I am now in my apartment in Houston. I have been here about ten days. Beginning to settle in and overcome the mechanics — getting electricity, turning on the gas (requires a pressure test from the plumber then a permit from the city, each with a cost) finding where I am. Where are the essentials — grocery, bar, quick bite restaurant (Houston eats out more than any other US city so I am good with the grab-and-go or even the quick sit down), and quite important, how do I give Wilson a good life with a place to poop, safely stretch his legs, and easy walking in an urban environment. He hates, hates, hates, when trucks release their pressure breaks, any high pressure exhaust sound is his downfall. Rifle shots, drums, fireworks are all part of a landscape but the hiss of high pressure brakes, he is done.

So it is us. Me and Wilson. Discovering an urban area that is new for both of us — a trip back to my childhood as my adult hood was spent away from the harum-sacrum and relentless noise of the city. Maybe road travel required a theme and I should discover one in my new phase of life, but I have decided not to work my way through Julia Child, that is such a cliché since Eat Love Pray or Julia, but I will try Pierre Franey’s 60 Minute Gourmet. His meals are supposedly 60 minutes at a stretch and are meals, not an individual recipe. For example, I have discovered on the Gulf that shrimp is plentiful and in all sorts of variety from Texas wild shrimp, to Louisiana shrimp, to farm raised shrimp, to frozen Icelandic shrimp. I had no idea there was such variety. For Mardi Gras, I had Franey’s Creole Shrimp (Crevettes à la Créole) with Riz Créole. I really should have had company to fully enjoy it. Other meals, however, have been stunning, like his Suprême de Volaille Panés à l’Anglaise and Courgettes et Carrotes à la Menthe — it sounds way more fancy than it was, simply breaded chicken breast with zucchini and carrots with mint as a side. I have heard that the test for a new chef/sous chef is to make a French omelette — the simple meals are the hardest to pull off! Although, I will never discount some of the great tasting menus I have had in the past!

Despite Franey’s book being the quick guide for the harried home-maker, as Craig Claiborne implies in his introduction, it is a serious cookbook. The recipes demand attention and deliberate action or, as is popular now, mindfulness cooking. I try to imagine cooking for a casual date after a day in the park hamburgers and potatoes — the hamburger (Steak Haché au Poivre) requires shallots, red wine (dry), cognac, beef broth, parsley as well as, of course being French, butter. The potatoes require onion, green pepper, and, surprise, pimento (and butter). Ingredients in any American bar or pantry! The meal is very good, but is it not throwing a few shrimps on the barbee! Thank goodness I make a good cocktail and I have yet to find anyone who doesn’t enjoy Nancy Wilson on the Hi-Fi! So time will pass as I flail in the kitchen — gotta love an open plan apartment.