What’s His Deal? Toothy McChunkmullet

Ooh! We haven’t played “What’s His/Her Deal?” in a while. Let’s do that! So...

This guy popped out of my doodle-cortex. What’s his deal? ('Cause I really don't know. He kind of freaks me out.) Y'know, name, backstory? Maybe a favorite color? Name of his cherished childhood stuffed animal...? Dealer’s choice.

Train Plus Half a Mural

Alligator Pear

Pop quiz:

Who is familiar with the term "alligator pear" as a name for an avocado?

That's what my grandparents called them.¹ Is that an around-here thing? (I could Google it, but that's no fun.) Really, it's a pretty good name, like if an alligator and a pear had a baby, all green and bumpy:



(Though actually if they had a baby, it would probably have teeth, and the thought of an avocado with teeth is horrifying, so let's not think about that.)

I don't really hear it much these days, but maybe I'm just traveling in the wrong circles. I'm going to have to try it on for size (Avocado pear, avocado pear, acovado pear, avopado care, occupado bear, I walk out O'Hare...)

1 That was one of the many culinary peculiarities I had to adapt to when I came to visit my grandparents from the northern hinterlands (and beyond); that, and calling mayonnaise "my-oh-nez" and saying grace and having a soup course and "French bread" (po-boy bread) and eating tomato aspic and cows' tongues and pigs' feet and merlitons and creole cream cheese and pain perdu and animals that still had their eyes...

Evening Sketch-A-Doodle: Little Red Cup Sitting on My Desk

Points to note:

• I got this cup on our trip to Paris last summer and I love it very very much. I have a lot of fancy-ass cups, but I like this one for its exquisite red-red-red simplicity.
• I'm not actually drinking coffee at this time of night. I've got this ready to go for the morning.
• "Remember: get work phone in morning" wasn't actually intended as part of the composition, but I think it adds a certain Dada je ne sais quoi.

And with that, it's time for bed. Goodnight, room. Goodnight, moon. Goodnight, red doodle. Goodnight, sleepy noodle...

Check. Mate.

Sarah was in California last week for work/etc. and kept texting us photos of rolling wine country hills and majestic mountains and gorgeous rugged shorelines. It was really much too much.

So a quick trip to Rouse’s later… boom!

I sent her this photo: our first crawfish of the season.¹

Check. Mate.

Is there any mountain more majestic than a mountain of hot well-seasoned crawfish ready for the eating? What our murky south-Louisiana swamps lack in scenic vistas, they make up for in cook-able deliciousness.

1 It really is thoughtful of nature, just as Carnival season winds down, to ease us into crawfish season. Lent is hardly a hardship when you can eat all the crawfish you want. (Not that most people around here seem overly burdened with Lenten austerity anyway; pre-Lenten indulgence gets a lot more emphasis.)

There's No Biz-ness Like Sno-Bliz-ness

Kids. The funny thing about kids is that, with proper care and watering, they turn into adults. Not all at once, but little by little, incrementally doing increasingly adult-ish things (they sneak it up on you, the crafty bastards), until before you know it, the little runtling who used to devotedly slurp down rainbow Hansen's Sno-Blizzes¹



has grown about eight feet and gone out and gotten a frickin' job at Hansen's!



Yeah, an actual job with actual paychecks and stuff.² She worked her first shift this weekend. (The toppings station.)

Holy crike-er-oni...

1 If you're not familiar, Hansen's takes some explaining, but suffice it to say, it's a unique magical (James-Beard-award-winning) sweet-frozen-delight-serving extrah-vuh-gahn-zuh. Immediately after dropping Louise off, I headed straight to the back of the line. It took me a full hour to actually get to the front, but my half-cream-of-almond/half-cream-of-ice-cream/topped-with-sweetened-condensed-milk Sno-Bliz was glorious!

2 I had to help her fill out her first W4s. I kindly explained to her, "Being an adult can be pretty cool, but the paperwork sucks."

We're Back, Blog-itches!

I'd kind of thought maybe I'd given up this blog. Y’know, blogs are dead; everything now is InstaTweeterBook; etc. But it turns out I miss it. Plus June told me I should start it again, and when your kid tells you to restart yer blog, goddamit, you’d better restart yer blog.

So stay tuned. The silly sundries shall flow forth once more...