Starting today this is the official Kerry Blog t-shirt and you can get it here. And no, this company doesn't know who I am, so whatever.

The best cook that I know is my Aunt Vicki. She makes the best desserts ever (she is the reason that I always bring a dessert to functions) and she can rock the heck out of a casserole. Aunt Vicki doesn't cook often, but when she does, her food is delicious. And she's a stick. She inheirited the Lewis' skinny gene.

How many Muppets had to die for China Chow to wear this "dress"? I bet she's the kind of girl who orders soup and then says "omg there is a hair in my soup" and pull it out and it's violet. I like how she looks all "I'm not wearing all of Rhianna's and Lady Gaga's and Lil Kim's wigs at one time."

First, I'm not sure out of all the restaurants I've been to which is my favorite. Today I'm going to say that Lola Deux is my favorite, even thought it's technically a food truck, but they also have the restaurant, Lola. Lola Deux's shrimp and grits are absolutely divine. It's not something you would expect from a food truck and I don't care where you are – you need to find them and get some shrimp and grits. 

Just a regular Thursday in a tutu in front of the Lola Deux food truck

That would be Thanksgiving dinner at my Mammaw and Pappaw's house growing up. No Thanksgiving dinner is the same as the one you grew up with. My Thanksgiving dinner consisted of Mammaw's cornbread dressing, giblet gravy, ham, English peas, brown 'n serve rolls, my Aunt Vicki's broccoli casserole, turkey, and Mammaw's sweet potato and pecan pies. We would snack on Rotel dip before the big meal because that's completely normal. Sometimes my mom made potato salad, but that's on the list of things I don't eat because it's not really a salad and it has copious amounts of mayonaise. One year my uncle's wife brought mashed potatoes and they went virtually untouched because that's not one of our Thanksgiving foods (I know it is for most Americans, but not the Lewis family). 

My ear hurts. Specifically, my left ear. This is the ear I’ve had issues with since I was little bitty. The last time I had an ear infection, my doctor said “wow, you have a lot of scarring in there.” Doctors shouldn’t say “wow” unless they’ve found diamonds while looking in your ear.

So, I think I need to go to the doctor for my ear and I’m just going to ask him to amputate it because I have another ear anyway.

One of the first things I learned about after moving to the New Orleans area is that people make red beans and rice on Mondays. I don't know why. And so, years ago, I soaked kidney beans overnight, sauteed onion and bell pepper, added sausage, and cooked the red beans to death, trying to get them to that creamy consistency like the hubs' grandmother's red beans.

And then Mere (the hubs' grandmother) told me she used canned Blue Runner red beans. Yep. 

Here is my super secret recipe for Red Beans and Rice.

1 16oz can Blue Runner Creole Cream Style red beans

1 16oz can New Orleans Blue Runner Spicy Cream Style red beans

1 chopped onion

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped (if you feel like it)

1 lb smoked sausage, sliced (I like Manda sausage)

1/2 stick of butter (I didn't say this was diet friendly)

Now, this is not hard. Slice the sausage in half, lengthwise, then slice it across, so that the pieces are like halves. Put the sausage in a pot on medium-low while you chop up the onion. Add the onion and butter. Add a cup of water to the pot. Chop up a bell pepper if you have one, or if you like bell peppers. Most of the time I leave it out because I forget to buy them. Make some rice. I make rice in my Pampered Chef microwave rice cooker. Once the sausage is cooked and the onion is soft, open up those cans and scoop the beans into the pot. Stir it all up and let the flavors get all happy while the rice finishes cooking. Ladle some red beans into big bowls and put a scoop of rice on top. In my opinion, having one can of the spicy beans makes the red beans spicy enough for kids. Adults and people who like spicy things (moi) can add Tabasco. 

Y'all need to know about this site with texts between a dog and his owner. Just go with it. 

And just like that, we're caught up.

This is a funny one because years ago I preferred baking to cooking. I was not taught to cook (or do anything really) by my mother, so it did not come naturally to me for a long time. When I was first married I started collecting cookbooks and discovered baking. I loved to make biscotti. I also made a lot of cheesecakes and breads. I loved rolling out dough to make cookies or pie crusts. I liked weaving pie crust tops. I baked a lot. 

The thing about baking is that it's exact. You have to be precise with measurements or things do not turn out as intended. I've never been an exact-type person. At some point I started really cooking. Cooking was this freeing thing that was fun and didn't have to be exact. If you like more garlic, add more garlic. If you don't like one spice, switch it for another. I loved trying new recipes. While growing up, my mom made the same things over and over (like a lot of our moms did). So, when I started cooking, I had millions of recipes to choose from, to alter, to make my own. And that's what I did.