Trust me, I watched a how-to YouTube video.

On the seventh anniversary of our Cherry Blossom wedding on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC, we celebrated DIY – Louisiana style.

Forget flowers and candy

Copper and wool are the traditional gifts in this itchy year; desk stationery being the modern gift.  At a balmy 95 degrees, wool was way-out and with Sheri affixed to her puzzle desk with a stationary foot-boot, we had modern homonyms covered. 

Not having our readers on, perhaps we thought the traditional gift of copper read “chopper,” because we decided to chop up classic Louisiana cuisine and gift each other his and her haircuts.  Neither of us had ever cut hair, but we did have a good feeling about the cooking. 

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Shelter-in-place orders have created a 250,000 national salon-shutdown with the $65B a year industry creating a domino falling personal identity crisis.  Hair is serious business and besides your occupation, how you wear your hair defines you.  With a thousand haircuts between us we figured we could draw on those experiences, and watch a few Youtube videos. Soon, heart surgery will be just one Youtube stream away.

Braving a trip to Bossier City Walmart for clippers, we found a supersized store funneling shoppers through a single caution-yellowtaped entrance. How this was protecting us from COVID was a mystery to us.

We picked up the last $13 electric clipper, along with sectioning clips and the $13 value pack of scissors, texturizing shears and comb before stopping at the Commissary for what “Louisiana Chef Frank Davis” calls the holy trinity (onion, pepper and celery) and other required ingredients for a traditional Louisiana anniversary meal featuring hush puppies, chicken and andouille sausage etoufee, red beans and rice and bananas foster.

Happy B52 Hour

Happy hour used to start at 5pm but when we realized we were in Central time we moved it to 4. Then we figured out that Air Force pilots worked bankers hours. Well, Eric kind of new that, but watching flight operations at Barksdale just confirmed it. The B-52s depart comfortably mid-morning so as not to interfere with a leisurely breakfast. They return to the landing pattern by 3 to shoot a few practice landings before wrapping up their demanding day by 5 pm.

So sorry for our Pennsylvania clan with your closed state-controlled alcohol stores, but we are now doing either Bota Box Redvolution with lemon seltzer or Coors Light in rocks glasses. Without access to craft beer, we’ve come to appreciate spiked carbonation. Give us a call if you want to imbibe together. You’ll find us in the folding chairs, under the awning, with fruit and cheese, hummus and veggies or candied jalapeño hush puppies on special occasions, watching the B-52’s.

Five star cajun cuisine

The difference between Etoufee, Jambalaya and Gumbo is all in the thickness of the sauce. Anniversaries call for butter and gravy so we searched the web for a roaster chicken etoufee since shrimp and crawfish aren’t readily available during a global pandemic. Buried on page 5 was Chef Frank Davis, a Louisiana TV personality known for his Naturally N’Awlins tagline and seasonings and it tasted like a super authentic version of a dish we’d never eaten before. With no pictures and no reviews, it was an internet anomaly, perfect for our out-there idea.

Before dinner we put down two Coors Light a piece, feeling just enough happy to start the haircutting festivities. Sheri the Brave went first. Does Eric have a post-retirement career in hair styling?