Utterly Useless Knowledge

There's not too many things that make my mouth water like the spicy, rustic, bold flavors of real Louisiana cooking. I remember watching Justin Wilson's Louisiana Cooking show on public television when I was a kid, marveling at how this old country boy could throw together these amazing meals, all topped off by a little Beaujolais. He would say things in this Louisiana accent that was almost impossible to understand. I would marvel at his complete disregard for proper sentences, his butchering of the English language. The the ol' boy could cook. "Now what I got to did is take these heeah shrimps....put a little of that in theahh, and Whoooooohhhh....." Of course my mother would never dare try to cook dishes like these. Cayenne pepper might as well have been moon dust as to the likelihood of either being found in her kitchen. Cajun cuisine, like any other regional fare, is based around what is available in the area, with an obvious emphasis towards seafood found...

Sometimes the weather is such that all you want to do is stay inside, point and laugh at your neighbor who is outside shoveling snow, and make some good food that fills you up and warms the cockles. I learned to love cooking when I was growing up from my mom, and the go-to guide for such dishes has been my mom's cookbook, a collection of some of my favorite recipes that mom would make growing up. She made this book for Lisa and gave it to her as a gift at her wedding shower. It's been used more than any other cookbook I have. So as a long, cold weekend at home loomed, I sat down and made up a list of 3-4 meals that I could make & chew on for the weekend, and then for lunches the rest of the week. Kicking it off for a Saturday lunch watching basketball was one of my all-time favorites, Zuccini Casserole. People probably don't go out of their way to buy up this particular vegetable, but it's been a staple in my family for as long as I can remember, whether it was a gi...