Playing Nice

Fancy Herbed Crackers

Let's HEAR IT for spring.

Truly my favorite time of year. I tend to become one of these irritating people, smiling and singing and trying my damnedest to whistle during this time of year. I can feel it in my bones - trading suntan lotion in for dry skin lotion, lovely afternoon lunches taken outside to get as much Vitamin D as possible, laugher, friends, longer days, sandals, grilling, skiing, and generally unfurling myself mentally and physically from the tightly-curled ball I have become during the winter months.

I love spring.

So in the spirit, this post includes a recipe that involves no cooking whatsoever. And people will think you've slaved over a hot stove for hours. It has become one of my favorite afternoon snacks that isn't as good for you as (but tastes way better than) an apple, but better for you than say, a chili dog. The photo doesn't really do them justice: the crackers have the same consistency and taste as if they have been baked in butter in a single layer on a cookie sheet, then sprinkled deliberately with the herbs. Good news: this recipe involves neither butter nor the irritating and time-consuming frustration of lining a cookie sheet with one layer of freakin' crackers.

Our good friend Nash gave us our first taste (pardon the pun) of this dish as a side to shrimp bisque, and I think it's a great, easier, and perhaps slightly healthier alternative to garlic bread for any dish from casseroles to appetizers to croutons. Be creative. I know it's in you - after all, spring is just around the corner.

Ingredients:

• One large box of saltine crackers - four tubes to a box. I buy the cheapest ones I can find: the special value ones at the Kroger for $.88 a box do nicely.
• 1 1/3 cups canola oil
• 1 envelope ranch dressing mix
• Crushed red pepper to taste (I use about 1 1/2 teaspoons)
• Garlic Powder to taste (I use about 1 teaspoon)
• Dill to taste (I use about 2 1/2 teaspoons)

1. Open the crackers and put all into a gallon size plastic sealable bag.
2. Thoroughly mix together oil, ranch dressing mix, red pepper, garlic powder, and dill.
3. While it's still swirling around, pour it over the crackers in the bag.
4. Turn the bag over, upside down, and sideways every half hour.
5. In two to three hours, the crackers will have absorbed the oil and spices.
6. Store the crackers in an airtight plastic container. They keep a long time.

Peacock Paradise

It's still in development, but we're having a great time researching!

Mudbugs

Did I mention it's crawfish season?

I really wanted to include a picture of me with crawfish hand puppets, but I figured somebody might be offended.

Socialites

Crockett and I had such a big night last night!

First we went to Jessica and Ben's wedding shower hosted at Katy's house. It was too much fun! The BBQ was divine, and I swear the baked beans must have had crack in them, they were so good. And the desserts! Rebecca made this cake that had alternating strawberry and chocolate layers. But I liked Sarah's raspberry brownies the best. They were the B*O*M*B. The Wii Fit's gonna be griping at me and saying "ooooh" next time I get on, I'm sure.

Then we went to our buddy Peter's housewarming/birthday party. I guess it could technically be classified as a keger, as there was one at the back door, but it was some really good stuff - Shinerbock - so it wasn't like a frat party. Peter lives in a lovely house in Fondren with hardwood floors, tin ceilings, and an air of the good old days..... And speakers as big as I am. And a liquor cabinet that put ours to shame. We are really blessed with such great friends.

I am sure pictures will be posted on Facebook. I am sure all photos of me will look something like Shrek.

So I'm not as young as I used to be, and two parties, awesome friends, loud music, good wine, and beer took it out of us. Am glad I had the presence of mind to make these yesterday afternoon.

They're cranberry orange scones from the new cookbook. I'm interested in the fact that all orange flavor comes from only one teaspoon of orange zest. That's it - no orange juice, no grand marnier, just the zest. Am also interested that one orange produces about one teaspoon of orange zest. Will have to remember that, as that's not easy stuff to measure.

I'm already thinking of different variations on this theme. I put in pecans because you know I can't follow a recipe to save my life, but I'm thinking lemon scones with dried cherries would be pretty good too. Or maybe lime zest with dried cherries and lemon with some blueberries. Hmm. Mike likes raspberries. Wonder what would work with them?

Baby, where's the fire extinguisher?

I had some extra bananas lying around, and Mom just gave me Day in the Country, Sharing our History, Heritage, and Fabulous Fare Through the Generations from Chapel of the Cross Episcopal Church of Madison County, MS. And the Banana Boubon Layer Cake recipe seemed way too good to pass up.

The topping is made of basically a bananas foster, only they're cut crosswise instead of lengthwise. And they're served on top of the cake instead of on top of ice cream.

I've never flambeed anything before in my life... On purpose. And the idea of setting a flame to the pan of bananas and 1 cup of Kentucky bourbon seemed rather ridiculous and silly to me. The photo doesn't do it justice: I had to move the pan to the kitchen sink because the flames made their way up to the vent-a-hood (which was not on), about 3-4 feet above the stove.

But the flames finally died down, leaving a lovely syrup to pour over the top. All's well that ends well, but it was definitely an adventurous day in the kitchen.

In Keeping with the Resolution

Maybe it's not so much the beautiful things in life as the reflections on our center island in the kitchen. I kid about how we just bought a kitchen that happens to have a bedroom off the side of it.

Mike's aunt Nancy gave us this beautiful pitcher for the wedding, and though I've used it here and there for its intended purpose, my favorite use for it is pictured above. That way it remains stationary, and I don't have a heart attack every time somebody other than me picks it up.

I met the neatest person last week - Leslie - who is starting a beautiful flower arrangement business here in Jackson. She mentioned having small flower arranging classes, and I ate that idea up. During our converstaion, she talked about how you can put flowers in things other than vases, and though the above does depict that idea to a certain extent, I'm fascinated about what other containers she had in mind. Sure wish I was that creative.