Archives for April 2009

Melanie and I seem to have a knack for hunting down incredibly mediocre Mexican food no matter where we are. In fact, we’ve shared mediocre Mexican food every single time we’ve seen each other this last year, so we vowed and swore and declared that we would not go anywhere near Mexican food while we were in Louisiana this past weekend. Quite frankly there are some streaks that need to be broken.

Plus, I mean, we were in New Orleans, for crying out loud. And while New Orleans boasts countless culinary achievements, queso dip isn’t really one of them. Y’all should be proud of me for recognizing that because I think we all know that if there’s one food I never, ever turn down, it’s cheese.

See also: bacon.

My flight left pretty early Friday morning, so I was actually at the hotel in New Orleans by 10. Our room wasn’t ready, so I ambled over to a little coffee shop in the lobby. I’m usually a little wary of hotel coffee, but as soon as I stepped in that coffee shop I felt a wave of peace wash over me.

The Lord is faithful and worthy to be praised.

Mel’s flight got in a couple of hours later, so I picked her up from the airport and we set out to find some lunch. We were both in the mood for some deeply nutritious fried seafood, so we headed to Deanie’s since it was just a couple of blocks from our hotel – and we knew we were in for a treat when they brought boiled red potatoes to our table. With butter.

Oh yes ma’am. Please and thank you. Amen.

I had the fried seafood platter from the lunch menu, and Melanie ordered a fried crawfish poboy that I PROMISE had at least 100 fried crawfish on it. When the food arrived at the table I immediately started channeling Martha (“You’ve never seen so many crawfish! You’ve just never seen! Have you ever seen? I MEAN, THE PORTIONS! SUCH LARGE PORTIONS! Mother and I could get four meals out of that one sandwich! Have you ever?”), and while everything was absolutely delicious I have to say that the hit of our meal was the barbecued shrimp that we ordered for an appetizer. I could’ve made a meal out of nothing but some French bread and the barbecue shrimp sauce. It was so good that it would make you stand up, slap your mama, sit down, then get up and slap your mama again. DADGUM.

After lunch we rested for a little while and then drove over to the arena. It was such a blast, and Friday night’s session really confirmed some things that I’ve been thinking about a lot over the last few months (Mel and I will both be recapping the conference this week over at AllAccess). But I do want to make sure I tell you this: I’ve sat under Beth Moore’s teaching several times in the last four or five years, but she has NEVER been funnier than she was this past weekend. OH MY WORD. Yes, the subject matter was deep, and yes, we were all up in the Word, but oh my goodness every single one of us who was there laughed our heads off. It was the most fun.

There’s so much more I want to share, but it’s getting late and you’re getting bored (I’M SORRY. THE FOOD WAS JUST SO GOOD THAT I NEEDED A LOT OF WORDS.) and I need to go to bed. So in conclusion I’ll just show you a picture of the muffaletta that I had on my way to the airport Saturday afternoon. It was only 1/2 sandwich, and I kid you not: IT WAS THE SIZE OF MY HEAD.

There was no way to eat it all. But part of me wanted to swaddle it in a blanket and rock it gently in my arms all the way back to Birmingham.

I didn’t, of course.

Because I think we all know that if I’m going to swaddle and rock any sort of fried meat sandwich, there’s going to be fried chicken involved.

And I will kiss it on its forehead, and I will name it Polly.

The end.

So right now it’s 7:07, and I’m sitting at my gate in the Birmingham airport waiting for a flight to New Orleans.

My flight leaves at 8:20, by the way. And I’ve been sitting here for about ten minutes. Which means that I arrived at my gate a full hour and twenty minutes before departure, or in other words: JUST LIKE I LIKE IT.

I have a thing about being rushed when I fly, and that thing is that I HATE IT. My husband, on the other hand, would be totally fine with wheeling into the parking garage 15 minutes before a flight and then having to jump on some high-speed golf cart in order to make it to the gate and then sprint down the jetway and then fall into his seat seconds before the plane’s door closes so that he could look at me, smile and say, “See? We made it!”

And then I wouldn’t say anything in return because if I did say something? WHITE-HOT FLAMES WOULD SHOOT OUT OF MY MOUTH.

Anyway. I’m here. And I keep looking over at the newstand because it’s not open yet and I need for it to be open because I don’t know how I can possibly read an Us Weekly on the plane if they don’t open that newstand gate and sell me one.

(I also see on the CNN Headline News that it’s Eddie Murphy’s birthday today.)

(HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EDDIE!)

By the way, the newstand just opened. One moment, please.

Okay. I bought an Us Weekly (“Reese’s Big Decision: HE’S THE ONE!”) and a Southern Living (“Celebrate with Our Best Easter Menu EVER!”). I’m in the process of making up with Southern Living, in case you were wondering, because I’ve decided that I simply cannot live without the recipes. And the photography. And the stories about the South. And I actually subscribed again a couple of weeks ago because we got a great offer in the mail and quite frankly my coffee table has been very, very lonely without the latest issues of SL to keep it company. I won’t get my first issue for about six weeks (hence the buying of the latest issue in the airport), but I imagine that when I go to my mailbox and pull out that first issue, the angels will sing and Peaches & Herb will play softly in the background.

Or maybe, you know, I’ll just pull the issue out of the mailbox and a someone will drive by and honk their horn really loud. There’s just no way of telling. But I much prefer the former scenario to the latter.

Happy weekend, y’all.

– This post of Antique Mommy’s makes my heart hurt in a whole host of bittersweet ways.

– If you’d like to win the DVDs that accompany Priscilla Shirer’s excellent Discerning The Voice of God Bible study, you can enter a giveaway over at AllAccess. The DVDs would be a huge blessing for your church or your Bible study group – no doubt about it.

– I have watched this episode of “30 Rock” at least eight times (it’s not for little eyes or ears – just FYI). It’s the funniest 22 minutes of television I’ve seen in a sweet forever, and since we don’t have new shows tonight, I’ll probably watch it for the ninth time. And laugh myself silly.