I guess you could say I'm a bit obsessed with po-boys lately.  In the weeks leading up to the po-boy festival, I visited a couple of my favorite po-boy spots to reminisce, to remember how good the basics can be.  I had fried shrimp at Parkway and shrimp and oyster at Crabby Jack's, and then those wonderful little odd po-boys at the fest.  I thought I'd had my fill for a while, until Paul told me he'd overhead someone talking about a blackened shrimp po-boy.  My interest was piqued.  Then, he said, "It'd be good with a little bacon sprinkled on it."  Yes, it would.  Then, "And maybe some goat cheese?" I almost fainted.  Yes, blackened shrimp with bacon and goat cheese would be good--very, very good. If it sounds bizarre or even blasphemous to load a seafood po-boy down with extras like bacon and cheese, consider the Peacemaker, that ultra-delicious po-boy of fried oysters, bacon, and American cheese. Sounds crazy, but it's fantastic.  If American cheese can't hurt a po-boy, then for sure goat cheese couldn't.

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Although we had a relatively mild July here in New Orleans, August is really digging its hot little heels in.  With a little over a month of dawn-to-dusk swelter in store, I thought I'd offer up some cooling treats (and words) to keep us all going.

In New Orleans, summer means cold sweet things.  Get to Angelo Bracato's and dive into some gelato!  Even a bracing espresso goes down easy after a scoop or two.  I resoundingly recommend the apricot gelato, followed closely by their heady version of zabaglione.

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I've been thinking a lot about sustainable kitchen practices, by which I mean not just the foods we're eating and cooking, but how we're shopping, planning (or not), growing, and storing.  For years, I've been a big believer in planning an entire week's meals as a way of saving money.  But sometimes I think that holding too fast to a planned menu can actually cause food waste; if you purchase what you imagine to be a week's worth of food at one time, but you end up not needing that much, what do you do with the excess? And what happens if the meals you planned to make don't store well once prepared?  I don't have easy solutions to these questions, other than trial and error, and an idea that's new to me: maybe a little less planning is a better way to go.

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The past few weeks have been full of changes.  The weather is a given, but also the pacing of the days, workloads and attitudes toward workloads, and self-designed ideas about life in general.  Fall tends to have this effect on me regardless of what's going on in the world.  This fall I'm busier than ever, but I'm choosing to regard the busyness as a gift instead of a headache.  Living in this city is also still quite a challenge--almost too much of one at times--but I'm learning to be patient with it.  Sometimes it feels unknowable.  It throws so many parties for itself, how do you ever get a chance at some quiet one-on-one?

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Creole tomatoes are in their green state these days, which is fine with me.  For one thing, I know that the ripe red creoles are just weeks away; for another, I love fried green tomatoes.  Love them.