Monday

When was the last time you saw a barber poll? Here is another movie recommendation for you. 'The Man Who Wasn't There." Billy Bob Thorton is in this one. I keep waiting on him to pull out the swing blade. And a great line from it: "Doris and I go to church once a week. Usually on Tueday.... for Bingo."

I had to leave work early to pick up the kids after school. After-school-care had been canceled due to huricane Katrina. At that point it still hadn't rained here. Things are looking bad for New Orleans and Mobile.

I am investigating replacing the intake gasket on the Dodge. According to some of the stuff I have read, not only will this fix the oil burning problem, but it will fix the detonation problem that occurs when using 87 octane. Sounds too good to be true.

Sunday

Washed the Miata this afternoon. I had two helpers. I discovered the seam on the rear window had become split. This means that even when the top is up, if it is raining, there will be rain in the car.

As is the usual circumstance, I took the car on a short drive Sunday evening. Due to the newly discovered split seam, it started to rain on me. Ok it was only a light sprinkle so I just speed up to keep the rain out. No point in putting the top up. That would cause rain to get into the car. Note to self, find some seam sealer.

Saturday

Saturday morning I started out by heading out to the farmers market. Two dollars for okra. Then I headed on to Krogers to pick up some corn meal. Krogers didn't have any corn meal so I settled for corn meal mix. I also picked up an onion because I forgot to get one at the market. Two dollars even for the meal and the onion.

I once believed that good fried okra could only be created in a cast iron skillet. I suppose to a purist this is still true, but I have on occassion created a successful batch using a teflon coated skilled. We are talking pan fried okra here, none of that imitation deep fried stuff for me. I generally use a cast iron skillet, but every now and then I like to experiment with the process.

On this particular ocassion I tried two experiments. First I chopped up some onion and fried it along with the okra. Secondly I tried two different preps. A dry toss and a dry toss followed by a little milk. Both create distinctively different results. For best results I cook it on medium slowly. This keeps the amount of grease in the air down and the oil in the pan. The onion was a very nice touch, though next time I will add more onion. Perhaps some potato also. Mmmm.

Now you know my secret. My favorite food is fried okra. My mother-in-law asked me one time what I liked with my fried okra. The answer should have been obvious. More fried okra.

I made a nice pan of corn bread too.

I have no recollection of the remainder of Saturday. Oh yeah, I worked on the GMC. I managed to remove 3 of the four bolts holding the cab on. Two of the three were bent. To further supports my theory that the truck was in a pretty bad accident at some point. I will have to cut or the grind the remaining bolt in half.