Start omelet, add feta, add sauteed onions, add diced ham. Soooooo goooood.

Yum.

I cut up a couple of hot dogs, browned them in butter and then scrambled a couple of eggs in the same pan. Not bad!

Also yum.

I have decided sausage beats ham OR bacon.

Live large -- add BOTH!!

Edit: Oops. Read to fast. Add ALL!!

Jilli, I'd try making a roux with arrowroot or tapioca or another flour before I gave up on gumbo.

And Consuela, your workplace angers me to no end. I just want you to work some place where they respect you and treat you as a valuable asset. Ideally, you'd still be in a position to hear how your Nemesis fucked it all to hell after you left.

I just want you to work some place where they respect you and treat you as a valuable asset.

Well, this is the crazy thing: they do. They would not be spending all this money on my contract if they didn't value what I do.

It's just that they're really REALLY bad at hiring, and there was the reorganization, and the division chief who re-programmed my position as something I'm not (and don't qualify for), and the new rules about veteran preferences...

I feel kind of zen about it.

Live large -- add BOTH!!

Actually, adding too much stuff is not as good, because of how the cafeteria guy cooks them. I do sometimes take feta AND cheddar, though.

I do sometimes take feta AND cheddar, though.

OK, well that qualifies as large living. Carry on.

Jilli, could you use oat flour instead of wheat to start a roux if you were making it yourself?

Jilli, I'd try making a roux with arrowroot or tapioca or another flour before I gave up on gumbo.

Yeah, but this means I have to try making a roux. Which is something I've been too wimpy to attempt. I fear the scorching! I am not an attentive or organized cook!

Well, this is the crazy thing: they do.

Okay, then they really are crazy. Because I have no idea how you've put up with years of this bullshit! I mean, I'm glad they value you, but oy!

Actually, adding too much stuff is not as good,

That's how I came to make my omelet. I decided, "Well, maybe the French know what they're talking about and maybe less is more and maybe Americans have a problem with restraint when it comes to pizza and omelets. I'll compromise and limit myself to three ingredients though no self-respecting Frenchman would ever do more than two, and one of them would be an herb like chervil."

The discussion of gumbo and roux and dried beans made me think of a list.

Stuff I Eat and Cook With All the Time Since Moving To New Orleans:

- dried Camellia red beans - flour ( we go through it like crazy without even baking.) - Crystal hot sauce - Tony Chacere spice mix - iced chicory coffee - grits - ham hocks - shrimp - tasso - Steen's cane syrup - cayenne - dried thyme - collard greens - satsumas - okra - fresh pink-eyed peas - dried black-eyed peas - andouille - rabbit/quail/duck...game meats

Thanks for permitting me that indulgence! I am sure there are more, but for some reason I needed to get this out of my brain.