Thanksgiving Recipes After Hurricane Katrina

[Guest guest]

Myra, and everyone else on the Pecan Bread list,

I'm in New Orleans, and in the post-Hurricane Katrina-era, I am working

nearly full-time because there aren't that many workers. (We opened our

bookstore, which needs a staff of 40, with twelve.) So I don't read the

lists as ausiduously as I can when I'm not working full time. I check my

Gmail account about once a week, and my Compuserve one somewhat oftener, if

I have the energy.

My recipes for Thanksgiving (and we use the same for Christmas, just varying

the side dishes) can be found at

http://www.pecanbread.com/recipes/thanksgiving.html

I have been working on an account of our experiences with Hurricane Katrina.

The first two parts can be found at

http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=display&tsn=1&tid=105542&we\

btag=ws-sflit

in the Science Fiction Literature Forum, where I'm a moderator. You

shouldn't have to join just to read those accounts, but if you want to

comment, yes, you'll have to join.

Part Three is Under Construction; I may have a chance to work on it after I

finish cooking our dinner for today.

Harry's and my house is mostly intact -- our garage had a large tree land on

it. Our metal roof (Rustic Shingles, if anyone wants to know the brand)

survived almost intact, but a broken branch swept back and forth over the

kitchen and computer room and the roof now looks like a tin can chopped in

many places by an old-style punch can-opener. Since the metal roof was put

on over an existing still-good asphalt roof, the metal one took the damage,

and the asphalt one kept the rain out. We live in Algiers, which is part of

the 20% of New Orleans which did not flood. At least a dozen or more of my

friends had 7-8 feet of water in their houses and have lost everything.

Others " only " had a foot or two, but still lost most of what they owned

because the water sat so long. My parents' house, in contrast, didn't even

lose as much as a shingle.

Harry and I have much to be thankful for on this day of giving thanks. We

are alive. We are together (so many Orleanian families are not!), we have a

roof over our heads, our 12,000 book personal library is intact, and we did

not have to bury any friends or family members, as people we know did.

So today is indeed a day to give thanks!

My husband's uncle, who used to say that he didn't care which number

birthday it was as long as it wasn't his last, and that he didn't care what

color his hair turned as long as it didn't turn loose, also had a " short

form " prayer which he used after all the traditional thanks and blessings

were given: " Good friends, good food, Good Lord, let's eat! " To which I can

only say, " Amen! "

-- Marilyn Alm (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA)

Furchildren Shadow and Sunny Longhair Dachshund