MAIN~16 of 48 • MAIN~16 of 48 • MAIN~16 of 48 • MAIN~16 of 48 • MAIN~16 of 48 • The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM • December 2-15, 2008 • GayMardiGras.COM • SouthernDecadence.COM • December 2-15, 2008 • GayMardiGras.COM • SouthernDecadence.COM • December 2-15, 2008 • GayMardiGras.COM • SouthernDecadence.COM • December 2-15, 2008 • GayMardiGras.COM • SouthernDecadence.COM • December 2-15, 2008 • GayMardiGras.COM • SouthernDecadence.COM trodding the boards by Brian Sands E-mail: [email protected]Spinning Into Butter at Loyola’s Marquette Theatre L aura Hope’s production of Spinning Into Butter started off so broadly I thought I was watching commedia dell’arte. Though there were some bright comic moments, I thought it was a bit much. But as Rebecca Gilman’s play about race relations and the politics of academia developed, Hope brought things into focus—the small-minded characters turning into buffoonish cari- catures, the decent ones turning achingly real—to devastating effect. Though a worthy play and Gilman’s best known one, Butter is not a perfect work what with its points sometimes spelled out too baldly and actions/mo- tivations that occasionally bump up against logic. That said, Hope’s little touches, like wittily choreographed scene changes, made the evening that much more engrossing; by giving it an expressionistic edge, its naturalistic flaws were minimized. The young cast carried out Hope’s direction with courage and conviction. Colby Lemaster brought untold layers of depth to the small but important role of a down-to-earth security guard. Play- ing a pompous and petty elder faculty member, Christopher Bohnstengel mostly pulled off this tough role com- plete with jumping on desktops with hilarious results. James McBride was solid as a well-meaning if caddish young professor. As Sarah Daniels, the young Dean who is the center of the drama, fresh- man Laura Friedman was about 15 years too young for the role. Yet she captured Sarah’s insecurities and de- termination, winningly tracing the arc of how her good intentions lead to her (one hopes, temporary) defeat. And in Gilman’s scalding, extended monolog on race, Friedman was simply brilliant. Though Spinning Into Butter, first done in 1999, remains an interesting play—one could palpably sense how intently a recent audience at Loyola was paying attention to it—Obama’s win manifests how things have changed to some extent. And of course, nowa- days, all the characters would be emailing, IM’ing and texting each other. The Frogs at Delgado Community College S tephen Sondheim’s The Frogs, “freely adapted from Aristophanes by Burt Shevelove [and] even more freely adapted by Nathan Lane,”is not top drawer Sondheim but it’s kicky fun. And, hey, 2 nd drawer Sondheim is still better than most. In this spirited tale of Dionysus’ trip to Hades to bring George Bernard Shaw back to Earth, nothing is too much whether sexy babes or tough broads, trampolines or lotsa theater references from Fosse to The Lady is a Tramp. If things slow down a tad when Shakespeare challenges Shaw for the right to return and they go head-to-head reciting selections from their works, hey, what do those two know about musical comedies? Director Timothy K. Baker wisely doesn’t overdo things; with something this lightweight, the last thing you need is overkill. Instead, this Frogs hops merrily along its way. With a self-satisfied look on his face, Travis Resor was a perfect Dionysus, nicely navigating between the noble and the silly, the ballsy and the, well, less manly aspects of this demi-god. Bill Mader, Jr. did well as his slave and saucy sidekick. Martin Co- vert was funny as Styx’s ferryman Charon and even funnier as Aekos, Pluto’s gatekeeper. And after the intensity of Miss Saigon and Assassins’ serious- ness, it was fun watching Vatican Lokey camping it up, wonderfully, as the feyest Pluto you’ll ever see. The musicians, led by Karl Harrod, did well by Sondheim’s challenging score and Tom Dawson’s set surrounded by Greek stoas ingeniously changed into the River Styx. As a cute introduction to Aristophanes, The Frogs nicely show- cased Delgado’s strengths and, I’m happy to say, registers as the most fully satisfying show seen at this commu- nity college in a while. Ribbit, ribbit. The Sweetest Sounds: The Music of Richard Rogers at NOCCA’s Nims Blackbox Theatre F or NOCCA’s Musical The- atre Department’s fall show, the prodigiously talented Jefferson Turner adapted and arranged nearly 40 of Richard Rodgers’ songs into a two hour concert entertainment. And if it had gone on for another eight hours, I wouldn’t’ve minded a bit! >From the opening’s gorgeous pro- fusion of 30-strong voices in a medley of The Sound of Music/The Sweetest Sounds/It’s a Grand Night for Singing onward, Turner continually took these classics and reconstituted them espe- cially for the NOCCA cast’s voices while intermixing snippets from other Rodgers songs. Challenging? You bet! But under Director Blake Coheley’s guidance, the result was a classy evening. V ery classy. Act One continued with the delight- ful Sing for Your Supper/Johnny One Note, a “love” section encompassing the funny (I Wish I Were in Love Again), the serious (If I Loved You) and the funny-serious (People Will Say We’re in Love), a cute juxtaposition between Manhattan and Kansas City, the atmo- spheric Ship Without a Sail/Bali Ha’i, the jazzy Falling in Love with Love, and the lustrous melding of Do-Re-Mi with Oklahoma! Act Two featured an amazingly am- bitious adaptation of the Slaughter on Tenth Avenue ballet to showcase eight different styles of dance (ballet, mod- ern, ballroom, jitterbug, tap, disco, hip- hop and manic) which the ensemble realized with aplomb. Coheley can fill the stage in the blink of an eye with singing, waltzing couples, yet is not afraid of simply staging a song such as Bali Ha’i for maximal effect. That said, there was a tendency to have cast members face out at the audience rather than their onstage partner. While this is some- what understandable given the show’s semi-concert nature, it did lessen the emotional impact particularly in The Sweetest Sounds/I Have Dreamed/ Where or When sequence. One could also have asked for a pinch more variety in the presentation; by the second half of Act Two, a certain sameness had crept in causing the numbers to blur more than intended. A little more humor would’ve been wel- come to join the Stepsister’s Lament/I Enjoy Being a Girl from Act One, quite possible the most hysterically funny musical number (picture some serious ugly/pretty drag) New Orleans has seen this millennium. The stupendously talented cast in- cluded not only such “old” pros as Ambie winner Ethan Andersen, Chrissy Bowen, Ashley Butler, Ambie nominee Janie Heck, Sarah Jackson, Michael Moore, Joshua Smith and Meghan Wagner but such new (or newer) faces as Christina Chester, Tyler Curry, Taylor Morgan,Andrew Otts, Jonathan Stevens and the “cutest” stepsisters around, Kyle Adam and Daniel Rigamer. As Coheley, Turner and the rest of NOCCA’s dedicated teachers prepare their charges for college and beyond, one hopes there’s nothing but the bright- est of futures in store for them. Side Man at Le Petit’s Muriel’s Cabaret Theatre W ith its jazz milieu, you would think Side Man, Warren Leight’s Tony Award-winner, would’ve been done here by now. It may not be a great play but it does have its stirring moments so a flourish of appreciation to The NOLA Project for giving it its New Orleans debut. True, the first act meanders along episodically in a minor key. And I’m not sure if we really need to see yet another dysfunctional family. Yet when Leight gives his full attention in the second act to the dissolving familial relations of trumpeter Gene, wife Terry and son Clifford, the results are harrowing. In this atmospheric production, Di- rector Mike Harkins did well with this difficult material. Michael Aaron Santos, Andrew Larimer (in a nice character turn), James Bartelle and Alex Martinez Wallace nicely established an easy camaraderie among their musician char- acters who watch as their glory days fade from view. Santos, as the clueless Gene, has one of the play’s most memo- rable moments as he listens to a singu- lar jazz tape, a rare moment of trans- porting happiness etched on his face. Yet it’s Ashley Ricord as Terry, a naive if tough New England gal who descends into mental illness, whose performance shall stick in my mind for a long time. With emotions pulled from the bone and a fearless commitment to exposing them, not to mention a nigh perfect Boston accent, Ricord ascended to an even higher level of artistry than she has already achieved. Unfortunately, fine as these per- formers are, along with Kate Kuen as good time gal Patsy, they simply can’t enact the lived-in manners and bodies of 40+ year olds, preventing this pro- duction from exuding the earthbound weariness Side Man demands. Only Sam Dudley, age appropriate as the haunted, conflicted Clifford, is able to deliver a fully realized interpretation. What The NOLA Project has done with Side Man is no small achieve- ment. But I look forward to seeing them do it again in 10 or 15 or even 20 years from now. New Orleans Fringe Festival at various venues H ats off to the New Orleans Fringe Festival for mak- ing New Orleans, in gen- eral, and the Marigny/Bywater, in par- ticular, its playground for a weekend’s worth of drama, comedy, dance, caba- ret, burlesque, circus/sideshow, spo- ken word, multimedia, performance art, puppetry, improvisation, storytelling and overall creative madness. Even if one had wanted to, it would’ve been impossible to see more than 18 of the Festival’s 30 offerings. I was able to catch a mere three. In Lia Romeo’s Baby Boom at the Hi-Ho Lounge, a couple want to have a baby but can’t, so when a machine gun appears on their doorstep in a basket dressed in baby clothes, the wife, ea- gerly, and the husband, more circum- spectly, decide to raise it as their own despite acknowledging “It isn’t a typical baby.” Romeo playfully spun out her tale until it took a dark turn, infusing her absurdist framework with real passions and a bittersweet take on life. Dana Jacks was delightfully wacky as the [continued on Main-18]
Transcript
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Laura Hope’s production ofSpinning Into Butter startedoff so broadly I thought I was
watching commedia dell’arte. Thoughthere were some bright comic moments,I thought it was a bit much.
But as Rebecca Gilman’s play aboutrace relations and the politics ofacademia developed, Hope broughtthings into focus—the small-mindedcharacters turning into buffoonish cari-catures, the decent ones turningachingly real—to devastating effect.
Though a worthy play and Gilman’sbest known one, Butter is not a perfectwork what with its points sometimesspelled out too baldly and actions/mo-tivations that occasionally bump upagainst logic. That said, Hope’s littletouches, like wittily choreographedscene changes, made the evening thatmuch more engrossing; by giving it anexpressionistic edge, its naturalisticflaws were minimized.
The young cast carried out Hope’sdirection with courage and conviction.Colby Lemaster brought untold layersof depth to the small but important roleof a down-to-earth security guard. Play-ing a pompous and petty elder facultymember, Christopher Bohnstengelmostly pulled off this tough role com-plete with jumping on desktops withhilarious results. James McBride wassolid as a well-meaning if caddish youngprofessor.
As Sarah Daniels, the young Deanwho is the center of the drama, fresh-man Laura Friedman was about 15years too young for the role. Yet shecaptured Sarah’s insecurities and de-termination, winningly tracing the arc ofhow her good intentions lead to her (onehopes, temporary) defeat. And inGilman’s scalding, extended monologon race, Friedman was simply brilliant.
Though Spinning Into Butter, firstdone in 1999, remains an interestingplay—one could palpably sense howintently a recent audience at Loyolawas paying attention to it—Obama’swin manifests how things have changedto some extent. And of course, nowa-days, all the characters would beemailing, IM’ing and texting each other.
The Frogs at DelgadoCommunity College
Stephen Sondheim’s TheFrogs, “freely adapted fromAristophanes by Burt
Shevelove [and] even more freelyadapted by Nathan Lane,”is not topdrawer Sondheim but it’s kicky fun.And, hey, 2nd drawer Sondheim is still
better than most.In this spirited tale of Dionysus’ trip
to Hades to bring George Bernard Shawback to Earth, nothing is too muchwhether sexy babes or tough broads,trampolines or lotsa theater referencesfrom Fosse to The Lady is a Tramp. Ifthings slow down a tad whenShakespeare challenges Shaw for theright to return and they go head-to-headreciting selections from their works,hey, what do those two know aboutmusical comedies?
Director Timothy K. Baker wiselydoesn’t overdo things; with somethingthis lightweight, the last thing you needis overkill. Instead, this Frogs hopsmerrily along its way.
With a self-satisfied look on hisface, Travis Resor was a perfectDionysus, nicely navigating betweenthe noble and the silly, the ballsy andthe, well, less manly aspects of thisdemi-god. Bill Mader, Jr. did well as hisslave and saucy sidekick. Martin Co-vert was funny as Styx’s ferryman Charonand even funnier as Aekos, Pluto’sgatekeeper. And after the intensity ofMiss Saigon and Assassins’ serious-ness, it was fun watching Vatican Lokeycamping it up, wonderfully, as the feyestPluto you’ll ever see.
The musicians, led by Karl Harrod,did well by Sondheim’s challengingscore and Tom Dawson’s set surroundedby Greek stoas ingeniously changedinto the River Styx.
As a cute introduction toAristophanes, The Frogs nicely show-cased Delgado’s strengths and, I’mhappy to say, registers as the most fullysatisfying show seen at this commu-nity college in a while. Ribbit, ribbit.
The Sweetest Sounds: TheMusic of Richard Rogersat NOCCA’s NimsBlackbox Theatre
For NOCCA’s Musical The-atre Department’s fall show,the prodigiously talented
Jefferson Turner adapted and arrangednearly 40 of Richard Rodgers’ songsinto a two hour concert entertainment.And if it had gone on for another eighthours, I wouldn’t’ve minded a bit!
>From the opening’s gorgeous pro-fusion of 30-strong voices in a medley ofThe Sound of Music/The SweetestSounds/It’s a Grand Night for Singingonward, Turner continually took theseclassics and reconstituted them espe-cially for the NOCCA cast’s voices whileintermixing snippets from other Rodgerssongs. Challenging? You bet! But underDirector Blake Coheley’s guidance, theresult was a classy evening. Very classy.
Act One continued with the delight-ful Sing for Your Supper/Johnny OneNote, a “love” section encompassingthe funny (I Wish I Were in Love Again),the serious (If I Loved You) and thefunny-serious (People Will Say We’re inLove), a cute juxtaposition betweenManhattan and Kansas City, the atmo-spheric Ship Without a Sail/Bali Ha’i,the jazzy Falling in Love with Love, andthe lustrous melding of Do-Re-Mi withOklahoma!
Act Two featured an amazingly am-bitious adaptation of the Slaughter onTenth Avenue ballet to showcase eightdifferent styles of dance (ballet, mod-ern, ballroom, jitterbug, tap, disco, hip-hop and manic) which the ensemblerealized with aplomb.
Coheley can fill the stage in theblink of an eye with singing, waltzingcouples, yet is not afraid of simplystaging a song such as Bali Ha’i formaximal effect. That said, there was atendency to have cast members faceout at the audience rather than theironstage partner. While this is some-what understandable given the show’ssemi-concert nature, it did lessen theemotional impact particularly in TheSweetest Sounds/I Have Dreamed/Where or When sequence.
One could also have asked for apinch more variety in the presentation;by the second half of Act Two, a certainsameness had crept in causing thenumbers to blur more than intended. Alittle more humor would’ve been wel-come to join the Stepsister’s Lament/IEnjoy Being a Girl from Act One, quitepossible the most hysterically funnymusical number (picture some seriousugly/pretty drag) New Orleans has seenthis millennium.
The stupendously talented cast in-cluded not only such “old” pros asAmbie winner Ethan Andersen, ChrissyBowen, Ashley Butler, Ambie nomineeJanie Heck, Sarah Jackson, MichaelMoore, Joshua Smith and MeghanWagner but such new (or newer) facesas Christina Chester, Tyler Curry, TaylorMorgan, Andrew Otts, Jonathan Stevensand the “cutest” stepsisters around,Kyle Adam and Daniel Rigamer.
As Coheley, Turner and the rest ofNOCCA’s dedicated teachers preparetheir charges for college and beyond,one hopes there’s nothing but the bright-est of futures in store for them.
Side Man at Le Petit’sMuriel’s Cabaret Theatre
With its jazz milieu, youwould think Side Man,Warren Leight’s Tony
Award-winner, would’ve been done hereby now. It may not be a great play but itdoes have its stirring moments so aflourish of appreciation to The NOLAProject for giving it its New Orleansdebut.
True, the first act meanders alongepisodically in a minor key. And I’m notsure if we really need to see yet another
dysfunctional family. Yet when Leightgives his full attention in the second actto the dissolving familial relations oftrumpeter Gene, wife Terry and sonClifford, the results are harrowing.
In this atmospheric production, Di-rector Mike Harkins did well with thisdifficult material. Michael Aaron Santos,Andrew Larimer (in a nice characterturn), James Bartelle and Alex MartinezWallace nicely established an easycamaraderie among their musician char-acters who watch as their glory daysfade from view. Santos, as the cluelessGene, has one of the play’s most memo-rable moments as he listens to a singu-lar jazz tape, a rare moment of trans-porting happiness etched on his face.
Yet it’s Ashley Ricord as Terry, anaive if tough New England gal whodescends into mental illness, whoseperformance shall stick in my mind fora long time. With emotions pulled fromthe bone and a fearless commitment toexposing them, not to mention a nighperfect Boston accent, Ricord ascendedto an even higher level of artistry thanshe has already achieved.
Unfortunately, fine as these per-formers are, along with Kate Kuen asgood time gal Patsy, they simply can’tenact the lived-in manners and bodiesof 40+ year olds, preventing this pro-duction from exuding the earthboundweariness Side Man demands. OnlySam Dudley, age appropriate as thehaunted, conflicted Clifford, is able todeliver a fully realized interpretation.
What The NOLA Project has donewith Side Man is no small achieve-ment. But I look forward to seeing themdo it again in 10 or 15 or even 20 yearsfrom now.
New Orleans Fringe Festivalat various venues
Hats off to the New OrleansFringe Festival for mak-ing New Orleans, in gen-
eral, and the Marigny/Bywater, in par-ticular, its playground for a weekend’sworth of drama, comedy, dance, caba-ret, burlesque, circus/sideshow, spo-ken word, multimedia, performance art,puppetry, improvisation, storytelling andoverall creative madness.
Even if one had wanted to, itwould’ve been impossible to see morethan 18 of the Festival’s 30 offerings. Iwas able to catch a mere three.
In Lia Romeo’s Baby Boom at theHi-Ho Lounge, a couple want to have ababy but can’t, so when a machine gunappears on their doorstep in a basketdressed in baby clothes, the wife, ea-gerly, and the husband, more circum-spectly, decide to raise it as their owndespite acknowledging “It isn’t a typicalbaby.”
Romeo playfully spun out her taleuntil it took a dark turn, infusing herabsurdist framework with real passionsand a bittersweet take on life. DanaJacks was delightfully wacky as the
[continued on Main-18]
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wife.STRIPPED: naked in a new world
at the Marigny Theater included threeone-woman monologues. JenniferPagan’s Donde Esta was a funny, af-fecting portrait of a Latina wanting tobecome a U.S. citizen during Nixon’sreign who feels life is passing her by.Angry Hair written & performed byFrancine Segal was a brave revelationof self and interesting as an autobio-graphical account of growing up as ayoung Syrian Jewish woman in NewOrleans but, as is, never made the jumpto art. Segal might want to considertrimming and/or rearranging it into aless linear form to give it more dramaticheft. Diana E.H. Shortes’ portrait of thelady who erected the Pontalba Apart-ments, The Baroness Undressed, hasonly deepened since its run at VoodooMystére Lounge earlier this year,though its pacing could’ve been just atad quicker to avoid melodrama.
Any and all of STRIPPED’s compo-nents could probably be expanded intoa full length work; judging by its fullhouses, there seems to be an abun-dance of interest in seeing more ofthese women.
Only Struck/Break, two program-matic one-acts by J. Stephen Brantleywas a disappointment. In Struck, aself-pitying writer who’s had a strokemeets with a high-strung gallery ownerfriend of his to talk about “Life”. Breakfeatured an encounter between a be-fuddled Englishman and a druggie who’sbroken into his home as he tries to kickhis habit; better than Struck but I didn’tquite buy the whole situation. HunterGilmore was quite good, however, asthe emotionally raw intruder who’s morearticulate than he at first lets on. And,man, what a chest he got!
With attendance at the Festivalexceeding all expectations, it looks likeit’ll be back next year. I’m already clear-ing my schedule.
7th Annual New PlaysFestival at Le Chat Noir
As is often the case with one-act playfests, Le Chat Noir’s7th Annual New Plays Fes-
tival presented a smorgasbord of offer-ings that appealed to a wide variety oftastes. Don’t like one? Then wait 10minutes and try another.
Me, I wanted to go back for a doublehelping of native New Orleanian MaryLouise Wilson’s Lost, a comic tale oftwo older ladies with memory issues.Though best known as a writer for FullGallop, her one-woman show aboutDiana Vreeland, Wilson displays a truetalent for finding the comic in the ver-nacular of real people which in turnbrought a marvelous humanity to herHelen and Alice. Though Wilson’s de-nouement flirts with tragedy, she man-aged to still find humor in the situationto make for a thoroughly satisfying
playlet.Clare Moncrief and Carol Sutton,
too actresses all too often seen indrams, brought Helen & Alice to life withbrilliant comedic flair—might there be aMadame Arcati or Mistress Quickly intheir futures?
As for the rest, one helping wasenough for me.
Andrew Farrier’s Good Childreninvolving a street hustler, an older womantrying to evacuate and a crawfish fea-tured a strange if logically consistentworld. You Can’t Walk Backwards byGabrielle Reisman and Mindy Mayer’sWater Business were nice if uninspiredslices of New Orleans life. R.J. Tsarov’sslice, Cheffing, was not as surreal ashis works usually are; I’m not entirelysure if that’s a good or a bad thing.
Jamie Wax’s The Scutley Papersstarted off in the Southern gothic veinand then turned touchingly serious.Only in New Orleans by Pat Bourgeoishad some funny lines as voodoo seemedto help out the Saints. Bradley Troll’sContraflow fulfilled the absurdisttwaddle quotient and To Hell and Back(Somewhat), set in a titty bar, by BudFaust was silly but an audience pleaseras were most of these.
In addition to Moncrief and Sutton,under Carl Walker’s smooth direction,Vernel Bagneris, Alex Lemonier, LeslieLimberg, Jamie Montelepre, AngelaPapale, T. Joe Seibert and Jamie Waxall admirably satisfied the demands ofthese new works.
Jim Bailey is Judy Garland atHarrah’s Theatre
Jim Bailey brought his uncannyrecreation of Judy Garland toNew Orleans during the Hal-
loween festivities and what a treat itwas!
This is the Garland of the lateryears when she could host a TV varietyseries and without fancy lighting orcamera work, or flashy sets or cos-tumes, hold an audience mesmerizedsimply by singing, with a voice like afine cello, songs from the Great Ameri-can Songbook.
And what songs they are—YouMade Me Love You, Swanee, The Bellsare Ringing, The Trolley Song, SanFrancisco, This Can’t Be Love, Ol’ ManRiver, Just in Time, Get Happy and, ofcourse, Over the Rainbow.
Wearing a tasteful powder blue,beaded outfit, Bailey stayed completelyin character throughout the 80 minuteshow, recreating not only Garland’s, attimes, stuttering speech pattern, butcapturing her warmth and self-depre-cating style as well as her wonderfulinterpretative gifts.
Having been performing this act fornearly 40 years, Bailey is still in greatvoice; if it was a little frayed around theedges, Bailey/Garland blamed it onNew Orleans’ humidity and I’ll go withthat. One only wishes Garland had thestaying power that Bailey has had...
trodding the boards ...from M-16
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breakfast, brunch, lunch, crepes,poboys, salads, gumbo, Cajun/Creolespecialties and dinner. Call 522.6440for more info.
Quartermaster: The Nellie Deli,1100 Bourbon St., was voted Restau-rant/Deli of the Year once again and isopen 24 hours 7 days. Serving break-fast, lunch and dinner, the deli offersfree delivery. Call 529.1416 to order.
Tomatillo’s Restaurant, 437 Es-planade Ave., is open Tues., Wed. 11am-10pm; Thurs.-Sun. 11am-11pm. The res-taurant refers to itself as “A MexicanJoint” featuring appetizers, soups, sal-ads, make your own combination plates,house specialties, burritos, desserts,and of course, specialty margaritas.Call 945.9997 for reservations.
The new Cuban-style Sandwich at The Country Club is a deliciouschoice ($8). The po-boy bread is stuffed with Cuban roast pork,ham, Swiss, julienne cut pickles and mustard, then grilled
panini style. It's served with homemade sweet potato chips and thehouse's spicy peach barbecue sauce. The restaurant is now under thedirection of Chef Sam Allen offering very affordable choices 11am-10pmdaily with Sunday Brunch 11am-3pm.
Holiday Pork Roast
Tired of stuffing the same oldbird for the Holidays, whynot try a pork roast instead.
This recipe is an elegant treatment for apork shoulder or Boston butt roast.
ROAST PORK WITHGARLIC-ONION GRAVY
1(5-6 pound) pork roast (Shoulderor butt)
10 garlic cloves, halvedkitchen string5 teaspoons Cajun seasoning2 tablespoons vegetable oil3 medium onions, halved and sliced3 celery ribs, chopped1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth3 tablespoons all-purpose flour5 tablespoons cold waterPreheat oven to 325 degrees. Make
20 small deep cuts in roast, and insertgarlic pieces. Tie roast with kitchen
string securing at two inch intervals.Rub Cajun seasoning on roast. Cookroast in hot oil in a large heavy skilletover high heat 2 minutes on all sides oruntil brown. Remove from skillet. Re-duce heat to medium. Add onions andcelery to skillet; cook stirring frequently,five to eight minutes or until tender.Place onion mixture in a roasting pan;top with roast. Add broth to pan. Coverloosely with heavy-duty aluminum foil.Bake at 350 degrees for 3 ½ to 4 hoursor until a meat thermometer registers180 degrees. Remove roast from pan;cover with foil and let stand 20 minutesbefore slicing. Pour pan drippingsthrough a wire-mesh strainer to equaltwo cups, adding broth or water if neces-sary. Discard solids. Whisk together 3tablespoons flour and 5 tablespoonscold water in a medium sauce pan.Whisk in drippings, adding additionalbroth if necessary. Cook over medium-
high heat, whisking often. Six to sevenminutes or until thickened.
OYSTER DRESSING2 medium onions, diced4 celery ribs, diced2 red bell peppers, diced2 green bell peppers, diced4 garlic cloves, minced¼ cup olive oil2 (8-ounce) containers fresh oys-
ters, drained and chopped coarsely½ cup dry white wine½ cup chicken broth¼ cup butter3 bays leaves2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves2 teaspoons black pepper1 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
flakes1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce2 large eggs¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sautefirst five ingredients in hot oil in a largeskillet over medium heat fifteen to twentyminutes or until tender and lightlybrowned. Stir in oysters and next nineingredients, cook three to four minutesor until edges of oysters begin to curl.Remove from heat; let stand ten min-utes. Remove bay leaves. Place mix-ture in a large bowl; stir in eggs andcheese. Fold in cornbread. Place mix-ture in a lightly greased 3 quart pan.Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes oruntil lightly browned.
