Tomas

Now that brings back memories of a familiar sight. Just add some shrimp and crabs... GOOD FEASTING!!

I May have posted this before, but I don't remember where or when. (singing to self: "It seems we have stood and talked like this before, but I don't remember where or when." OOPs!!! Sorry got carried away. The recipe: Red Beans and Rice Red Beans were traditionally cooked while the Monday wash was drying on the line, and since New Orleans humidity made that an all-day job, the beans cooked for many hours. The is the way red beans and rice were cooked in the old days --- loaded with meat and steeped in a rich, natural gravy. Be sure to use baked rather than country or smoked ham in this dish. Smoked ham is too salty and will unbalance the seasonings. PIckled Pork is pork sholder marinated in brine for over a week. New Orleans markets regularly carry it, but else where you probably will not find it. A good substitute for pickled pork is salt pork; with salt pork eliminate all other salt in the recipe. (for 8 or more) _________________________________ 2 Lb. dried red (kidney) beans, soaked overnight in cold water to cover 2 c. chopped onion 1/2c. thinly sliced green shallot (scallion) tops 1/2c. chopped green pepper 1 1/3 Tbs. finely minced garlic 2 Tbs. finely minced fresh parsley 1 lb. seasoning (baked) ham, cut into 1-inch cubes 1 lb. pickled pork, cut into large chunks 1 Tbs. salt 1/2 tsp. Freshly ground black pepper 1/8 tsp. cayenne 1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper pods 2 whole bay leaves, broken into quarters 1/2 tsp. dried thyme 1/8 tsp. dried basil 2qt. Cold water, approximately Drain the soaked beans in colander and put them, along with all the other ingredients, into a heavy 8 to 10 quart pot or kettle, adding just enough of the cold water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat and simmer on low heat for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until the beans are tender and a thick natural gravy has formed. Add about 1 cup of water toward the end of cooking if the mixture appears too dry. During the cooking stir frequently and scrape down the side and across the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon or spatula to prevent scorching. (If you use a heavy pot and very low heat --- just enough, should have no problem with the beans sticking to the pot during cooking.) Stir the entire mixture thoroughly just once every half hour. Towards the end of cooking, smash some of the beans against the side of the pot for creamier gravy. When the beans are cooked, turn off the heat. To serve, ladle about 1 1/2 cups of beans with meat and gravy, over a portion (about 2/3 cup) of boiled rice. Can be accompanied by smoked or country (hot or mild) sausage or by pork chops or pork steaks.

Lafayette has some good parades. At least they did when I was student at university there. If you do feel a need to go to the city to see some of the parades, I'd recommend that you watch the parades in Metairie. The parades there are as good as you'll find downtown. Some of the Krewes that parade in metairie are some of the krewes that used to parade downtown, but moved to Metairie after a dispute with city government, long years ago. Anyway... happy Mardi Gras... enjoy the season as you may.

Just watch some videos of last years parades while raising your toast. No difference. I happen to know that a large percentage of natives abandon the city for the Gulf Coast during Mardi Gras to escape the tourist madness. Took me years to break the curse of the river (the Mississippi) and escape the city, but I've never been happier and have never looked back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature&v=-Lug_IxFKo8

I went to my first gay bar when I was 18. Of course that was back when the drinking age was 18. An ancient age before dirt. The bar was "Dixie's Bar of Music". DIxie's was a place to meet friends, socialize and just generally have fun. It was a destination bar for many members of the "Ice Capades" and the touring companies that were in town with a Broadway play. Authors such as Gore Vidal, Tennessee Williams, and others, made Dixie's their home when they were in town, as did any number of celebrities. If you were out for a pickup, you went down the street 2 blocks to "Cafe Lafitte In Exile". A bar affectionately called "The Meatrack" by many locals. The "Gaslight" had a small dance floor and stage. Some weekends there was a band. Fats Domino, Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Professor Longhair were some of the groups that played there. That was before they were well known. The thing that I remember most about the "Gaslight" was the lesbian bartender. I don't recall her name, bout she was known as "The Great White Whale". She had white hair and was huge and I don't mean fat. She probably could have given Schwarzenegger a run for his money. I do remember one night when I was in there some straights came in the bar. If memory serves, there were 3 of them. They appeared to be college frat types, likely from out of town. Well, when they realized what kind of bar they had wandered into they started trying to make trouble. After they had been warned a couple of times to behave or get out, the Great White Whale came out from behind the bar, grabbed the ring leader by the front of his shirt, threw him up against the wall and held him there. I believe that his feet were about a foot off of the floor. She said a few words to him then literally threw him towards the door and told him and his friends to get out. Needless to say they left. There was also a second bar at the "Gaslight" across the patio in the old slave quarters called the "Backbar. There was another place on the corner of St. Peter and Chartres streets. Can't remember the name, but it was called the "Wrinkle Room". It was a nice quite place where older gays went. It was also a couples bar where you could go for a nice quiet drink and not have to deal with the frenetic activity at the other bars. There were a number of other bars that were not main stream bars. Jeez! I'm surprised I remembered all of that.

I will just renew the resolution that I have made for the last four years. To go through and get rid of years of accumulated "stuff". I write it out, all nice and neat, with illuminations, as did the monks of old in their monasteries. As the clock strikes midnight on January 1st of the new year, I read it. Then at 12:01, with great solemnity, I burn it, go to bed and forget I was ever so foolish to have made and written it to begin with.

Never have understood why "people"* stock up on food, etc., build underground bunkers, etc. when ever a doomsayer predicts "the end of the world". I mean if the world ends, there is no more world so what good does it do to go through all of that nonsense? *Didn't really want to say "idiots". LOL

Yup! But then again, I'm of "Irish ancestry".

I seem to remember seeing a survey that found that 16% of people that own mobile devices do their online Christmas shopping while sitting on the toilet.

Source: http://news.yahoo.co...-213053081.html

I have learned to ignore it. My favorite thing to do on Black Friday is to just curl up with a good book, in the overstuffed chair, in front of the fireplace.

I stopped watching the "Sy-Fy" channel shortly after they changed the name. It didn't take me long to realize that the "Luddites" and taken over the channel and it would never be the same. I will admit to watching one series; "Haven", but that on a delayed basis. I can find better science fiction stories by amateur writers on the web than what is available on what is purported to be a "science fiction" TV channel.

Red Beans and Rice Red Beans were traditionally cooked while the Monday wash was drying on the line, and since New Orleans humidity made that an all-day job, the beans cooked for many hours. The is the way red beans and rice were cooked in the old days --- loaded with meat and steeped in a rich, natural gravy. Be sure to use baked rather than country or smoked ham in this dish. Smoked ham is too salty and will unbalance the seasonings. PIckled Pork is pork shoulder marinated in brine for over a week. New Orleans markets regularly carry it, but else where you probably will not find it. A good substitute for pickled pork is salt pork; with salt pork eliminate all other salt in the recipe. (for 8 or more) _________________________________ 2 Lb. dried red (kidney) beans, soaked overnight in cold water to cover 2 c. chopped onion 1/2c. thinly sliced green scallot (scallion) tops 1/2c. chopped green pepper 1 1/3 Tbs. finely minced garlic 2 Tbs. finely minced fresh parsley 1 lb. seasoning (baked) ham, cut into 1-inch cubes 1lb. pickled pork, cut into large chunks 1 Tbs. salt 1/2 tsp. Freshly ground black pepper 1/8 tsp. cayenne 1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper pods 2 whole bay leaves, broken into quarters 1/2 tsp. dried thyme 1/8 tsp. dried basil 2qt. Cold water, approximately Drain the soaked beans in colander and put them, along with all the other ingredients, into a heavy 8 to 10 quart pot or kettle, adding just enough of the cold water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat and simmer on low heat for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until the beans are tender and a thick natural gravy has formed. Add about 1 cup of water toward the end of cooking if the muxture appears too dry. During the cooking stir frequently and scrape down the side and across the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon or spatula to prevent scorching. (If you use a heavy pot and very low heat --- just enough to keep the barest simmer going --- you should have no problem with the beans sticking to the pot during cooking.) Stir the entire mixture thoroughly just once every half hour. Towards the end of cooking, smash some of the beans against the side of the pot for creamier gravy. When the beans are cooked, turn off the heat. To serve, ladle about 1 1/2 cups of beans with meat and gravy, over a portion (about 2/3cup) of boiled rice. Can be accompanied by smoked or country (hot or mild) or by pork chops or pork steaks.

28 July 2003 On 28 July 2003 GA opened the forum doors. I knew many of the early members from other venues (that are no longer in existence) that I belonged to, but didn't become a member until 6 months later in December 2003 as member # 82. I haven't seen but a few of the first 100 members these past few years. The site has grown in the nine years since the beginning and there have been a lot of changes in the 8 1/2 years that I have been a member. Some good and some not, but the one thing that hasn't changed is the quality and variety of the stories posted here and in the great support that the authors both new and old receive. HAPPY NINTH ANNIVERSARY GA FORUMS!

I got through the first four books of " Song of Ice and Fire" without any problems. I put down the fifth book "A Dance With Dragons" after about 100 pages and haven't picked it up since, and am not likely to finish it.

Interesting blog post. It is my belief that the obsession with youth and beauty is an attempt to deny or at least not want to admit or perhaps delay mortality. Living things age and eventually expire and beauty is a fragile state and ofttimes fades before an enviable end . A rose starts out as a bud blooms and is beautiful (youth) then continues to age until it is no longer beautiful and dies. Things like cosmetic surgery (face lifts and such) can likened to the maintenance necessary to preserve an old historical wooden building. Decayed parts are replaced or covered up so the building looks as it did in its youth. Eh! That's enough of my ramblings.

AH! OK! I wasn't aware of the earlier registration. Just knew when the forums began and assumed that that was the start of GA. It was about 6 months later when I became a member. Other than yourself, Bill W, Comicality, and occasionally Kyle, I never seem to see any of the other early members (the first 100) on site. Anyhow, not important, just a bit of nostalgia for some of the old places that we hung out that no longer exist for one reason or another.

GA was started on July 28, 2003. Nine years. But what's a year between friends?

"The joys of getting older. Seems nothing is as easy as it use to be, but at least I am still here and pushing on". As someone once said, "Getting old is not for wimps", and I can attest to that.

Ha! More time to do things when you retire is an illusion. Since I retired, I find that I have less time to do the things that I want to do than I did when I was working full time. Oh well, life goes on. I just take each day as it happens and enjoy it. Can never know how many I have left so I don't worry about it. I just figure that any day that I wake up in this life and not the afterlife is going to be a great day. Bob, I think that you are doing great. I hope that I am able to be as active when and if I reach your age.

I reached a conclusion, sometime ago, that the "Hollywood Movie Industry" is bankrupt and there is no longer and hasn't been anything creative to come out of the majors for a long time. It seems like only thing that they are now capable of doing is to make poorly done sequels, prequels, and remakes of older classics, or to using gimmicks such as headache inducing 3D. It appears that all of the major creative talent has fled to the "Indies". Of course that is just my opinion.

Why does he have to do anything with it? Sometimes it's the journey not the goal that is important.

I can remember listening to the pomp and circumstance of the coronation in 1952. Since it was an historic event I was allowed to stay up and listen to the broadcast of the events on the shortwave radio. I was 15 at the time and it was after midnight Central Time in the US. Long live the Queen!!