About Me

Who am I ??? A lifetime Louisianian. Yes, born , raised and will most probably breathe my last breath here.  Love it. I have a hubby (AKA, Mr. Smiley, because he always has a smile on his face ), a son and daughter who I will refer to as Thing1 and Thing2. Thing1 is grown and gone. Thing2 still lives here. I went to LSU for a BS in Home Economics. I met Mr. Smiley there and we tied the knot when I graduated.  I never looked back. I have done a lot of  catering over the years, but mostly I have been a SAHM(stay at home mom).  My grandfather was 100% Italian. He came to America when he was 18. He carried a thick accent his whole life. I claim to be mostly Italian, but I am really only  25%. A dab will do you. It is a strong gene, just ask Mr. Good-wrench.  Paw Paw and my dad always kept a huge garden and I grew up eating all sorts of fabulous veggies and fruits. We had a satsuma tree that bore so much fruit, that we would  freeze the juice and have satsuma slushies. I still have the juicer my Maw Maw used. They even grew strawberries for a while. Yummmm. My dad still keeps his garden and we often eat from it. There is nothing like fresh broccoli, kale, bell peppers and squash. . I live in a big city but the country life is in my blood. My mom is from a small town where she grew up on a dairy farm. She says things like "I reckon so" and "Where in the cat hair have you been?". Her favorite color is Turtle Dove Blue and it is painted in several areas in her house. We spent weekends visiting my moms parents(Nannie and Paw) home in the country about 30 miles away. They had cows in their front yard. I learned what a cow patty is at a very young age. I also learned how to catch crawfish on a string with bacon at the pond on their property.

Mr. Smiley's mom had a great impact on my cooking skills. She too, was a Home Economics major. She was the quintessential Southern lady. She made beautiful flower arrangements, sewed her own clothes,played tennis, taught bible studies, and cooked lovely meals.  She passesd away right before Katrina and we miss her greatly. Her name was Tootie. You will be reading more about her as we journey.

If you are familiar with the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, my family are the Greeks and Mr. Good-wrench's family are the WASPS's.

Another thing you may want to know about me is that I am an avid couponer and teach classes on the subject.  Check me out at www.havingcents.com.

In an attempt to having all my recipes accessible to my friends and family, I am to diving  into the world of blogging. Since food blogging is so overdone, I decided it would be fun (for me anyway) to report about my life and funny things that happen to me along the way. I hate journaling, well, at least I thought I did. I hope this experiment will keep me from having to journal stuff with pen and paper. I guess I can claim I am a blogger not a "journaler."  I need spell check anyway. I awarded myself to be an honorary Cajun  since  a lot of Cajun action happens around here. I live in a  suburban neighborhood. We don't have alligators in our back yard, but there is a TV show about alligator hunting filmed up the road a piece. What  we do have are  monster mosquitoes, 99% humidity, and the occasional hurricane. The upside is that I love Louisiana, its people, food, and way of life. Living here has afforded me the luxury of being among a diverse culture. The French, German, Italian and Spanish influences were brought here in the early years. The Asian and Latino cultures are quickly emerging.  I love them all and I have a great thirst to incorporate these influences into my food. And don't forget,we here in LA are next door neighbors to the Lone Star State(my next favorite state in the union).  Bar-B-Que and Tex Mex are LA faves as well. My wish is that you will make a happy kitchen filled with the smell of sauteed onions and garlic, feed your friends and family well and laugh a little as we go.




Here we are in 1986.