January 11th, 2012 by Theresa

Few things will start arguements in the south like the topisc of food and football. The latter we won’t get into. I love the New Orleans Saints win or lose. The former is the source of my snobbery. One thing I am extremely picky about is Red Velvet Cake.

Photo courtesy of Stu Spivack

Many will say that it’s just chocolate cake with red food coloring. THESE PEOPLE ARE WRONG – mostly. The original recipe had cocoa in it  – which is different than chocolate. Trust me on this. If anyone tells you different,  just smile, nod and never eat their cooking.

The original cake had cocoa in it. Not the “Dutch Processed” kind we use today. Older recipes also had vinegar and buttermilk on their ingredient list. Add those three things and you’ll get a red  or reddish brown batter.

Now for the icing. I’m sure that the cream cheese frosting is very nice. Do yourself a favor. Try a homemade buttercream. I promise you’ll like it. The flavors are much lighter and balanced better.  I recently had a girlfriend make this for me. I ate most that cake myself. It was that good! For those who are wondering, the link to said recipe she used is here.

Be sure to show me pictures if you make the cake!

TB

Cake, football, Receipe, Red Velvet, saints

October 31st, 2011 by Theresa

As a native of Louisiana – and of legal drinking age, there are two things that are  a way of life: Saint’s football and Abita beer.  On that note, meet my new friend Tiffany. 

Now the question begs. Why the Saints? Why Abita? Easy. I always root for the underdog, the little guy, the longshot.  Why? Well that’s easy too.

The longshot and underdog types are everyday folks like you and me.   To know that there is a hope, how ever slim, that we can reach greatness is enough not only to stir the die hard fan in all of us  but to keep us little guys going on to greatness. But that may not satisfy most of you. Here’s an example.

The football team  New Orleans Saints won the Superbowl. This was a first – IN FRANCHISE HISTORY.  Insert joke about hell freeezing over here. For years they were known as the “Aints”  – all potential, no performace. For years, die hard fans stuck by the team. We travelled to away games, tailgated when we couldn’t afford tickets and partied hard even when we lost.  We fans stuck by the team. Our reward for 43 years of loyalty? A season played like no other, record breaking views of that NFL game of over 100 million people and the look on the Colts team’s faces as they got hit hard. < sigh > I still dream  about it…

And for Abita Brewery? They are the little brewery that could! They are the oldest and largest craft brewer in the Southeast.  Seriously, they had no idea that the beer was that good.  They had a dream to make the best and they did. How can you fault them for that? They do what they do best and damn the critics.  What’s more? They make really good beer!

So go ahead, take the longshot, root for that little guy!  Cheer on the independent artists and buskers! Like you and me they need someone who believes in them to keep them going though those dark years.  

Who are your long shots? Please leave me a comment!

cheer, football, saints, underdog, writing