Greetings from the fabulous state of Louisiana...Sportsman's Paradise, Creole State, Child of the Mississippi, etc. Lafayette, Louisiana is the exact spot where we are at right now - visiting Aunt Jan & Uncle Richard. Our time here has been filled with fun times, good food and neateaux sights. Lots to update you on, so let me get started...

Dat Wuh Good...
Aunt Jan can handle herself in the kitchen...of course she descends from culinary fabulousness (my Nana who could probably kick the Iron Chef up one side of the street and down the other). Upon our arrival on Saturday afternoon, we were greeted with the smell of lovin' from the kitchen. Jan had prepared dinner - pan fried thin chicken breasts with a basalmic vinegar/garlicy sauce, rosemary garlic roasted potatoes (par-boiled prior to roasting - what a difference!), corn, cooked carrots with brown sugar and of course, rolls (for soppin' stuff up). A meal that would make you wanna slap yo mama's hand, fo show. Later on after dinner, we went over to see my Nana, who lives down the way from Jan. My Nana is a sweet little thing - she can't talk because about 3 years ago doctors removed her voice box. Believe me, she can write up a storm - and, her eyes light up when she sees Abby. Nana is the last of my grandparents, so I treasure the time that I can see her.

Lappin' it up, Lafayette Style.
Sunday morning we went out for brunch at the Blue Dog Cafe. Their buffet is so incredible and popular that the wait to be seated was an hour! Fortunately, we opted for patio seating (which requires extra walking to the buffet) so we were able to sit right away. All you can drink mimosas, live music and wonderful dishes like Corn & Crab Bisque, Crawfish Enchiladas and Gouda cheese grits...needless to say when we were done eating, we needed to do some walkin'.

We went down to the quad at the University of Louisiana (home of the Rajun Cajun's) and walked around. Now, please don't let your mind conjure up images of the concrete rectangle of your youth...this quad is a SWAMP! Complete with cypress trees, green water, alligators, turtles and fish that defy the laws of physics. The scenery was beautiful and the weather was perfect for strolling around. No trip around a swamp is complete with out a big ol' honken bag of dog food...yes, we took dog food with us to feed the aquatic life. The alligators were digging it and so were the turtles and fish...so, I guess that's fine, huh? (Sidebar: I'm thinking of a friend I have...one who is able to identify the origins of most mysterious animal poop....you know who you are...I'm apologizing to you for throwing processed dog food into a swamp for alligators, turtles and fish). At least I didn't throw a half of a McDonald's hamburger in the swamp for the alligator to eat (as seen in the photo to the right)...that was some dude standing next to us that did that. But boy that alli snarfed that burger up quicker than you could say Steve Irwin.


Painting at the Bisque...

Monday afternoon, the 4 girls (that would be me, Jan, Abby and Nana) headed off to Clayfish Bisque, a place where you can paint naked pottery (not to be confused with paint pottery naked) and then pick it up a few days later after it has been fired up in a kiln. We had the BEST time! We all picked our pieces, then picked our paint colors and went to town creating our masterpieces. Mike actually joined us a little later after he got off work - he was able to supervise and ensure that all that feminine pulchritude didn't get too out of hand. We were all very happy with our pieces - we'll see how well they turned out when we pick them up in a few days. Jan did a cute little tile with crawfish, using all 4 of our thumb and finger prints as the crawfish heads and claws. Nana did a tile with a Fleur de lis design. Abby did 2 figurines (a dino and a dog that she painted "dalmatian" style) and I chose a pencil cup and did a moon face on the front with a Genesis 1:1 bible verse on the back.

On Monday evening, it was time to bite tail and suck head (that is code for eating crawfish, or "mud bugs" as I like to refer to them as). I still haven't gotten to the point where I can order even a 3 lb (let alone a 5lb or all you can eat!) platter of the little freshwater crustaceans, I just like to watch other people do it (exhibit A - this picture, Uncle Richard eats a small 3 lb portion of crawfish). It's a messy ordeal and when all is said and done, you get a little more than a handful of crawfish. But, people eating it look like they are having fun. Who can resist holding the little buggers up and making them dance and talk? Anyway, we went to a place in Breaux Bridge (which by the way calls itself the Crawfish Capitol of the world) called, "Crazy 'bout Crawfish" (what a good name, huh?). A cute little place with lots of fun decor all around to look at. Mike and I went for the Crawfish platter which had little samplings of all kinds of crawfish delicacies. Abby had the critters basket which had shrimp and crawfish. Abby gave it "91 thumbs up" (a phrase coined by the little critter herself) and so did we.

Seaux HOT!
Today we headed to Opelousas to a dive (and I mean that in every sense of the word) called Billy & Rays. What prompted the 25 mile drive you ask? Boudin Balls, baby. For those of you that don't know what the heck I'm talking about, Boudin Balls are made from Cajun boudin sausage (a blend of rice, pork, and spices). The sausage mixture is made into little balls, coated with stuff and fried. You eat them warm, plain or spread on a cracker. These balls were good... This place also sells cracklin's, which is something I can't even bring myself to talk about. Quite frankly, it's where I draw the line in my dining choices. Seaux nasty.

After our short stop in Opelousas, we headed back the other direction and continued on until we hit Avery Island, home of the Tabasco plant! Everyone's favorite pepper sauce is made right here in the state of Louisiana. We took a tour of the facility and got to see the machines and workers in action. We learned about the process that a pepper goes through before it's bottled. Did you know that the pepper mash is left to age and ferment for up to 3 years? The mash is stored in white oak barrels that come from Jack Daniels. JD is only able to use the barrel once for their distilling process. Once the mash is ready, vinegar is added and it's stirred for 28 days! I hope you will now appreciate your little bottle of Tabasco...alot of time went into the making of it!

After the tour, we spent some time in the country store. One of the best parts of the Tabasco country store is the samples. They have all their products there to taste (using pretzel sticks) AND, they ask visitors to review new products they are working on. Today, we got to give our opinion on a Raspberry Chipotle dipping sauce (I gave it a thumbs up), as well as Tobasco Soda. Yes, that sounds gross, I know - but it's surprisingly good! It basically tastes like Coke with a kick...my Aunt (who likes her bloody mary's SPICY) did not care for it one bit. We'll see if Tabasco puts out these 2 products soon... Another fun treat we experienced was sweet and spicy ice cream. I would guess it was vanilla ice cream with red peppers blended in. Again - something that I would normally turn my nose up at! After we had our sample, we actually decided to plunk down a buck and get a full serving of it. A taste sensation!

Well, this post has turned out to be probably way too long...I hope you stuck with me. For those of you wondering what's up with my knee - well, it still hurts. I'm able to walk fine, but sleeping is tough and it's hard to sit with my leg in one place for awhile. I started out strong with the RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation) but now the best I can do is Red Beans and Rice. Come on, I'm in Cajun Country!

By the way - I've got a bunch of great pics for you to see of our time here in Lafayette...head on over to the Drop Shots account and check them out!

We have a few more days here in Lafayette, then we head north to Monroe to visit more family...stay tuned for more fun-filled Club Amaro adventures.

Seaux long...
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