Bam!

When I first arrived in New Orleans, I noticed a little something in the Catholic paper about a fund-raiser for St. Michael's School, a local masterpiece of education for children and young people with mental retardation. It is the "Chef's Charity for Children." Local chefs donate their time (and the food) for a cooking demonstration show, followed by, of course, a meal! I was hoping to do something special with my godmother while I was here, and this looked like just the thing. I called "Toodie," and she liked the idea, too, but we soon found out that all tickets were sold. Toodie has lots of friends (3/4 of New Orleans) and she put the word out that she was hoping to find two tickets that would not be used. Hours later, we got a call: a good friend of Toodie did indeed have two tickets for us! So I spent a good part of the day at the Hilton Riverside, learning how Emeril Lagasse makes Chicken a la King with herbed biscuits (oh, yum) and how 83-year-old Leah Chase, whose restaurant was all but destroyed by Katrina, makes a Creole specialty that is traditionally served on Holy Thursday (last chance to eat meat until Easter); it is called "gumbo aux herbes" or something like that. It is a yum and a half. Very intense flavors.
In between the recipe instructions, many of the chefs spoke about the recovery efforts in New Orleans. One of the chefs had reopened his restaurant on Friday; another opened a few months ago, but most of his staff lost everything. Leah Chase made a few little comments about "when you get to your trailer to cook..." Those trailer comments always brought a response of laughter. So many people are still waiting for trailers to live in.
Anyway, we were there with about a thousand other people, watching chef after chef do his or her magic on the stage.
Among the thousand viewers was my brother, with his wife. We just learned that my brother will be promoted to a full Colonel in the Marines (he is now in the Reserves). It is gratifying that the Marine Corps recognizes the talent, intelligence, vision, etc. that run in our family!!