Liking Leftovers

Buffy has been craving Richard’s recipe for avocado soup; she told me to tell him that he needs to come down and fix it for her. Since Richard didn’t sound like he was game for making the trip, I bought all the ingredients while shopping with Miya, as avocados were on sale for seventy-five cents each.

I then had fourteen of the pimply green egg-shaped orbs, all needing pitting and peeling. My kitchen cleaners at Scott’s house had gone back to their real lives of school and work, so I took my groceries to Gayle’s. After much pulverizing with Gayle’s ancient food processor, we were able to taste the final product of the recipe, adapted for several different dietary designs.

Gayle doesn’t like cilantro and can’t have dairy. Chuck loves cilantro and dairy, but I substituted light sour cream for the prescribed crème fraiche in deference to Buffy's calorie concerns. Both Gayle and Chuck liked their versions of the vegetable puree. When Buffy returned from work, she requested a topping of tomatoes, cucumbers, cilantro, and red onion. She also decided against a dollop of light sour cream, and ate it cold -- like gazpacho.

I’m thrilled that tonight is leftover night at Scott’s party place. Spicy boiled shrimp, Beautiful Buffy’s Perfect Potato Salad, made with the potatoes boiled with the shrimp, a few barbeque ribs, a couple of salisbury steaks – what a bountiful buffet of supper choices. We can begin with the avocado soup, or we can add some of the seafood to the soup and create an entirely new decadent dish.

Scott liked Rachel’s recipe chocolate cake so much he expressed hope that it came from a boxed mix; this way he could easily prepare it. Maybe I should make him a mix with Miya’s help. Then, he could add the wet ingredients and bake it at will. Or maybe I should keep some secrets from him to hedge my bets on continuing the warm welcome I receive as a visitor.

The weather here is mild, though somewhat overcast. We know the temperature is perfect when the gnats are so thick we can barely see through them. As Scott says, “It’s too bad the gnats like the same weather we do.” Maybe I should get Richard and Jack to mail me some of Cotton’s cure for gnat attacks, horse mint from the mountains. Of course, I think it’s only a matter of time before Scott encloses his back yard in screen, like so many of the mansions in Florida. My boy’s back yard is never the same for any two summer seasons.

Luscious Lasagna

Well, we did have lasagna. Actually, we had two versions of the dish for dinner. Miya’s desire was for traditional marinara with Italian sausage. Michelle much prefers Alfredo with all manner of vegetables. Miya and I made both, the consumption of which put great pressure on my pyloric valve.

Anyone seeking to understand the mentality of their New Orleans neighbors really must read the only classic reference to one’s pyloric valve in Confederacy of Dunces. This will give you some insight into the gluttony and group dynamics that prevail in this peculiar place. Here, we gladly gorge ourselves like fois gras geese, and then empathize excessively with each other’s alimentary agony.

In addition to the lasagnas, Miya and I made her Aunt Rachel’s recipe chocolate cake, and Sam baked a perfect pecan pie. This was after it took us three hours of shopping for ingredients. We hit a clearance sale in the toy aisle, and I was able to do a lot of gift shopping for birthdays and our ever-increasing number of Christmas boxes.

Melanie made the decision to delay her day of organizing her closets and cupboards and join us for some family fun. I reminded her that this is consistent with her Uncle Richard’s philosophy that our homes exist for us; we don’t exist to take care of our houses. Even her husband James was able to have a piece of lasagna before heading off to his job as a casino cook.

Buffy and Scott took advantage of the absolutely gorgeous sunny day to clean the pool and, quite literally, mend fences with their neighbors. Buffy wore her bathing suit, even though it was still too cold to swim. I think she believes that this will help to hurry the summer swimming weather. Nick and his best friend Clayton practiced Nick’s present passion of lacrosse, giving a much-needed respite to his ruining of fences.

This is the good life on the Gulf Coast, which is almost considered a suburb of New Orleans by friends and family who live here. Everyone who comes to visit twice is blended into the extended family. Aunts and uncles abound, even when there is no blood relationship. Friendships are forever, even when your best buddies are thousands of miles away serving a military stint in Italy. Scott and Buffy have a “Flat Stanley” cut out of their military friend, Dave, that appears in all photos taken of parties and other family functions. Flat Dave goes to Saints games and crawfish boils, and never misses a back yard barbecue.

If it takes a village to raise children, these kids are certainly surrounded by enough protective parents to provide a safety net all the way to adulthood, and beyond. Scott’s house is even on a dead-end street, the perfect playground. He has a sign that reads, “If you’re lucky enough to live on a dead-end street, you’re lucky enough.” I sure feel lucky to be included.

Scott's Supper Club

I contend that Scott celebrates every day that ends in the letter “y”, and that he usually celebrates at least twice a day: when he wakes up still breathing and when all his people get home from work and school. I also think that Scott creates a party no matter where he is or what the occasion. Buffy took exception to my claim that every night there’s a party at the Yardy family home. She says it’s more of a supper club without all the formality. I always thought that supper clubs moved their parties from the home of one couple to the homes of other couples in succession.

Scott contended from the first improvements he made in his back yard that he was creating a showroom of sorts to display his pool and patio backyard design business. I was doubtful that he really had a plan for marketing his business, but the joke’s on me. I think he sold a pool to a former neighbor while the shrimp pot was being brought to a boil.

Today we have another celebration to create. Michelle missed Miya’s birthday party at Miya’s mama’s house, and she’s been working every time Miya was at her daddy’s house since the party. She has declared that Sunday’s celebration will be a birthday bash for Miss Miya. Miya and I will be baking her favorite chocolate cake and lasagna is likely to be Miya’s supper of choice, as this is another favorite food for Miss Miya to cook with her granny.

My niece Melanie is desperate to have a couple of hours at home without her two toddlers, so I’ve offered to take the toddlers to Scott’s where Miya and I will entertain them. Miya is quite the little mama, and calls herself the baby boys’ future babysitter. I’ve long thought that nine years old is a good age to start supervised baby sitting; it’s the age Rachel was when she got started.

It’s still too cool to swim in Scott’s pool, so maybe we’ll walk with the babies to the beach five blocks from Scott’s house. Melanie’s two-year-old, Harold, calls the gulf the “big water” and loves to go look at it. His one-year-old little brother, Gabe, is never still, so one way to keep him under control is to strap him in a stroller and move him. Otherwise, he’ll keep you moving, but in a much more random pattern.

I see very little of Nick, except in passing. Nick is obsessed with lacrosse. He practices with anybody he can recruit to throw the ball, and if he can’t recruit any players, he’s bouncing the hard rubber lacrosse ball against any handy fence. Even when not throwing, Nick incessantly twirls his lacrosse stick with the ball in the head. This earns him a quick trip outside where there are less things to break, but nothing is indestructible where Nick and his lacrosse stick are concerned.

Scott’s house is surrounded by wooden fences, all with holes and missing boards – evidence that Nick, his lacrosse ball, and stick have been there. It’s a good thing his dad is handy, and that part of his backyard business is fence building and repair.

Serenity and Celebration

Scott has perhaps the most finely tuned sense of celebration of anyone I have ever known. He grabs every day with gusto, and has since he was an infant. If I’m like hot sauce, Scott is like a whole heaping pot of boiled crawfish. A simple dinner of barbecue ribs and beans is a special occasion in Scott’s back yard paradise. He laid a fire in the fire pit, turned on the swimming pool lights, and began broadcasting good music before inviting Buffy out back for a beer. Buffy and I took our glasses of wine with us, and joined Scott. He regaled us with talk of his future plans to make the yard feel even more like a resort. He’s also considering building a cabana that I could use as my private quarters when I come for a visit. It’s a joy to have Scott as my boy.

Scott’s sister is his polar opposite. Rachel is so serene that I sometimes wonder if I was given the wrong baby when she was born. Since there were thirteen boys and one girl in the new born nursery on Rachel’s birthday, I think a mix-up is highly unlikely. I often tell Gayle that I think Rachel is actually her daughter, as Gayle is one of the most serene people on the planet. I tell Richard the same thing about him somehow being the actual father of my and Bub’s baby girl. Or maybe Rachel is so serene because I’m so not serene. You know how kids love to rebel by becoming our opposites. Scott didn’t have to worry that he’d become his mother.

I am loving the celebration station of Scott and Buffy’s household, even though Scott’s kids have been with their mother this week. Buffy and I have been able to hunker down on the couch with a series of “chick flicks” to wind down after Scott’s super suppers, while Scott continues to hold court at his back yard bar. With my regular contact with Gayle, and my living large at Scott’s, I really have the best of both worlds. I miss being with Richard and Rachel, but sometimes serenity just doesn’t agree with what’s going on in my mind.

Adam and Richard keep me posted on what’s happening in Coker Creek. Other than Richard helping Don with the stone work on his fireplace, it seems that the snow is keeping things moving pretty slow in the hollow. Maybe Mamie and Richard could begin planning our spring planting, even though the sun won’t be safely supplying warmth in our neck of the woods until after Easter.

With Jack housebound for so much of this winter, I’m sure I’ll come back to several of his stories ready to publish. Mountaintop Mary is in charge of getting his finished works scanned into the computer. I’ve hired an editor to help me get my blog ready for publication as a book. With the addition of recipes, that should be good-to-go before summer. My first Coker Creek cooking classes will, hopefully, be planned in time for first harvest at Barn of Plenty. I certainly live a charmed life.

The Ocean Springs Food Fairies

Scott and Buffy seem to be the food fairies of their neighborhood. It’s a rare supper that doesn’t include at least four neighbors. Last night, it was Salisbury steak for ten or eleven, and Scott’s kids weren’t even here. Michelle mentioned, yesterday morning, that she planned to fix hamburger steak and gravy because her youngest child, Cole, likes it. The party plan began; Scott immediately headed to Wal Mart to purchase the ingredients.

While Scott was away, I lay down for a nap. By the time I woke, the food fairies had been by to make all the beef patties. They were in the refrigerator, ready for browning and baking. The crisper drawers were full of fresh salad ingredients, and Scott had left with Michelle to meet Buffy, Sam, and friends at a new bar in town.

Former neighbors, Dave and JoElle, who are stationed at a military base in Italy, had sent Scott and Buffy several Italian delicacies. Their unfamiliarity with the items was compounded by the fact that all identification and instructions were written in Italian. Buffy asked my help in utilizing these exotic ingredients. I was thrilled to oblige, as some of the packets contained risotto, one of my favorite foods of Italian origin.

I had no clue how to read the directions for preparation, other than the term 500ml. Thankfully, measuring cups are marked in both fractions of cups and milliliters, and the packets had some pictures of the proposed process. Even though I did have to experiment with cooking temperatures, I think the resulting mushroom risotto was delicious. Maybe tonight, I’ll be brave enough to make the gnocchi.

A Simple Soup

I got to Gayle’s with two large paper grocery bags full of food. Gayle had gone to visit a neighbor, so the job of finding refrigerator space fell to Chuck. I don’t think he knew whether to laugh or cry, so he just groaned as he shifted things in the freezer and refrigerator. He had almost completed the task when Gayle arrived and began identifying the leftovers already taking up space.

Gayle had cooked and diced some chicken breasts and made chicken broth for use in creating quick, high protein meals. Her daughter Kathleen had turned her onto coconut milk as a healthy alternative to cow’s milk for use in certain culinary creations. Gayle had a quart of the stuff, and wanted to know if I knew what to do with it. It’s not for nothing that I’m the wing-it queen.

I had placed a half bunch of scallions and a bit of a bulb of ginger in the crisper drawer, and had arrived with most of a head of organic garlic. It was time to crank up Gayle’s soup pot for my variation on one of Rachel’s favorites, Thai coconut cream and chicken soup. I had never cooked in Gayle’s Mississippi kitchen, so this was a homecoming, of sorts, for me.

When our children were small, Gayle and I were next-door neighbors. Gayle loved to grow food, but she was never keen on cooking. Her mother and I thought it our duty to provide Gayle’s family with all manner of soup and such. Gayle’s mom would cook at home and transport her food fantasies. I’d simply take over Gayle’s kitchen.

Gayle and I dreamed of retirement with both of our families sharing a large farm house with two distinct wings with one community kitchen. We agreed that I’d do the cooking and she’d do the clean-up. Even though Gayle’s Mississippi home doesn’t have two wings, it does have two stories. I was happy as a clam laughing with Gayle as I threw things into the soup pot and she cleaned up my mess.

My presence in his kitchen was actually an improvement in Chuck’s life from the first days of my friendship with his wife. When we first met, we were so enamored of each other’s philosophies that we’d forget to cook anything until Chuck walked in from work. Chuck would take one look at me, and with a look of utter despair, walk out of the kitchen. He didn’t seem to appreciate that Gayle and I were solving the problems of the world while we weren’t solving the problem of what’s for supper.

Poor Chuck probably thought he was safe from my invasion when Richard and I moved to Tennessee. I’m back, with my traveling cooking show. I hope the foods I feed them make the pain of my rather oppressive presence worth it to him.

Scott and Buffy seem to be holding up well with me in their home. Buffy has been craving Richard’s avocado soup. I may have to make that for her, since Richard isn’t here. There’s still a spot of empty space in her refrigerator.

My Girlfriend Gayle’s Dining Delights

Gayle can’t have peanuts, dairy, or wheat; she has also sworn off of red meat and anything with growth hormones, so cooking for her family can be quite challenging. Because she has to eat a lot of protein, I spent the day concocting dishes that would delight her and satisfy Chuck.

Whole Foods provided the ingredients and Richard emailed some of his special recipes. I now have at least a week’s worth of ingredients for preparing fine cuisine for Gayle and Chuck’s dining delight. Richard shared with me his recipes for Salmon with Peppers and Leeks and for Honey Roasted Root Vegetables. Oh, how I missed Richard when faced with all that peeling, paring, slicing, and dicing!

I ended up with over a gallon of sliced fennel, yellow bell pepper, leeks, green chili peppers, and ginger. Not only did we have enough for Gayle and Chuck’s salmon, Buffy and I served it over Scott’s Asian Glazed Barbecued Chicken Thighs. And since I was making Mashed Dijon Cauliflower for Gayle, I also made some as a side dish to accompany our chicken.

The side dish for Gayle’s salmon was Mashed Butternut Squash with Orange Zest. She can serve her cauliflower with anything she desires; I made it to see if there may be some way to get Chuck to enjoy this cruciferous creation. For a bit of extra ant-oxidants in their diets, I baked and acorn squash and covered it with a sauce containing a healthy dose of tart cherries.

Richard’s recipe for Honey Roasted Root Vegetables calls for sweet potatoes, but all nightshade vegetables are off Gayle’s grocery list. I substituted fresh organic beets for the potatoes for an interesting bit of sweet flavor and creative coloration. Pink tinted vegetables may not be to everyone’s taste, but Buffy sure liked the results. Scott complained that he’s never even heard of most of the vegetables I was cutting up in his kitchen.

To make sure that Gayle and Chuck stay well-fed for at least a week, I prepared Italian Chicken Sausage with Roasted Red and Yellow Peppers to be served over rice-based pasta (I know Chuck can manage to boil his own pasta.), and I stuffed some portabella mushrooms with a savory stuffing containing rice-based Italian breadcrumbs. I even bought Chuck a package of wheat-free bread mix for his bread machine. Who knew there were so many rice-based varieties of ingredients outside of an Oriental grocery store?

By the time Buffy arrived home from work, I had every pot in the house full of food and every burner on the stove going full blast. Bless Buffy’s heart, she complimented me on all the delicious smells emanating from her kitchen, and began to wash pots as I finished with them. I couldn’t imagine a better daughter-in-law. If she was Yiddish, she’d be called a real mensch.