Snapshots: Young Man River

"aunt sophie? do you know any more river stories?" lily asked while putting a new worm on her hook.

sophie dupree took a sip of cold water from her thermos and watched her niece cast a line out into the green water. lily wasn't really her niece, but she loved her like a daughter. the day that her husband, mack, brought the troubled girl home had been both the saddest and happiest day of her life. she was sitting on the front porch drinking iced tea when mack had pulled his big rig into the yard of their house outside new orleans. she smiled and waved when he climbed out of the cab, then frowned when he walked around to the passenger side. when he emerged a minute later carrying a small white girl in his strong black arms, she gasped.

"mack dupree! who is that? what happened?"

the girl stirred in his arms, looked around drowsily, and held on tightly to mack when she saw sophie running toward them. "uncle mack, where are we?"

"shhh, child. everything is okay. this is my home, and this is my wife sophie."

sophie watched the fear fade from the girl with mack's explanation. then, to her amazement, the girl jumped down and threw her arms around sophie's neck, crying her little heart out. sophie held her tight, listening to mack tell the story. when she asked for more details, the girl--lily as she was calling herself--became terrified and cried that she couldn't tell couldn't ever ever tell please don't make her tell please please she can never tell the bad man is still out there and will find her please don't make her tell!

they didn't make her tell. instead, they took her in and raised her as their own. since sophie herself was half-white, they claimed she was an orphaned cousin. mack's sister was a county clerk and helped with the paperwork. sophie had never known that she could love anybody as much as she loved that skinny little girl.

"child, that river has more stories than louisiana has flies," sophie told her as she swatted another one away from her face. "one time, there was a little girl like yourself fishing in the river, singing a song she learned in church. she had the prettiest voice you ever heard, and the river loved to hear her sing. he began to send all the fish in his water down to where she fished. that way, she would always catch fish and keep coming back to the river, and he would continue to hear her sing."

"that's so sweet!" lily exclaimed.

sophie shook her head. "no, child. it was selfish, selfish to send all the fish in the water to one person when so many other people relied on the river to put food on their tables and fill their bellies."

"oh, i didn't think of that," lily said. "did people go hungry?"

"oh yes, child. it was awful. and when the river's father--the sky--heard about it, he was furious!"

"what did he do?"

"why, he called up a storm and made a powerful twister come down that lifted her and her family up and blew them all the way to texas!"

"texas? where the oil wells are? that texas?"

sophie laughed. "yes, child, that texas. but they didn't wind up all the way out there where the oil wells are. they landed right down on galveston beach! she didn't have to fish in the river anymore 'cause the gulf of mexico had all the fish they needed. the river never heard her sing again."

"that's sad. but, did all those people still go hungry?"

"no, child. the river learned his lesson and never shirked his responsibilities again. now everybody gets their fair share of fish. if they keep an eye on their bobber," she added with a nod toward the water.

lily yelped as the rod jumped in her hand and the bobber went down into the water. she jerked upward on the rod, laughing excitedly as it bent. "i've got one, aunt sophie. i've got one!"

sophie grabbed the net and watched lily pull the rod back behind her. she finally pulled a large, grey catfish out of the water and sophie swiftly caught it in the net. "you surely did get one. a big one!"

lily watched sophie pry the hook free and drop the fish into the bucket. "thank you, mr. river, for providing our supper tonight!" she blew the river a kiss.

sophie laughed. "you're a good girl, lily belle dupree!"

Three Mexican Sauces

red, white, and green, which are also the colors of the mexican flag. the red is roasted tomato-chipotle sauce; the white is roasted poblano crema; the green is roasted tomatillo-serrano sauce. they are all from rick bayless's mexican kitchen. the red & green sauces are especially versatile and worthy of making often and using them for all kinds of things: omelettes, tacos, chilaquiles, enchiladas, whatever. i decided to use them for these new mexico-styled stacked pork enchiladas. often these are just in red or green sauce, or in both for christmas-style. adding the crema (just roasted poblano with milk, cream, and buttermilk thickened with a roux) makes it even more interesting and the fried egg just takes it out of bounds. fabulous. just fabulous.

Apple Upside Down Biscuit Cobbler Cake Thingy

super easy weeknight dessert. i had a couple of wrinkly apples laying around and i remembered this recipe that the pioneer woman recently posted. quick & easy and pretty good. i added a scoop of breyers vanilla caramel ice cream. next time i would add more sugar and some cinnamon and/or freshly grated nutmeg to the biscuit dough. the original recipe is too much like a breakfast biscuit than a dessert biscuit.

Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

i don't really care for cupcakes, especially during those 4 months of the year when i have a beard because, as everyone knows, cupcakes are the natural enemy of mustaches. but, i have no beard at the moment and i liked the idea of these earl grey (which is bergamot oil) and lemon buttercream cupcakes. that's a great match, and i know my spousal unit will enjoy them. these are really good! and easy. and different. and good. and you should try these. i think i'm going to try making early grey creme brulee one of these days.

note: what is baking without a mistake? when i made the batter, i read 1/2 lb. of butter when it really said 1/2 c. regardless, it still tastes great. luckily, i caught my mistake before making the buttercream frosting, where the mistake would've been more problematic. also, the baker in the link said she used one tea bag but next time would use two. i used one, but i also brought the milk to a boil and then steeped another tea bag in the milk while it cooled to give it that extra earl grey flavor before adding it to the batter. i like it.

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

now this cookie is a definite scene stealer! when maddog bakes it, that is. the recipe is from alice medrich's book Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cookies. when maddie made the, i thought there were the best oatmeal raisin cookies i'd ever had. mine? don't taste as good. maybe i need to wait until tomorrow and taste them then. i decided to kick mine up a little notch by soaking the raisins in rum, but...the texture doesn't seem as good. it's a little...soft. i suspect it might be that i decided to double the recipe and perhaps shouldn't have doubled the baking soda. maybe? anyway, i'm hoping it improves tomorrow.

Gun Mandu

today i made these korean meat & vegetable dumplings (gun mandu) from andrea nguyen's great cookbook Asian Dumplings. these were super! (pic is of the second batch. the first batch was rather more...cajun-style.) one difference between korean and chinese dumplings is that the dough includes sweet glutinous rice flour, which makes the skins more chewy. another difference between these and chinese potstickers (guotie) is that 2 sides are pan fried as opposed to just the bottom. the innards include ground beef, firm tofu, bean sprout, onion, garlic, and assorted dry & liquid seasonings. i like the addition of toasted sesame seeds to the dipping sauce as well. definite scene stealers! (careful, though. these like to squirt when you bite into 'em!)

Kahlua Flan

i wanted something good but simple for dessert tonight and i remembered this recipe by emeril for kahlua flan. it's got to be the easiest flan i've ever made (although it stuck to the bottom of the pan a little bit). emeril says to dust it with cocoa and chocolate shavings. i recently bought this cocoa chile blend by mccormick's and decided to try that, along with some grated semi-sweet chocolate. i like how all the flavors in this come together (though try not to inhale the cocoa chile blend as you take a bite as the dry powder hitting the back of your throat will cause you to cough a little).

Now That's A Nacho!

that stuff that people eat in the cinema or at the stadium is an abomination. i mean the basket of tortilla chips with some weird cheese sauce poured all over it, or served in a cup on the side to dip the chip into. those are not nachos. what you see here are nachos. singular tortilla chips dressed simply with some refied beans, colby cheese, and a slice of pickled jalepeno pepper placed under a hot broiler until the cheese is hot and bubbly (more toppings than that is overkill). if you've never eaten this, you don't know what you're missing. now that's a nacho!

Which Came First: The Letter Or The Word?

gavin cardigan walked into the Pub and hung up his hat.

"hey, gavin. where'd you get the hat?" danny blake asked from behind the bar as he poured a beer.

"it's the one the Lurker made for me in an unpublished chapter a couple of years ago."

"oh, yeah. i forgot all about that chapter. so, how about some chipotle pork enchiladas?"

"mmm, rolled or stacked?"

"stacked," danny replied as he handed him a beer.

"throw a fried egg on top and i'm sold," cardigan winked and walked back to join his friends.

"have a seat gavin," sierra kicked a chair out for him. "marian is going to read us the latest letter she got for her column."

"ahem," marian elfman, author of the syndicated advice column Don't Be So Melodramatic! began.

"ducky," taylor whispered to her. "you don't actually say the word ahem. you're just supposed to clear your throat."

"throat-clearing noises are gross," marian declared. "i prefer the word ahem."

"i agree with marian," sierra said approvingly. "ahem is much more elegant."

"we should do that with other words," Mysterious Lurker suggested. "such as saying belch instead of making belching noises."

"and saying delicious instead of making smacking noises of approval," danny added as he delivered cardigan's enchiladas. "i'm always afraid of spittle when they do that."

"ooh, that's a good one!" said sierra. "people should just say spit instead of actually spitting."

"you realize that we're fictional and we never actually make those sounds anyway, right? all we do is describe them, so we're already doing what you're suggesting," gavin noted, making smacking noises of approval as he ate his enchiladas.

marian glared at him. "don't say stuff like that, gavin! now, ahem:

Dear Marian,
My fiance wants me to sign a pre-nuptial agreement. I wouldn't mind this so much except for one thing: I make more money than he does, I have greater opportunity for career advancement than he does, and my family is wealthier than his. Why should I sign a pre-nup when he has no wealth to protect?! If anything, I should have him sign a pre-nup to protect my wealth! He said it's a way for him to save face with his family. I say he's an idiot. What do you say?
Signed,
How Can I Be A Gold Digger When I Own A Platinum Mine?

"idiot," everyone present said at once.

marian nodded. "i agree. that was an easy one! also," she added, "he shouldn't be so melodramatic!"

tucker laughed. "hahaha, i love your column! it's a rich source of material."

he strummed his guitar and began singing:

dear marian, dear marian
my life is a mess
how i screwed up my laundry
is anyone's guess
my buttons are missing
my underwear shrunk
my shirts are all wrinkled
and smell like a skunk
signed, disheveled

disheveled, disheveled
you have no complaints
you are what you are
and you ain't what you ain't
so, listen up, buster
and listen up good
stop wishing for bad luck
and knocking on wood
and don't be so melodramatic!

marian made indignant faces as the others laughed and called for more.

dear marian, dear marian
my husband's a jerk
he takes all these pills
'cause he's allergic to work
he asks pretty co-eds
to come baby-sit
that wouldn't be so bad
if we only had kids
signed, good-hearted

good-hearted, good-hearted
you have no complaint
you are what you are
and you ain't what you ain't
so, listen up, buster
and listen up, good
stop wishing for bad luck
and knocking on wood
and don't be so melodramatic!

marian hmph'd as everyone sang the last line together and called for more.

dear marian, dear marian
i need your advice
i teach high school english
my students have lice
they're rude and belligerent
and smell like stale beer
they disrupt my class
and make fun of shakespeare
signed, frustrated

frustrated, frustrated
you have no complaint
you are what you are
and you ain't what you ain't
so, listen up, buster
and listen up good
stop wishing for bad luck
and knocking on wood
and don't be so melodramatic!

shakespeare walked over to collect the dirty dishes and joined marian in an indignant hmph and muttered, "as flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport."

**note: apologies to the great john prine for butchering his song Dear Abby.