Chip Off The Old Block

Chip Off The Old Block

By Ali Rouse Royster, 3rd Generation

I live by calendars – yes, plural! I have a few, each with their own very unique process. They're color-coded and I cannot deal without them. (Tell me you're a firstborn child without telling me you're a firstborn child...) one of my very favorite routines of fall is blocking in Saints games on Sundays on the calendar. Home game or away game, we'll be watching our Saints play! And as much as I love going to the Dome, I love watching games at home just as much. It's a whole different experience – the Dome is electric, you're so in the moment, and it feels like you're practically a part of the team. At home, though, there's a certain routine about a Saints Sunday. For us, it's making sure we've already gone to Rouses to shop for the week ahead of time, then going to Mass at 9:30am (and seeing lots of the congregation in their Black & Gold gear), then heading home to make lunch and game-day grub. My favorite thing to make is guacamole, which should come as no surprise because my dad, Tommy Rouses, believes he is the king of guac (does this make me a princess?). He makes it all the time, and has been known to have it out at Thanksgiving for for a pre-turkey snack. It makes no sense, but we roll with it, because it's delicious. I also make a mean guac, but – if you have on your pearls, get ready to clutch them – I don't use my dad's recipe. I use my own, and it's delish, if I do say so myself. I won't say it's better, because I'm such a good daughter, but it's definitely different. Like guac, I am a bit extra, so I make it with a molcajete (like a mortar and pestle) and we eat it out of that with warmed Hola Nola Chips – yum! Tommy's guac recipe is in our archives (www.rouses.com), but feel free to try out mine too and see which one you like best! Quite a few of my friends and cousins have adopted my recipe as their own, and even my 8-year-old approves. And, because I am nothing but my father's daughter, I even made it for Easter last year.