Foodie Friday – Shrimp Gumbo (with Bonus Recipe for Hush Puppies)

Gumbo 1.
Growing up in the South, a girl isn’t considered a good cook unless she knows how to make a proper roux for a good pot of gumbo.  It never ceases to amaze me how something as simple as flour and oil can cook for a few hours and become something as delicious as the base for this most wonderful of dishes.

I got this recipe years and years ago at my local grocery store – it was on one of those cards that they put up in a display at the seafood case.  It is very, very simple, and once the roux is done, you can just go in and stir the pot occasionally until you can’t wait another minute.

Since no one in our family is really fond of crab or oysters, I have always left them out.  As with any recipe, feel free to adjust to your family’s tastes!

The longer this cooks, the more the flavors marry together, so be patient 😛
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Tuesday Tunes – “Duetto Buffo di Due Gatti”

In honor of Gioachino Rossini’s birthday (it’s actually February 29th), I wanted to share this adorable performance of a piece that has been attributed to him, affectionately known as “The Cat Duet”.

While this piece is normally performed by two women (I had more fun singing this, way back when), these two little boys*** would steal any show!
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*** They’re not so “little” any more; this performance by “Les petits chanteurs a la croix de bois” (PCCB – also known as “The Little Singers Of Paris”) is from their concert done in Seoul, Korea, Nov 30, 1996.

The boys doing the singing are Hyacinthe de Moulins (the blonde boy) and Régis Mengus (the dark-haired boy).  Régis is now an opera singer in France, and Hyacinthe got married in May, 2013.

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Sunday Funnies: A Hilarious Harry Potter Spoof

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In 2003, the BBC’s “French and Saunders” did this laugh-out-loud spoof on the second Harry Potter film for the UK’s version of Comic Relief:

2003’s UK fundraiser performed a spoof story entitled “Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan” that featured Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Miranda Richardson, Jeremy Irons, Alison Steadman and Ronnie Corbett, with the sketch being preceded by a message from JK Rowling. French and Richardson would later star in several of the real Harry Potter films. With so much star power, this spoof didn’t see a whole lot of attention outside of the UK, but that’s not to say it’s not worth searching out.

Here is “Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan“:
(My apologies – the best-quality videos were broken up into 4 parts, and all of them have the Comic Relief “whine and beg” line running through them at some point)
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Adventures in Remodeling – “Dis”-mantling, Part I

Mantle 13 - 310x232 Mantle 6 - 310x232

All of the wood in this house has been original and untouched, so all of the finishes are shellac/varnish rather than modern-day polyurethane.  That means that we have been able to strip the old finish off with denatured alcohol and steel wool, rather than having to use paint remover.  The nice thing about that is that the “character” and natural aging stain of the wood is preserved, so a really lovely color remains on the wood surface.

We couldn’t help ourselves….

When Paul started to refinish the old mantle, he noticed that it was kind of wobbly, so we decided to (carefully) take it apart and try to clean each piece individually:
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Foodie Friday – Chicken Enchiladas with Sour Cream Sauce

chicken enchiladas.

We’ll finish up this month with one of my personal favorites – Chicken Enchiladas with Sour Cream Sauce.  I found the original recipe for this in a newspaper’s “Food” section many, many years ago, but this one is adapted from The Pioneer Woman’s most excellent recipe.

Most recipes for “white” chicken enchiladas that I have seen over the years include jalapeno peppers, chili peppers, and/or cilantro; since nobody in our family likes things that spicy, I adapted the recipe to suit our tastes.  Feel free to add in any “heat” that your family might like!

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Tuesday Tunes – “Be Still My Soul”

Honestly, one of the most beautiful arrangements of this beloved hymn:
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Performed by the BYU Concert Choir, from their CD “All Creatures of Our God and King” from Tantara Records, directed by Mack Wilberg.***

This one is on my “Songs I Want Played at my Funeral” playlist…

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***(Also available at Amazon, but that link doesn’t have samples available for listening)
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Sunday Funnies – Boy Meets Girl, 1979 (aka “How I Met Your Mother”)

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Just a couple of kids…..

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It started in a lecture hall at Texas A&M University in January, 1979. Yours truly was a freshman who started out in Pre-Med, but after one semester – and a tearful call home – I had decided to change my major to one which involved more math: Civil Engineering.

Well, the powers that be in the Engineering department told me that the Calculus class that I had placed out of as a Science major wasn’t really “the same as” the one they wanted Engineering majors to take, so I had to start all over again. I hadn’t changed my major until the spring semester started, so I missed the first “official” day of that class.

The next time that class met, I was sitting in a seat in the lecture hall, feeling quite lost since I didn’t know the professor’s name, office hours, etc. Some guy came in a little late to the class, looking all harried, and sat down in one of the few empty seats – right next to me.

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Adventures in Remodeling – Painting the Parlor

Well, we finally reached the point where we are starting to finish things up in the front living room.  Electricity has been run, sheet rock has been put up, taped, and bedded, and now it is time to pick out colors to use in the room.

Have I mentioned how much of a love/hate relationship I have with this task?  I have a general idea of “what” I want things to look like, but when it comes to settling on just the right color, I go into “turtle” mode – I want to run and hide.  But I know that if I let someone else do this part of the job, I will more than likely be very unhappy with the colors that are picked out, so I trudge on through it.

Funny thing about paint colors – they look different in the fluorescent lighting at the paint store than they do at home in natural lighting.  And while I wish I could just use the same color throughout the house, the truth of the matter is that what looks good in one room looks awful in another room.

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Paint Samples 1

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Valentine’s Day – A Little Romance


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Because today is a day of romance, I thought I’d share one of the best renditions of “My Funny Valentine” that I’ve ever heard – Michelle Pfeiffer’s version from the movie “The Fabulous Baker Boys”:


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Hope you have a great day with the one you love!
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“Rhapsody” Redux

Rhapsody in Blue - George Gershwin 1.
I know that I just did a post about this piece – I was looking for something to fill in a Saturday afternoon, so I decided to leave it up, rather than take it down and re-post it because some people had already seen it (thanks for indulging me!).

But when I ran across a version of the piece performed by another up-and-coming musical talent, I knew that I had to do another post on the piece. What better day to do that than on the anniversary of “Rhapsody’s” debut?

On February 12, 1924, the American public was treated to the world debut of what has become an enduring and quintessential American classic – “Rhapsody in Blue“, written by a then up-and-coming musical talent, George Gershwin.

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