Yes!...Fall is finally here!

Today our Little Eloise got to wear her fall colors instead of her uniform.

Yesterday I got to wear my jacket!

(Where we're from that's a big deal. LOL)

Sunday we had an awesome "Pastor Appreciation Day."

The service was beautiful.

After church we had an old fashioned Pot Luck.

We ate till we were busting at the seams.

The children played on a jumbo slide and a space walk.

This coming Friday we will have a bonfire/hayride/weenie roast.

I LOVE THE FALL!!!

Don't Forget....Next Tuesday!

EXTRA...EXTRA...READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!

And the winner is......

Sorry Tiff.....that was a valiant effort though.

Since You are such a team player I'm sure you won't mind giving your opponent my e-mail so she can claim her prize. Maybe if you're real nice she will cook one of the recipes from the book and invite you over. ;-)

The Big Question.....Drum Roll Please.....

In 1815 the last battle between the U.S. and England took place. This battle became known as the Battle of New Orleans. In what modern day city did this battle take place?

*If for some reason this post doesn't have a comments sarction then leave your answer in the post below. Also e-mail me with your mailing address.

Ahh...a nice bowl of GUMBO hits the spot, but not the winning number!

Well, since only 2 people responded to my little contest and neither was the winning number(3)... I needed to come up with a way to break the tie. Tomorrow at 9:00am(our time) I will post a trivia question and whichever one of the two answers it first will recieve the cookbook. If you know either of the two...as in you attend CLC, you might want to let the the two lovely ladies know about the show down. See Ya Tomorrow! As for my local friends....Beppi was first to tell me, but I loved Jennifer's singing telegram so ......I made a little more today and will be bringing each a yummy a bowl to the youth "slave auction" tonight!

Grosgrain: Marie-Thérèse Gown GIVEAWAY!!!!

Grosgrain: Marie-Thérèse Gown GIVEAWAY!!!!

Guess What's Cookin....

I am so excited about our church's new cookbook, "Cookin Up a Storm." I'm so excited that I'm going to give one away FREE to some lucky person. This isn't an ordinary cookbook. For starters, the cover is a print of an original oil painting done by my pastor's oldest daughter. This book also contains personal testimonies about our lives before, during, and after hurricane Katrina. "Cookin Up a Storm" also contains a special disc. On this disc are real photos of the monumental task we faced upon returning....It's not all doom & gloom though there are also several pictures of volunteers, the clean up, and some of our families with their refurbished homes. This book is more than a compilation of recipes, but a testament to the spirit of the people who still call this place home. Well.... enough with the commercial....on with the rules:

• 1.) If you are someone who attends church with me, you may NOT win the book, but the first one of you (who does attend my church) that calls me on the phone with the answer will receive a container of the mystery dish. If you do not go to my church the following rules are for you.
• 2.) View the following photos
• 3.) When you think you know what I cooked for dinner go to my side bar and link to my friend "Plain Old Kristi"
• 4.) Type the following comment on Kristi's most recent posting; Miss Riya is beautiful and cooks the most wonderful ??? (your answer goes here.)
• 5.)Submit your comment.
• 6.)Wait a little while..... I will announce the winner on my blog next Friday Oct. 24. I already have a # in mind ..so if you are the ? # correct answer you win! If you are the lucky winner, comment (on this blog) with an address where you can receive mail. ( I will arrange it so that your info will not post automatically & will delete it after I write it down.
• 7.)Get very excited about receiving a package from Louisiana...So excited that you take a picture of yourself jumping for joy as you open the package.
• 8.) Post picture and a link to my blog on your blog.
• 9.)#8 is optional, but would be greatly appreciated.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Hmmm.....let me see.....celery....onions....

.....& Freshly pressed Garlic....It must be.......

....anything we cook in Louisiana!

Here is a hint...there are hundreds dare I say thousands of recipes for this dish, but ask any local and they can tell you that the best recipe is their Mom's.

Here's another hint....this recipe was originally an African recipe.... we just kicked it up a notch.

If you don't know by now .....

.....then you might want to order one of the cookbooks and gichoo(get you) some cultcha(culture) dawlin(darling.)

LOL!

See Ya Later Alligator ;-)

To all of my busy mommy friends .... this is for you

Love & Prayers


P.S. Be sure to scroll down to the previous post for pics of the Natchez trip.

P.S.S. this graphic came from

http://www.touchamemory.com/

Weekend Update....

If you're ever in the Natchez Missippi area stop at Mammy's Cupboard.

Home made Blueberry Lemonade & Deserts.

They brought extra jars of lemonade & left them for us to refill as needed.

I ordered the turkey on homemade sourdough bread with blueberry chutney, avacados, lettuce, tomatoes, and mayonnaise. The sandwich was served with a side of potato salad and a cup of homemade vegetable beef soup. It was delicious. The atmosphere was quaint and I got out of there for around $12 (tip included.)

Our next stop was Longwood Plantation.

This was about half of our group. The others arrived later that evening.

We had a couple of people taking pics with other cameras. If the group seems a little confused...that's why.

Sugar decided to take some photos of her little dumplin in the ivy......

...Melboo got jealous, so she picked up her baby and placed her in the ivy and began snapping away...... she would not be out done!

Once we finished our photo shoot we toured the house. The basement was the only part completed in this 6 story, 30,000 sq.ft. mansion. We were able to tour the family's not so temporary...temporary living quarters.....all 10,000 furnished square feet of them. This mansion has a truly amazing story, but I don't want to ruin the tour for those readers who might be interested in visiting in person.

We checked in to the hotel and then walked along the river to the resteraunt where we met some of the other ladies from our church for dinner.

We did a lil bit o' shopping.

Afterwards we were all sleepy.

We needed our rest because the big day was yet to come.

Here I am with some young ladies.....

and with some not as young, young ladies.

We were all dressed and ready to go to Ladies Conference 2008.....

I won't even try to explain what happened at the meeting....You had to be there.

It was awesome.

Can't wait til next year!

This and That...

I have been feeling like this poor fella all week......

...But I just finished my last midterm for this semester!!!!!

(This is actually what my study area looks like)

So now I'm going to pack for my weekend trip!!!

Sick...I know, but I thought it was funny. ;-)

Have a great weekend!

My New Orleans Monday

This past Monday we attended the funeral of my husband's paternal grandfather. PawPaw was 92 years old. Born & raised in New Orleans, he had spent nearly a century loving the food, culture and music of the place he called home. It was only fitting that the hearse and limo were accompanied by a jazz band playing a funeral dirge. After the service we went to the home that has been in the family since the 1930's. The house was devastated by hurricane Katrina, but PawPaw was able to return home almost 1 year ago. We tried to maintain the original style, but at the same time make the house easier to navigate with a walker so it does look slightly different. At times PawPaw would remember, and at other times he would ask when we were going to bring him back to his house. Previous to the storm he was very healthy for his age. I suppose his old body couldn't handle the stress of being away from his way of life for two years and then coming home to a neighborhood that was nearly destroyed. When they first got back he would sit on the front porch and watch his neighbors and the traffic. He was happy to be home. He lived a long life. So many stories to tell. We learned a lot about the family history. I believe cousin Tien said that PawPaw's father and uncle spoke French, German, and English. He also said they opened up one of the very first coffee shops in New Orleans. When I'm finished with this semester I'm going to do some research for my hubby and daughter. Well any way, all things considered, we had a wonderful time. We looked at old photographs and laughed with hubby's cousins. We also did what most New Orleanians do on a Monday.....we ate red beans and rice and a whole slew of other stuff!

Gifts from afar....

I have been crazy busy this week. I should be able to take a breather by next Friday. Because of school I haven't done anything terribly interesting, but I thought you might enjoy some souvenirs I brought back from my recent cyber- journey.

I found this picture while surfing through blogs. I had to laugh because this is so my daughter when she grows up!

I found this picture on the blog, "Dudettes Gazette." This man actually built a life size Noah's Ark. For more pics and info you can get to the post via my links on the side bar. While you're there be sure to read the post right before this one about relationships....very thought provoking.

Love & Prayers Till Next Post,

MissRiya

S.O.S.!!!

HELP......I need your recipes. My human nutrition teacher just informed us that our next project(due 1 week from today) is to bring in an authentic ethnic dish. No problem....takee-outee here we come, give me a #5 special...."would you like fried won ton or egg roll with that?" Everything was great. I had a plan until he expounded upon the definition of authentic...as in these people really eat this stuff at home. He also added another twist to the assignment..... recipes must be from countries that most Americans are not familiar with like Ethiopia, Jamaica, or any other predominantly black countries. So here I am begging for recipes. I know I can Google, but I would prefer something "tried and true." I don't want to drive from here to kingdom come gathering expensive exotic ingredients only to find out after hours of prep that the recipe I randomly picked is randomly disgusting. Know what I mean?!!? So let me be perfectly clear .......HELP!!! It doesn't matter if I know you or not. If you have read this and have a good authentic recipe by all means post it. PLEASE.

P.S. Midterms start next week so excuse me if you can hear the panic in my posts. LOL