Tag: grits

traditions

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We got married on February 29–Leap day.   We got married after a long distance relationship that I described yesterday at lunch as ‘not dating.’  We didn’t really ever date in that traditional sense.  We knew each other for years – maybe 10 or 15 actually and had done loads of things together but mostly always in some sized group of friends.    In fact, we maybe only went on a handful of  what would strictly qualify as dates.   I don’t know if it is a result but our whole life is kind of now a date.  We do  most things together–because it’s fun.  I let him pay (‘The man pays’ he says) but in reality I just don’t want to carry my purse and why not? It’s fun to say thank you for things–makes life feel like a treat.   Makes all of life just a little sweeter.  It’s our ‘tradition.’  The more I thought about that idea of traditions the more I think that they are the things that make life a little bit sweeter.  If a tradition is simply a hateful chore you should probably think about changing that tradition.   It’s like letting go of a sour and negative friend.  It might hurt for a little bit but in the long run life is too short.tradicane

Traditions.    I vaguely remember thinking we wouldn’t ever have any when we first got married – no reason for that, just that I wasn’t clear-headed enough to see that we hadn’t had time to make them.  Time has passed and we now have some traditions that suit us.  This week we got to observe  one.  We went to dinner at Tibby’s New Orleans Kitchen for dinner in honor of Bertha.  For each named Atlantic storm we head to Tibby’s to celebrate the hurricane (or tropical storm as it may be.)    So ‘God willin and da creek don’t rise‘ we head out to celebrate the wild weather with a hurricane cocktail for me and some luscious grits stuffed with andouille sausage, po’ boys and decadent beignets with powdered sugar on top.    It isn’t our only kind of unique tradition–we have a few others.  One being not cooking a turkey for Thanksgiving, which is another story for another day. So, what are your special / time honored /happy place traditions?  I’d love to hear!

tibby’s new orleans kitchen

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seems kinda fitting that we would eat at a New Orlean’s kitchen tonight – on the eve of one of the most massive floods in the recorded history of the Mississippi River.  A sign on the wall read, ‘God willin and da creek don’t rise…’  We ate at the few months old Tibby’s New Orleans Kitchen tonight with a friend and friend of a friend.  It was on my Orlando To-do list and is by the creators of Tijuana Flats and I am sure they must have plans to expand to multiple locations as it feels like a really bankable restaurant.  I think that will be doable as it really was one of the more enjoyable meals I’ve had in a long time.  We tried both new and familiar dishes.
I kicked it off with a nice strong hurricane-rummy, yummy and strong!  For an app we tried the New Orleans Cheese Plank – a crispy fried pepper jack sitting on creole sauce-one of those things it is better you run out of before you want to stop eating. Z had an andouille po-boy and loved the flavor and texture.  I had a Parish Country Fried Steak and andouille grits.  It was all nested on red wine andouille gravy with crispy fried nuggets of sausage.  Why can’t I make grits that taste like this?  To cap it off we had beignets doused in powdered sugar-fluffy and sweet.  A fun night with good food-excellent.