We've spent the last two and one-half days with Kerry and Renee Bellard in Lafayette, Louisiana and this blog will be about FOOD. Renee was in TFC's - she lived in Clio and her last name was Tilley. Renee and two of her sisters - Cheryl and Lori live in Lafayette, Louisiana and it was great to see them again. Let me tell you.. Renee is a REAL travel guide. We ate and ate and saw a lot of the sites around Lafayette. How am I going to tell all our experiences without leaving something out. I don't know.. but here goes.
Lafayette (area population of 300,000) is between Baton Rouge and Lake Charles. Renee has lived here for a number of years after leaving Michigan to attend Bible College here, where she met her husband.
This blog is about food. You can't live in Cajun Country and not be interested in food. One of Kerry's friends described eating in Louisiana as an "event." People tend to invite friends and relatives to join them as they partake in all sorts of foreign sounding dishes (to us people from the North anyway). Let me say: WE ENJOYED EVERYTHING. Especially meeting Renee's family.
We arrived in Lafayette late in the afternoon Wednesday of this week. We parked next to Kerry and Renee's house.
1. Muffaletta Sandwich. Excellent. We ate this at the Jefferson House (Rip Van Winkle Gardens) We have the recipe. The secret is the olive salad spread.
2. Seafood gumbo.. yummy
3. Boudin sausage - ate it at the Tabasco factory and it was really spicey hot.
4. Corn grits - YUM - got to make some..
5. Dirty Rice - DOUBLE YUM - got to make some too.. Tastes like stuffing, only rice based.
6. Breaded Shrimp Po Boy Sandwich (at the Olde Tyme Grocery near the campus of LSU at Lafayette, LA. The OLDE TYME GROCERY was a zoo - all the helpers behind the counter were yelling out orders and calling names of people who were waiting for food. It was organized chaos and the food was GREAT!
9. Bread pudding with rum sauce - absolutely healthy LOL.. ate it at Randol's.
10. Seafood and Eggplant Parmesan Pasta at Randol's.
The home of Tabasco Brand Pepper Sauce is only a few miles from Lafayette on Avery Island. We got a tour of the plant.
We tasted various samples. I had never tried Tabasco sauce of any type. But we did on this day. We even tried Tabasco's Raspberry Chipotle ice cream' and Jalapeno ice cream. It was good. Sweet but a slow burn in the throat aftertaste. Good light burn.
This is part of the bottling line for Tabasco. Tabasco markets it's various products in 125 countries around the world. And guess what - we'll probably include it as a seasoning in some of the things we eat.
We left Lafayette this morning and are currently parked at a Walmart in Edna, Texas. We were talking about all the wonderful food we enjoyed and the wonderful hospitality of Renee and Kerry. I think our eating habits are going to change somewhat.. a little more Cajun spice will be in our diet. Renee gave us a jar of "Slap ya Mama" seasoning!
Edna, Texas can boast of having the smallest Walmart in the world with the smallest Walmart parking lot in the world. After we circled the parking lot five or six times, we squeezed into an area out as far away from the entrance as possible. We just found out that they are open 24-hours, so we're not sure how much sleep we'll get. Maybe things will quiet down around 11.. and we've got to set our clocks ahead.(lose an hour sleep)
We've got more to tell you.. our close encounter with a Peacock at Rip Van Winkle Gardens and Vermilion Village in Lafayette. Don't forget to set your clock ahead one hour.
I agree with you that people tend to think of eating in Louisiana as an event, it is indeed! I find this place very atmospheric, with just about anything especially when it comes to good food. Nothing beats Louisiana. :) The seafood dishes here are superb too! Have you tried New Orleans style barbecue gulf shrimp? It is just divine Prince Edwards mussel is just as awesome! Thank you for sharing. Try to explore some more places in Louisiana for fine dining.
ReplyDeleteLawrie Brinkerhoff