Defeat

For those of you that know me you know I do NOT like to lose but it is time to suck it up and admit defeat. Yep, the Bulldogs let me down and Brett has officially won the bet. I have the tickets to the Egg Bowl, several places to party in The Grove, a place to stay and next week I will go buy the bottle of Johnny Walker Black.
MSU was the first school in the SEC to set a record by hiring the first black coach - wonder if they'll set another one by firing him??? If Croom does not get rid of the offensive coordinator and special teams coach then something has to be done. I'm about ready to go back to cheating and winning - where's Jackie???? Can anyone tell me???
While we are on the subject of football - November 22 is Jere Barrier's birthday. That is also the day that Ole Miss plays LSU in Baton Rouge. Now for those of you that did not have the pleasure of knowing Jere, she was a HUGE Ole Miss fan. I've had a very strong feeling for the last week that Ole Miss would defeat LSU in Tiger Stadium next Saturday - In memory of Jere I'll be pulling for the Rebels and will even do a Hoddy Toddy -Happy Birthday DooDah!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2cDkFxpYrc

Guests & Gumbo

I got a most welcome but unexpected text message last week. Lee Ann was still in Grenada, Mary Lee had the weekend off and they wanted to come to Jackson on Saturday. Kay decided to come spend the night too.

To my delight the weather was tuning cool and this would be the perfect weekend to cook gumbo. It is an all day affair but well worth the time and effort. The first thing you need to do is cook some bacon, ham and andouille sausage in the pot you are using for the gumbo. Take out of pot when done, save for later. You may need to add some more oil to the pot in order to make your roux. Add plain flour, stirring constantly and cook until dark brown. When the roux reaches the desired color add your chopped vegetables (5-6 small-medium onions, 1 green bell pepper, 3-4 cloves garlic). Cook the vegetables for a few minutes and then add about 2 cups hot water (more if needed), 2 bay leaves, 1 Tbsp Louisiana Hot Sauce, 1Tbsp K's Cajun Seasoning (recipe to follow), 1 tsp thyme, 1 Tbsp Worcestershire, juice & pulp of 1 lemon. Add 2-3 cans fire roasted tomatoes. Add the bacon/ham/sausage back to the pot and a bag of cut okra. Let simmer until

vegetables are tender. While this is cooking peel/devane your shrimp.

Add shrimp to pot - cook until done - serve over rice - and don't forget the garlic bread.

K's Cajun Seasoning: 1(26 oz) box salt; 3 Tbsp black pepper; 2 Tbsp garlic powder; 1 tsp onion powder; 1 tsp nutmeg; 2 Tbsp Accent; 2 Tbsp dried parsley flakes; 4 Tbsp Cayenne pepper; 2 Tbsp chili powder (this makes a lot, store in air tight container and keep in the freezer)

The Saga of The Bet

Ole Miss has now won 5 games while MS State has only won 3. Both teams have this weekend off (thank goodness, I don't think I could take another weekend like this past one). Let me refresh your memory - I said the bet was that State would have a better season than Ole Miss AND kick their ass in Oxford at The Egg Bowl. Well, it pains me to admit this but I do not have a snowballs chance in hell of winning (thank you Bulldogs) even if they win their next 2 games. In order for Brett not to be able to collect on the bet Ole Miss would have to lose their next 2 games and State would have to win their next 2 and then we would be tied going into the Egg Bowl. The bet said "better season and win in Oxford" so if by some strange miracle we are tied going into the EB then I think it is a toss up. I would ask all of you what you think but I really don't care, after all it is my big fat mouth that got me into this bet so I think I get to make all the rules.

Sassy Sows

The Sassys have missed the last 2 BBQ contests and now we are down to our last one - yep, our last chance to win a spot in the MBN championship contest next June. This weekend we will be going to Oxford (yes, I said Oxford) to compete. I'm not sure who all will be there but I'm sure it will be some fierce comeptition. Keep your fingers crossed for us. Stay tuned - results will follow next week.

Octoberfest

I started this post on Oct. 16 and here it is Oct. 23 and I'm just now getting back to it. Since I've taken so long to write about it I have decided to just give you the short version - Kay & I went up there Friday morning and ended up staying until Sunday. We had a great time - the weather was perfect for being outside and the contest was a big success with 10 MBN teams and 38 patio teams. The contest winners are as follows: 1st place Hog Ubon's; 1st place shoulder Red Hot Smokers; 1st place ribs Ghost River Smoke-a-holics - Grand Champion was Ubon's. Congratulations to all these fine teams - again I say, job well done!

There are a couple of photos from the contest that I just couldn't resist sharing. (We don't call this blog Torture & Bliss for nothing - you figure it out)

And this my friends is Ronnie Hamilton - the only man I know that wears a gold plated rib bone around his neck. The story is that this rib came from his hog that he won with in Memphis. Alan, this photo is for you - if you had been in Cleveland you could have met Ronnie and heard the story first hand.

The Bet

After the game last weekend when MSU beat Vandy - yep, that is what I said, MSU beat Vandy 17-14 - the score on the bet is now Linda 2, Brett 3 - watch out, I'm catching up

More BBQ

Last weekend was the BBQ contest at The Chapel of The Cross. They have had the Day in the Country festival for several years and 7 years ago they added the BBQ contest. There were 10 teams participating this year - just to name a few Ubon's, Diamond D, Steve's Magnificent, Fireman John's, Dr. Swinestein, and Barnyard. There were also arts and crafts booths there. Barnyard won Grand Champion and because they had already done this the pass down went to Diamond D's. Congratulations to all the teams that placed and to the winners - job well done! I hate that The Sassy Sows were not there participating but I certainly enjoyed getting to judge. If you have never been to this festival I strongly encourage you to check it out next year.



This weekend there is a BBQ contest in Cleveland, MS. I will be collecting Baby Kay in the morning and we'll buzz on up thru the Delta. This contest has been one of our favorites for years. The official name of it is Octoberfest. They will have live music on Friday night and arts/crafts on Saturday. While there I will also get a chance to run over to McCarty and purchase myself some new pottery. I'll have photos and stories of our adventure posted next week so check back in. In the meantime, have youself a good weekend!

Vidalia cont'd.

I left a couple of things off of the Vidalia write up that were just plain worth having their own mention. I have to tell just how inventive the group at Ubon's is. I think I'll start off with Jacob, the littlest Ubon (Leslie & Doc's son). I found him sitting on a cooler with the most intense look on his face stiring a "pot" of something. When I inquired as to what his recipe was I was informed that it was some type of "soup". I told him that it "must be documented" (I learned that from Beeve and Bradley) so off the cooler he came and here is he proudly displaying his
"soup". I see a BBQ chef in the making!

On Friday night before Dr. Father Vivian's birthday bash started I noticed that there was a new addition to the Ubon's site located just outside the fence. I am not quite sure if Beeve invented this on his own or if he had help. Anyway, here are his 2 precious daughters, Erin & Claire demonstrating the proper usage of this new addition. I'm not sure that they made any money off of it but it was quite creative.

And you really could see 2 states and a casino!

Cudos to Ubon's for creativity!

Ole Miss

Just wanted to say congrats to the Rebels for defeating Florida in the swamp - NOT!!! Where in the world did that victory come from - ooohhhh, I know - we lost 2 very good friends, Jere Barrier and Sidney Chaffin within the last few months - they were both die-hard Rebel fans and I just know that they had something to do with this - I will say this just for them (and nobody else):
Hotty Toddy - Gosh A'mighty - Who in the hell are we - hey, flem flam bim bam - Ole Miss BY DAMN!!! -
I love and miss you both!!

oh, yeah - Linda 1; Brett 3 - I'm not digging this score at all! Looks like I MAY possibly be buying my own bottle of wine to go with that lasagna BUT I'm not giving up - after the LSU game it looks like Coach Croome has finally realized that Lee needs to be our QB instead of Carroll - Wesley tried hard but he definitely needs some more work or needs to be moved into another position - hopefully they can regroup after being off this weekend and come back bigger and better - I have faith in them and I know they won't let me down!

Vidalia

This past weekend was the Jim Bowie Festival in Vidalia, LA. The Sassy Sows were the reigning champions of the BBQ contest -in fact we have won the past 2 years. We went down there with great anticipation - could we pull off a Three-peat??? We got there Friday morning and began setting up our area and prepping our ribs.

The weather was perfect - light little breeze blowing, sun shining and we did not have many love bugs to deal with. By late afternoon we had our area all decorated, the ribs were safely tucked in for the night and we were ready to relax for a while.

Brian (aka Beeve) had a surprise b'day party planned for Dr. Father Vivian down at Ubon's site Friday night. The Sassys had not one but TWO cakes hidden safely in the coach (courtesy of Baby Kay and Becky, Egg Roll's wife). Egg Roll (aka Bob) and Dale were busy cooking none other than egg rolls and sweet potatoe fries for our dining pleasure and as usual, they were both delicious (thanks guys!) We had a "ride about parade" prior to the birthday

celebration. Now this did not compare to the grocery cart parade we had in Memphis but it was still fun. As soon as the parade was over the girls (Erin & Claire) got the banner that Baby Kay made and walked around the area where the cooking teams were to round everybody up and then we wished Dr. Father Vivian a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

After this it was time to go home, rest up and get ready for the big day on Saturday.

Now, back to The Sassy Sows - we were expecting great things from our ribs that day. The color was perfect, the flavor was perfect and the tenderness was perfect. I must apologize for not having a photo of the finished product but I was too busy to stop and take one and my "official photographer" Baby Kay was busy judging. Come to find out we did not make finals but after all was said and done we came in 4th which is not bad considering the competition that was there. I have to congratulate Ubon's for taking the #1 spot in whole hog - Beeve, job well done, hog was wonderful!!!

Also, congratulations is due to Mark and 10 Bone team for taking the #1 spot in shoulder and ribs - we apparently didn't take Mark thru the drive-thru liquor store enough (and that is a private joke)! Here's the Grand Champion photo - we are very proud for you I can not end this post without showing you a photo of the winning tropical drink done by our friends at Diamond D from Newton, MS. The name of the drink is the Blue Sunomi and here it is - Tracy outdid herself this year by adding the goldfish - I would love to come up with a drink to compete with her next year but I'm not sure that I can get this creative - I'm taking any suggestions that you readers want to contribute. Her father-in-law Mike came up with the actual drink recipe and he said that there is nothing in any bartender guide that duplicates it so it is a one of a kind. Tracy was kind enough to give me the recipe so we can have this any time we want but we will never enter it in any contest - EVER!

Congratulations again to all my friends - hopefully we will all be competing against each other soon. And many thanks to Donna, Regina & Findley and their helpers for taking on the job of orgainzing the contest and taking such good care of the teams and judges - we appreciate your efforts more than you will ever know.