Wednesday Feb. 10th

Apple Cobbler in the oven~a very comforting smell on this incredibly windy day. I have started using the date on my blog because I have come to the conclusion that for reasons beyond my control I will not be able to write everyday, and if I am lucky somedays I will write twice. Even though my blogging is a new experience it seems to me that people are thinking that my cooking is new also...so not true! HA! So I am going back to the archives today to shed a little light on my experiences. I grew up on Long Island in New York. As a north Shore girl...and yes there is a difference, at least according to my husband there is~the South Shore Girls are more streetwise, the North Shore Girls are J.A.P.S, which stands for Jewish American Princess~which, in short means that our Daddy's do everything for us and by the time we are 18 we are no more able to take care of ourselves than we were at lets say~12. So while I vehemently deny this theory, I will admit that when I graduated high school I drove a very nice black Firebird, had a bank account, nice clothes and had never had a job! Enter the blue collar boyfriend~worked in construction, drove and OLD chevy, had his own apartment and smoked. To say that my father was not amused is an understatement! HA! but I was in love, and by the time I graduated we were talking marriage...over my dead body, said my father~and then he said~if you live together for a year and do not kill each other, I will give you a wedding. DONE!!! We found a basement apartment, on the South Shore, and moved in~happy as clams. I proceeded to have every job known to man~i worked in a pharmacy (or 2!) a dry cleaner,toys r us, pizza place, cleaned houses and then a deli~I had found my niche. Good Music, great people in and out all day and plenty to keep me busy. I didn't care for the slow pace of retail, even though as my Dad pointed out, that was the job that had benifits...nope it was the deli life that caught me~i am a sucker for instant gratification! Get paid in cash at the end of the day, run around on deliveries in a cool car with the tunes cranked, regulars asking for me to make their lunch and taking leftovers home for dinner~AHHHH that was the life! I learned everything I could about ordering, specials, fish friday, lent, worked every holiday when nobody else wanted to. This went on for years and it worked out well when the kids were in school~I worked the lunch shift very happily~construction workers would bring their orders in written on 2x4's...brings back some good memories. Eventually I became at little overqualified and I started going into places that weren't doing so well, I revamped their menus, started business fax lines, and introduced new ways to drum up business~I was very happy! I would stay at a place for a few months and then move on~on Long Island there is always ANOTHER deli to work at...who knew that off of Long Island there is no such thing as a deli!! NOT ME! I had no idea when I moved down south that I would be out of work with no prospects on the horizon.Oh sure there is food, but nothing like what I did back home, so I have had to sort of reinvent myself~but it is, I am sure, like when Mcdonalds first went to China~I am making pastrami reubens and people are looking for fried bologna. I make bagels in a biscuit eating town...So we have been working on our Southern fare and by we I mean my hubby too...he has mastered the art of BBQ Ribs and I dare anyone to come close to him~a throwdown would be welcome!!! I can produce a tasty slaw and a light and fluffy biscuit, although i have to say it took alot of buscuit making and eating to get to this point! Someone asked me the other night why do I want to open a New York style deli in a small southern town and the answer is quite simple really~it is all I know~it is my passion, it is what I excel at, it is in my blood. But I will promise my town this...if I am lucky enough to get a chance to do it in this small southern town, I will also do my best to produce the best southern fare anyone has ever had here!!!