Non-library and kidlit blogs

A recent meme is wending its way through the library and kidlit blogosphere, asking bloggers to list their favorite non-library (and kidlit, for the kidlit bloggers) blogs. While the original meme asks bloggers to limit it to 5, some are choosing to expand their list.

Chicken Spaghetti has tagged everyone who wants to play along, so I'm offering up my beyond-5 blogs. As she says, "Why stop at five?" Indeed.

This is a long list, and it doesn't include the library and kidlit blogs that I do read. The kidlit blogs are listed to the right. I am thinking about adding the library blogs at a later date. Thanks to Bloglines, I am able to zip through the blogs very quickly. Bloglines captures the latest posts from my subscribed blogs. When I log in, I click through the updated blogs. I don't read every post-only the ones that catch my eye. Not every blog updates every day.

I'm not including the overtly political blogs that I read. This is why you'll see that there are no Virginia or DC blogs listed, because the majority of Virginia and DC blogs are political. I have quite a few New Orleans and Louisiana blogs that I read, but they are political in nature.

With that in mind...my list.

Food blogs (trying to cook more):

101 Cookbooks-"When you own over 100 cookbooks, it is time to stop buying, and start cooking. This site chronicles a cookbook collection, one recipe at a time." Clear directions, good humor, and great pictures.

Cajun Cooking Recipes Cooking blog-"Recipe requests, recipes, and cooking related blog." Cajun restaurants are in short supply in northern Virginia. If I want Cajun, I'm going to have to do it myself. Not all recipes are Cajun, but the vast majority are.

52 Cupcakes-not that there's any chance that I am going to make them, but it's fun to use your imagination!

Help! I Have a Fire in My Kitchen!-"A humorous look into the adventures of a single parent who learned the hard way and with a great deal of trepidation how to cook, feed his children, friends and the rare date with a measure of dignity and (hopefully) good food - Recipes Included! And it is all KOSHER to boot!" This is more like it. The blogger is a single dad, so he's a regular kind of guy making regular food.

Nola Cuisine-"Celebrating the Food and Drink of New Orleans Louisiana!" Some recipes are beyond me, but I'm keeping them for future reference.

Slashfood-Food related news and merchandise.

Start Cooking-One of my favorites. This has videos, so it's a real standout.

Cooking With Herb St. Absinthe-"Be a New Orleanian, wherever you are." Great New Orleans recipes, with occasional observations on NOLA culture.


New Orleans:

SaintsReport.com-11,23,24-Saints! Go! All the Way! Saints Go All the Way! News about The Bless You Boys.

nola-community-blog from nola.com, home of the Pulitzer Prize winning New Orleans newspaper, The Times Picayune

All Over Food-Lorin Gaudin covers the NOLA food scene.

YatCuisine-"All about the New Orleans food experience...a part of Virtually New Orleans." A bit of explanation. A "yat" is a (usually) derisive term used to describe a New Orleanian with a thick New Orleans accent. The term comes from "where y'at?" which means, "How are you?" Recently, "yat" has turned into a badge of honor for some New Orleanians.

General Louisiana blogs:

Cajun French Language Tutorials-"Jim Leger teaches the Cajun language." I grew up in the German Coast region of Acadiana-one foot in the New Orleans area and another foot in the Cajun area. I went to school with kids who had last names like LeJeune, Petit, and Trosclair. Cajun pride has made a comeback after years of denigration of the Cajun culture. During and after World War II, Cajun servicemen proved to be very helpful in communicating with French citizens. Prior to this, they were mocked by the rest of the servicemen for their accents and their aromatic and strange food preferences. During the explosion of cultural pride and multiculturalism in the 1960s and 1970s, Cajun food, culture, music, dance, and the Cajun language entered a Cajun Renaissance after years of being frowned upon by the non-Cajun citizens and state government. Teachers from France and French-speaking Canada were brought to Louisiana to teach French; the French language in Louisiana had declined to the point that school officials had to hire overseas teachers (when I was in school, the majority of my French teachers were French born, including one whose father was a prisoner of war held by the Germans during World War II).

However, it is European French that is taught in the elementary and high schools (several Louisiana universities have Cajun Studies in which Cajun French is taught). A French-speaking Cajun and a French citizen can usually engage in basic conversation, but Cajun French is a more archaic form of French, one brought from Canada after the expulsion of the Acadians from Canada.

I was thrilled to have discovered this blog recently.


maw-maw and dem's cajun blog-more explanation is needed. "Maw Maw" is a common term for a grandmother among southern Louisianians. "Mére" is French for "mother." The familiar term for mother is "maman." "Grandmére" is French for "grandmother." "Grandmaman" is the familiar term. "Grandmaman" turned into "maw maw." "Mee maw" is another term, but less widely used.


I think you have to grow up old-school New Orleans or Cajun to want to be called "maw maw," because the word "maw maw" conjures up a very certain image of a New Orleans or Cajun grandmother. My dad's mother is old-school New Orleans (St. Bernard/Chalmette area), and she was "maw maw" before I was born. My Austin-born grandmother, my mom's mother, was decidedly *not* a "maw maw."

(She was "Gan Gan," thanks to my sister's inability to say "Granny." She was stuck with it.)


A New Orleanian or Cajun can spot a maw maw from a mile away. You can usually hear them a mile away too.

Cajun and New Orleanian grandfathers are often called "Paw Paw." "Pére" is French for "father." "Papa" is the familiar term. "Grandpére" is French for "grandfather," with "Grandpapa" as the familiar term." That turned into "Paw Paw."

(Both of my grandfathers were "Paw Paw.")

"Dem" refers to "them," usually relatives of the person you are addressing. "How's your mom an' dem?" means that you are asking about the person's family.

This maw maw looks to be getting back in the blogging groove.

I have others, but this post is long enough!

Tagged: Blog From the Windowsill, GottaBook, and Finding Wonderland.