• Priscilla Nason Shartle

hearthealthyboomer

~ Living healthy after age seventy.

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Tag Archives: Baton Rouge

Going Home to Baton Rouge is Good for the Soul

10 Friday May 2013

Posted by prisnasonshartle in Good for the Soul

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Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge High School, class reunion, cousins, friends, Girl Scouts, Jimmy Taylor, LA, LSU, Mike Anderson's, Sammy's, Walnut Hills Elementary School, Westdale Junior High

People ask me why it is so important for me to go home to Baton Rouge at least once a year, and I tell them it is because I am nothing without these people. They are part of what makes me who I am and are at the core of my being. They are my cloud of witnesses that cradle me and keep me from falling.

This past weekend “home” began with a visit with Debby Burge Cartwright and her mother, who will be 90 this year. Debby came into my life in fourth grade at Walnut Hills Elementary School. I can still remember spending nights on weekends at her house and waking to the smell of fried bacon and sitting at the table with her sister and parents to share that breakfast. Even when I was a student at BRHS, I never felt intimidated by the presence of her father, Mr. Burge, the principal at BRHS.

On Friday a small group of classmates met at BRHS which had been fully renovated since our last reunion in 2008. Guided by the Executive Director of the BRHS Foundation, Lauren Ford, we had the grand tour and thoroughly enjoyed it. Preceding our tour was a tour for the Class of 1953 who were most excited that fellow classmate and a member of the football Hall of Fame who played with the Green Bay Packers and All-American from LSU, who graduated from BRHS, Jimmy Taylor was present at their tour. We didn’t see him but reveled in his success and saw his trophies in the new glass cases. (Personally I was reminded of a day when I was 15 and got picked up by my cousin, Jim O’Neal and a friend.  We were going to his house so I could baby-sit his four children.  His friend was at LSU and I soon figured out that I was riding in the car with THE Jimmy Taylor.) Following the tour, we joined other classmates for pizza at the Pastime Lounge, a college favorite then and now.

IMG_0321

Peggy and Barry Altazin

Saturday night the reunion was at Mike Anderson’s. It was a smaller group than the 40th reunion, but still we had fun and enjoyed catching up with everyone. It was especially nice sitting with my Girl Scout “budde” and old friend Carol Fenton Butler. We go back to grade school and four years as camp budde’s at Girl Scout Camp Marydale. Another old friend, from pre-school age was Barry Altazin who joined us at our table. Barry lived across the street from me on Eugene Street until I was 10 when I moved up the street to the “white house” near Raymond Blvd. He and my brother John (Jack) Nason were always good friends. Again, it was good to see that none of us had changed (on the inside.) I can say that being one of the few classmates, (including Rene Esnard and Buddy Porta) with white hair.

Lunch with the girls

Sunday after church at the UUCBR, I met old friends Ellen McGraw, Janet Noland and Debby for lunch at Bistro Byronz in Baton Rouge. Ever had fried catfish filets smothered in crawfish etouffee? Not bad, not bad at all. Ellen and I have been friends since second grade when I started Walnut Hills. She lived a few streets over on Zealand and so riding bikes to and from each other’s homes was easy. After 56 years, I am proud to say we are still dear friends.

I met Janet at Westdale Junior High and can honestly say I never met a sweeter funnier girl until then. We were kindred spirits and had in us the power to become the women we wanted to be. It was with Janet that I first came to realize that no one has the power to tell me what to do and when to do it and how to do it. That power comes from me and God inside me. And to think it all came from JFK and his physical fitness plan that forced the PE teachers at our school to make us physically fit. When you are 5’2” and weigh 90 lbs., you are lucky the wind doesn’t blow you around the track much less run for what seemed forever. We were two girls on a mission and our epiphany was exactly what we needed at that time in our lives. (So maybe being physically fit isn’t that bad after all.) I was sitting next to Janet when we learned about Kennedy’s assassination; she introduced me to her classmates at LaSalle Elementary, many of whom became fellow Girl Scouts in Mrs. Gray’s troop; and she stood by me in Boosters at BRHS until we graduated from high school.Linda and John

Sunday night, the Mundinger family joined us for dinner at my sister Lindy and her husband Dale’s new home in the Garden District. I’ve known John since the day he was born, although I was only three years old. His parents and my parents were best friends and we consider ourselves brother and sister and family. Joining us was his daughter Kathrin and her fiancé Mike and son J.T. and his fiancée Christina. (She is a brave soul being an Ole Miss alumni marrying into a LSU family.)

Patricia Schmieder, Me, Sharon and David Nason

Patricia Schmieder, Me, Sharon and David Nason

Monday, Lindy and I joined our cousin Patricia Schmieder for lunch at Albasha Greek restaurant in Town Center.  We closed the lunch crew down laughing and enjoying each other’s company.  Later Patsy came over to Lindy’s and we joined our other first cousin David Nason and his wife Sharon.  Again we laughed and cried tears of joy and sadness as David and Sharon told us of their recent fire and losing their home.  I was able to give them a memento from some things that belonged to my father but originally belonged to David’s father and Patsy had an antique tea cart with glass tray that belonged to our grandfather which she brought for them.

The day ended with a trip to Zachary and a bit of time with my nephew Neil Weiner and his wife Whitney and their three children Matt, Abby and Emily. What a sweet and darling family they are.Sammy's

On the way home, Lindy and I stopped at Sammy’s for a cup of crab bisque and fried eggplant. The mural on the wall said, “Sammy’s Grill and Seafood – under the overpass on Perkins Road.” It puzzled me because I grew up under the overpass on Perkins Road – sort of. My house was on Eugene Street and the overpass crossed the railroad tracks that went behind my house. The Colonel’s Club was housed in a Quonset hut directly under the overpass. Today it is Chelsea’s, but maybe in between then and now it was Sammy’s.

I can still remember sitting on my back porch steps listening to the live bands play, including the Grass Roots. I can still remember the smell of the ligustrum plants that lined my drive-way and I can still remember the sound of the trains coming down the tracks. All the friends, sounds, smells, foods, and memories keep me centered. This is why I love to come “home” and why doing so is good for my soul.

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Louisiana Food to Die For

28 Monday May 2012

Posted by prisnasonshartle in Eating My Way Through a Trip

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Tags

Baton Rouge, family, Fisherman Cove, food, J Alexander's, old friends, Ralph and Kacoo's, seafood, Weight Watchers, Zea's

I’m hard put to think of any food I like more than red beans and rice.  And after spending a week eating Creole food throughout the trip, the one thing I did not get to eat was red beans and rice.  Zea’s in Town Center in Baton Rouge has it on their menu.  It comes with a huge fried chicken breast served on top of a steaming plate of dark red beans and gooey rice; just the way I like it.

But I didn’t make to Zea’s on this trip.  But I did eat some amazing food while visiting family and old friends in Louisiana.  And that’s what it’s all about – FOOD.  What you ate that day; what you are going to eat later in the day; who you ate with; where did you eat; how was it cooked (grilled, baked, sautéed, boiled, and of course fried); was it a gumbo, Etouffee, or bisque; and on and on and on.  It never ended.

My first stop was a little hole in the wall just outside the Louis Armstrong International Airport (a.k.a. MSY – New Orleans) called Fisherman’s Cove in Kenner, LA.  I had the (notice the THE as that is how one refers to the food in Louisiana) fried eggplant stuffed with crabmeat and covered with crawfish Etouffee, a couple of slices of buttered French bread and a glass of Shiraz.  It melted in my mouth.  (Needless to say I didn’t count Weight Watcher points while out of town this trip.)  The portion was moderate and very satisfying.  My sister had boiled shrimp and said it was very good.

The next day we met up with two old friends from our early childhood and their mother.  We think it was my wedding, forty-one years ago this May 30th that we last saw them.  We four girls look good for our age, but their mother looked fantastic.  Unfortunately the restaurant was packed (it was LSU graduation that day and everything was crowded on that side of town.)  We could barely hear each other but we had a wonderful visit and enjoyed a delicious American meal at J Alexander’s near the Mall of Louisiana on Bluebonnet Road.  I had the Cypress Salad with chicken fingers, bacon, cucumbers and cheese.  It was very good, but huge so I ate about half of it. On a side note, when I left Baton Rouge in 1976, Bluebonnet was a street off Jefferson Highway that was part of a quiet neighborhood.  Today it is a vein in the thoroughfare that cuts through the South side of Baton Rouge, stretching from Jefferson Highway to Highland Road, four lanes of one commercial business after another.

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of spending the day with three old friends.  Two of which I had known since I was a child and the third I met in junior high.  We were all good friends through high school and college and have remained close as adults.  We get together once a year when I come to Louisiana to see them.  One lives in Franklinton, LA in an old home she has renovated and filled with antiques; one lives in a beautiful traditional Acadian home in Denham Springs while the third is still in Baton Rouge in a lovely old neighborhood on the South side of LSU.  She still has her father’s season tickets to the LSU football games on the 40 yard line as well as LSU basketball season tickets.   This year we gathered for conversation in Denham Springs eating lunch at Randazzo’s Italian Market.  I had the lasagna and it was very good.  It was the charm of the couple who own the restaurant that was most endearing as they walked up to every table asking if our meals were acceptable.  Moving from Italy to Denham Springs, the chef and his wife opened the business to bring the “traditions from the hills of Italy to the Bayou country.”

As my friends talked over each other and about our choices of food, we connected as we did as children filled with the love of friendship.  Missing was one friend who had a conflict, a wedding to attend in New Orleans.  But we thought of her and others who might join us next time.  After perusing the antique stores in “Old Denham” we made a stop at the home of one of my friend’s mother.  Living in a retirement community near her daughter in Denham Springs, she looked and acted just as she did when I was a child, proud, beautiful, and always the gracious hostess.  Because it wasn’t just a visit to her apartment, it was also a visit to the dining room where we talked about the food and saw the beautiful tables and chandeliers and menu for the night.  Even retired people in Louisiana, look forward to their meals which I found in some pleasant way very consoling.

That night my sister and I joined our cousin and his wife at Ralph and Kacoo’s, a famous seafood restaurant.  I had a delicious bowl of crawfish bisque and a Sensation Salad and two Coors Light draft beers.  The salad was made famous by Bob and Jake’s, a steak restaurant very popular when I was a child.  Crawfish bisque was my all-time favorite dish growing up as a child.  The original owners of Ralph and Kacoo’s had a place on False River called the Triple Arch, in New Roads, Louisiana.  It was a favorite pastime for my parents and friends to make the trek on Sunday’s after church.  The dining room was to the right after entering the building.  The walls along one wall were covered in a mural of Southern families, horses and buggies.  The bar was to the left of the dining room and off-limits to us kids.  But not the dance hall.  It was straight ahead from the front door.  We loved to finish our meal and get permission to go the goldfish pond out back which meant going through the dance hall room to the back door of the restaurant.

The wooden floor was smooth and aged from years of dancing.  The tables were up against the wall with folding wood chairs stacked along the wall.  Outside was a round stone goldfish pond filled with lilies.  The lake (False River) was swampy and creepy and we stayed as far away as possible from it.  Back inside we felt safe, loved and protected by our parents and waiters who knew us each time we came.  Hush puppies were a specialty and a lost art, I’m afraid, but the memories of those trips to eat seafood and share a meal with other families still warm my heart.

Sunday was a day of rest with a home-cooked meal for lunch with my sister and then a visit with old family friends in Springfield, Louisiana.  Having lived most of their adult life in the Memphis, TN area, they served Memphis BBQ which was like coming home and most rewarding.  But more so was that their two grown children drove all the way from Baton Rouge to spend the time with us.  It’s not easy to leave someone you’ve known since the day they were born, three years after you were born.  Like a brother, this friend’s parents were my second parents.  His family is my family and sharing a meal with them was a blessing.

And so it ended, five days in Louisiana, and yet no red beans and rice.  But today I decided, enough is enough.  I spent the morning cooking dry red beans with onions until they were soft and perfect.  I could have added sausage as usual but I didn’t.  And just when I thought I could never replace Zea’s red beans, I invented my own recipe!  Left-over BBQ hamburgers (one and a half) and Nathan’s beef hot dogs (one) cut into pieces and added to the beans and voila, the perfect red beans and rice!  It was delicious and my vacation was complete.

In between I had some delicious strawberries and blueberries covered in real cream, some chicken and sausage gumbo, and a delicious Bishop’s Cake out of the River Road Cookbook (the Louisiana Bible of cookbooks) and my stomach was full, my appetite satisfied and my heart happy.

Good food, good friends, good God, let’s eat…Amen.

Great Recipes Online

02 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by prisnasonshartle in healthy website links

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Baton Rouge, Better Homes & Garden, Catoosa Life Magazine, Cooking Light, coupons, farmers market, handmade items, healthy groceries, heart healthy, Holly Clegg, hostess gifts, Kim Correll, LSU, recipes, save money, Tasty Traditions, vegetarian meals

Today I thought I would give you a few links to some websites that I enjoy using to stay healthy and strong.  I signed up to receive emails from these websites by going to the websites.  This way I can click on the email, file it in a folder if I don’t have the time or look at it immediately.  They are listed in no particular order.

The Better Homes and Garden website is a good source from a variety of perspectives.  Recipes are good, advice good, and graphics good.  Signing up was a pill, but once I got it all straight I look forward to getting the emails.  For example I found a slide show on “How to Save Money on Healthy Groceries.”  The best news: I was already doing all but two of the tips.  I figured out what I was spending and compare prices.  I keep recipes of my favorite meals in a notebook, recipe files, and marked in my favorite cookbooks.  I plan ahead by making a menu for the week, check what foods I have in my pantry and make a list of what I need at the farmers market, grocery store and in bulk at a big box store.  I clip coupons (or I should say my husband does), I try to buy foods in season, I don’t shop hungry, and I buy generic when possible.  Unfortunately, I rarely cook ahead and freeze to use later.  Instead I sometimes make enough for four and freeze half for later and I don’t make my own healthy snacks….not when 90 and 100 calorie snacks are practically falling off the shelves begging to be bought.

Another magazine that has an online version is Cooking Light.  I usually go to the Healthy Living section and when I find a recipe I like I save it to MyRecipes, a very handy helpful tool from the Cooking Light website.  I check my favorite recipes at least once a month when I’m making my weekly menus and seem to always pick at least one recipe that I’ve used in the past. Sometimes I watch the video that accompanies a recipe to pick up tips on making it as I always seem to learn something new when I take the time do to this.  Signing up for MyRecipes was an additional sign-up process from signing up to the Cooking Light newsletter.  Today on the Cooking Light Newsletter I found a link to the best vegetarian meals at restaurants.  I’m not a vegetarian, but I do not have to have meat to survive and when eating out, most often the lowest caloric items on the menu are those without meat.  One of the winners is Subway’s Veggie Delight coming in at 230 calories for the 6 inch on whole wheat bread and without cheese.  I order it with their sweet onion sauce instead of low-fat mayo.

I mentioned in an earlier blog the Holly Clegg series of Trim & Terrific Cookbooks.  If you haven’t had a chance to go to her website at:  www.hollyclegg.com, do so and sign up for her newsletter.  It too is free and you will be glad you did.  The most recent one made me want to put on my favorite LSU t-shirt and start cooking as it was filled with the perfect food to eat while watching your favorite team on TV.  (Both Holly and I being from Baton Rouge, wearing purple and gold makes sense.) Or you might check out Holly’s blog at: www.thehealthycookingblog.com . 

Finally I want to share with you a TV show that airs locally here in N. GA on Dish Channel 266.  It is called Tasty Traditions and is stars Kim Correll.  I interviewed Kim for an article in the upcoming October/November Catoosa Life Magazine and found her to be an amazing woman.  On her television show which is filmed in her own kitchen at home, she demonstrates foods that are handed down from family and friends.  In addition she touches on handmade items, hostess gifts, and foods that remind us of times gone by.  Eating healthy does not mean one has to stay away from the foods you grew up with and shared around the table with your parents, grandparents and own families before they all disappeared.  If you check out the Tasty Traditions Facebook page you can keep up with what’s cooking in her kitchen.  And if you don’t have Dish TV, watch her on www.catt.com, a web TV with links to her shows and more recipes including heart healthy recipes.

It’s a new month, a new school year, a new day to begin thinking about your health.  I hope you take the time to check out the websites and enjoy some good old fashion heart healthy recipes including some fun football foods……and Geaux Tigers!

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