Why I've been absent...

So sorry...

First, I want to apologize for not being my regular self. I know my 24/7 is the same as yours and when I say I've been too busy, that's like saying my importance is more important than spending it with you. So, the truth is, and y'all know I cannot lie, I took a trip trip to Mars and it was so so top secret that I was not able to tauk to  any one at my friendly home-base earth. Okay, the real truth is that aliens kidnapped me in route and we kinda of hit it off doing si-si-sillys, funny things that only aliens like to do. I am sorry that only schedule posts have run these past few weeks.

Yup, it sounds like I've been hitting the bottle again, but the real truth, and I mean really now, is that y'all know I am finishing up on a cookbook and it is consuming all of my time other that when at work, which is most all the time other that my required sleep.

So, since I have had to cooked, rather, recooked recipes for the book, I thought I might share a few photos with you. These are just a few. Each recipe is non published by me although they are some of our most treasured ones around the Mobile area. That's what the book is about, sort of a journal of cookery as I know it from our area, recipes steeped in history and many passed down through generations of local cooks and restaurants, well, my version of them anyway.

I just thought it would be nice for you to know, meaning the winners from the past few weeks of Game-Day Week Giveaways and the future weeks to come; giving a peek into some of the things you can expect...

The cookbook is now out

 - Journal of Mobile's Southern Cookery - 

click on title to view and order

Thanks for stopping by...

Hot-Dogs, 4 ways + Game-Day Week 5

Week 5 Submission ends midnight Tuesday, Sep 27th
Voting Starts Sep 28th
see 'rulebook' for prizes and game strategy

Welcome to this Week's Giveaway

Let's get right to it... I know everyone is busy and has places to go, gotta find the right spot, right Uga?

Congratulations to Jessica, last week's winner with her amazing NOLA Bites. A copy of my new recipe book will be reserved in your name as soon as if comes out.

I want to thank all who took time to summit a recipe last week and I hope more of you get in the spirit and share one with all of us as well. In the last few weeks, we've had more hits, pageviews and a larger audience than I imagined. To the participants, so glad you are in this game.  Some of you I hear are reaping big rewards.

Butter Peas, Speckle Butter Beans, Field Pea Medley

 End of Summer Bean Medley

Okay, I know summer is over for many but technically, here in the northern hemisphere it ain't over until the big sunny man jumps over the fence, or equator meteorological speaking. Summer officially ends or Fall officially starts, whichever way you look at it, on Friday, Sept 23rd. It happens precisely when the daylight hours and the nighttime are equal, the same, as in 12 fullaroos. Now what does this have to do with today's recipe, not a hill of beans...

Sometimes I find small quantities of beans and peas left over from other cooking days that I merely threw into a bag of mishmash for perhaps a soup or stew. Stored away in the freezer, I feel safer knowing there are goodies stashed away, I know, kind of squirrelly of me.

Adobo Pork Tortilla Canapés - Game-Day Week 4

Week 4 Submission ends midnight Monday, Sep 19th
Voting Starts Sep 20th

Welcome to this Week's Giveaway

Howdy Folks!  I'm gonna make this short and shorter. This week has gone by quicker than the blink of an eye, mine included and ya'll know how slow I can be. Why it has been one heck of a busy one for me. I do want to thank all participants in last weeks game challenge, there were a lot of great recipes and I plan on eating until I can't eat one more bite, and that's a lot as many of you know.

Okay, this is suppose to be short. So let me add congratulations to Lori for winning last week's game with her Bacon Wrapped Jalapeños. You can win this week by joining in too and sharing your recipes before Monday night - doing so gets you a chance to choose this week's game winning recipe.

WTC RECOVERY exhibition now in Mobile AL

“If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.”

from Julius Caesar

Against a wall of the gallery the display case holds an empty fireman’s boot, mutilated and still coated with dust from that day. Another case contains the remnants of an air-tank harness; a few yards away sits the twisted body of a Yamaha motorcycle, warped by the violent forces unleashed on Sept. 11, 2001.

A visitor to the ground-floor gallery at the Museum of Mobile can’t really avoid reminders of that horrifying day when terrorists hijacked two passenger planes and flew them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York.

Smoked Sausage Dogs with Tricolor Pepper Relish - Game-Day Week 3

Week 3 Submission ends midnight Monday, Sep 12th
Voting Starts Sep 13th

Welcome to this Week's Giveaway

Folks I am tickled for many reasons, right pleased that football season is underway and some of you are linking in your recipes during the weekend to enter to win. I know last weekend was a busy holiday and I know many of you may not even follow college football, but that shouldn't keep you from entering. Last weekend, thanks to tropical storm Lee, we spent the entire holiday inside and that gave me a chance to do something I normally don't do - cook BBQ style food in the oven.

Yup, there is one recipe that we like, a favorite we call Country Ribs with Old Fashion BBQ Sauce. You won't find in on this site and it is not in my published cookbook but it will be in the one coming out next year. You can win one by linking in recipes. There is a new winner each week. See, I told you I was right happy.

Shut Yo Mouth Recipes - Meat Pies

Say what? 
...this just ain't right...

I bet in all regions, heck, all parts of this world, you fine folks have a slew of food dishes you just love to make ... you know the ones that are so gosh darn good, but because of the name or maybe ingredients, you just don't go around praising the worthiness. Well, that is what Shut Yo Mouth is all about and today it's about bodacious meat pies.

Now down here in LA, that's Lower Alabama for those uneducated, and around many parts of the south, we enjoy a certain critter, why just thinking about it makes me lick my lips. I'm talking about cooter.

Butter Bean Calas

Calas, calas, bel calas. Tout chaud!...

For some reason when I opened my kitchen door and belted out those words, it didn't ring the same feeling as I imagine Creole women felt at the turn of the last century. Then, I am not Creole nor a woman selling hot calas in the squares or on the streets. It did generate a few strange looks followed by happy waves of hands; my neighbors know I'm a little off somedays. They just nod, smile and wave knowing everything will be fine, once I get back on medication.

Calas are said to be entrenched in southern history, a delectable fritter brought over from the rice areas of Ghana by slaves. Calas are still made there today, not so

Bacon, Ham, Cheese Phyllo Pizza Bites ~ Tailgating, Game Day Week 2

Week 2 Submission ends midnight Monday, Sep 5th
Voting Starts Sep 6th

 Game Day

around the country

Today starts the kickoff for many college teams while a few like our Jaguars played Thursday evening. Yea for our new team, now 18 - 0. Today also starts week 2 in this giveaway series.

First, I want to thank those participating last week over a very hectic weekend, one that saw the fury of a hurricane dump on the eastern seaboard, and I'm not talking of the Miami team here, a horrid monster that caused disruption and chaos to millions. Folks, I know how you feel. I have been through a few, many in fact, some like the category 5 that knocked on our door back in '05. Powerful, mean and outright nasty, I know of no hurricane that has ever brought a plate of goodness. God bless all of you, and for those of you still suffering, may recovery come quick.

Better Beef Stroganoff

Change is good...

If you are like me, as much as you like Aunt Sue Ellen's or Granny Mae's recipe, even your own mother's version, sometimes you try to improve on it, do you not? There are several I love in our family, a favorite coming from my sister's Texan in-laws that uses ground beef and condensed soups; I make it often and it don't need improving. But, then there's another one that uses an expensive cut of meat that, well, no matter how you braise in, pound on it or flash pan sear it, it just comes out like a piece of walrus hide, not that I've had any mind you.

So my goal was to change up this recipe and make it eatable, sorry Auntie Ellen, I know how you liked this back in the fifties. Now I've done my homework, talked to a bunch of folks in the cooking business, researched