold with Storms In Between...

Our weather will continue to remain tame for the next several days before we turn stormy early next week.  Temps will climb into the 70s, perhaps flirting with 80, and no rain is expected through Sunday.   Next week could get tricky as another blast of Arctic air will invade the South with the potential for strong storms ahead of the front late Monday into Tuesday.   We have yet to touch freezing on the South Shore at MSY.  That could change by next Wednesday depending on how deep the east coast trough develops.  Regardless, it appears very likely another severe weather outbreak could threaten us with a major snow storm racing up over the big cities of the North East creating major travel problems.   But before then, the next couple of days will be great to be living down in the Deep South.  Stay tuned!

 

When I arrived back in 1978, I knew the only way to get known was to visit as many schools as I could, talk to as many service clubs that would have me,  AND visit as many local festivals without taking away from my family life.  One such festival, The Lafitte Seafood Festival, invited me to come be a judge at their jambalaya contest.  I drove down on a Saturday morning not knowing where I was going AND BEFORE GPS was invented!  We had about 6 judges and perhaps 8-10 dishes to sample.    Of course the recipes were “Mama’s favorite” and each contestant knew theirs was the best.  The other judges were all local & very biased.  Here I was the “Yankee” from da north who knew NOTHING.   And they were correct.   I had never eaten jambalaya, had never heard of jambalaya so I wasn’t  ‘tainted” by Mama’s cooking.    Of all the judges, I was told I was the fairest, voting for favor and not for who cooked what.   This experience opened my eyes to the passion South Louisiana has for cooking.   It’s an experience that is still expanding as new restaurants open with new dishes and new flavors.  With retirement 14 days away, I’m looking forward to becoming a better cook as time will not be my problem anymore.  Tomorrow I’ll tell you how I got into loving fishing and my relationship with the Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo.