The sun is shining this morning which is taking the chill out of the air. It was cool this morning, but not as bad as a few days ago and the weather app on my phone says its going up in the middle 60s this afternoon. Yesterday, I went to the boat landing with the dog and found a spot on a concrete bench in the direct sun—no wind - it was wonderful. I could feel my old bones warming. Hopefully I can do that today again.
A fair number of people showed up for Bingo for Seniors, enough to provide a decent blackout pot. We will not have Bingo again until Jan. 6, I believe. Just too many things going on begtween now and then. Food for Seniors will not take place until sometime in late January. Although the timing is a bit off, I want to thank Mrs. Charlar Brew, the St Martin Parish library director who goes out of her way to send over to me a box of Spice of the Month samples. I usually give them out with Food for Seniors.
The Spice of this Month was Star Anise, an unusual star shaped, hard spice about the size of a penny, maybe a bit smaller. It smelled pretty nice even through the plastic paper. Each spice is accompanied by a sheet of paper explaining what it is and usually a recipe for using it. This one had a recipe for honey glazed carrots which seems pretty interesting. I haven’t tried it yet, but did read and note that after simmering the Star Anise with a few other things, you take the anise out and don’t eat it. I guess it doesn’t get soft. Now I will read a bit more and see where it says Star Anise is not to be eaten and more often ground up.
Mrs. Brew had called me to say that she and the LSU Nutrition person, Maria Gonzales for Assumption Parish had worked out some deal when Maria would be handling St. Martin Parish plus Assumption.
Since we are experiencing this cold weather and some strong north winds, Belle River water level have fallen to the point, where the pontoon bridge across Belle River is not functioning correctly. It has a selfleveling mechanism, but gossip about town says the pontoon part went so low it has become stuck and the approaches are really severe. For safety, two of those big highway warning things have been placed, one at each bridge entrance, warning to USE CAUTION. I certainly did and I would think others did, but a friend told me she saw some truck zoom across ignoring the warning. I guess the vehicle made it across, but I would think it must have come close to hitting the metal flow. I have not driven across the river yet today, but may make a trip to Pierre Part later and then I’ll see if the bridge is fixed.
Meanwhile, if you come this way, be careful crossing the river at Paizanos.
Teche News’ Lower St. Martin correspondent, Linda Cooke, can be emailed at lindacooke1939@ gmail.com.
