Just wanted to say hello and see who was still playing? Hope everyone is doing great! xoxo

In a freak accident today, a wedding photographer was killed when a huge chunk of cheddar landed on directly on top of him. To be fair, the wedding party being photographed tried their best to warn him.

I just heard about this. What a bummer, he was a great guy.

To get to the same side, of course.   

In New Orleans' French Quarter there's a wonderful restaurant called, simply enough, The Gumbo Shop.  Their food is fantastic, and they've published a cookbook (or maybe more than one, I don't know).  In that cookbook is a recipe that is the absolute best way I've ever found to get rid of that huge mound of leftover turkey.  A while back I asked them if I could share it, so with their permission here it is.  Enjoy.

Turkey and Hot Sausage Gumbo

Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 8 to 10

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds cooked turkey meat
1 turkey carcass
1 lb. Chaurice sausage or other fresh hot link sausage
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell peppers
1 cup chopped celery
1 T minced garlic
1 T filé powder
2 bay leaves
1 t thyme
1/2 t basil
1/2 t sage
1/2 t white pepper
1/2 t black pepper
1/4 t cayenne pepper
2 t salt
2 cups diced tomatoes (fresh or canned)
2 quarts turkey stock

Directions:

Trim as much meat as possible from the turkey carcass and cut about 1½ pounds of meat into bite sized pieces.  Set aside.  Break the turkey carcass into several pieces and place in a stock pot with 3 quarts of water.  Bring the pot to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 3 to 4 hours.  Strain the stock and set aside.

Meanwhile, slice the hot sausage into ½-inch rounds and spread out evenly on a sheet pan or shallow baking pan.  Place in a hot oven (400 degrees) and allow sausage to brown, about 20 minutes.  Carefully remove the pan from the oven and pour off the rendered fat. Set the sausage aside.

In a large heavy bottomed Dutch oven, melt the butter over a medium high heat.  (If you wish you may replace part or all of the butter with the rendered sausage fat).  Whisk in the flour and make a dark brown roux.  As soon as it is the proper color add the chopped onion, bell pepper, and celery.  Sir well and cook until tender, from time to time allowing the vegetables to stick a bit and then scraping up the bottom of the pan.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in the bay leaves, thyme, basil, sage, white, black and cayenne pepper, and salt (I add the filé here too, the recipe doesn't specify when to add it but it works for me here.)  Cook for 1 minute.  Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes, repeating the sticking and scraping process.

Slowly pour in the turkey stock, mixing well.  Bring the pot to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Add the reserved turkey meat and sliced cooked sausage and bring back to a boil.  Lower the fire and simmer for 15 minutes.  Adjust the seasoning, skim off any excess fat, and add a little more stock if the gumbo is too thick.  Serve in large bowls over steamed rice.


Notes:

Make this gumbo on the weekend after Thanksgiving.  It's tastier than most other recipes for leftovers, and soothing after a rigorous day of Christmas shopping.  The hot sausage called for is Chaurice - a peppery fresh (not smoked) sausage of Spanish origin.
In the early 18th century, families from the Spanish Canary Islands settled in what is now St. Bernard Parish, where their proud descendents, known as "Isleños" carry on many ancestral traditions.

Source: Gumbo Shop cookbook

A party official was trying to explain the concepts and benefits of Socialism to a farmer one day, leading to the following exchange.

Official: Zo the concept iz simple, comrade farmer. As Marx heemself said, "From each accordink to ability, to each accordink to need."  Are you now understandink?

Farmer: (very confused) Umm... Nyet...

Official: Then try ziss example. Zuppose a farmer has two cows.  Ve vould take one of them, and give to farmer that has no cows.  Iz good, da?

Farmer: (brightening a bit) Oh, da!  Is good!

Official: And zuppose another farmer has two tractors. Ve vould take one, and give to farmer that has no tractors.  Is good, da?

Farmer: (excited) Oh, da!  Is WERY good!

Official: And zuppose another farmer has two cheekens.  Ve vould take one, and give to farmer that has none.  Da?

Farmer: Oh, nyet! NYET! Iz NOT good!  Not good at ALL.  Nyet!

Official: But vhy, comrade?

Farmer: I have two cheekens!

A lesson in political science.

Socialism	You have two cows.  The government takes one to give to somebody else.
Communism	You have two cows. The government takes both and gives you the milk.
Fascism	You have two cows. The government takes both and sells you the milk.
Nazism	You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you.
Bureaucracy	You have two cows. The government takes both, shoots one and pours the milk down the drain.
Capitalism	You have two cows.  You sell one and buy a bull.

Attorney: "At the scene of the accident, did you or did you not tell the sheriff, quote: 'I've never felt better in my life?'"

Farmer: "That's what I said, yes."

Attorney: "Well, then. If you'd never felt better in your life then how is it that now you're claiming you were seriously injured when my client's auto hit your wagon?"

Farmer: "Well, when the sheriff arrived he looked at my horse, saw that he had a broken leg, and shot him. When he looked at Rover, my dog, and saw that he was all banged up, and shot him. When he asked me how I felt, it thought it would be smartest to say I'd never felt better in my life."

Back in the 80's a Russian man lost his pet parrot. He looked everywhere: all around the neighborhood, in the park, everywhere he could think of, but he couldn't find his missing pet anywhere. Finally, he went to the local KGB office, and there he told the desk officer his problem.

Of course, the KGB desk officer was a little confused. "Comrade, I am very sorry you lost your pet, but this is the KGB. We do not handle missing animal reports."

"Oh, I know that," the man replied. "I just wanted you to know that if you DO happen to find my parrot I have no idea where he could have picked up his political ideas."

Sorry I missed it. I figured with the starting time in the motd set at 8 eastern, I'd be too late 

This came out of nowhere and I'm still kind of in disbelief.  I'll miss him.