A few favorite snaps of my nieces from last weekend. First up is Sela, the birthday girl…tomboy, daredevil and sometimes-clown:
Followed closely by big sister Liat…ballerina, singer and actress:
Sittin’ here in La-La…
And we’re back, after spending almost a full week with family in Louisiana; catching up with everyone was lots of fun and the purpose of the trip, of course, but the balmy weather was what really put smiles on our faces after our 15-degree week here in the northeast. “But what about the food?” you say. Glad you asked…
Our first meal of the trip came shortly after we landed in Kenner. Gil and I had been up since 3:30am (early flights — what can you do?), so we weren’t exactly in the mood for a big production. Good thing there’s Spahr’s, just across the bayou in Lafourche Parish.
Neither Spahr’s nor the bayou, but a shack on scenic Dufrene Ponds behind the restaurant. Kind of takes what little romance there was out of it, huh?
At Spahr’s, seafood’s always on the menu and it’s usually deep-fried, though when crabs or crawfish are in season, boiled is also an option. What I’m saying is, you don’t come here for heart-healthy food. Gil and I split a seafood platter and left very happy and on the verge of passing out. […]
Update
My parents are going to try to head home today! St. Charles Parish residents got very lucky this time around: The storm surge wasn’t as bad as expected, so there was no flooding. It sounds like the damage to the area was comparable to the damage done by Katrina (and exactly what you’d expect from a hurricane) — quite a few downed power lines (some live), trees, and limbs, and a roof gone missing here and there. They won’t have power for a while and no stores or gas stations will be open, but people are heading back to hook up their generators and rough it, relatively speaking.
Not even the salt was kosher
Dad called to ask if there was anything special I wanted to eat during my weekend visit. Hmmm… early June in a bayou town… what could I say but boiled crabs?
What’s going on
It’s been an interesting 10 days or so here, a stretch of time in which I managed to do almost no cooking, if you can believe it! Oh sure, there was the Greek chicken experiment of last weekend in which I discovered a deep dislike of dried oregano, which tastes a lot like aspirin to me. But once it was scraped off, the leftover chicken was pretty good in a cobbled-together chicken and broccoli casserole in cheese sauce — nothing fancy, but it warmed me during the cold days at the beginning of the week.
Last Wednesday night was for dining out in the city. I met up with Claudia of cook eat FRET at Insieme for a getting-to-know-you dinner and had an absolute ball. The food ranged from sublime (Oh, branzino, where have you been all my life?) to Why Is This Even On the Menu? (Sweetbreads, liver, etc. appetizer — I’m looking at you), but bookending the meal with a rye-based Manhattan and pear eau de vie turned out to be a really good idea, and made the late bus ride home much more enjoyable than it otherwise would have been. And Claudia? She […]
My week of living gluttonously
Aaaand hello again! How was your week? Mine was terrific! An extended vacation was just what I needed, but it’s good to be back in my own bed, and very good to be in control of my caloric intake again, just the same. Let’s just say that if I didn’t gain weight over the holidays, it wasn’t for lack of trying. My dad greeted us everyday with, “Good morning. Y’all want biscuits?” and it just went downhill (calorically speaking) from there.
Oh, there were pork-laden dishes and creamysugary sweets and good ol’ home cooking and then three meals in New Orleans, one of which was among the best of my dining experiences. Whew! My stomach is exhausted and my taste buds need their own vacation, but more than that, I think I’ll be adding copious amounts of vegetables to our diets; we saw very few vegetables that weren’t used as mere seasoning in other dishes.
So, what specifically did we have? Well … my dad started us out with his chicken and sausage gumbo with warm potato salad, one of my favorite meals. My sister and her family joined us for our first lunch of the week, and it was just […]
No more excuses for awful photos
I had every intention of cooking* when I got home tonight, but how could I when I walked in the door and saw this?
Hanukkah Harry came early this year!
A little background: My father-in-law is a retired photographer who has amassed a pretty large collection of pretty impressive equipment. At the birthday party last weekend, I saw him shooting with a D70 and wanted to talk to him about it, as I’ve been thinking of getting a D80 and wanted his opinion. Well, he was otherwise occupied with the kids around, but my interest in photography planted a seed, I guess, and when Gil stopped by to help him with a project this evening, he sent home this big box of goodies for me.
Honestly, I don’t even know what a couple of these lenses are for (check out tighter photos of them here), but I am SO looking forward to learning. As I said in the title, no more excuses for bad photography here, but I really do need to learn how to get good lighting in the evening. Any tips/suggestions would be appreciated.
* Instead, we dined on smoked oysters, brie, and crackers […]
Hijinx
Gil and I spent our Saturday celebrating niece Sela’s fourth birthday with my in-laws in Franklin Lakes. My husband passed the time horsing around with his brother, swimming with the kids, and trying to avoid getting tagged with silly string — not always successfully — while I sat poolside with my sister-in-law, Jane. The water was too cold for such delicate creatures, so we relaxed in the sun and caught up. (We didn’t get to spend enough time together this year, so we’ve decided to go away for a spa weekend when they’re in town again. Maybe Gil can babysit all on his own to get a taste of what he’s missing.)
Because Gil was otherwise occupied yesterday with the aforementioned horseplay, I documented the occasion from my lounge chair, while he waited till later to get embarrassing pictures of me and gorgeous shots of his brother’s bubble-making activities. And, of course, there’s his much better write-up of the occasion, which you should check out.
The birthday girl models her dad’s Springsteen shirt. As you can see, it was excellent for twirling.
We had a great time. I’m […]
Recent Comments