We Met in a Bathroom Line

People, will always ask two questions, well three,

Do you work at Tulane? No. They won’t have me. Could you imagine? I’d be like fired 50 times a day. I cause too much consternation.  But with some of the inane Wilson Center and Gibson Hall decisions it does take work to be a Tulane fan, that's for sure.

Your husband is a Coach at Tulane? No. Coach Hullabaloo was formerly known simply as Mr. Hullabaloo until our game against UCF in 2009. Mr. and Mrs. Hullabaloo traveled with the team to dreary Orlando and Coach Toledo was still on this kick of refusing to hire a Special Teams Coordinator. And Toledo was allowed to carry on this charade by TPTB mind you. for years. Anyways, Mr. Hullabaloo was so excited to get to be on the sidelines so he went out before the trip and bought himself the same golf shirt the staff wears and the same baseball caps so he could look like an "official person" and not the husband of a lunatic SuperFan.  When I posted the picture of Mr. Hullabaloo on the sidelines on Facebook, one of our friends exclaimed, “Yay! We have a Special Teams Coach!” So it started out as a joke to call Mr. Hullabaloo “Coach” and well, now here we are today and the name has just stuck. So now he is my Coach Hullabaloo. and I love him so.

Did Y’all Go to Tulane? No. Mrs. Hullabaloo is a graduate of H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, thank you very much. And Coach Hullabaloo went to a lovely college in the valleys of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Where, he likes to point out, students did not take their laundry to dry cleaners or have housekeepers come clean their apartments. or take a job solely to fund manicures and pedicures twice a month. And seriously, if Coach Hullabaloo and I had gone to college together, I would have never graduated! Coach Hullabaloo rocked his college time as a fraternity member and bar tender at the “in” bar there. His roomates were also all bar tenders at the other “in” bars. They used to host rent parties in their disco-lit basement and charge admission to help pay their rent. He also used to book little known bands, like Dave Matthews (pre-1994), and organize music festivals. It was bad enough of a distraction that I would cut class to paint banners at the sorority house (priorities!) or because I was recuperating from a night out (or yes, sometimes to avoid that awful on again/off again “fling” who continued to aggravate my college life by declaring my same major). So God, thankfully saw to it that we both carved our paths at different institutions of higher learning, barely claim diplomas and then serendipitously meet in the bathroom line at a Halloween house party years and years later.

Coach Hullabaloo would like it noted that we was NOT a Delt nor a Sigma Nu. Sworn enemies apparently at his college with these two groups.

Mrs. Hullabaloo was at a sorority function last night - yes, I graduated but that doesn't mean we stop being members. We just have more casual functions on occasion with other alumnae members. Last night's was fabulous, we had massages and make-up makeovers at a shop owned by one of our alums.

So one of our newer alumnae members is from Ole Miss and was the sweetest! She is a recent graduate from one of our chapters at Ole Miss and she reminded me that their deferred rush week is happening right now in Oxford. So there will not be much of an Ole Miss student contingent in New Orleans since it's Rush Weekend. Peggy will be sad, as will I, because we will miss getting to see some of the get ups that some of these girls wear for a football game. I'm not talking about a nice dress and cute sandals - I mean like some of these outfits for the game in 2010 were crazy. They weren't trashy or hideous, they were.....overdone. a lot overdone. Lace backs, sequins, rhinestone bangles, cut down to there. For a football game. And more make-up than you can shake a stick at in a Sak's cosmetics department. I had to laugh because one lady's attire was so over the top, that my Razorback friend Char commented, "Now, that, that is...riveting"

Peggy, being the ever prankster, dug out one of her mother's old carnival ball shell blouses for the next home game. You know the sequined ones that you can pair with a ball gown skirt? She pulled up to tailgating in that get up and we were just hooting with laughter!

So the other day, I ran across this genius blog set up by current Tulane co-eds titled We are the W.E.. They post all sorts of cute articles about the REAL Tulane student life. Cautioning freshmen newbies on where to be seen, which guys are the total package,how to attain that globally envied Tulane skill of getting your tasks completed and still have a social life (priorities!). Some things are still the same: Weekends start on Thursdays, but they no longer start at The Rendon Inn, pit stop at AT's and end at Fat Harry's or Igor's. And they still go to the beach for spring formal, except now they go all Martha Stewart on us and handpaint ice chests like these for their dates.(and stock them. Mrs. Hullabaloo would like it noted that I never, once, purchased beverages for a date in college. As it should be ladies. Sets a dangerous precedence. Marriage is about give and take and Coach Hullabaloo likes to say that I have perfected the art of him giving and me taking......)

Anyways, the girls of W.E. kindly linked up to Cooler Connection on Facebook to give their readers ideas for this new Tulane tradition and I have posted some of my favorites here for you to admire.

I loved some of the ideas, like painting the view of your football field from your seats. Or trimming the edge with your fight song. And I simply loved making the drink cubbies a "girl" and "guy". So clever!

Anyways, Ole Miss is upon us. We are as ready as we are going to be, Chandelier in tow!

Roll Wave my chamudis!

The Drought Is Over

This summer, Athletics promised us Greenie Dats that saturating the New Orleans area market with Greenwave Merchandise was their first order of business.

Well friends.... here it is y'all! Lacey Nighties for $52 at Dillard's Lakeside! Va-va-voom! Two different blog readers of the male persuasion complained to me at last week's tailgate that all they were seeing were posts about dresses. Well, here. Please complain about this "must have" addition to your wives' wardrobes.

The Fashionista Greenie Dat can pair the top part up with some jeans, rhinestone bangle bracelets and give some of those Ole Miss fan-ettes a run for their money in Gameday Fashions.

(Just kidding y'all with my snark, I still think this is very cute. But talk about going from zero to sixty in no time flat!)

Let's Digress

Yes, Let's Digress!

Orlando is boring and pristine. New Orleans is scuzzy (but we love it so!). UCF fans are an embarassment. UCF marked their only top 25 appearance by promptly losing to USM (snicker!). Shasta is a silly mascot name. Crazy Ole Miss Fanettes dress and apply makeup in the dark. Tulsans eat corn. Yes, these are things we know....

But seriously, I do want to digress. I want digress all the way back to Mrs. Hullabaloo's favorite moments in Tulane Athletics ....

Enjoy! (thank you to Noladave and FanBase for the photos)

My thoughts on Ines

"Thank You Bob! But I love the top - such a vibrant purple. Bob, would you call this color "grape" or "aubergine"?" ....



I know you are just DYING to know my thoughts about Miss Ines. Especially in light of my absolutely catty behavior with regard to the Real Ho-wives of Oxford that made a cameo in New Orleans 2 weekends ago.

Well, here's my thoughts Hullabaloo Huddle Fans. Brace Yourselves.

Miss Ines needs to call and THANK the NY Jets for putting her on the map. Who had ever heard of her before this episode?

and then she needs to go out and find a decent stylist.

and No for the upteenth time, she is not Miss Spain/Miss Universe. Miss Ines Sainz Gallo is from Mexico. Miss Ines Saenz Esteban is from Spain. There's a zillion spanish speakers in our wonderful world. Ya think maybe their two mommas (the former Miss Gallo and the former Miss Esteban) may have chosen a similar name for their daughters. Like maybe there might be two Robert Smiths in this world?

Anyways - Yes, Miss Ines' jeans were too tight, her translucent shirt was unbuttoned too low. She left nothing to the imagination. But, alas, she did not consult me about appropriate costuming.

This whole hullabaloo is a prime example of the major difference between Southerners and Northerners. Had Miss Ines been in a locker room say in Chinquapin Parish, asking Mark Sanchez if he could describe the Jets green as "Clover" or "Hunter" dressed in that get up, Mr. Sanchez and everybody else in that locker room would have addressed her questions with utmost politeness and then as soon as she sashayed out the door, the locker room would have been completely abuzz.

See, we'll be polite to your face, and then tear you down behind our hands or after you leave. It's just our nature. If you can't say something nice about someone, well, come sit by me! So we can giggle and whisper. and then smile at you sweetly if you turn around.

There are sadly exceptions to every rule. Hokey Kagan and Bobby Hebert - you are complete idiots for saying that she asked for it. Well, not just for that. I have a laundry list for why y'all are idiots. Being LSU fans would probably be the #1 reason on my list. However, what if Miss Inez were your daughter, would you feel the same way about the behavior of the other "adults" in that room? In a locker room of millionaires there's not one modicum of manners?

Goes to show that money simply cannot buy you class. Once a coon-ass, always a coon-ass.

Wouldn't it have been more reasonable to perhaps have gone to the PR Department at the Jets and said "We, neanderthals, cannot have women reporters dressed like ho's given press passes to the locker room. We are way too immature to handle such situations and you simply must to save us from ourselves."

or at the very least, followed Ouisa's behavior and waited until afterwards to make fun of the sitatuation ("Shut Up! They don't give a damn about that Grape Sh&t Clairee!"). Because then it would have been a funny story to use to entertain at social gatherings, such as OMG remember that black lace top that Ole Miss grandmother wore?! What a hoot!

Except that now it's a catastrophe. For everyone except Miss Ines that is. She needs to strike with the iron is hot and negotiate better salary and market her newfound fame. You go girl!

Records

OMG, the heat Saturday afternoon was absolutely unbearable.

Except that our tailgating was really cute so we soldiered on.





And "waves" to our neighbor tailgating krewe hostessed by Hullabaloo Huddle fan, Brittany. They had the cutest drink cups!

Some pictures of our cute sign, and the cute nametags that Cody Spark's family and friends wore to the game.



The only real downer (because the game was great) was that we had some, shall we say, colorful Ole Miss fans sitting in section 143. It was people watching central. We laughed until we cried (for real). OMG on the crazy and inappropriate outfits.

As far as what went on out on the field - without their felon QB having a few key moments, that game would have gone sideways for Ole Miss. What caught me completely by surprise was that Houston Nutt ran circles around the fans in the class department. I was not expecting that turn of events. My Ole Miss friend, Miss Glitter, is wonderful and always gracious. and has impeccable taste and manners. So I was expecting the roles to be reversed - classy fans and questionable team.

The fans that traveled pretty much just "sat" stone cold in their seats until a final QB in the 2nd half distanced out the score (yet still UNDER the point spread). I think they were gun shy after the loss to J-ville state. But came alive with that last TD. So after that TD, an Ole Miss fan who had sleeves (you know - the full on tatoo on the arms) got up, turned around and dug into Founding Father Jim.

Of all people. This guy seriously had no clue who he was trying to start something with. First of all - Jim is twice his size, so he's lucky that Jim didn't stand up. Because that would have been an "Ohhh, Noooooo" moment. and secondly, Jim has an encyclopedic knowledge of sports in general, in addition to having a college degree not from Mississippi. Here's a recap of the exchange:

Tattoo Man: blah blah blah take that. tulane sucks, ole miss is superb blah blah blah

FF Jim: Ole Miss lost to Jacksonville State. Do you know who Jacksonville State lost to today? Appalachian State.

Tattoo Man: *head exploding* Well, yeah? blah blah our record blah blah bowl game

FF Jim: After TODAY - our records will be THE SAME. and if you want to discuss records, Massoli has 2 felonies on HIS record. You wanna talk about records?

Tattoo Man: blah blah blah. turns around and sits down.

FF Jim: Y'all may win this game, but you have to go back to Mississippi. (and as the saying goes in Louisiana - Thank God for Mississippi so we aren't "last" always).

Anyways, enough with them. They came and spent money in New Orleans and our athletic department got paid. Yay!

So how PERFECT is this? My Town Daughter, Chickadee, is working at the Ticket Office in the Wilson Center. Chickadee also worked at the game on Saturday, was out on the field and got to hand out the fuzzy hair pieces that the student section was wearing. She's such a cutie pie.

And speaking of cutie pies, how about this little story sent to me by a friend (Yes, I have very dear friends who are LSU fans - don't tell anybody it will ruin my street cred, ok)?

"Dear Mrs. Hullabaloo, My Brother works the Tulane homegames and is on the field, so he asked if he could bring his 6 year old son. Well, as you know, I come from a family of Tiger fans, BUT, my nephew had a ball at the Tulane game. He made friends with the student section and was cheering and throwing footballs with the students. LOL. Nephew told my brother it was one of the best days of his life. We were cracking up. He had to go with my brother to another section of the field and said, "Dad, I better go back over there, my friends are looking for me to cheer with them!"

L-eaux-L...

Now, finally, to the recipe sharing.

Priscilla brought some pork for sandwiches. I'm not sure how she prepares it. When I cook it, it's so simple girl - you'll want to slap yo momma.

Momma Hullabaloo's Pork
(this is my mother's - who can't cook - recipe and it is delish)
So take your cut of pork, we use the "Picnic" Cut
(as I google, the Picnic cut is the lower shoulder.)
a can or two of coca cola
optional: s+p, garlic powder
cajun injector

The seasonings are completely optional, it is delicious just with the coca cola alone. I promise.

Preheat your oven between 325-350. Lovingly place your picnic shoulder in an oven roasting pan with the skin facing up. Shower with a can of coca cola - you can add a second can during the roasting if you see there isn't enough Jus emitting from the pork. Take a cajun injector and fill the meat up with as much coke as it can handle.

Cover loosely with foil and put into the oven for 3-4 hours until the pork is done (internal temp should be 180 and the juices should run clear). While the pork is roasting, every half hour or so - keep injecting the meat with the Jus.

Once cooked, let cool and then slice up for sandwiches. And to accompany this deliciousness, onion relish and hot mustard caper spread is the way to go.

Pickled Onion Relish
One whole onion (white, yellow, red. don't matter)
quarter to half a tomater
boiling water
s+p
lemon juice
splash vinegar
splash water
splash canola or olive oil (whatever you have)

Boil some water. Slice up your onion into super thin rounds and put in a bowl. Cover onions with hot water and let steam for a few minutes. Drain.

Slice tomaters and place on a paper towel to pat dry. Chop up tomaters into small quarter inch cubes. Add to onions

Season tomaters and onion slices with juice from about half a lemon, capful or more of white vinegar, drizzle with canola or olive oil. Tons o salt and dash or so of pepper. If too lemony or vinegary, add just a teaspoon of water. Cool before serving. I leave it out of the fridge to cool so that the flavors mingle and marinate.

Carmelized Red Onion relish (yum-o)
One whole red onion
Balsamic vinegar
nonstick cooking spray or some olive oil
dash saltnpeppa

Slice up your red onion into thin rounds. Sautee up in a pan over low heat and drizzle with balsamic - just dashes at a time. Don't over balsamic the poor things. You can sample a bit while it's cooking down to judge if you should sprinkle more balsamic in there. Sprinkle a little saltnpeppa. Keep sauteeing until they are soft and carmelized. Cool before serving.

Hot Mustard and Capers Spread
Chinese Hot Mustard (a few tablespoons)
Regular yellow mustard (a few tablespoons)
Dollop or so of mayo
dash of honey
teaspoon or two of capers (brined green peppercorns)

Whip together the wet ingredients. Chop up the capers into bits and then fold into the mix. Spread onto your roll with a slice of pork and some onion relish.


Easy Peesy Red and Sweet Potato Salad
One sweet potater or yam
3 or 4 small red potatoes
small yukon gold potato (optional)
packet of ranch dressing
whomp of mayonaise
generous tablespoon of pickle relish
handful super sweet yellow corn (can or frozen)
saltnpeppa

Scrub wash and chop up your potatoes, skin on into half inch sized cubes. Cover with water in a large stock pot. Salt the water generously. Bring to boil and boil for about 8-10 minutes. Taste a tater piece to see if cooked through. Drain and rinse with cold water to cool.

Whip a generous whomp of mayo with about quarter to half packet of ranch dressing mix. Add taters, corn, relish and stir together to combine. add saltnpeppa to taste. Voila.

Raspberry Vinaigrette for Spinach Salad
1/2 cup raspberry vinegar (I cheated and used orange champagne vinegar)
1/4 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a blender or food processor, combine raspberry vinegar, raspberries, honey, and basil; whirl 1 minutes or until well blended. With the motor on, add olive oil in a slow steady stream, whirling until dressing is smooth.

Candied Pecans (garnish for spinach salad)
Roughly chop about a cup or so of shelled pecans
2 tablespoons of butter
1.5 tablespoon brown sugar
sheet of wax paper

Melt butter in a pan over medium low heat, add brown sugar and stir to combine. Toss in pecans and turn to coat with brown sugar butter. Scrape out onto a sheet of wax paper, spread pecans out to cool and then store in a ziplock and refrigerate.

Da Saints Edition

It's an exciting week in New Orleans.

Tulane plays Ole Miss at the Dome on Saturday, which I'm not sure how that's gonna go....

Ole Miss blew a lead and lost to J-ville State in double overtime, army style. So they could come to town as punishers. Or they could not, which would be good for us. Because we need them to be sloppy. To give us a breather and give us another week to get our act together.

Also, my one and only Ole Miss friend, Miss Glitter, will not be coming to New Orleans even though she's a New Orleans girl. Other Ole Miss folks on the internets have been referring to New Orleans as "Mogadishu", so I have a foreboading sense about their visit to our city. Thinking it might all go sideways instead of the jovial visit I had originally anticipated it to be. What I am looking forward to is that kick off is 8pm, so we won't be baking in the sun all day.

But anyways, I mention that this will be an exciting week because it's the official start to the NFL Season and the kick off is happening right here in New Orleans!

There are all kinds of televised activities between the Taylor Swift + Dave Matthews Concert in Jackson Square, the NFL Parade down Decatur, etc.

As part of the lead up to the NFL festivities the TP profiled favorite gameday recipes of local restaurant celebrities, like the adorable Leah Chase and Willie Mae's great granddaughter, Kerry Seaton-Stewart.

Kerry provided her secret ingredient to Deviled Eggs, which I thought was perfect to share Deviled Egg recipes since we have Ole Miss coming in and all. (I think we can manage some good deviled eggs here in Mogadishu.)

WILLIE MAE'S SCOTCH HOUSE DEVILED EGGS
Prepare about three eggs per person. Add a dash of vinegar to the water for boiling, will keep cracked eggs from leaking. After the eggs are boiled for seven to nine minutes, run them under cold water. Cut the eggs lengthwise and remove the yolks.

Per dozen eggs: half-cup of jarred sandwich spread, a half-cup of regular mayonnaise, a teaspoon of lemon juice, a teaspoon of sweet pickle relish drained. S+P to taste. Mash the yolks with the mixture and spoon them back into the egg whites. Garnish with paprika, cayenne and a sprig of parsley for your dish.

Another easy peasy Deviled Egg recipe I found out on the internets was using just Marzetti's Cole Slaw dressing with the yolks instead of mayo and all that.

Most interesting ingredient Deviled Egg recipe I found was using the Chinese Hot Mustard packets from take-out restaurants.

ZIPPY DEVILED EGG RECIPE
12 eggs
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Chinese hot prepared mustard
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
Drop of mayonaise
salt and pepper to taste
paprika, for garnish

I think this might be yummy with crumbled bacon as a garnish too. Good idea Mrs. Hullabaloo!

And most decadent recipe from one of my favorite Food Network chefs, Anne Burrell. Don't you love how she lovingly calls her ingredients "My Babies" ? I love, love, love her enthusiasm in the kitchen! and Mrs. Hullabaloo just l-o-v-e-s her some truffle.



AB's TRUFFLED DEVILED EGGS
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1 tablespoon truffle oil
Pinch cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped black truffle peelings
Chopped chives, for garnish

Place the eggs in a pot and cover with tap water. The level of the water should be about 1 inch above the eggs. Bring the pot to a boil, Turn off the heat and COVER!!!! Let sit for 13 minutes-EXACTLY!!!!! Run the eggs under cold water, Peel, cut, etc.

After mashing yolks, add mayo, truffle oil, cayenne and truffle peelings. Continue to whip until very light and fluffy. *If you want a little more truffle flavor add a little more truffle oil with caution. Don't over truffle.

Spoon back into the whites. Sprinkle with chopped chives.

OMG, these all sound SO delicious. I just might have to make a set of all three and taste test. Yum-o!

Do you have a favorite Deviled Egg recipe? Please share!

Oh, and a free giveaway today. Saints Lip Balm that I picked up from the cute NFL Boutique on Magazine Street. Lucky recipient shall be chosen from comments.

Thanks for participating!

Jeremiah was a Bullfrog!

Okay, so I'm just a little stunned about the decision of our friends in O-Town, Mississippi and their choice of QB for the 2010-11 season. Joining the legacies of Archie Manning and Eli Manning. Compare and Contrast.

My eyebrows are arched.

It is just interessante because rumor had it that Mrs. "Potty Mouth" Orgeron got her fair share of sideways glances in O-Town simply because she was a little rough around the edges and didn't quite "fit in" with the crowd at The Grove.

With this QB, we aren't talking about a poor choice of words in polite company or an inappropriate choice of outfit for your age and status. Nope, this is a far cry from a run in with the Fashion Police.

I might have to plot with Koozie to make some fun handcuffs for the game on September 11th. Just for some lighthearted humor and knock em down a few pegs. Kind of like the Rice Marching Owl Band and their fabulous halftime performances.

Just to show that Mrs. Hullabaloo isn't a completely horrible and insenstive person, I am saying a prayer for Mr. Jeremiah. I sincerely hope that Mr. Jeremiah has Come to Jesus and forgiven for his transgressions. and that he benefits immensely in the future from his Masters in "Parks and Recreation" from the University of Mississippi. Also.