Thanksgiving is a good day to post about ‘things found in a kitchen’. Good thing Cee came up with this perfect challenge for today. Here are some photos I took in New Orleans at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum.
I love New Orleans! It’s full of interesting things to do and see. This museum is just one example (here’s a post about another).
The Southern Food & Beverage Museumis a nonprofit living history organization dedicated to the discovery, understanding and celebration of the food, drink and the related culture of the South. While based in New Orleans, the Museum examines and celebrates all the cultures that have come together through the centuries to create the South’s unique culinary heritage. SoFAB also hosts special exhibits, demonstrations, lectures and tastings that showcase the food and drink of the South.
You can learn about all the different foods each state is famous for. You can learn about the history of the cocktail and how to make them. You can take a cooking class. You can try the specialty cocktails at the bar, or enjoy a hearty meal. It’s easy to get to on the streetcar, and the nearby bars and restaurants look worth a try too. 🙂
For Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday, the theme today is: March. Click the link for the rules and join in. 🙂
“March”. It brings to mind music, like the kind you hear in a marching band. John Phillip Sousa, etc. Also, the marchers, marching.
It reminded me of the parade I always try to see in New Orleans. The Krewe of Kringle puts on a great parade every year for Christmas. I’m usually in New Orleans around that time to attend the Workboat Show if I’m not offshore.
New Orleans is always fun. I love going up there to visit. I always see old friends and meet new ones. I always find something new and interesting to do. Last time, I finally got to ride the Steamboat Natchez and go to the WWII Museum.
I’d love to go up there again. This weekend is the New Orleans Bourbon Festival. I would really love to go to that! It sounds like a blast. Not as crazy as Mardi Gras, but I bet it’s still a lot of fun.
I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere for a while tho. I’m still not working. 🙁
Last night I went to watch the dancers again (will upload photos later). I got there 45 minutes early and STILL couldn’t get a seat where I could see to take good pictures. So I stood again for the whole show ( 2 hours +45 mins). My back was killing me by the time it was over, but I did at least manage to get some decent pictures this time.
I met my friends from the TEFL course there and we wandered down the Malecon afterwards. We stopped to have dinner and a couple of margaritas. I had plain and they had strawberry. Instead of salt on the rim, they had spicy pepper! I’m glad I stuck with the regular. They were strong! Dinner (for 1) and 6 margaritas for $15! Our waiter turned out to be from Houston.
Doesn’t it make you wonder about our supposed economic recovery (and “free country” status) when so many Mexicans are leaving the US and finding things much better in Mexico? I’ve certainly found things much better here than at home. I would love to live here permanently and I’m seriously considering it. That’s the whole reason I’m getting certified in TEFL. It will finally allow me a way to get out of the US.
I’ll just have to adjust to a serious pay cut (about 90%!) and so far I’m not really ready to accept that.
Today, I’m going to the marina. I’m hoping I can get in to wander around the docks and talk to people there. I’d like to find out about the possibilities of working on some of those yachts. If I can’t get down on the docks (which is more and more common today and a SERIOUS disadvantage to those of us who work aboard), then I’ll try to find a bar where the sailors hang out.
I’ll try to find out through word of mouth if anyone is looking for crew, or if there is someplace with a bulletin board, or if there are any other hang outs. That has worked for me before. When I finished high school on the sailing ships and was supposed to have a job working my way home on a ship from London and it fell through, luckily I found a job helping out on a Thames sailing barge for the summer. I had the best time that summer!
I wouldn’t mind doing something like that again. 🙂
I’m not sure I would have chosen those as my best posts, but at least it looks like we’re all on the same page. We all like things to do with the water and drinking! 😉
Actually, those two posts about the moonshine are not very useful anymore. The links to the recipes have disappeared into cyberspace. I don’t know how to get the originals back. I did try to make amends recently with these posts:
But it looks like ya’ll took those New Years resolutions seriously, no one has even read those posts or clicked on the links for the recipes. I haven’t been out much myself lately. It’s just too dangerous anymore to go out and have a drink with friends and I’m not really into drinking at home by myself. 😉
I’ve been having a hard time lately, mostly with the work situation in the oilfield. I don’t want to be too depressing on here. I notice I’ve been pretty down on here lately and my posts don’t seem too interesting to me (hopefully they still are to you). I don’t want to run off my readers. So, in hopes you can help me liven it up around here, what would YOU like to hear about here?
Seems I can’t use “Press This” anymore either since I moved my blog over here. Just one more frustrating fuck up! Makes it harder to share good stuff I see online and when I decide it is worth all the extra effort, the post looks like hell. 🙁
So, I’m not much in the holiday spirit. Things have not been going very well around here lately. I’m home, for one thing. I’m almost always out to sea on the holidays, it’s always the best time to get work. Most people want to be home with their families over the holidays. I need the work more.
So, I’m sitting here tonight, chilling out, having a drink and still HOPING to get a call tomorrow. Some last minute rush to get me there before crew change, nevermind holiday airport madness. I thought of this email I got the other day, thought some of you might like it too…
cashew nut nog, epicurious.com
Here’s the link to a site with some pretty cool looking ways to make eggnog. Surprisingly enough, most of the recipes are for eating your eggnog. I’ve always been a fan of real (spiced) eggnog, even if I do only have it around Christmas time. I have to admit, I never thought about eating it before.
Some of these recipes make me feel like I ought to spread them out over the rest of the year. I especially like the Cranberry Eggnog Tart, which is really a cheesecake with some cranberry jam to change the taste a little.
They also give recipes for Cinnamon Flan (made with rum spiced whipped cream), eggnog sauce for your spiced apple cake, Tiramisu Eggnog Trifle, and even eggnog ice cream (made with heavy cream and dark rum) that sounds like another real winner. 🙂
And if you just want to stick with drinking your eggnog, they have a recipe for Cashew Nut Nog and another for a coconut eggnog they call Coquito.
I don’t know about you, but I think I might need to pick up another carton of eggnog before this is all over. 😉
I was looking at my stats and I found it hard to believe SO many people liked those posts I did way back when on ‘moonshine’. They were my all time most liked posts! (Don’t bother clicking the recipe links in my earlier posts, for some reason they’ve disappeared off the internet. I didn’t even know that was possible!).
Makes me think I need to post some more on that topic.
I’ve been busy. You would think things would slow down around here since I’ve been laid off, but nooooo… I’m just as busy as ever!
Saturday I went out with Capt Vic on the Bat Boat (she’s a C&C 38). We were a little late getting underway due to some trouble with the battery (it was dead). We made it to the starting line right on time (actually about 2 minutes early).
It was a gorgeous day, there were lots of boats out sailing. Capt Vic said about 60 were in the race with us. A few different classes of boats. I’m not really sure what they all were, I’ve really only started learning about racing sailboats.
These races are set up through the Galveston Bay Cruising Association. They have all sorts of races, regattas, cruises, etc. I don’t know much at all about how they run these races, just that we were one of the bigger, heavier, slower boats. Not using spinnikers.
The sun was out and the wind was about 10-15 kts for the first part of the race. It slowed waaaay down after we made the turn to head back towards Kemah. We took down the jib and put up the ‘gennaker‘ (the bat sail) and it actually helped a lot in the lighter winds.
We did lose some time, mostly because we were not used to setting that sail and it took us a while to get it working properly. Once we got it set, we had a nice, leisurely sail back towards Kemah. We were doing pretty good in the race til then, but we fell behind while we were messing around with the gennaker. 🙁
We made it to the finish line right before sunset and got to watch the sun go down and the full moon rise over the bay. The sunset was nice, but the moon was absolutely stunning! I wish I could have taken some better pictures, but I was on the wheel at the time and couldn’t concentrate on the camera, I had to pay attention to the traffic in the channel.
It was getting dark by the time we got to the dock. We fought off the mosquitos while folding up the sails up the dock. Once we got everything secured, we could try out the ‘dark and stormies’ we had been hearing about all day. D. came up with some mosquito spray and we had our 1st rewarding rum drinks out in the parking lot.
Not too bad. 😉
We slowly made our way over to the clubhouse for the afterparty. The Rum Races are sponsored by Cruzan Rum and so we had to head up there for the end of the race announcements. We had to see who won (even if we knew we didn’t), we could still enjoy the rewards. Free rum and snacks to go with it. 🙂
It was fun to hang out for a while and talk over the race with the other sailors. Everyone was friendly and in good spirits. The free rum helps with that. 😉
Some of us decided to go out for a more hearty snack from there and we met up at Sam’s Boat for nachos, sliders, chicken wings and more good stuff. 🙂
I made it home about 3 am. Days like that really make me appreciate the life of a sailor. 🙂
Here’s another little sea chantey to add to your musical collection. It’s done by Key & Peele, 2 funny guys who used to be on MADtv (which I loved). I really used to love MAD magazine when I was a kid, but the ones they’re coming out with now are nowhere near as funny as they used to be (and no, it’s not just because I’m getting older!).
This sketch somehow manages to be both a little risque’ and PC at the same time. 😉
Pirate Chantey– Key & Peele
“Thar once was a lass so fine, She was drunk on Barleywine, I’d been (out) to sea for a month or three, I knew I could make her mine. But the lass was past consent, So it was off with her we went, And we threw her in bed and we rested her head, And we left cuz that’s what Gentlemen do…
A woman has a right to a drink or two, Without worryin’ about what you will do! We say Yo-HO but we don’t say ‘ho,’ Cuz ‘ho’ is disrespectful, yo.
Thar once was a girl from Leeds, Who I heard was good on her knees, So I docked my ship for an overnight trip, To take care of all of my needs. She was fine as the tales did tell, And my mast began to swell, So I laid her down and I raised her gown, And performed cunnilingus for an hour or so.
Always take care of yer lady fair, Cuz they deserve as much attention down there! We say Yo-HO but we don’t say ‘ho,’ Cuz ‘ho’ is disrespectful, yo.
I once had a woman so fair, Whose whom contained my heir, With a son by my side, the seas we’d ride, The child she would bear. But my woman she was no fool, She was working her way through school, So I did support when she chose to abort, Because it’s her body and therefor her choice.
No we don’t say ‘booty’ ‘less we talkin’ ’bout gold, and we don’t look at chests ‘less they’s treasure-holds! With a hat and a feather and a cutlass on our hip, We don’t say ‘she’ when we’re talking ’bout a ship! We don’t say ‘bitch’ and we don’t say ‘whore,’ Cuz that language leads to things like body dysmorphia.
Thar was a lady with a golden eye, And the doctor said she would die, So she emptied her purse to lift the curse, And prayed to stay alive. She awoke the very next day, And in her grave she lay, But the scariest part of the story from the start, Is I bet you assumed the doctor was a man.
Women are doctors too, And for a fraction of the doubloons! We say Yo-HO but we don’t say ‘ho,’ Cuz ‘ho’ is disrespectful, yo.
Thar was a slut with tits to here, and an ass that- (gunshot. he is dead and that is good.)
Cuz it’s Yo-HO but we don’t say ‘ho,’ Cuz ‘ho’ is disrespectful, yo.”
I noticed that my post about Dave’s moonshine recipe has been one of my all time ‘liked’ posts. Too bad, but I think Dave’s site has disappeared. I can’t find it anymore when I click on the link or even when I google it. 🙁
I saw this one about Peach Pie Moonshine in an email I got the other day and thought I might see if you all liked this one as much as the other. At least the link to this one is still good. 🙂
After 2 LONG days of traveling, I made it home! Ahhhhh. I can finally sleep.
I did that yesterday. I got home. I passed out. I slept for 12 hours straight. 🙂
Last night I stayed up too late, so I only slept about 8 hours. Today is the big St Patricks’ Day Parade down at the beach and I don’t want to miss it.
The weather here has been rainy for the last 2 weeks, but this morning it looks gorgeous. A beautiful day for the beach. 🙂
Last year it was raining, but the parade went on anyway. This year looks like it will turn out much better. If anyone wants to come, the parade starts at 1300 (1 pm). 🙂
I’ll be taking lots of pictures. Here are a few from last year…
Another classic sailing song. No, it’s not really about the sea, but it’s close enough for me. It’s about hanging out on the beach, chillin’ out in some tropical place, drinking. margaritas and enjoying life. My kind of song! 🙂
Yeah! Margaritas!!
Margaritaville- Jimmy Buffett
Nibbling on sponge cake, watching the sun bake, All of those tourists covered with oil, Strumming my six string, on my front porch swing, Smell those shrimp, they’re beginning to boil.
Wasting away again in Margaritaville, Searching for my lost shaker of salt, Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame, But I know it’s nobody’s fault.
Don’t know the reason that I stayed here all season, With nothing to show but this brand new tattoo, But it’s a real beauty, a Mexican cutie, How it got here I haven’t a clue.
Wasting away again in Margaritaville, Searching for my lost shaker of salt, Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame, Now I think, hell it could be my fault.
Blew out my flip flop, stepped on a poptop Cut my heel, had to cruise on back home, But there’s booze in the blender, And soon it will render, That frozen concoction that helps me hang on.
Wasting away again in Margaritaville, Searching for my lost shaker of salt, Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame, But I know, it’s my own damn fault.
Yes, some people claim that there’s a woman to blame, And I know it’s my own damn fault.
I’m stuck offshore again this year for Halloween. It’s my favorite holiday (other than St Patrick’s Day- I hate to miss the parade and all that free green beer!).
It’s pretty much a toss up over free green beer and free candy for Halloween, but since I don’t go trick or treating anymore and I’m the one who has to buy the candy now, I have to give St Patrick’s Day the prize for my favorite holiday. 🙂
That Barm Brack looks pretty tasty. I wouldn’t mind one of those Pomegranate and Tequila cocktails either at the end of the day.
They’ve even listed a couple of cocktails that sound especially good for a sailor gal/pirate like me.
Take a look at the Dark and Stormy Death Punch, the Philadelphia Fish House Punch, and the Dark and Stormy. When the Navy Officers invented that one, they described its ominous hue as “the color of a cloud only a fool or dead man would sail under.” Oooohhhh. 🙂
I hope you all can enjoy some of these. I’ve still got at least a week to go til I can get off this ship. 🙁
Halloween is my favorite holiday (after St Patricks Day). Since I’ll be working (again) this year on Halloween, I won’t be able to enjoy any of my favorite wine (or candy). 🙁
I never was much of a wine snob. I like sweet wine but I don’t know enough about different wines to drink it much anymore. I don’t like to buy a bottle to try it, only to get home, open it up and find out I hate it and just wind up dumping the whole thing down the drain.
I hate to waste good food or drinks. I have a bottle of wine in my fridge that’s been in there for a year now. Maybe I’ll get around to drinking it soon. Who knows what it tastes like at this point?
My favorite wine (when I was drinking a lot of it) was Cello Lambrusco. I could always get that kind since that was what my dad drank around the house. It came in gallon jugs. 🙂
If he was still alive, my dad would probably be charged and heavily fined now for “contributing to the delinquency of a minor” for allowing me to have a glass of wine every now and again, but my grandmother was Italian and wine with meals was a given. 🙂
My other available choices back then were MD 20/20, Night Train, Ripple or Thunderbird (all affectionately known as ‘Bum wines”). 🙂
I wasn’t really a bum at that point (I was still in school), but my grandmother used to get on my case all the time about hanging around with a lot of them. 😉
Well, yeah, I did. But what’s wrong with that?
How else to get your booze supply when you’re underage in the USA?
Talking Thunderbird Blues- Townes Van Zandt
Among the strangest things I ever heard Was when a friend of mine said “man, let’s get some thunderbird” I said “what’s that? ” he just started to grin Slobbered on his shirt, his eyes got dim He said “you got fifty-nine cents? “
I said “yeah, I got a dollar, but don’t be a smart-aleck I ain’t gonna spend it on no indian relic” And he said “thunderbird’s not an old indian trinket, It’s a wine, man, you take it home and drink it.” I said “it sure don’t sound like wine to me” And he said he’d bet me the change from my dollar
We hustled on down to the nearest u-tate-um The guy wanted my id, I whipped her out and showed him He got a green bottle from the freezing vault My friend started doing backward somersaults Through the cottage cheese
Took it back to his house, started drinkin’ Pretty soon I set in to thinkin’ “man, this thunderbird tastes yummy, yummy, yummy And I know it’s doing good things to my tummy, tum…, t…” It’s so you reason when your on that crap
Got a few more bottles, chugged them down I pulled myself up off the ground Decided I go see my dearest sweet wife Who met me at the door with a carving knife Said “get them damn grape peel from between your teeth.”
I could see we’re gonna have a little misunderstanding I said “dear, I better get in touch with you later” She said “forget it, man, you’re never touchin’ me again!”
Now I’ve seen the light and heard the word And I’m staying away from that ol’ dirty thunderbird A message come from heaven radiant, and fine, All I drink now is communion wine Six days a week
I like that. I’ll have to try it. The first comment there mentioned a drink recipe that sounds fantastic too. Looking forward to tasting that one (and making up more of my own). 🙂
I can throw this together before I go back to work and it should be ready by the time I get home again. 🙂
PS- I know some people this would be a great Christmas present for too (too bad I’ll probably be offshore for Christmas too)
Since I’ll be going back to work soon, I’ll be missing Octoberfest this year. It actually started in Munich yesterday.
It’s already over here in Houston. I might have gone if I knew about it earlier. Really, I just had too much to do at home to check out fun things to do. 🙁
It’s always like that when I first come home from being offshore for a month or more. With this new job I recently started it looks like I’ll be missing ALL of the things I’d like to do for the next few months at least. 🙁
Here are some fun suggestions for those of you who DO get a chance to enjoy some interesting events on your time off. 🙂
Those pretzels look especially interesting. And beer is always good, I even have some Saint Arnold Octoberfest brew in my fridge right now, I’ll just have to settle for a few of those before I leave for work. 🙂
I saw this article and I had to check it out. The headline had me worried. I’m not much of a whisky drinker anymore, but I still do like a good shot every once in a while. 🙂
I’ve been noticing a lot of poetry going on in my reader lately. Maybe I should join in the poetry slam. 😉
I can’t say I’m a big fan of poetry, but I do like some of it, sometimes. I especially like (dirty) limericks. 😉
As for ‘real’ poetry, one of my favorite poets has always been Robert W. Service.
He had an interesting life. Grew up in Scotland, moved to Canada. Then Alaska, where he became famous as the “Bard of the Yukon”.
He wrote about the people he met in his travels. He managed to get the most incredible characters to come to life in his poetry. His poems ‘The Shooting of Dan McGrew” and the “Cremation of Sam McGee” are still considered classics.
I remember an old friend from Florida would dress up and recite some of these poems at parties I used to go to. KC was a character himself and did a great job of rousting us all up. I miss those days.
I like a lot of his poems. I have his book “Collected Poems of Robert Service”. I liked it a lot. Some of his poems are really great stories. Here’s a short one.
In Praise of Alcohol Of vintage wine I am a lover; To drink deep would be my delight; If ’twere not for the bleak hangover I’d get me loaded every night; I’d whoop it up with song and laughter – If ’twere not for the morning after.
For though to soberness I’m given It is a thought I’ve often thunk: The nearest that is Earth to Heaven Is to get sublimely drunk; Is to achieve divine elation By means of generous libation.
Alas, the wine-cups claim their payment And as the price if often pain, if we could sense what morning grey meant We never would get soused again; Rather than buy a hob-nailed liver I’m sure that we’d abstain for ever.
Yet how I love the glow of liquor, As joyfully I drink it up! hoping that unto life’s last flicker With praise I’ll raise the ruby cup; And let me like a jolly monk Proceed to get sublimely drunk.
Author Notes
From Later Collected Verse by Robert W. Service (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1965), page 421.
In honor of the Kentucky Derby this weekend, I figured I’d post this recipe for Derby Punch. 🙂
It looks good, but personally I think it’s a little light on the booze. 😉
I have to say, I haven’t tried this recipe yet, so I don’t know for sure. I think it’s something that can/should be adjusted for personal taste.
I’m still in Korea and my travel writing/photography workshop starts in the morning, so I’m pretty sure I won’t be having any Derby Day celebrations here. So, be sure and have some punch for me and let me know how it goes! 😉
I stuck around as long as I could stand it. At least I got to see a lot of old friends and catch up on the news down at the beach. Too bad the weather just SUCKED!
I hate it when the rain gets all over my glasses and I can’t see!
People down there work and plan all year to make this event a success and the cold and rainy weather put a damper on it once more. 🙁
I think only the regulars showed up down there to start with, and only the real die hards stuck around til the parade started.
I wound up leaving right before they started the parade. For some strange reason, I didn’t really feel like hanging around drinking all day (the bars were PACKED with people trying to dry off).
At least I got a few decent pictures. I got to try out my new Olympus Tough camera. It’s waterproof! 🙂
I never used to like beer. I grew up on the beach in FL and I used to be a wino. 😉
My father always drank wine. Maybe it was because his mother was Italian and always had wine with meals. We always had wine around the house (and so it was very easy for me to have some whenever I wanted).
When I moved to Texas (to go to school) I was in for a major culture shock. First of all, most of the area where I moved to was ‘dry’- no alcohol! WTF??!!
Moving from a little fishing town in FL with 15 bars/restaurants within a few blocks (along with everything else we would need to live) to Texas where my school was 5 miles away in one direction one of my jobs was 10 miles away in the other direction and the other job another 5 miles away in yet another direction.
WOW! I really had no idea how big Texas was when I moved here. 🙂
So of course there was nothing within walking distance, or even within a reasonable bike ride away. There was not a bar I could find that had anything but beer. For some reason beer was almost always available even when nothing else was. Blue laws???
So, I switched to beer out of necessity. 😉
I never really thought about cooking with beer, I just drank it. Sometimes I made neat things out of the empty cans. I remember a beer can Christmas tree one year. 😉
I’m not sure why I never thought about cooking with beer before. I did cook with wine growing up. I remember a bunch of my dads fishermen pals stopping by to help me cook a pot of beef stew.
It went like this… throw some onions and the beef in the pot and some (red) wine. Pass around the wine.
Check on the stew, throw in some potatoes and celery and some more wine. Pass around the bottle.
Check on the stew, throw in some carrots and mushrooms and some more wine. Pass around (another) bottle.
I think you get the picture. 😉
We all enjoyed the stew!! 🙂
I think this ‘Peppered Beef Soup’ could be done in the same style. I’ll have to invite some friends over and try it out one of these days. 🙂
That ‘Beer Cheese Spread” does look really good to me, and not too hard to make either. I’ll definitely be trying that recipe soon!
I’m not too sure about the rest of the recipes (just not really my kind of thing), tho they do sound like a good way to use up your beer (if for some reason you don’t drink it all).
I wasn’t really thinking about re-visiting this subject. At least not so soon. 😉 But the assignment for todays Zero to Hero Challenge is to…
Find the post that has received the most views, likes, or comments, and write a related follow-up post.
Since my most ‘popular’ post by FAR (going by the number of ‘views’ I had that day), was the one on the Crock-Pot Apple Pie Moonshine, I thought maybe I should follow the experts advice at ZTH and (what else?), post another moonshine recipe! 😉
I really do love apple pie, so I was looking forward to trying some of that apple pie stuff. Can’t say I feel the same about peach pie. I’m not really a big fan of peaches. I have a friend who LOVED to drink peach schnapps. He could drink it with beer or all by itself. Personally, I think it’s too sweet.
Maybe the moonshine will cut down on some of that sickly sweetness. Let me know if you try it! 😉
PS- I really like Dave’s blog too and would have liked to comment but for some reason it won’t let me. I can’t even figure out how to sign up to follow it. 🙁
Woo-hoo! OK, I have to get a crock pot now! This is one recipe that looks like it’ll be worth it. It’ll have to wait til I get home, but hey, worth a wait.
Or maybe I can start it before I leave and it’ll be almost ready by the time I get back?
If you try it before I get to it. let me know how it goes. 😉
It looks like I’m going to miss all the Halloween parties this year (again). Here are some scary looking Halloween treats for the grown ups to enjoy while the kids are out hunting for candy. 😉
Instead of the usual Zombies in celebration of Halloween, I’d like to try some of that Pumpkin Spice Halloween Punch or maybe try a Liquefied Ghost or a Vampire, after a few of those I might be ready for some Bloody Brain Shooters (braaaaiiiinnnss)!
