Saturday, March 1, 2008

Food Weakness - In Search Of...



This post was originally written about a month ago - but slacker me is just now getting around to publishing it .. I guess I am not cut out to be a daily or even a weekly blogger...

I've been searching my whole adult life for it.. I think I have found it.. at least as close as I am ever going to relive the pleasure I had so many years ago as a child. It has the power to transport me back in time, to when I was young (6-10 yo) and with my maternal grandparents in Gulfport, Mississippi. I remember going crabbing with my grandmother, playing in wonder on my grandfather's shrimp boat, eating catheads and buttermilk for breakfast, drinking coffee with lots of milk, picking rockychaws (those little prickly stickers found around sand) out of my feat as I crossed over the highway to get to the beach. Have I piqued your interest? Do you have something that is your own little time machine? Think about it. What is it... Is it a smell? Is it a picture? Is it a piece of clothing? Okay - for me, it's My Grandmother's Gumbo. I search every restaurant's menu for the offering, trying it and being dissapointed. But I believe I have found it, in none other than my "back yard" so to speak. My dear friend Debra, who originally hails from Shreveport, and is a fabulous cook, makes THE best gumbo since my grandmother's. While visiting her last weekend we went to a Gumbo cook off so she could scout out the competition, as she was thinking about entering one of these competitions. They have Chili cook offs, Bar-b-q cookoffs and on the Gulf Coast, it's GUMBO... I was in heaven.. or at least I thought I was... some of the so called GUMBO's in that competition had no resemblance to what I grew up loving. Not only was it fun to try about 15 different Gumbos, many of the competitors decked themselves out in "Themes",, which I know Debra was eyeing because she love's herself a good dress up opportunity...The experience was fun, and the gals that won were low on style but big on taste and personality. They were similar in style to Debra's gumbo, but their rue tasted a bit chalky...I believe Debra will enter one soon and I plan on being there to help cheer her on... Maybe the secret ingredient in Gumbo is something I provide. Could it be love? The love I had for my grandmother and the love I have for a dear friend...Some pics of the contestants..



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