Tee’s Kitchen

Today I'm talking with Christi at Tee’s Kitchen.

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00:00
You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Christy at Tee's Kitchen in Louisiana. Good morning. How are you? Good morning. I'm doing well. Good. So what's the weather like in Louisiana this morning?  Oh, it's...

00:29
Actually, it's raining. It's raining here, kind of humid, muggy, the typical Louisiana weather. Okay, well, it's like 35 degrees, I think, here in Minnesota and the sun is just pouring through the window. Oh, wow. I'm a little jealous. Yeah, so we're kind of on opposite ends of the spectrum, but that makes sense considering how far north I am and how far south you are.

00:56
Okay, so did the obligatory weather report. This is a thing now. I do this on every episode  and tell me about yourself and what you do. Well, my name is Christy. I'm from South Louisiana, as far South as you can get. I'm married to my high school sweetheart  and we've been married for 20, 25 years.  And we have two, I'm a boy mom. We have two boys, an 18 year old  and a 10 year old.

01:24
I'm an elementary teacher, so I currently teach third grade in the charter school system.  And I also have, I guess you could call it a business,  T's Kitchen,  which kind of started out as a,  I would bake from my home. slowly kind of got away from that lately because I've been so busy, but  now I mostly do, like as my side gig, I do social media. And so I do  cooking videos and.

01:52
Sometimes I work with brands and so I enjoy that social media aspect of my life, which is more of a hobby, but sometimes I wish it would be my full-time job because I just love it so much.  Yeah, I'm discovering that  media content production is really fun. Who knew? It's so much fun.  Yeah, I mean, I'm not doing videos, but I'm definitely sharing my voice and other people's voices. And when I started it,

02:18
I was really nervous and now I just sit down and like, hi, how the hell are you? Let's chat. Right. Me too. I was so nervous at first too. I wouldn't even show my face. Like I would just show my the food, you know, and then slowly I started showing myself and becoming more vulnerable and I feel like people really connect to that, you know. Well, I think your face is adorable. I watched a couple of your videos and you're really good at it. Well, thank you.  Yeah.  Okay.

02:45
So we need to stretch this to half an hour about what you do. We're going to talk about your videos first. Your videos are really  good. Like  your diction when you talk, you are so clear, which is really helpful if there's actually like something you're trying to get across on how to do something. That's helpful.  And you're always smiling. Whether you want to be or not, you're always smiling. I think it's beautiful.  And some of your videos are funny, but

03:14
a lot of them are just really interesting.  thanks. Wow, what a compliment.  you know, we're always  our own worst critic, you know, so  I don't sometimes it's funny to  see how other people's people, not people's other people perceive you, you know, so that's such a compliment. Thank you. You're welcome. And believe me,  I am always my worst critic.  I listened to the podcast back before I released them, obviously, to edit them.

03:42
Some of them I'm like, I don't know about that one.  I'm not sure I want to put that one out.  And I wait, I wait like a couple of days and I sleep on it then I listen to it again.  I'm like, I don't know why I thought that was bad. It's fine. There's nothing wrong with that.  I know, I know. And sometimes, you know, whenever you think something is terrible, other people really connect to it. And I don't know if it's cause it's, you're a little more vulnerable. I don't know, but  some of the videos that I release and I'm like, the next day I'm thinking, Oh, I shouldn't have posted that.

04:11
I get the most comments or the most private messages from people that were like, I'm so glad you shared that. I'm going through that too.  yeah.  Yeah. The episodes I  really get tweaked about when I'm doing this  is if somebody says something that makes me tear up and you can hear it in my voice, and I don't like hearing my voice like that.  Yeah. I'm like, that's a real reaction.  It's important that people realize that

04:41
I'm human too, so. Right, right. Yeah. I've done my fair share of crying on social media.  I'm really glad that it's not video from mine because I have the worst ugly cry face you've ever seen. no, that's not going to ever be seen on a video on the internet if I can avoid it.  Okay. So are you in gumbo country? We are. We are.

05:10
So where I am, I'm actually located in Vermillion Parish. We have parishes here.  And it's referred to as the most Cajun place on earth. So  and the food here is, I mean, everybody thinks of New Orleans and I love New Orleans. But when you think of Louisiana, you think of New Orleans and the food is just different here. It's  I think the food is much better here personally.  I don't know. That's just the.

05:38
The people around here know how to cook and men and women equally that we,  they all cook, you know? Yeah. Is, is barbecue a big thing in Louisiana? Uh,  not,  I mean, we do barbecue. love it on Sun. Usually people will do it on Sundays, you know, when the weather's nice in the summertime,  um, not as much as we cook rice and gravy around here.  Um,  so yeah, barbecue.  I mean, people do it, but it's not.

06:08
the most common thing here.  Okay. And I would say we do it, but we don't do it as well as other like Texas does it a little better, I think.  Okay, cool.  Um, you said, you said rice and gravy.  Um, my, one of my sons,  uh, came to visit like, I don't know, a year or so ago and he made sausage, gravy and biscuits. Ooh, yeah. And that's,  I hadn't ever really had it before.

06:36
He put a metric ton of black pepper in it and I'm not a fan.  And so I really wanted to love it and I just couldn't get past the black pepper. And I ate like two bites and he was like, you don't like it. And I said, I think I do like it. I just think I would like it better if there wasn't as much black pepper in it.  And he was like, oh, that's eight years in the military for you. And I was like, yes, I'm sure you a lot of black pepper.  So like, I don't know, six months ago.

07:05
I said, you know, I'd like to maybe try making my own sausage gravy and biscuits.  there's this sausage we get from a local store and I love it's breakfast sausage and it's really good. It's not peppery. It's not super sagey. It's just this really nice blend of seasonings.  Right. So we had a pound of that in freezer. was like, I'm going to try my hand at sausage gravy and biscuits. Yeah. That is my number one like favorite breakfast sausage. Yeah. I love that. like it. I like it for dinner.

07:35
But anyway, made some and I used this this smokehouse maple seasoning in the gravy and some salt. And oh my God, I loved it. And my husband loved it. And the kid who still lives here loved it. And we just had that the other night for dinner. And I was like, I don't know why we don't have this more often. And then sweet and savory sounds good too, you know, love sweet and savory.

08:00
And then after I ate dinner, I was sitting there on my phone doing something for the podcast and I was like, Oh, I know why we don't do this more often. Cause it's really heavy. Right. I was like once a month, every two months in the winter time. Awesome. And the summer, maybe not so much. So yeah, food is, I am so glad I'm talking with you this morning because food is such a gift and it's such a, it's such a thing that brings people together and everybody can relate to it.

08:30
So when I saw your videos and what you do, was like, yeah, I to talk about food on Saturday morning. know. And that's why I think that's why I love to cook and I love to bake. And I think that's why. it does. It brings people together. I guess it's, and I always say this, like my husband and I laugh and we're like, food is our love language. It's how I show my love. Like that's instantly, if I want to make someone feel better, I cook for them. That's my way of showing I love them, you know?

08:59
And  I've lost most of my family,  you know, now. And so  when I make their dishes or I make their recipe or certain things that I'll eat, it just takes me back and it reminds me of them. You know, so I think it does. It connects so many people together.  Yeah, absolutely. I actually told the story that is a representation of that for me  back months ago on the episode, but I will, I will shorten it and share it with you.  My mom's mom used to make.

09:27
what she called Christmas candy every year. And she would make like peanut brittle and divinity and  buckeye candy and fudge and just stuff that she  would make. And she would send us like a 30 pound box of  Christmas candy  for Christmas.  And she had Alzheimer's or  whatever dementia, whatever they called it.  And she was no longer with us by the time I was,  oh,

09:57
30? Might have been before I was 30. And I adored her. She was this little tiny lady and she loved everybody and she was a fantastic cook and she was fun. And she loved flowers, she loved peonies  and like she was just this sweet little lady.  And so  back about 15 years ago, I was like, I want to make grandma's candies and I want to send some to my  family for Christmas.

10:22
Yeah, and I made grandma's candies. I didn't make all of them I didn't do peanut brittle because peanut burles kind of a pain in the butt Yeah, I didn't do divinity divinity is also a pain in the butt to me. did I did her little chocolate bonbon candies and I did Potato stick candy. I don't know if you know what that is. Yes Yeah, did that and some fudge and a couple other things and I sent my parents like a 40 pound box of candy

10:48
and said, divide this up between you two and my sister and my brother and  your friends.  And they still had candy in the freezer  that following November.  Oh, wow.  But it was really, really neat using What a special thing.  Yeah. So I think that if you're raised in a family where someone in the family before you  makes a certain thing,

11:15
It's really kind of fun and really kind of important to try making it. Yeah,  I agree. I agree because like I said, most of my family,  they were great cooks. Both of my grandmothers were amazing cooks.  My mom was a great cook. My dad didn't as  my dad worked, you know, away a lot.  So he didn't cook as much as my mom, but he had like the best fried chicken.  And to this day,  and that's

11:40
kind of how T's Kitchen, like more the cooking side developed was because I wanted to preserve those memories. But, you know, once he passed away, it was kind of sudden and kind of traumatic. And I just, we realized like,  none of us actually watched him fry the chicken because I was inside helping my mom with the mashed potatoes or whatever.  And he was outside frying chicken and none of it, he never wrote his recipe down  and it just, we don't have it. And so I said, you know what, I'm gonna

12:09
I'm going to video myself. I'm going to make sure like my husband and I have been loosely working on a family cookbook for a couple of years. And I'm like, I want my boys to have that. I want them to have those memories because, you know, I wish that I still had that.  still like my mom recently passed away  of dementia in October,  excuse me, September. And,  you know, there's things that  I'm like,  I wish I wish I knew how she made this or

12:39
recipes that I can't find, you know,  because it's true. Like, and I guess that's why I love food and cooking so much. It involves all your senses, you know?  So it's like the most vivid memories revolve around food. So take, you know, once, when I have things that my mom made or my dad or my grandparents, it reminds me so much of them. So I want my boys to have those memories, you know? Yeah.

13:04
Have you ever tried making something that you hadn't tried making before that really brought back memories and you're just standing there chopping vegetables crying? Oh, yeah  It happens to me often  especially recently, know, cuz cuz both my parents are gone, but Yeah,  so many things like and you know, I was scrolling through  Facebook yesterday or day before and  I was scrolling and I came across a

13:32
I don't know you've ever had this, but it's like an apple salad. So it has apples, raisins, and maybe just mayonnaise, I think. my mom, I have not had that in, my mom used to make it when we were kids. And when I saw it, I'm like, I haven't had that in over almost 30 years. And it just instantly took me back, you know? And I'm like, okay, I have to make that. Yeah. I think it's called Waldorf salad. I Yeah. Okay. What I've had. But yeah, it has, and it has walnuts in it.

14:02
Oh, okay. See, mom never put walnuts, probably because we didn't like nuts as kids.  And it was so good. And I guess the sweet and savory, I'm a big fan of sweet and savory, like I said, but  I was like, okay, I have to make that. But it instantly just took me back to my childhood.  Yeah. And you were saying you want to make sure that you have a family cookbook put together for your boys.  I've done that. I have actually made, I've done  the little binders with the pages and put the recipes in them.

14:30
for my boys. I have a daughter, she's the oldest and I have three boys after her.  And my oldest boy  kept saying, kept calling or messaging or emailing and saying, how do you make this? How do you make that? Cause he remembers me making it.  And I finally was just like screw it. And I literally put together a binder with the recipes that I have and sent them, sent it to him for Christmas one year.  Oh, how nice.

14:56
And he sort of kind of knew it was coming because I asked him what recipes he really liked from when he was growing up. And he got it and he called and he was like, thank you. Now I don't have to keep asking you all the time.  Like,  exactly. it's just, it's a, it's a really simple thing you can do for your kids. Yes. And they do appreciate it. Whether, whether they're like  really excited and

15:23
Yay, thank you. This is amazing. Or if they're just like, thanks, you know, they appreciate it. Right. Yeah.  So, um,  I was at my mom's funeral and my, call them parent. It's my godfather. So my godfather, he's really shy and reserved. And he came sit next to me and he said, you know, I have some,  uh, he's probably trying to make me feel better. He said,  I have some recipes,  uh, from my mom, from my grandmother. And he said, would you like those?

15:52
And I'm like,  of course, I mean, that's like gold to me. I'm like, yes. And he's like,  I need to get those to you. I'm going to get those to you. But I have a, think he said recipe cards or whatever, and I'm going to get those recipes to you.  We really still haven't connected to do it, but  I mean, it was like, okay,  instant, like my heart just burst, you know, like  that was his way of trying to comfort me. And he knew that  I loved food. And so I can't wait to get those recipes and, and start

16:21
digging into that, which I'm kind of curious to get because my grandmother was actually legally blind.  someone else must have written those recipes for her. So I'm kind of anxious to get them and see what it's like, because most of the things that she cooked and are baked, she would just feel. would, know,  and she didn't measure really well. She used the coffee cup  to measure.  So it should be interesting.  so this brought up, I need to see about that.

16:49
Yeah. when you,  if and when you get them,  make sure that you scan them and save them in your computer. Oh yeah. In case something happens, the actual hard copies, cause that would be terrible to lose those. Right. I know that's true. The other thing I was going to say for you and for the listeners is that  people don't live forever. We know this. So if you have, if you have things like  you want to know what your grandma's recipe for brownies is  or

17:19
family history or any of that.  Ask now while they're still here. Yes, yes. I know. So on my dad's side of the family, his only living sibling is  he has a sister.  And I was telling my cousin the other day, said, you know, we really need to one day I sat down with her and we had coffee and I'll do we'll do that every now and then.  And she was just telling me all kind of information that I never knew about my my my family, you know, and

17:45
I'm like, I need to go back though, because now I'm like, I'm 45. So my memory is not great. Um, and it's been a rough year for me. So I think that's having that's a little bit having to do with the memory loss, but I need to sit down with her. And she was like, of course I said, I'm going to bring a notebook and I'm going to write down all these facts because she just has, she's getting up in age though, and her health is not great. So I really need to do it soon, but, um, she is a wealth of information and she has a great memory. So.

18:15
I I need to make it a point to sit and  write all that down because now I mean once  your family starts passing away, it's like I'm almost in a panic, you know,  I do know because my dad's mom passed away when he was two. He never knew his mom.  Oh,  and my grandpa was so madly in love  with my grandma that it just it just killed him that she died so young  and he never really talked about her.

18:44
He just couldn't. And then he remarried.  And my mom, when my grandpa passed away, my mom went up and helped clean out his house and she found a box  of cards that had been sent to my dad's mom when my dad was a baby. And little notes about what a pretty baby Calvin was. Things like that. That were so precious to have.  So I do understand that

19:13
you gotta ask the questions now. And we didn't have the opportunity to do that because  she was long gone by the time I was born.  But yeah, there's just, I mean, I have a whole extended family on that side of the family out there somewhere and I don't know how to get hold of any of them.  It's hard. It's really hard when you know there's that potential but there's just no way to make that connection. Right. Right.

19:41
It's so important though, because that's, you memories are,  you know, you have to preserve those memories, especially, you know, as you now I appreciate things that, you know, at the time I thought were so insignificant. And now I just, I really, and I'll talk about this sometimes on, on my stories on  Instagram and Facebook,  like just little things will just, you think they were insignificant at the time, but it just triggers an instant memory, you know? Yeah.

20:09
My youngest likes to make baked beans and my mom used to make Boston baked beans. And so when my youngest, who's 23 now, when he gets the beans out and he actually, he gets the bags of beans and he soaks the beans overnight and boils the beans to soften them and they make baked beans.  And when he makes it, he puts that molasses in there and all I can see is my mom  in her kitchen making Boston baked beans.  Right. Yes. It's like, dude.

20:39
I'm so glad and so not glad that you like making these.  Exactly.  So, and the other thing that I really want to say is you guys cooking  is not as hard as you might think it is. No. And I feel like the first step  in cooking for anybody  is learning how to boil water because there are people who have burned a pan boiling water. Oh, wow.

21:07
Yeah. Because they don't know. They don't know that they have to, you know,  watch for it to boil. Right. once it boils and you know, you know, sort of where that mark is,  you know, it takes about this many minutes for this big a pan.  And then you can move forward to like boiling eggs. So you have hard boiled eggs. And  the easiest way to make hard boiled eggs for me  is I put five eggs in a small saucepan and I cover them about an inch over the top of the eggs with water.

21:36
And I bring that to a boil and then I let it boil for 10 minutes and then I shut it off. Oh yeah. That's how I do it. And if you can boil an egg to hard boiled for egg salad or deviled eggs or whatever, you have officially cooked something. Right. Right. So it's, not that hard. is, it is being able to follow directions, pay attention and then eat what you made. Yeah. And I think, you know, a lot of people are intimidated, but you just have to get started and

22:06
you know, some of them,  when I receive compliments from people that say, oh, I didn't realize you make it look so easy. That's just like, that means the world to me because  I want people, I want it to look easy. want, I don't want people to be intimidated. You know, you nowadays, it's like, we have to, you have to learn how to cook for your family. You know,  um, it's, what brings people together. So you have to learn how to cook for your family. And  like you said, it doesn't have to be complicated. It can be so simple.  Um,

22:36
But you just have to kind of take that first step, I guess, you know? Yes. And the most simple cooking is not any harder than reading the back of a microwave  dinner box that says, that says peel the plastic back,  put it in the microwave, set the timer for two minutes or whatever,  take it out, take the plastic off, put it back in for a minute. You have food.  If you can do that, you can cook. Right. Right.

23:03
And I'm not trying to be snotty about this because I know that a lot of people just literally think they don't have time to cook. there are some people who may not have time to cook. They may have a full-time job that's 60 hours a week and have four kids at home who want to eat the minute you walk in the door. I get it. But you got to make time for yourself. And one of the most pleasurable things that I do for myself is cooking from scratch. Yeah, me too.

23:32
I love it. And I think it's because it's  for me and I always say that it's  sort of like therapy for me. You know, when  I'm cooking, I'm not, you know, worried about anything else. It's kind of relaxing. I know it's not like that for everyone, but  it is for me. It's like therapy. Yeah. It puts you in this zone where you are focused on  one task. And when you're focused on one task, it's really hard to worry about other things. Yes.

23:59
I love that part. really do. love the cooking zone.  Okay, so you're an elementary school teacher. Yes.  Yes. So do you talk about cooking and food with your students?  Not so much. I don't, um, some of my kids, like they'll note it, they'll, they'll figure out, I guess that I'm on social media, but I don't really advertise it. You know, I don't say too much about it.

24:24
But  that is  something that I would like to somehow figure out how to incorporate more of. Like every now and then for years I've done, like for Mardi Gras, we'll do homemade  king cakes and I use, know, Pillsbury,  just the cinnamon rolls out of the can and I show them how to make a king cake and we've done that.

24:44
You know, little things like that. Last year, I was, they asked me to be on the local news and I did like a cooking segment. And so I had to miss school for that. And when I came back, I guess the other teachers were talking about it and the kids were just like,  Ms. Christy, show us, you know, show us the videos. And so I did show them  those, but, and they were so excited to see their teacher on TV, you know? But I really, I don't, kind of, I've been, I've kept that.

25:10
part of my life a little more private, you know,  but I do want to figure out a way to kind of incorporate more of that into the classroom if I can. Because it is an important skill and I don't think, you know, don't think nowadays I don't think they teach enough life skills at school.  They do not.  I guarantee you they do not. I I know that we don't, we just don't, you know.  Yeah, it would be nice if they did, but they don't.  So you were on TV. How was that for you? It was

25:39
It was amazing and it was live TV. So I was very nervous at first, but  the host was just so he was great. so I just did, I'm trying to think of what it was. Oh, it was Valentine's Day treats for mom. was like a mother's day special. And so I had to come, you know, and I would sort of prepare the food.  I mean, it was quick things. They didn't have a kitchen. So I would just kind of show it was showing kids how to make little treats for their mom for Valentine's Day.

26:08
And was so much fun. That sounds like a ball.  I would have  been nervous as a long-tailed cat in room full of rocking chairs. I hate being on camera.  But yeah, that does sound like a lot of fun. And you are so bubbly and so personable. I'm sure that it came across really great.  Well, thank you.  OK. Well, what's on the horizon for your cooking stuff in your  social media?

26:38
Content creation thing you got going on.  Oh gosh, I don't know, you know  I'm just I'm at a point like I said, I've kind of  I wasn't as consistent this year just because of the hard year we had  with social media,  but I'm kind of in a good place where I'm just  I guess I'm a little bit more vulnerable and  Just being more authentic on social media. That's kind of my thing. Like I'm not one to

27:05
follow the trends and that's probably why I don't grow as fast as other people. just not,  don't want to force anything. So if it's something that I'm not comfortable with, I don't really do it.  So I just kind of go off of, and most of the stuff that I film, it's truly what we're having for dinner. Like I film what we are cooking. And so it's not, don't plan content, I don't do any of that.  But  I would like to expand it.

27:33
My goal, one of my goals is to teach a cooking class, whether it be online  or in person. I'd really love to do a kids cooking class. And I've been talking about this for a year and I just have not been able to make it happen because of location and all of that. So that is probably one of my goals that I really want to work on is starting that, like  doing some kind of cooking class.  Um, and I really would like to, you know, collaborate with more local Cajun.

28:01
brands or businesses. love promoting local businesses.  there's actually  it hasn't been announced and we haven't really figured out all the details, but I do have  a collaboration and working opportunity with a new local business  that kind of like encompasses all of what Cajun food is all about. So I'm excited and I really hope that it pans out.  So I have that going on and  I don't know. just

28:29
I'm just kind of, I've been praying about it and you know, cause I was stuck for the longest time and I've just been praying and saying, you know, just I trust in you and show me what I need to do. What is your purpose for me? know?  yeah. Okay. So I, I try to keep these to half an hour, but you just gave me another question to ask you.  Um, so I know very little about Cajun cooking. I, I know about, um,

28:56
uh, Cajun blackened chicken and I'm not a fan, but that's because I've had it in Northern States. Who knows how it is when it's cooked the way it's supposed to be cooked.  So what makes Cajun food Cajun food? Is it a specific set of seasonings? What, what makes it Cajun?  Well, most Cajun dishes we, do have our own, um, they have cayenne pepper bits.  Most people think that Cajun food is spicy and I would say it's really not.  It's just got such a good.

29:25
I don't know. It's got a good, it has a little bit of a spice, but it's, it's a great flavor. Um,  so I think first and foremost, if it's Cajun, it's gotta have the Cajun seasoning, which is usually like salt, cayenne. We don't use a ton of black pepper, but some, some Cajun seasonings do have it. Garlic. cook with a lot of garlic  and most dishes start with onions, bell pepper, celery, and people call it the Cajun Trinity. know? Miraflour, yes.

29:54
So  it starts with that, but Cajun food is,  I would describe it as more country. Like people in this area were just poor and they lived off the land. know, like  my family, like my boys hunt, like we, hunt and they fish and it's, you know, we have a lot of seafood and you  know, we boil seafood, we boil crawfish, we boil crabs.  Like I said, most around here, everybody cooks rice and gravy.

30:24
And that's basically like Cajun people would take their tough cuts of meat. They would brown it and they would throw in onions, bell pepper, celery, you know, or what really whatever they would have in their garden is what it would, they would use.  And you just braise it. You cook it low and slow for a long time and they serve it over rice because in this area, rice is a major crop and we have tons of rice farmers.  um, you know, it was a cheap way to just, okay, whatever cut of meat they had or seafood or whatever.

30:54
you would just cook it in a gravy and it stretches the meal and it really, you you can just kind of cook it while you're cleaning or doing whatever, let it just cook on low  and serve it over rice and it stretches the meal and it just feeds a lot of people.  So I would say Cajun food is just humble country. We eat a lot of rice, a lot of seafood just because we have it available, a lot of wild game. We even eat alligator like.

31:21
Just whatever is available. Like in my freezer currently, it's, I don't normally buy a whole lot of meat from the store, maybe chicken,  sometimes pork, but it's mostly a lot of wild game and a lot of seafood is what we have.  Very nice. I'm so jealous. spice is just, oh, it's amazing. Like there is nothing like it. And if it's done well, it's, you know,  it's really, really good.

31:46
I'm so jealous of the seafood. grew up in Maine. I could eat seafood whenever I wanted to and I didn't like it. And now I'm an adult.  I like it, but I can't get my hands on good seafood in Minnesota. Gee, I wonder know, we're so spoiled. We're spoiled. And now I see people eating like  the imitation crab meat and I'm thinking,  don't get it. Like, why would you eat that when you have crabs available?  but. Because it's the same thing as people who eat Miracle Whip versus people who eat real mayo.

32:16
Right. Yeah. think it's the same thing, but it is not the same thing. It's not.  It's not. And I guess we're spoiled. We're so spoiled because we're used to having crabs. I mean, we went and we caught crabs a couple of weekends ago and we had that. That's what we had. And it's like, most people would be so jealous of that. know. Me? Yes, me. I would be jealous of that. I am jealous of that.  So is gumbo like...

32:43
I haven't really had it. it's kind of like a stew over rice. you serve it over rice, but it's a little thinner  than a stew. So  it starts off with a roux, you just, but you brown the roux really, really dark. Okay. And then you add the onions, bell pepper, celery, and then  you add enough water and your meat. Like around here, we do different, like everybody thinks that

33:11
um you need okra and gumbo. Around here it's a little bit different. So we'll have a chicken and sausage gumbo or we'll have a shrimp and okra gumbo or we'll have a seafood gumbo.  You know sometimes we have okra in it sometimes we don't.  So yeah it's like the same flavor of a stew but it's a little more watery I would say. Okay.  And you just serve it with rice and then we always have potato salad with it.

33:39
Oh man, you just got me. love potato salad. too. Summer's coming. Potato salad is our thing in the summer. So I'm looking forward to that first. Yeah. Brat and burger and potato salad and fresh cucumber from our garden. That'll happen in I know. I can't wait for the fresh vegetables.  Oh, I can't wait. My husband usually... I have a brown thumb.

34:02
But I love when  he's got the green thumb and his garden is always amazing and I cannot wait for those fresh cucumbers and tomatoes.  Me either. I got four months to go, ma'am.  Oh my God.  Yeah, tomato. Good tomatoes in Minnesota in the wintertime.  Real hard to find.  I would think so, yeah.  Yeah. Yeah, there's a company I keep mentioning them and I need to let them know I keep mentioning them.

34:30
But  they have  hot house tomatoes that they grow here in Minnesota in the big greenhouses.  And usually hot house tomatoes are not great.  These tomatoes are fantastic. They actually taste  almost like the ones we pull out of our garden in July and August. And I love this place. And so if I'm going to do like a bruschetta thing  with the basil and the,  can't talk,  the olive oil, balsamic vinegar,

34:59
tomato, garlic, basil leaves,  and  mozzarella chopped up in it  on toast.  I'm going to get tomatoes from that company from the store because they are the best ones.  yeah, you definitely need to mention them.  Like you said, let them know you mentioned them.  Wow. Yeah, I talk about them a lot because they're the only game in town for a decent tomato in Minnesota right now.  All right, Kristy.

35:25
Thank you so much for your time today. I pushed it to 35 minutes.  I'm okay with that though.  Thank you. you again. This was so much fun. I'm so, I'm so honored that you invited me. This was so much fun. I'm so glad you had time to chat with me.  You have a great weekend. Thank you. Same to you. All right. Bye. Bye.