Time to make up some assignments.

Here is a video my students made about the Hare Krishna temple's Sunday Feasting. You may go to this on Sunday and blog about your visit to make up any one of your missing assignments. BUT, you must have a photograph of yourself at the temple in your blog to get credit.

Some photos from our St. Joseph's Day outing

Soul Food as Ethnic Food

We're going to watch this film, which in many ways encapsulates everything we are doing in this class.

Weekend Blog Assignment 8 - Groceries

As mentioned in an email that I sent earlier today, we won't be meeting and class and are not, unfortunately, going to be able to go on our walking tour today.

The weekend assignment is to get out and visit one small "mom and pop" style grocery store an one larger chain-style grocery store. In addition to blogging about all of the individual observations that I encourage you to make on your own, I want you to pay attention to the following elements: Comparisons based on Price, Quality, and, above all, Variety - and consider how these three affect each other.

Be sure to pick a few different food items that fall under different categories. For instance, consider at least one produce item, one packaged good item (like mac n' cheese or a box of cereal or can of tomato paste), deli / seafood / and meat counter items, paper & plastic goods (trash bags, paper plates, etc) and pre-made ready-to-eat foods. Don't forget volume and quality when considering price comparisons! Be sure you are, quite literally, comparing "apples to apples" in that you are certain to compare a 15oz can of tomatoes to another 15oz can of identical style tomatoes. Take pictures or notes where you think it applicable.

Also make comparisons to the overall shopping experience. What sort of area seems to be the grocery's specialty, or does it have one at all? Consider service and overall atmosphere. Think about the sort of image that the store is trying to project. Consider images used in marketing, signs, even the uniforms of the employees, the bags that they put groceries into.

 Lastly, think about this assignment in comparison with your trip to the farmer's market. Remember, when you make your blog post, I want to see photos and hot links.

 Some "small" grocery stores worth investigating:
Langenstein's (Uptown) Terranova's Grocery (on Esplanade) Matassa's Grocery (French Quarter) Zara's Market (Prytania by Creole Creamery)
 Big grocery stores: Winn Dixie (Tchopitoulas) Rouse's (Any location) Whole Foods (and be sure to consider how this is different from most "chain" stores) Wal*Mart

Friday walk

I decided that to do our blog entry post on a small grocery and a large grocery that we would take to our feet. We will follow the route shown below:

Stop 1: Langenstein's
Stop 2: Whole Foods
Stop 3: O'Delice Bakery (just for fun!)

Let's meet on the Horseshoe at 2:30.



View Walking directions to Loyola University New Orleans, Saint Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA in a larger map

Assignment 7

I am not assigning Assignment #7. This will give you a chance to catch up on all of your incomplete assignments, which I want to see done by Monday, March 11.

Techniques

A "roux" is a key component in one of the 5 "mother sauces" of French cooking: the Sauce Béchamel:




Paul Prudhomme on how to make a Roux:



Bechamel Sauce uses milk as its base liquid to make a white sauce. But what happens if you use shrimp, chicken, beef, or vegetable stock? You quickly end up with a tasty gravy!

The principles of these sauces combine a fat, a thickener, and a stock. You can change up any of these to make a wide combination of flavors. How might a switch in any or all of these ingredients represent cultural, economic, historical, or ecological forces?

What is the "trinity?" and what can we learn from it?
Here John Besh makes a gumbo that starts with a "trinity" - even if he is using a Zatarain's mix!