Food Interview

     Chicken backs and chicken necks, I used to eat left over food. That was all that was left after my brothers and sisters ate all the best parts of the chicken that was all that was left for me. He was an old time Italian, he used to cook all kinds of vegetables: mustard greens, turnip greens, collard greens. That's all we ate, we didn't eat much chicken so I didn't have to eat the backs and necks too often. That's all I had to eat, I had to like it. The point isn't whether you like it or not, the point is whether you want to eat or you want to starve. That's all we had to eat, its what he believed in, nothing but greens, cooked very little meat, had pieces of pickled meat for seasoning. He died of a heart attack, so much for eating all those vegetables. He used to drink a lot, he used to drink that old crow whiskey. That's why he didn't live that long. He had a hardened liver, that's what liquor does to you.
     I can't remember going to restaurants, he did have a market though. I can't rembember but he always was in the grocery business. I think the first one he had was in the city on the corner of Josephine and Chipewa. Most people cooked themselves, you know, it was econmical. Oh the 40s and 50s. Well people those days people liked to cook. I mean you cook a pot of beans or what have you and you can feed a couple people for a few days. Spaghetti and gravy, gumbo, they were all economical meals.

Sunday Lunch

For this Sunday's lunch I wanted something that would be warm, hearty, and tasty partly because it's a cold day a also because i was sulking in my wounds caused by the Saints' loss to the 49ers the previous day. And so i decided to fix myself a hamburger and french fries. I wanted the burger to resemble that of Lee's famous burgers, a locally owned burger joint that's been around for several decades. What's unique about Lee's burgers is that they mixed diced onions in with the ground meat when forming the patty and then fry it up with onions embedded in the burger. Being from New Orleans, I love onions. I made mine what is the equivalent of the "works" at Lee's with lettuce, tomatoe, pickles, mayonaise, mustard, ketchup, and shredded cheddar cheese, minus the tomatoe only because I didn't have any at my disposal. I rounded out my meal with a side of steak fries from Brother's Food Mart who surprisingly, in my opinion, make some of the best french fries around. I had large glass of lemonade to wash down this delicious meal. The lemonade, I made from the lemons produced by the lemon tree in my front yard, which are better than any lemons you're gonna find at a grocery store I might add. They're not too bitter and they're huge, some people even mistake them for oranges.