Okay for all of you out there that was not born in New Orleans let me explain the significance of this. In the days..before washing machines and such..when women hand washed all the clothes and linen, which was done on Monday..they would put a pot of beans on the stove to cook all day while accomplishing this...I mean Heaven forbid if the men of the house did not eat!!!!! (ha ha)...They would simmer or cook all day, which is actually the secret of a successful pot of red beans. Red beans by no means is a dish that is meant to be whipped up in an hour. It takes it own pace, kind of like living in New Orleans does. Anyways..not sure about now (post-Katrina), but pre-Katrina...you could go to a restaurant or a hole in the wall mom and pop place and their Monday special would be red beans and rice with sausage and cornbread.
I adopted this tradition after I was married to my second husband. It was great and even though there is no way I could let my laundry sit for a week at a time...I would do this on Mondays. Well, it has been awhile since we have done this...one being that beans other than Camilla beans...just seem not to work and now that I have a stock pile of them after a recent trip to New Orleans...the tradition is once again starting. So next Monday and every Monday here on out...we will be having red beans and rice with sausage.
I remember cooking this for several functions, especially church functions. I remember several people asking me for a recipe and me not being able to produce one because you just "eye it." I remember going over to one sister's house, Jenny Dahl, and "teaching" her how to cook my red beans. I remember her telling me that they came out close to mine and I was ecstatic that someone, who was only in New Orleans for a brief time while their husband was in medical school, would be able to leave New Orleans with a little bit of history and a little bit of what makes New Orleans, well New Orleans. I am wondering if that sister still makes red beans and rice???
I miss my city..my comfort zone...I was scared to leave and as Ignatius J. Reilly from A Confederacy of Dunces said, "Leaving New Orleans also frightened me considerably. Outside of the city limits the heart of darkness, the true wasteland begins." Gosh how true this is. I remember driving west and thinking, "Is this how the pioneers felt?" (That is so another blog!!!)
As I make my home in San Antonio....I will implement every little bit of New Orleans that I can. I will make my New Orleans here in San Antonio, which is also another great place with so much history and little things that makes San Antonio, well San Antonio. I prayed about where to leave and HF knew my heart and sent me here. I am so grateful that I walked by faith and not by sight. For one...I am not too far from my 1st love.....New Orleans.
Until next post,
Always Susan :0)~
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