It had been an eventful couple of weeks for me, friends, and I wanted to share that with you all.  I  previously told you that I was able to go to stay with my sister, and visit New Orleans with her, which was wonderful.  I wish we’d had more time to eat and visit more places and show my sons the old houses, etc., while in the city.  We did see some homes still in a shambles from Hurricane Katrina, and still wearing a big red “X” by the front door, where the house had been checked for survivors when the rescuers were scouring the city in the weeks following the hurricane. It was very haunting.  It’s heartbreaking to me that people still live in some of these homes, even without basic facilities such as water and electricity, but I hope that number is declining as people continue to reach out to the city of New Orleans to help them, and as the city continues to help itself.

We did see plenty of great places in New Orleans! This amateur photographer tried her best to get some good shots to share with you. Here are a few:

We also went to the WWII museum while in New Orleans, which was wonderfully interesting! I got some good pictures there, as well. I’m working on a photo album of pictures of NOLA taken with my new Nikon; if you’ll friend me on Facebook, you can take a look at them later, plus keep updated on blog posts, recipes, and more.  🙂

After returning from our trip, our family began working on our house a bit. I’ve been complaining about the green carpet and white and green kitchen flooring for years, wondering that any builder would have made such choices. 😉 Finally, we are doing something about it. We are laying new floors, and I’m painting walls and changing artwork and the like. It’s a big challenge, but I enjoy it so much. I love change! I’ll post before and afters when I’m finished!

Also since I’ve been back in town,  I had the honor of being chosen by Leigh Smith Vickery, the food editor for the Tyler Morning Telegraph, to be featured in today’s “Tastemaker” column as a local “foodie,” and I was so happy that she asked. Here is a link to the article, which is in today’s paper:

Steph’s Tastemaker column

This newspaper thing is getting exciting! I was in my hometown paper, The Port St. Joe Star, a few weeks ago, as some of you know. I wrote an article about having grown up in an area of the Gulf Coast of NW Florida that is being affected by the BP oil spill. It wasn’t a political rant, by any means. It was more a loving look back on the blessing of growing up there, and the desire to share it with my grandchildren someday. Here is that link:  Oil Spill essay in The Star

I would love to hear  your comments on both of these, and again, I feel very blessed and honored to have been asked to be a part of these newspapers, just as I do to share my recipes and thoughts here on this blog with you guys. I appreciate you!

And I promise, next post, a new recipe! 🙂