How to "Celebrate" Memorial Day in a Town That Doesn't

Hello and I hope you're enjoying your day off, if you're so lucky. If you are working today, thank you and I hope you have a yummy dinner to look forward to tonight.

I put celebrate in quotation marks because we're not supposed to celebrate Memorial Day. I reject Memorial Day sales and wish I didn't love Memorial Day cook-outs so much, because I believe that Memorial Day should be the old-fashioned day of remembering and decorating the headstones of our fallen soldiers. I said prayers for the veterans buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery on Esplanade this morning and thought about my Uncle George who recently passed and who served in the Korean War, and my grandfather who served but I don't remember during what war. Thank you to all veterans! You are the only ones really deserving of the potato salad and coleslaw and burgers today. Thank you for allowing the rest of us to share in the fun.

Here in New Orleans, Memorial Day is pretty much not a holiday. The trash still gets picked up, most people still go to work (having swapped today for Mardi or Lundi Gras), most of the stores are still open, and some folks have cook-outs but not for any reason beyond it's beautiful outside and when do you ever need a reason to eat with the folks you love? I don't know anyone barbecuing and happened to buy local cabbage and red potatoes recently, so I decided to do a meatless Memorial Day by myself.

This is the amazing coleslaw I made. I like to call it "How Not to Make Local Food Healthy" coleslaw. It doesn't have a lot of mayonnaise, but it's still not really good for you. 

- Local organic cabbage from LA

- Organic carrots from CA 

- Local mayonnaise from Rouse's (LA) 

- Vegan white sugar (not local, obviously, but organic and vegan) 

I pretty much improvised the dressing before adding mayonnaise. My roommate does not cook much so her spices consist of Asian and Creole seasonings. Due to a lack of Italian seasonings, I made a delicious dressing with

- minced dried garlic

- dill weed

- olive oil (which I don't think can be sourced locally, unless you're in CA) 

- apple cider vinegar (which could be made locally, maybe in New England) 

- salt 

- pepper

This dressing is part of the potato salad I decided to make. It's almost all mayonnaise with some apple cider vinegar, almond milk, pepper, and chopped white onion. It's to die for! I'm so excited to mix it with the potatoes, which are still cooking. 

While they're cooling, I need to let the dog out... Lol... he has a habit of peeing on random stuff, and he just peed on a box of beers that my neighbor left out. I hosed them off and threw out the box. Oy vey. 

Well, the potato salad is finished and has a new name: Heart Attack in a Bowl. The mayonnaise dressing is delicious but there is a LOT of it and I think I'm going to reduce the amount from 3/4 cup to 1/2 cup, or just not make this recipe again. Ugh. 

Here's hoping your Memorial Day food is healthier than mine!