I love it as long as the temperature and weather allows. In Florida that means very rarely. Some outdoor patios have shade and fans and that can help in the Spring. In the (pretty mild overall) winters, they put out heat lamps to make things cozy. Lots of outdoor patios are dog friendly and that’s a nice option.

I love love love raw oysters. I’m also - these days - wary of them. In the South it rarely gets cold enough down here for me to feel comfortable eating them. That might be an old wives tale, but raw oysters mean “winter” to me. AND we live on the water (a bayou) and I’ve seen the deterioration of water quality over…

I do that too! I look at a house that’s overpriced and say, “Um, NO.” or “Hmmm...that’s a good price. Wonder what’s wrong with it.” Sometimes the photos crack me up: like, this is a creepy murder house, murder house, murder house...OOOHH! Close up of a crystal doorknob! That changes everything!” Online property…

I will need to google that. But please don’t tell my husband because it’s the only thing he has. Other than “gruel” which involves bread, baked beans and ground beef. My kids still speak of it with awe and disgust. I can’t remember where I was when he made this for them. But it is legendary in its awfulness. 

My husband HATED avocados until I started using a lot of lime or lemon juice to cut the fatty taste. Butter the toast (must). Mash the avocado in the shell. Sprinkle some sea salt and fresh pepper and a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime or - my husband discovered, kumquat - juice. We have a nagami kumquat tree. He…

I have bought some Rancho Gordo beans before, a long time ago. Being mostly vegetarian, we do eat a lot of beans. I see an “add to cart” in my future!

Looks soooo good! I like to bring this salad to cookouts because it’s easy, cheap, healthy and also delicious. I usually add a drained and rinsed can of red kidney beans (and I don’t normally like kidney beans very much), but they add some texture and heartiness and take on the flavor of the vinaigrette. One of my…

PAN also makes a good fish fry dredge. I generally use it 1:1 with flour and then my seasonings. Soak your fish in a mixture of buttermilk and Crystal or Valentina hot sauce. Dredge up and fry!

This wasn’t even that long ago - so no youthful exemption. I was draining a heavy pot of pasta (boiling water) into a strainer in the sink. The pot slipped along the edge of the sink and sent boiling water down the cabinet front and my waist and thighs. Luckily I was wearing a thick pair of leggings. I went into a…

If you can find cane vinegar, GET SOME! The most widely available is Silver Swan. You can’t use it in processed pickling, but - to my taste - I like it a lot better than rice wine vinegar. It has the sweet mellow flavor of seasoned rice wine vinegar without any underlying notes of...er...rice and wine? It’s very…

I make this all the time as lettuce is usually just a vehicle for a creamy dressing, cheese and croutons. I usually add some red onion - soak the red onion in red wine vinegar for a bit and then drain before adding to the salad. LOTS of fresh pepper. And I’ve never added green pepper.

It’s not a completely unknown name in the South. 

There’s always Conchita brand.

I so get it. I’m still struggling to deal with my parents dying last year six weeks apart. Anniversaries, deaths, birthdays: March 9, April 30, May 2, May 6th, May 25th, July 5. Three month long cluster and a granddaughter in Australia we won’t be able to meet until next year. Menopause too, while still getting my…

Willadean.

Since our dog had CCL surgery in February, we’ve been sleeping on our king mattress on the floor with our box springs in the hallway. Now we’re wondering why we need the box springs? So I bought a platform bed which should arrive soon.

No, I think it was in the $4 range? Dollar General isn’t one of those “everything’s a dollar” stores. It’s more of like a very large Junior Food Store. Which, by the way, what happened to those?

Thanks for that!

Well the story of Dave’s “Killer” Bread is that he started the company after he was released from prison and he used this venture to hire other former prisoners. I don’t know why he was in prison in the first place or if he was an actual killer. 

So - this happened last week. I was at Dollar General (which is a few blocks from our home in an upper middle class neighborhood, and the Dollar General used to be a Starbucks!?! and I don’t know what happened but I don’t care because I don’t drink coffee). I was buying cheap beer, trash bags and tampons - which is a…