Here are my tomatoe plants with Mollie guarding against squirels and birds. Should have tomatoes soon!

Wonderful Easter holiday with family, friends and great tradional food: leg of lamb, devil eggs, new potatoes, slaw, pie and ice cream.

Looking for great fried chicken? I had a great time with Theresa, Jula and Aaron at Babe's in Sanger, Texas. Best fried chicken I've ever had! Everything is served family style and it's BYOB.

Though brisket is a popular meat to smoke I've never prepared it for some reason. Since I was hosting a "guys" poker night this week I decided to smoke a 10 lbs. brisket. The night before cooking I rubbed the meat with oliver oil and the following powdered spices: paprika, black pepper, salt, brown sugar, chili, garlic, onion, cayenne, and sage. It sat in the frig until morning. The next day I smoked the meat for 10 hours using pecan and cherry wood. While the meat smoked I mopped (baste) with a combined dark beer, canola oil, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, minced garlic and chopped onion.

The guys brought home-made potatoe salad, cole slaw, and beans. Desert was home-made apple and blueberry pies.

No left overs so it must have been good!

If you ever been to Pappadeaux's you will appreciate their Alexander Sauce. We grilled a nice piece of salmon and placed it on top of brown rice. On top of that is the Alexander Sauce: chopped sweet onion cooked in butter until soft and then stir in flour to thicken, then add clam juice and whipping cream - add salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. In another pan cook shrimp and crawfish (or crabmeat) in butter. Then mix both pans together for the sauce then pour on top of the fish.
On the side Nancy made a great fresh Caesar salad.

Late in the day and before opening gifts we had prime rib, Caesar salad and wild mushroom and asparagus risotto.