The Couscous Chronicles

For the last seven years I have been locked in a mortal combat of absolute epic proportions.  While I had originally intended to write about my ongoing love-hate relationship with life in exurbia and its correlation with my family recently relocating from the quintessential Cincinnati exurb of West Chester, OH (home of Euro style roundabouts and the tallest man made object is the IKEA sign) to the inner I-270 beltway Mayberry (like the 1960s TV show setting) like village of [Read more →]

I know now what’s been missing in my life for the past thirty years.  You know that itch you could never satisfy.  I found it heading east on Interstate 70 near New Castle, IN off of an exit dubbed “Wilbur Wright Rd” in a rusting hulk of a sign bearing the word “Nickerson”. [Read more →]

Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of meeting my “new” neighbors Jackie and Josiah Saunders. [Read more →]

“After the storm, after the rain, after the harm and after the pain, after we laugh and after we cry after we live after we die, we need a healing”Strange Fruit Project “God is/After the Healing”  I finally built up the courage to watch the four hour Spike Lee directed HBO documentary “When the Levees Broke, a requiem in four acts” DVD set. [Read more →]

Okay I admit I am not a food critic and your life could be fairly complete whether you’ve eaten at anyone of these places or not, but in my opinion these are some pretty damn good choices for budget eats given you are in the vicinity of any one of these establishments.

• “Burnt Ends” LC’s BBQ – Kansas City, MO. – Succulent and smokey melt in your mouth BBQ”Garlic Chicken”
• “Garlic Chicken” Vie’s Snack Shack – Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI – Chicken fried and seasoned to perfection and every bite bursting with juicy flavor!
• “The Buffet” Lady and Son’s – Savannah, GA.  - Can you say butter?  The best southern fried chicken I have ever tasted hands down.
• “Catfish Acadiana” Walk-Ons – Baton Rouge, LA. – Down home cajun cooking at its best.
• “Fried Catfish Filet Basket” The Flying Fish – Little Rock, AR – A no frills fresh version of a southern classic.
• “Shrimp Po-Boy” We Never Close – New Orleans, LA. Worth the out of the way trip and you won’t regret it!

I am not much of a sports trash talker probably because I was never good in any one sport save maybe the occasional vintage video sports game.  Dr. J versus Larry Bird anyone?   [Read more →]

Upon entering Slim Goodies Diner, my buddy the good Doctor and I were greeted by a purple and gold clad waitress who greeted us with a pleasant smile and “welcome” and then looked past us shouting to no one in particular, “hey and no Buckeye fans are allowed here”!    [Read more →]

Re-new-al

1. the act or process of renewing something,  or the state of being renewed
2. something that is being or has been renewed
3. the rebuilding and revitalization  of an urban area

When the deacon of my church asked me to write about my spiritual renewal, I had no idea it would indirectly become the underpinnings of this blog.  As a result my research lead me back to the humble beginnings of my own spiritual journey and an important gastronomic chapter in my life at my grandparents church in LeBeau, LA. 

LeBeau is one of those “blink and you’ll miss it” towns.  Actually to call it a town would be generous, what LeBeau simply is not is a city, town or even a village it is a small community made up primarily of the ancestors of a former colony of freed slaves. 

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The Couscous Chronicles are dedicated to my parents for our all of their patience in raising and guiding me through childhood and for my father buying me my first computer back in 1984…a Commodore 64.  I also want to recognize my maternal grandparents of Kansas City, Mo., the late Ollie Mae Knox for her inspiration as an entrepreneur selling clothing out of the basement and her excellent soul food cooking, my grandfather Ellis Knox for sharing his entrepreneurial spirit during tours to his salvage yard and my paternal grandparents, the late Ernestine Labrie another entrepreneur who sold “fresh eggs” on the roadside and as an accomplished cook who provided ample me helpings of creole and cajun cooking and the late Harrington Labrie, who provided me another entrepreneurial hero in his accomplishment of being a self made insurance/cattle/oil/justice of the peace millionaire with what he described as a only a “sixth grade” education.

I also want to recognize, Eugene Varnado II for all is guidance and inspiration in putting a blog together.  Eugene is a true friend for life where he and I have known each other since the early seventies beginning in Miss Dink’s kindergarten class at Lakewood Elementary school in Park Forest, IL.  Eugene’s website the Chronicles of Roosevelt Franklin provided me a great deal of motivation to put together a blog.