Dear Friends,

I am alone in the house in New Orleans now. It is a strange time to be here. As others have remarked, for those of us who are not sick, it is as though we have been transported in a time machine. Families with their children recreate outdoors in numbers unseen in 30 years. Children have borrowed their fathers’ Rawlings gloves and are throwing baseballs. Half of the ones I have seen use their index fingers through the opening of the glove’s back to catch. New Orleans’ probably has the highest per capita bike riders of any Southern city, and that number has likely doubled in the last two weeks.

The rest of my family has ensconced in our Mississippi purlieu. Uncle came back last weekend to get Impastato’s, but I believe that will be the last time he returns in the near future. We are all concerned about states closing their borders to Louisiana residents, as the Florida governor did yesterday. The boomerang will return and I assume Louisiana will return the disfavor to other states if and when they become epicenters.

Apparently, this is not the first time states have closed their borders to Louisiana residents during an epidemic. 1905 was New Orleans’ last yellow fever outbreak, but it was the first time Mississippi invaded Louisiana. Coastal Mississippians were accustomed to New Orleanians spending the summer months on their coast. When they heard of the Crescent City’s outbreak, they panicked. The only two ways to traverse the Rigolets then was by train and by boat. The coastal cities shut down their railroad stations, so passengers from New Orleans could not disembark.

New Orleanians turned to ferries to transport them to the somewhat sterile salty breezes of the Mississippi beaches. When concerned Mississippi citizens and local politicians realized contagion was potentially entering, a Mississippi flotilla entered Louisiana waters and detained many residents. The Mississippi net also ensnared Louisiana fishermen, shrimpers, and oystermen.

Grandfather told me of his grandfather getting wrangled in this interstate mess. While on a weekend fishing trip at the Tally Ho Club on Chef Pass, Mississippi pirates commandeered his guide’s boat. The bandits brought my great, great grandfather to Ship Island, where they fumigated him and sent him back to the Club on a large government ship. They stole his hundreds of speckled trout, likely ruining the delicate fish, thick coating the fillets in heavy corn flour as they do with their catfish. Had they not been so rude and illegal, I have no doubt that great, great grandfather would have shared his fish. More importantly, he would have taught them how properly to cook the fish.

I have not visited our Mississippi estate in the last five years, but I could walk you through it. My great, great, great grandfather purchased it in the 1880s as a safe haven during yellow fever outbreaks in the city. Its setting is quite bucolic, bordering a large freshwater lake, surrounded by tall pines. I used to play in the straw and catch feisty bluegill from the banks during the Autumns of my youth while my cousins played football. Uncle was always all-time quarterback while my father spent most of his time indoors doing paperwork for work.

The compound was expanded to approximately 5,000 square feet in the 1980s because Uncle and father wanted for both families to be able to stay at the same time. Its underground bunker was built during the 1960s when there existed the threat of nuclear missiles launched by Cuba. It is entirely suitable for hurricanes, if the need arise. It has several industrial pumps for both drainage and waste water. The elevation of the acreage is well above storm surge heights and is located well above the nearby stream. It has never flooded, not for Camille nor for Katrina. I have only been in the bunker a few times because ghosts live in it.

The lifeblood of our city -- our churches, restaurants, and street performers -- has been strangled. Last month I began stocking the pantry with food. These preparations were invaluable, as I have had plenty to eat thus far. The 25 pounds of rice I purchased at Sam’s is the source of most of my food now. Although I would happily trade some rice for Ben’s Burgers cheese fries, Kenner Seafood fried artichoke hearts, or a soft shell crab from Impastato’s, I am taking advantage of this situation to use the kitchen.

Unfortunately, I ran out of meat yesterday. I informed Mother and she called our old neighbor, Ms. Patty, to ask if she could get some meat at Sam’s for me. Ms. Patty is an old family friend, but when she tried to steal Ms. Mae from us, things went south. The story goes that Ms. Patty was so impressed by Ms. Mae’s lemon chicken rice soup, she tried to hire Ms. Mae. The always loyal Ms. Mae refused the offer, but word got back to Mother. Mother was livid and the two matriarchs refused to speak to each other for several months. Glory be to God, they made amends at Christmas 2003 when I forced them to decorate a tree together. We all laughed, sang carols, and drank hot chocolate. It is a beautiful story of reconciliation I will share one day.

Anyway, Ms. Patty dropped off two Sam’s rotisserie chickens this morning with a note asking me to make Ms. Mae’s soup, which she called “Perfect 10 Soup.” How could I say no? I also thought I should share the recipe with you. If times were different, I would invite all of you to share a bowl. One of our best friends here, OTIS2, can vouch for me when I tell you it’s some of the best soup you will ever taste. And it’s cheap. The below recipe will feed six people. The total cost is under $10. At $1.50 per meal, it’s the perfect meal for now, when we are uncertain what is to come with the economy, and each of us should be saving for the unknown. With that savings, we may be able to help others.

One thing I hate about recipe websites is they bore you with stupid personal stories. They refuse to get to the reason I am on the site: to get a recipe, its ingredients and directions. You usually have to scroll through a series of advertisements that bog down your computer. I refuse to do any of that. So, let’s start with our ingredients. I like simple recipes that use minimal ingredients, kitchen devices and things I will have to wash. Although I am currently making enough for 12 servings, using double these ingredients, I will give you the recipe for just one chicken (six servings).

This post was edited on 3/28/20 at 6:51 pm