I once went to a wedding that Paul Prudhome catered. The man can make an incredible feast. My favorites were the oyster shooters and most of all the chocolate chip pralines. It took a LONG time to figure out how he did pralines with whole chocolate chips in them. I asked him at the reception if he'd mind sharing the secret with me about the choc. chips, and he took my address. Three days later, a hand-written Chocolate Chip Praline recipe arrived in the mail with a dozen or so pre-printed ones. Very nice guy. I'll not forget that. He's also lost QUITE a lot of weight. He's still puttering around on his scooter though.

Hanging in my kitchen:

Never trust a skinny cook.

Makes sense to me.

Oh, and the trick with the chocolate chips is a really simple one. Once you figure it out. (His directions didn't exactly say)

I also have to say, Food is one of the main reasons I could never leave New Orleans. I've eaten all over the place, and it's just... so... boring. I still need to do friday lunch at Gallatoire's. At least once. It's the kind of thing where you have to stand in line for 2 or so hours beforehand to get in, and once you do, you don't leave for 4-5 hours. The weirdest thing is, people pay for someone to stand in line for them. I had never seen anything like that before.

Ah. here we go.