Finger-lickin' Good Chicken

If you are looking for the BEST fried chicken in the WORLD.... go to Willie Maes! I had seen this place spotlighted on the Food Network and the Travel Channel but forgot what state it was in. I was looking through a brochure in our hotel and recognized the place. My mom had heard about it too and said that someone really recommended it. Here is the story.....Willie Mae is 95 years old. She is still on the move and even comes to the restraunt to cook sometimes. Her son (who looks just as old as her) is in the kitchen every day and told us that he has been there since 1954. The restraunt is in the middle of a residential neighborhood that was flooded in hurricane Katrina. The neighbors wanted the restraunt fixed up so it could reopen and they all started to work to re-build. It was such an inspirational place...the BEST customer service EVER....and WONDERFUL food!Mom was tearing into her chicken.....Be prepared to see a group like this out front. These are people waiting to get in to eat. It is pretty small inside (12-15) tables and EVERYONE wants some chicken. It is WELL worth the wait though.

Eating through the Big Easy

New Orleans has AMAZING restaurants and yummy food! We tried almost all of the Cajun, Creole, and French dishes that the French Quarter and New Orleans are known for. Here are some of my favorites.Super delicious breakfast......pecan waffles....Cajun style french bread toast. I loved the name of the place too. Cafe Du Monde.....Beignets. This place is KNOWN for their French doughnuts. They are great! The line to get in is a mile long most of the day (they are open 24 hours). Be prepared to leave COVERED in powdered sugar.

My FAVORITE dinner place was called Deannies Seafood. They brought out boiled potatoes that were cooked in the Crawfish (aka Mudbug) boil. They were SUPER spicy potatoes! My favorite part of their menu is the Barbecue Shrimp. BBQ shrimp in New Orleans is COMPLETELY different to the BBQ that you are probably thinking of. It is a mix of spices, butter, and worcestershire sauce. The shrimp were HUGE and sooooooo finger-lickin' good! Ha!
My order of crawfish....YUM!Oyster Bar....a little too muddy for me.Mom at the French Quarter Festival with an enormous hot link po-boy. I love the expression on her face.BBQ shrimp cooking for po-boy sandwiches.Mom with a bowl of jambalaya.One of the best sandwiches I have had in my life. I had seen Samantha Brown talk about these on her travel show and then I realized really how popular they are once I got to N.O. They are amazing and I have to admit that I had to go back twice. Scrumptious!

Buildings in the Beautiful Big Easy......

Korean Food Recipes....

I have mentioned a million times that I LOVE Korean food! I eat it all of the time and it is sooooo yummy and very healthy. I know some of you like Korean food too. It might be because 1) you just like it, 2) you lived here in NY with me in 2000-2001 and ate it in Flushing, 3) your hubby was in the Korean program in Flushing in 2000-2001. Regardless of why you might like it....if you want to check out some recipes....I have found some good websites. One of my Korean friends, Morin, told me about KoreanKitchen.com and I surfed the web and found KoreanRecipes.org. They are both great websites that are very helpful if you want to cook these challenging recipes at home. Korean Kitchen has more pictures but Korean Recipes has VERY helpful videos. Just thought I would pass the info along......enjoy!

It's Spring Break Baby.....

Sometimes I feel like this.....but with much more casual clothes and a few extra pounds! It is nice to be on Spring Break this week. I am off to pack my bag for New Orleans...my flight leaves Tuesday. Sigh! It is time to celebrate! I think I would do the spread eagle cheerleader jump if I could....but since I can't....I'll just shout "Wahoo!" and throw up some jazz hands!

It's that time of year again!

Counting the days.....

I cant believe how fast time goes by! It is almost time for me to go to New Orleans....Yahoo! Who all has been there before? Anyone? If so, any suggestions of things that I HAVE to or MUST do? I am counting down the days......It should be lots of fun!

What Matters Most.....

I have posted this picture before....but I really love it! It is of my parents walking on the beach in Costa Rica. I found a quote this week that I fit my parents perfectly and so I wanted to post the picture to go along with it. They are such a great example to me of really caring for each other and wanting to see each other happy, healthy, and successful. Great parents...great people... they are truly following the words of a dear Prophet."True love is not so much a matter of romance as it is a matter of anxious concern for the well being of ones companion." -Gordon B. Hinckley

Joseph (a.k.a. Gentlemen Peeler)

Oh my goodness! I kind of feel guilty right now! I was looking through my pictures that I took last Spring and I came across this picture. This guy, Joseph, has sold carrot peelers in Union Square in NYC for YEARS! He goes to the Farmers Market there and sets up his little display and does a "show" of sorts. He is from Manchester, England and shouts out crazy things in a strong English accent. His clothing is eye-catching because he is ALWAYS dressed VERY nicely and he is actually EXTREMELY wealthy and lives in an EXPENSIVE apartment in Manhattan. I have seen him interviewed on the news and even in the newspapers because of his selling ability and what a great entrepreneur he is. Well, guess what! I was going to post this and kind of laugh about it....but as I just googled him so I could find out his name for this post....I saw that he died a couple weeks ago at age 75. Oops! I guess I wont see him around the Farmers Market this Spring. R.I.P Peeler Man!

Oink, Oink, Oink!

You are probably saying to yourself, "What in the world is that?!" Well, it is a DIET PIGGY, of course! Ha! I saw this at a drug store near my house and it was in a junk bin on MEGA-clearance and I thought it was hysterical. You are supposed to put it in your refrigerator. It is light censored and so when you open the fridge door....it starts to SNORT really, really loud! It is supposed to remind you not to be a "piggy" and only go to the fridge for meals and good snacks, etc. Pretty funny! Read all of the panels to the box....they are great!

Come In....We're Open Late!!

Isn't this a cute kitchen sign? I saw it and had to get it since it was only a couple bucks. I was going to get one for my friend "Beak" since she is Martha Stewart/Rachael Ray/Paula Deen wrapped into one....but they didn't have any more with her name on it. Oh well!

Sushi and Fun.....

Another FUN Saturday! It included: an amazing Korean Sushi lunch with friends, a 3-D movie, a stop at the park, quick trip to the Asian Supermarket, and then pizza and TV watching at a friends house that night while she did my nails. She had a her own nail shop in Manhattan for a number of years and offered to share her expertise since I have been on a nail biting rampage lately. Hopefully this will help me to let them grow out again....it would be pretty hard to chomp through the gel tips that I have on now. Ha!

Sunflower heaven....

Isn't this an AMAZING picture? I LOVE it soooo much that I have had it as my desktop background picture on my computer for months. A friend of mine (the wife of a guy I served my mission with) took this picture on her way to work one day. I snagged it from her blog last year (oops! Sorry for not asking) and I remember her saying that she passed by this field all of the time during her commute and so she decided to stop and take a picture one day. Well, I think it turned out great!