Photographer David Gallent and I have been traipsing around northeastern Louisiana for the better part of the week, meeting interesting people and gathering interesting news and photography along the way. Yesterday, knowing we needed to make a stop in Baton Rouge, we left Mississippi on Highway 61, which took us past Mammy's Cupboard, a restaurant built inside a 28-foot tall black woman's skirt, which is made of bricks, which compliment her horseshoe earrings nicely.

The 60-some-year-old restaurant was closed yesterday so we just snapped some exterior pictures and drove on but it brought back memories of the first time I visited the famed lunch and pastry joint, which was 20 or so years ago.

Exactly six weeks from now will mark the one year anniversary of the day when I took complete leave of my mind and succumbed to Cecilia's plea that I drive her and Julia to Slaughter to check out a Catahoula/Chocolate Lab puppy the West Feliciana Parish Animal Shelter was having fostered at a local farm. She was desperate for the experience of having a male dog who would worship her as Boogie, my late, beloved, male mutt, worshiped me. It is true that not one of our existing four female dogs was devoted solely to Cecilia-worship. Lovebug, my bitchy four pound Chihuahua, is devoted to me; with three legs, one working eye, dreadlocks and an under bite, so-ugly-she's-cute Poppy is all about Andrew; and Happy and Penny Lane distribute their attention equally among the three of us.

We left Slaughter with a 9 pound, green-eyed pudgeball with a mottled golden and brown coat. Cecilia named him Bonzo after John "Bonzo" Bonham, the late drummer for Led Zeppelin.

Today is Bonzo's birthday. He is one year old.

Living with five dogs —five primarily indoor dogs—

I first met Nealy and Keith Frentz in 2009 when they were recognized by a culinary magazine as rising star young chefs and I have watched them grow personally and professionally ever since. Like many young, modern, talented  chefs they are looking to take their careers to the next level, a desire that was really put on steroids for Nealy when she recently recorded a segment for a soon-to-be nationally televised cooking show. "I just felt myself come alive in front of the camera," Nealy told me. "It felt so right; I just knew that's where I've always wanted to be."  This is a desire I simply cannot relate to; I feel as though a vampire has stolen my soul every time someone so much as takes my picture — but that's a story for another day.

            Yesterday I watched Nealy and Keith take one gigantic step closer to realizing their dream when they won the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board's Louisiana Seafood Cook-off  and Keith claimed the title of King of Louisiana Seafood.

As I am packing up  to hit the road on a fact finding mission for the next issue of Louisiana Kitchen it struck me: I am doing EXACTLY what I have always wanted to do. Near the beginning of my "career" I was a regional grunt for both Time magazine and The New York Times. This means I was the unfortunate soul who received the telephone calls at 2 am with instructions to get my ass out of bed and do things like drive into hurricanes or cross state lines to investigate trail derailments. I roved around the region and discovered all sorts of interesting things but nothing so fascinating as the cultural mishmash we have within the boundaries of Louisiana. There was born my desire to conduct a thorough, ongoing investigation into Louisiana's cultural gifts.

I have also been a lifelong participant in and admirer of the culinary arts.

Dr. Jessica B. Harris
On June 8 from 6 – 8 p.m. , the Historic New Orleans Collection will host an opening reception for Creole Sweet, a forum on pralines and their spinoffs,featuring culinary historian Dr. Jessica Harris of Dillard University’s Ray Charles Program and Institute for the Study of Culinary Cultures. The day-long forum will feature talks and panel discussions on the vending, production and consumption of the quintessential Louisiana candy and its cousins. The culinary journey will wend its way from Mexico to Jamaica, from Puerto Rico to Louisiana, and into praline-loving households worldwide.