For the truth is the truth, and no lie can prevail
Leadership
by Jean McGivney Boese
(Louisiana State Senate Poem adopted 1999)
It is easy to bend with the wind and be weak,
Wrapped in silence when it would take courage to speak,
To do nothing when crises demand that you act;
To prefer a delusion to unpleasant fact.
But the easy evasions that dreamers embrace
Are denied to a leader with problems to face.
He must cope with the world as he finds it, and plan
To make each hard decision as well as he can.
He can’t hide from the truth or deny what is real.
Though a lie might assuage all the fears people feel.
For the truth is the truth, and no lie can prevail.
In a world that is real, one must face truth or fail.
In my attempt to cook a Creole Jambalaya the other day, I was phased with the truth, that I will not be able to purchase a Cajun Seasoning mix anywhere near here. Therefore I set out to try a couple of recipes I found on the internet and to make my own.
I love Cajun cooking for the very simplicity in its preparation and complexity in flavours. Peppers, pepper corn and chilies in various heat levels mixed with herbs to make a mix that will open the most stubborn pallet.
Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles (French-speakers from Acadia in what are now the Canadian Maritimes). Today, the Cajuns make up a significant portion of south Louisiana’s population, and have exerted an enormous impact on the state’s culture.
The following recipe I came up with AFTER I ran out of dries onion and garlic powder and found that the fresh stuff gives a whole more flavour than the dried one.
Home Made Cajun Seasoning
Ingredients
200 g teaspoons salt
75 g dark brown sugar
1 large onion finely chopped
10 gloves garlic finely chopped
50 g premium fine paprika
35 g dry chili flakes
35 g black pepper corn freshly ground
35 g red pepper corn freshly ground
35 g cayenne pepper
35 g oregano flakes
17 g oregano powder
35 g thyme powder
Method
mix all ingredients together
spread onto a ceramic oven dish
“bake” at 120 C for about 2-3 hours, taking care not to burn it
stir every half hour to mix it and break up some lumps that may form
this process is to dry the onions and garlic in the mix
once you are satisfied with the drying process remove from the oven and let cool
once almost cold, run the mix through a coarse kitchen sieve to remove the onion and garlic lumps
run the “leftovers” through a kitchen blender or food processor and return it to the mix
let cool completely
store in airtight glass jars
I am tempted to try using all fresh herbs next time and desiccate them in the salt and sugar mixture ….
