Ahhhhhh...

The mess....

Ugh!

The mess begins....

The tile people should be here any minute. We are replacing this old (25 years to be exact) linoleum with this tile... In the picture it is the largest tile. So, the mess begins. The linoleum will be ripped out and donated to Smithsonian... kidding of course... and then the tile will be laid in the utility room, small hallway and powder room. Tomorrow the men will return to put the grout in. Excited but I am a nervous wreck. Wish us luck.

Barbecued Shrimp

Barbecued Shrimp


Serves 4

6 lbs. shrimp, heads on (Do not peel!)
2 sticks butter
¾ c. olive oil
¼ c. Worcestershire sauce
Juice of three lemons (we use limes)
1 tsp. garlic powder (I use fresh, minced garlic)
2 tsp. paprika
2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 ½ tsp. salt (or to taste)
½ tsp.Tabasco (or more according to taste)
1 Tbsp. rosemary leaves
1 tsp. oregano leaves

Rinse shrimp in cool water and drain. Spread the shrimp on a large shallow baking pan. In a saucepan, melt butter, then add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Pour sauce over shrimp and marinate for 1 hour.

Bake at 325 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes. Stir a couple of times with a spatula. Do not overcook. Serve in a soup bowl with lots of hot French bread to sop up the sauce.

Be forewarned – this can only be eaten with your fingers and plastic bibs are recommended!

Also… cold, cold beer is a must or a tall glass of ice tea makes this an awesome treat!!

This recipe is by Marcelle Bienvenu from her book Who’s Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make a Roux? It’s one of my all-time favorite cookbooks to just read… and the recipes are excellent!! Bought the book in New Orleans. If I ever get around to writing my own cookbook I will fashion it after this one.

Remembering this day - September 11, 2001

I would be remiss if I didn't acknowlege what this day means to me. I heard someone on a news show today say that people are forgetting where they were when the planes crashed into the Twin Towers. Not possible unless they were in a coma. The day had started off like any other school. Rush, rush to get our youngest son fed and out the door for his short walk to the high school. I had Fox News on, but was too busy to catch the news flash. The phone rang and my dear friend, Mary Kay, asked me if I had seen what had happened. "Get to the TV", she instructed me. As I rushed to see what was happening I saw the second plane hit the tower. I absolutely could not believe what I was seeing. When we experience an historic event, we remember who we were with, what we were doing and where we were. This surpassed President Kennedy's assassination, nightmares that the Viet Cong were at my bedroom window and even remembering back on loved ones who had gone on to their reward. I thought, War of the Worlds! That's it. This was a play on the radio event that scared everyone within range of the radio towers. But it was not. My friend and I connected in horror, shock, grief and even fear. Where were these terrorists planning to attack next? Americans just don't prepare for events such as this. This changed our lives. The innocence was over. A new America was emerging. We are a little wiser, a lot less trusting, a bit sadder. But we've trudged along and demanded to the powers that be, that this shall never happen again.

I am sad to think of the people who lost their lives. Among them was certainly someone who had the answer as to how to solve world hunger. Someone else knew how to stop child abuse. Another person knew how to prevent and cure cancer. We lost the very people who could have made life better for the whole world. I am sad for their families and their friends. Their hearts will never stop aching.

We will keep going. We have learned to stand tall, pay closer attention to the world issues and governments and prayed like never before for peace.

God Bless America.

"Gumpy"

Domenic Victor DePasquale was my grandfather. He was born in 1901 not long after the Galveston Hurricane in 1900. The story is... his parents had moved from Brazos County, Texas to Dickinson, Texas and opened a business. When the Galveston Hurricane hit, my great-grandmother, who was very pregnant with my grandfather, was trying to walk through the storm from their business to their home. She was carrying an oil lamp with her. The wind and rain were so powerful that debris was blowing and even hit her in the face, the force knocking her to the ground. The lamp posted here on this blog is the lamp she carried, the dent from her fall. Needless to say she was battered and bruised and fortunate that her pregnancy was still in tact. There could have been a change in history.

D.V. DePasquale graduated from Texas A&M College and then went to Cornell University where he earned his Master's Degree. He returned to Texas, married (you may have read about "Jean" earlier) and eventually became the County Engineer for Galveston County, Texas. He was determined to extend the Sea Wall in Galveston as it had successfully protected the area from other storms. D.V. was a key force in accomplishing this deed and his name is displayed on seven plaques near the Galveston beach. His memories of stories told of the Great Storm of 1900 in which 6,000 people lost their lives, must have had an impact on him. He lived to see his dream realized and today if

you walk on the beach of Galveston and see a plaque like the one below, you will see my grandfather's name.

Today is the anniversary of Hurricane Ike. When this hurricane hit I recall hearing reference to the Galveston Sea Wall and how it had held and although there was damage, there would have been more if not for the sea wall. 

D.V. DePasquale also served on the school board in Dickinson, Texas. He proposed to build a school for the African-American children and pushed to get it done. My mother recalled what a frightening time that was as the Klu-Klux Klan burned a cross on their front lawn. The school was built though.

After all this I have to share with you that we had a funny name for my grandfather. It was Gumpy. I know. It
has a disrespectful ring to it. But Gumpy said he didn't mind as long as we didn't call him "Grumpy". I have wonderful memories of this man and so proud that he made such a difference in many lives... and helped to shape mine.