Fleur de Aleta

One of my co-workers asked me, "Aleta, can you help me with something? My daughter told me that she needs to make a cookie volcano. I told her that we could try to make a volcano with rice crispes. She said, "NO, Mom, everyone is expecting me to bring a COOKIE volcano! I told them I would do this!" Do you have any ideas on how to make something like that?" I don't know if my coworker realizes that I don't cook... she was asking the wrong chickee, about the most non-Martha Stewart person there is... Maybe it was the volcano aspect of it, but I thought about it for a few minutes and suggested that she stack cookies going up high and round and pour melted chocolate as the "lava." The next day she came to the office and showed me a picture she took on her cell phone. She said, "I told my daughter about your idea and she loved it! We were excited to try it. After we made the volcano my husband said, "I want to eat some of it now!" Thanks ...

My Dad writes poetry. Did I mention that? I didn't know he did until after I wrote a number of poems and then my Mom showed me the many, many poems Dad wrote to her. They were beautiful. Last night, he wrote another one, after the Saints' victory. I thought I'd share this with you... made me teary-eyed... THE LADY SMILES by: Lester J. Grimball The lady smiles once more As she had done, so many times In the moments past, before the Time of the tragedy, that seem To take her heart from her So many said, she was beyond repair But proven wrong were they, by she For she had a secret, only the ones That knew her, knew of this secret Of the Lady of New Orleans The color of her banner Change from purple, green and gold To the colors the "Saints" Bestowed on her, the black and gold Is now her banner, flying high Seems befitting, in a way, the black for The Black moments she had come through The Gold, the most cherished of possessions Known to man, now is her's to hold ...

THE SAINTS WON THE SUPER BOWL! OMG OMG!!! We sealed the win with the interception and I called for it! Right before the play, I yelled out, “Come on, Saints defense! Give me an interception and take it home!” And they did, they did!! Thank you, Saints! Thank you, God! Excitement is exploding in the air with fireworks, cars going on crazy, people yelling, Bourbon Street is packed like sardines and it’s so freaking good!!! Greg and I went to the Sports Authority, everyone yelling, “WHO DAT, WE DAT!” We were high fiving with strangers and saying, “IT FEELS GOOD! WOO HOO!!!” Greg bought a hoody jacket and I bought a Saints Championship hat and while we were there, Channel 4 TV came in. Greg put on his Saints Champ jacket and I donned the hat and we started the cheering in the store. The TV camera crew zoomed in on Greg and I yelling and screaming!!! Hehe, our 15 seconds of fame? LMAO. We drove home singing “WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS … and WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!!!!!!” THE SAINTS DID IT! THEY...

You can well imagine all the "Who Dat" hype and emails that are flying around today and the past two weeks. Thought I'd share some with you... Dear Miami : Get ready for the Who Dat Nation coming for the Super Bowl By Mark Lorando, The Times-Picayune February 01, 2010, 5:06AM Dear Miami , The Saints are coming. And so are we, their loyal, long-suffering and slightly discombobulated Super Bowl-bound fans. While there's still time to prepare -- although a few hard-core Who Dats will begin trickling in Monday, most of us won't arrive until Thursday or Friday -- we thought we'd give you a heads-up about what you should expect. First things first: You need more beer. Yeah, we know. You ordered extra. You think you have more than any group of humans could possibly consume in one week. Trust us. You don't. New Orleans was a drinking town long before the Saints drove us to drink. But it turns out beer tastes better when you're winning. (Who knew?) So let's...

My cousin, Holly wrote on FB: "The rain leaving New Orleans is headed towards us in the form of a No'Easter. They say it'll be like a winter hurricane. I guess all that excitement down there can't be contained!" I wrote to her: "I heard about the winter storm and thought, "Man is that wild or what?! Winter Storm in Maryland. Earthquake in California. And the Saints in the Super Bowl! I tell ya, we're ROCKIN' THE PLACE! You should be here - RIGHT NOW! It's crazy, crazy, happy, happy, like I"ve never seen before. You can't pass a person in the streets without seeing Black and Gold and people calling out "WHO DAT" like it's a Halmark greeting!" Greg said, "You turn on the TV and all you hear about is the Saints. Then a pause, "Oh yeah, there's still a war, the economy still sucks, the health care issue is on the rocks -- NOW - LET'S GET BACK TO THE SAINTS!" Woot Woot! It's just Friday and pe...