Shelter from the storm

Hey y'all. Welcome to Day 3 of our Hurricane Isaac Evacu-cation. We thought about riding out the storm but this being our first hurricane and with two small children we decided better safe than sorry. We hit the road late Monday night and are safe and dry at my Mother and Step dad's in Shreveport. The kids have been swimming, playing with the dogs, staying up too late and just being spoiled by their Kit Kt and Pop Pop. My husband has set up his "Command Central" in the back bedroom and thankfully has been able to work remotely. I have been glued to the Weather Channel and I check the Cleco Power outage site obsessively.  Most of Mandeville is without power and many houses are flooded. At this point our street has not flooded and for that I am very thankful. We are hopefully just going home to a couple of stinky refrigerators and some disgusting trash cans stored in the garage. I better pick up some of those little masks before we open that garage door. I can only imagine what it smells like in there *shudder*  OK I mustn't think about all that right now instead I will focus on something unexpected that has come out of this little adventure....my MaMa is cooking for us. Now, when I was little my Mother cooked all the time. I mean homemade everything. She was a young Mother of twin boys and me. She said it was too much trouble to load us all in the van (not a minivan but one of those big great 70's vans a REAL van. Man I loved that van) Anyway rather than load three little ones into the giant van she just stayed home and cooked. I remember homemade brownies, cookies, pork chops, mashed potatoes, meatloaf etc. I remember the FryDaddy sitting on the counter spitting hot oil and her warning us to "Stand back! This grease will get you"!  She would dip that slotted spatula into the hot oil and I never knew what it was going to come up with.  Was it fresh cut french fried potatoes? Fried shrimp? Maybe homemade donuts? She put that FryDaddy to good use....but that was another time. An era before we knew about trans fats, worried about carbs, calories, cholesterol etc. Childhood obesity was not an epidemic. The boys and I ran around outside all day, we didn't have video games and there were only a few channels to watch on tv. Besides after Sesame Street and the Electric Company went off MaMa watched All My Children so we were banished to the backyard. We worked off those donuts while MaMa folded clothes and caught up with Erica Kane.

MaMa doesn't really cook like she used to.  She's all healthy now. The FryDaddy has long been retired. Now she makes beautiful salads with baby greens and fresh tomatoes, blueberries, almonds and wonderful light dressings.  She lays out beautiful pink salmon and garnishes it with capers and fresh rosemary from her herb garden. Sometimes there's a sushi lunch complete with chopsticks and little dishes filled with wasabi and ginger. There's still great care put into the meals she serves but it's more preparation than cooking.  When we come home to visit we have our list of local restaurants we must visit so we don't cook much anyway. Maybe hotdogs on the grill while the kids swim but no real cooking. That's why the first night of our evacuation I was surprised to walk into the kitchen and smell cooking smells. Seasonings, and meat sizzling. There was actual heat coming off the stove.  The smell of "real food" wafted down the hall and interrupted my husband's work. I expected his toes to flutter off the ground and his nose lead him to the smell of "real food" like it does in those old cartoons. MaMa was cooking ribs. She had chicken on the grill smothered in sweet sticky bbq sauce. She made her potato salad. Her potato salad is the best in the whole world.  My brother likens it to the inside of deviled eggs with some potatoes mixed in. It is amazing. There were baked beans and fresh bread out of the oven. She uncorked a beautiful Tempranillo just for me. It was a deep deep red almost purple, plum-y (I know that's probably not a word but I'm not winesnobby enough to produce the proper description) so it was "plum-y" and lush and wonderful. There was cold beer waiting for Ben. It was pale, golden, and um "beer-y". The kids gobbled up their chicken legs and ribs, licking bbq sauce off their little fingers. After driving home in the middle of the night to escape Isaac this meal of simple bbq and sides was so comforting. Just the right kind of  "hit the spot" "stick to your ribs" goodness. Our bellies were full and our souls were soothed. 

I thought that would be all the cooking MaMa would do this trip. In fact I thought we would be going to one of our regular restaurants for dinner last night. I spent all day glued to the Weather Channel, checking FaceBook and texting with neighbors who stayed home. I didn't shower and dress until late afternoon and that was only because I had to go to Target and buy the baby some underwear. In our hurry to leave I forgot to pack Thomas the Train undies. Kit Kat suggested he just wear a pair of his sister's underwear to tide him over until we got his one pair in the wash but he was very adamant "I NOT A GIRL! I A BOY! I NOT WEARING BARBIE UNDERWEARS"!!!! Ok so off to Target we go. When Ben and I got back there were more strange smells coming from the kitchen. It was an ancient familiar smell. I was taken back to our old wood paneled kitchen. The big table set with mine and the boys Crayola Melamine plates. On that plate was? It was? What was it??? Ok it started coming back to me... *sniff* *sniff*.....MEATLOAF!!!  Meatloaf....and what's this??? Mashed potatoes! REAL mashed potatoes with REAL butter! But wait there's more! Le Sueur Peas! Ben and my brothers call them "Booger peas" but I don't care. That silver can is full of mushy baby pea goodness.  I look out at the table and I see my baby happily chewing away and pushing his peas around on his plate....on a green melamine crayola plate.  

Nate and THE  plate

Today we had leftovers for lunch. A big smorgabord of ribs and chicken, potato salad and mashed potatoes, oh and some ripe red tomatoes with salt and pepper. It doesn't get any better than this. But wait! It does! There it is my childhood in a faded red Pyrex 8x8 pan. Brownies. Not just any brownie but "Hershey's Best Brownies" from a dogeared Hershey's Cocoa Cookbook . Do y'all remember those tin Hershey cocoa containers? They're plastic now. MaMa used to save those tins. Our Sunday school class made them into coin banks once. She saved tadpoles for Sunday school too They didn't quite make it, but that's another story. Anyway...brownies. When I was little she rarely made the icing that went with it. She thought it made them too sweet. That icing is nothing but butter, cocoa,  powdered sugar and I think a little milk. You have to beat the heck out of it for what feels like an hour to get the perfect consistency. We only had the icing on special occasions or maybe if I had a bad day and pleaded for it. I look over at the counter and there they sit....with icing. 

Heaven in a Pyrex pan

I know we won't eat like this for some time. Lord Ben and I have probably gained 10 lbs. We're finally seeing the end of the storm and all this yummy food too. I noticed salmon in the fridge and MaMa's already making plans to do something with goat cheese and figs. That's good too. Nice and light. We will need it after the Isaac 24-7 buffet. I've noticed on FaceBook friends in the storm's path are huddled up with their friends, family and neighbors. If they're lucky enough to have power or gas I've seen that folks are making pots of jambalaya, gumbo, soup etc. Even those without power have said they've been snacking nonstop. I guess when we get home along with our yard, fridge and neighborhoods we will be cleaning up our diets.  Is there something your family cooks during a crisis? After the birth of a child? A funeral? Illness? Y'all know here in the South we've got the Comfort Food thing down to an art! I would love to hear what y'all cook! I think I need just maybe the tiniest lick of an icing bowl right now. Y'all stay dry friends.