“Quelque Chose” means “Something” in French. These posts are about things not necessarily related to books, food and recipes, Cajun, New York, or other categories.
In April, when I converted my old newsletter (Parenthetically Speaking) into this blog, I announced that the University Press of Mississippi (UPM) will be publishing my memoir next year. At the time, the title of my book was “The Canasta Summers – Memoirs of a Cajun Boy.” This was the only title I’ve ever considered for this book because the story covers a period of … Continue reading How’s this for a book jacket blurb?
I loved his long green coat, his black top hat, white gloves and matching stockings, and those red knickerbockers of his made me swoon. The 12-year-old me was so inspired by his golden waistcoat that I couldn’t wait to get one of my own. (The grownup me now has a collection of about 10 or so in various colors, textures, and patterns – including one … Continue reading My First Crush: Ramada Man
If you know me, you already know about my love affair with toast. This romance started for me as a child in Louisiana. We had toast, not so much for breakfast – although occasionally it was part of breakfast (or it became French Toast) – but instead for after-school snacking, accompanied by coffee-milk (a glass half-filled with coffee and the other half milk). We usually … Continue reading A Toast to Toast!
Mid July, circa 1966. Momma has just completed her top-secret negotiations with Daddy on what to do for a family vacation. They were wise enough to keep completely mum about their plans for this annual outing until the afternoon before we were to leave – just enough time to squeal, “WE’RE GOING TO THE BEACH!!!” a few hundred times and pack some clothes, but not … Continue reading Vacation
Whether I’m writing about the Cajun towns of my youth (Eunice and Ville Platte) or the cities I’ve lived in since (Baton Rouge, Lafayette, New Orleans, Brussels, London, Warsaw, New York), I find that the best way to get to the true essence of a place is to describe how it smells. Exhibit A: New Orleans. To be sure, the sights, sounds, and tastes are … Continue reading New Orleans: A fête for the nostrils
I know it’s blazing out there lately, but this soup is full of crunchy veggies and healthy chicken – and is ethereally light, compared to many hearty soups more suited for winter. This particular dish is what you get when you add noodles to traditional Thai Tom Yum Soup. The idea for it came to me one Sunday in the bluster of January while I … Continue reading This soup is addictive: Tom Yum with noodles.
Growing up, I wrote poetry long before I wrote prose. I don’t do it so much any more, but every now and then something happening in the world at large, or at small, inspires me to write a poem. This one came because of the tentative joy I felt when I became a full citizen of my country – when marriage for people like me … Continue reading Waltz of the Souls
Cornwallville, New York is a hamlet founded around 1788 within the town of Durham in the Catskills region of the state. There’s no grocery store, no stop light, no cafe, and no church (the one it did have was dismantled and re-mantled as part of the Cooperstown Farmers Museum to provide their visitors with some old New York-Greek Revival-church charm, leaving Cornwallville godless, apparently). But … Continue reading Home in Cornwallville
At Christmastime and birthdays, Gilda had a knack for picking the best games for her presents. If someone else had, by sheer luck, asked for a game that turned out to be amazing, she found a way to acquire it. Accordingly, she wound up as the proprietor of Monopoly, Masterpiece, The Thing Machine, Freight Factory, and several other popular children’s distractions of the era – … Continue reading What’s in Your Closet?
Even though French is the language associated with Louisiana’s Cajuns, many modern-day Cajuns (myself included) did not fully learn the language until they were exposed to it formally in junior high and/or high school. For me, it was in “Madame” Connie Larson’s French classes at Eunice High School where I finally learned how to read and write enough French to feel a meaningful connection to … Continue reading It’s cher, y’all, not ‘sha’.
Like most Cajun men, Daddy cooked. If I had to guess, I’d say barbecuing was his favorite way to demonstrate that. He never fired up his pit (a re-purposed 55-gallon oil drum) without planning to cook at least two meats, and most often, three or four: chicken, pork chops, steaks, andouille sausage were the most common, but he also did venison (after lots of marinating) … Continue reading Daddy’s Paper Bag Fries
Flashback: September 1994, McDonald’s, 1st Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets, Manhattan. The woman has straight, blue-black hair tied away from her face; it reaches the middle of her back. It is obvious from his own dark looks and by the way she handles him that the little boy closest to her is her child. Though they sit at the same table, there is a discernible distance … Continue reading Happy Meal
Yesterday I was at our upstate supermarket in Cairo, New York, and there was Mother’s Day stuff everywhere. I told the lady at the register “Happy Mother’s Day if you’re a mom.” She said, “Yes, I am, and thank you.” I then told the bag boy to be good to his mom, because she won’t always be around. He smiled and nodded. Eliza Mae Thompson, … Continue reading This day is always hard.
Today, May 4, 2019, is the 30th anniversary of Momma’s death. That reads like a lifetime ago, but it still feels so fresh. She birthed nine babies (I was the marvelous middle child); and ran a very successful beauty shop for ten years, and thank the universe for that because it was that beauty shop that kept us all fed when the other family business, … Continue reading Eliza Mae
(Parenthetically) Speaking 