dinner new orleans style

It has been the Era of Freelancia lately, with work day and night, including weekends. So there's only been time to mist the orchids and use my new pull-up bar (yes, Fierce bought me one and I love it more than life itself) on the way to hitting the showers between the near-constant editing, writing, revising.

However, a girl's gotta eat. So Honky and I decided to pause the treadmill and cook it up BIG last night. We made alligator sausage cheesecake and chipotle shrimp with okra and black cherry tomatoes. No, I'm not kidding. I forgot to take pictures. I know! I'm really sorry! But it was hours in the making and by the time I finished the presentation on the plate, I was inches from eating my own arm. This was "nick of time" territory.

Was it good, you ask? Well it was kind of like when you're a kid and you insist you can eat the whole banana split and then get a few bites in and realize it's so big and you're so little and the victor in the battle will decidedly not be you. I admit it: we were defeated by the cheesecake. In fact, by the time I was done, I was on the floor beside my chair. It was all-caps rich. I'd intended for the okra and tomatoes to cut the sweet, cheesy goodness, but suffice to say its sauce, a roux involving bacon fat, may not have been the best device for cutting richness. Noted.

Happily, we'll have a chance to redeem ourselves with cooking in the weeks to come, as I'm enrolled with my bloodsister comrade BFF, the Spatula Maestro, in a cooking course called Kitchen on Fire.

Kennedy elves will also attempt to return with more dog news, shots of an orchid about to bloom, and book reports in time for your summer beach-reading shopping spree. So many books. I have read some greats. In the meantime, there's a pull-up record to beat.