Dooky Chase's

There are many, many wonderful things I have learned from Creole Crossroads. I have listened and participated in awesome discussions, read interesting books, and went on some spectacular field trips. Another great aspect of this class is.... NO EXAM! And even better than not having an exam is going out to lunch at one of New Orleans' most famous restaurants, Dooky Chase's. As we read in Gumbo Tales, the restaurant is famed for many scrumptious menu items including its gumbo z'herbes. I am looking forward to experiencing eating a such a famed restaurant! I searched the web for some history on the restaurant and on Ms. Chase, herself.

Here's what I found:

First off, Leah Chase didn't start the restaurant. I found that somewhat surprising. She married Dooky Chase II. His father and mother (her mother and father in law) had started the restaurant in 1939. Since segregation was still present during that time, the restaurant was primarily a social haven for the black community. It was "the place to be." When Leah married Dooky II and began working at the restaurant, she didn't have any formal training or familiarity with the restaurant's cooking. Nevertheless, she jumped right in and began cooking and creating the Creole creations the restaurant is so famous for.

Leah is still cooking at the restaurant today. However, she is getting old and now her grandson is sharing the kitchen with her. Although she is a great cook and a famous New Orleanian, she still is an extremely kind and humble woman. People who have dined at the Dooky Chase's say that Leah will often come out of the kitchen and visit with her guests. Despite all her success, she still has incredible customer service!

While I couldn't find extensive history on Leah Chase or the restaurant, I hope that this little bit of information is helpful. I look forward to lunch at Dooky Chase's. I hope all of you can make it! It's great food and an awesome opportunity to experience some great New Orleans cuisine!

So Long, Farwell....

I must say that not only this semester, but this year has been an incredible one. The highlight of my whole year, though, has been the time I've spent in Creole Crossroads. I never would have thought that I would be taking field trips in college. But thats not the only reason why I love Creole Crossroads, I love this class because it challenged my mind and allowed me to love my hometown again. At the beginning of semester, Dr. Hunt asked the class if we thought this was one of the greatest cities in the world in terms of culture. I said no. The reason why I said this was because I could not get past the negative aspects of the city, such as crime, corruption, and poverty. Over the course of this class I learned that there is more to New Orleans than I ever realized. I learned that though New Orleans gets a bad rap for being corrupt and party all the time kind of city, there is something beautiful through it all. The art, architecture, food, music, and most importantly the people make this city unique and larger than life. Also, I gained a general understanding of the Creoles and Cajuns, but there is still so much I have to learn. I will start by reading Creoles of Louisiana over the summer. I want to thank you all for sharing your experiences and allowing me to know something about your hometowns. I mostly want to thank Dr. Hunt for introducing us to another side of the city and genuinely caring about us. I hope that we all will meet again in the future, but if our paths do not cross again I wish you all much success and happiness.

Peace & Blessings,
Jasmine

sunrise on top of monroe

I though everyone would enjoy the sunrise over the beautiful city of New Orleans!

Goodbye

It is all finally coming to an end. My first semester of college has been a great one, full of learning inside and outside of the class room. I was a bit reluctant about my freshman seminar class, but I know now that it was well worth my time- I have gotten a lot of this class. I have learned the real difference between a creole and a cajun (something that has also perplexed me), and have gotten to know New Orleans and all it really has to offer. I feel that Louisiana, in general, gets a pretty bad rap. We are at the top of the list for illiteracy, obesity, and bad public education. I was always a kind of upset when I had to tell people I was from the south, but now it is one of the first things I tell new people I meet. I have learned so much about creole culture and live in New Orleans, and can spread this knowledge to all of my friends. Thanks to everyone who has made this school year a good one. I hope you all have a good summer, and I hope to see you next fall!

My Final Post . . .

Hello all,

This will be my final post to end up our semester together. I had a very nice time with all of you as we discussed various social problems and went on various excursions. Unfortunately, because we ran out of time, we were unable to read George Washington Cable's book "Creoles of Louisiana." However, I plan to read it over the summer and maybe you can do the same. It answers the question that many scholars debate over, "What really does it mean to be Creole?"

Below are a few photos throughout the course of the year that I've taken. I hope they will kindly "sum up" what we've learned both in and outside the classroom.












Before ending, Jazz Fest is this weekend! I hope you all can go. For those interested, there is also the International Festival in Lafayette. However, with all the bad weather that's expected, it might be beneficial to just wait until the next weekend (like me.)

Anyway, I wish you all a great summer and success on all your exams.

I remain,

Your "Creole" classmate,

--André L.

The power of illusion

I thought our class discussion on Wednesday was very interesting. What classifies race? Is it where you are from, who your parents are, where you were born or how you were raised? I personally believe that race is a social concept, not a biological one. First impressions are generally based on physical appearances, whether they be right or wrong. I am somewhat ethnically ambiguous physically; generally most people think I am some type of Spanish or Middle Eastern ethnicity. However, I am not. Race is the power of illusion, people will believe what they want to believe about themselves and about others. The truth is, we were all derived from the same “race”.

"There is more and more hard genetic evidence that all of humanity has evolved as a single unit, with regional variations, but that's all they are, slight variations," said Templeton. "A race has to be a sharply defined, geographically circumscribed population that represents an isolated or nearly isolated lineage within the species. There's nothing at all like that in humanity.

http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/184.aspx

I think of ethnicity associated more closely with cultural background. Your actions speak louder than your appearance.

JAZZ FEST!

I was brainstorming ideas for this blog entry, and I thought that Jazz Fest would be a great one. It is obviously an important event for the city of New Orleans, but also an event that many of us are looking forward to. Little did I know, the history of Jazz Fest started in Congo Square! It reminded me that Voodoo is truly connected to New Orleans culture and heritage in innumerable ways.

First off, Jazz Fest is formally called the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The first festival was in April of 1970. As I mentioned before, it was held in Congo Square. It was a rather spontaneous and last minute event. Although it started small, those who started it always dreamed big. They hoped that it would become a staple event that would provide a meeting place for heritage and jazz. As we know today, that dream has come true. They wanted to ensure that the event was special and unique enough to pay respect to New Orleans as the birth place of jazz.

The event originally was planned for just one weekend. However, in 1976 it expanded to two weekends like it currently stands. Although Jazz Fest no longer showcases only jazz, it still encompasses the heritage of jazz by celebrating its history and the city of New Orleans' role in jazz's journey. Today artists of all different genres of music such as hip-hop, rock and roll, rap, and many more are featured. The festival attracts big names in the music industry, but continues to feature many Louisiana artists.

This year there are many big name artists playing at the festival. Here are some you may be familiar with: The Dead Weather, Simon and Garfunkel, Lionel Richie, The Black Crowes, My Morning Jacket, Drake, Allman Brothers Band, Elvis Costello and the Sugarcanes, Widespread Panic, Blues Traveler, Aretha Franklin, Gipsy Kings, Band of Horses, Pearl Jam, Old Crow Medicine Show, Van Morrison, B.B. King, and MANY MORE!

Tickets are $45 in advance and $60 at the gate. I know that many of us are living on an extremely humble college budget (I certainly am!), but if you can find the funds somewhere you should go! It should be lots of fun, good music, and you would be attending a festival that is part of New Orleans history!

Roots

I thought yesterday's class discussion was fascinating. What I thought was the most fascinating is what Dr. Hunt said about Henry Louis Gates Jr. going back to Africa, and telling the people

that he was one of them. Though he had the same skin color, they probably felt he was too Americanized to relate to one of them. It was so weird that we were discussing this particular topic because earlier that week I watched Roots for the first time. It is the a story about author Alex Haley's family who was forced into slavery. The main character Kunta Kinte was one of many stolen from his village in Gambia and forced to come to America. Once here he saw others similar to himself and his people back home, but they were not the same. They talked differently, dressed differently, and some even helped the white man capture blacks from Africa. At the same time, American slaves saw him as wild and dangerous. This was quite mind boggling to me because I figured that the American slaves would welcome Kunta with open arms. They eventually warmed up to him, but I believe that he should have been accepted in the first place. I know the past is the past, but I cannot help the way I feel. People with a common problem should stick together, regardless of where they came from. And this goes back to our discussion of how most Creoles tried to separate themselves from both the whites and the blacks. I find it funny that even though they tried to separate themselves they consciously or subconsciously showed favoritism to the whites. I am not saying that all of them did, but to me it seemed that most did. They praised themselves for having white parentage, and light skin. They also tried to keep that "light" complexion in their families and in some cases they only helped their own kind. In the video Andre posted about Creoles a while back, one of the people said that they had a family member that was darker than the rest, and he was constantly teased. This might have been fun and games, but it can be quite hurtful to the person targeted. There are so many other aspects to this race and color "game" that I find so pointless and stupid, but I do not see it going away anytime soon.

There is also a book about the "One Drop" rule, its called One Drop by Bliss Broyard. Here is the cover:

Saint Canonization

When we were discussing the book Voodoo Queen on Thursday, the topic of the canonization of saints came up. Canonization is the name that the Catholic Church uses for the process they use of making a person a saint. We talked about it briefly, but I wanted to look further into it because it really sparked my interest. The canonization process changed greatly since Pope John Paul II became Pope. Initially, those considered for canonization were chosen by public acclaim, but gradually the responsibility of the decision process became that of the Vatican. Those considered for canonization are regarded as holy Catholics. Next, a panel of theologians within the Vatican vote on whether the candidate is "venerable." If voted venerable, the candidate moves on to the beatification process. During this step, the candidate is required to show one miracle. A miracle happens when someone prays to the candidate, who is by that time deceased, and as a result the candidate heals them or performs a miracle. Once the miracle is performed and proven to be a miracle, the potential saint is considered beatified. However, in order to be canonized the saint has to perform another miracle. This means that before a candidate officially becomes a saint, he or she must perform TWO miracles.

Okay. Blah. Many of you may find this uninteresting, especially those of you who are not Catholic, but I was very curious about it!

ENJOY YOUR WEEK!

P.S.

The Delta Gamma beach retreat was so so GREAT, but I am still very jealous and sad I missed out on the Saturday field trip! I can't wait to hear all about it!

Calypso!

On Wednesday night I went to a concert in Nunemaker hall put on by Loyola’s Latin American Studies program. At first I was not too excited for it but once I arrived and began to learn and listen to the wonderful upbeat Calypso music, I was more than excited. The concert was especially interesting for me because I am thinking about going into a Spanish major or Latin American and Caribbean studies program. The concert “Calypso” was very exciting and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The main musician was Manuel Monestel from Costa Rica. Two other men from Mr. Monestel’s band in Costa Rica played with him. Also, students from Loyola’s music program played. The main instruments used were the guitar, a “washtube bass”, banjos, ukuleles, trombones, saxophones, tambourines and flutes. One girl who was from Loyola played the trombone like a professional, she was fantastic. I have never learned much about this tropical music called Calypso. It originated in the Caribbean, especially in Trinidad. It has managed to make its way to New Orleans and intertwine with the jazz culture here. This music was just plain happy and made me want to dance. My favorite song was written by Walter Ferguson who is evidently the most famous person in this style of Music. This song was about a man who wanted to be a dog instead of a person. Other songs were about a green called Callalou, about conserving water, and about a boy who smoked marijuana and needed his mother to help bring him back to reality. Mr. Monestel explained that many Calypso songs are written about the problems of society. If anyone ever has a chance I highly recommend attending any live Calypso music concerts available. It is more than interesting to see how the Caribbean and Creole cultures are intertwined.

A Brief Reflection . . .

Hi all,

I am writing this blog primarily on the focus of our last few classes, Voodoo in New Orleans. To begin, I must say that I absolutely enjoyed Martha Ward's Book, "Voodoo Queen: the Spirited Lives of Marie Laveau." I though Ward really did a good job at addressing the big questions of the time: race, gender, and class.

The most interesting aspect i found of this book was Le Plaçage. I actually wrote my paper on it. In it, I discussed the importance of Delille and Laveau in New Orleans and how they both essentially defeated this system.

Below is a video of Martha Ward's comments about the book:



Anyway, as Doctor Hunt wrote, I look forward to going see the plantation and cemetery on Saturday.

I hope to see you all there!

Best,

--André L.

Gentlepeople,

Here is what I am thinking for Saturday. Meet at 10 am in the Horseshoe. Go to the Voodoo Museum in the Quarter, then make a quick trip to the Cemetery to see Homer Plessy and Marie L., walk up the street to Congo Square, then head out to the country for a tour of Laura Plantation. I know it is a busy day, but time is running out and I would love to show you these sites. You would need to bring money for lunch but otherwise, I will get the rest.

Let me know what you think!!!

Music Traditions of New Orleans

Tonight I attended a concert of calypso music by a group of three Costa Ricans playing alonside students from Loyola's music program and much mention was made about the connection New Orleans has to calypso music. Actually, before coming to New Orleans last semester, I tried to familiarize myself with some basic types of music from the city and Calypso was one I came across. It formed as an Afro-Carribean genre on the island of Trinidad, an English-speaking nation, over 100 years ago as a way to spread news throughout the island. And from there, the genre migrated to other Carribean islands, especially to English colonies like Jamaica and the Bahamas, but also to New Orleans and the eastern coast of Central America, as the Costa Rican group proved. The concert was very lively in my opinion and was hard to sit still, but the calypso featured was not what I had familiarized myself with previously. I had known the calypso that used washboards as guitars and boxes as drums, as if the players used whatever they could find as instruments. The musicians tonight had a much more professional, commercial appeal, I thought. Earlier in the day, the percussionist in the band came to my Spanish class to converse with us students and he showed us one instrument he played in the concert that is used in Costa Rica as a form of spreading news like in Trinidad. But this instrument imitates the sounds of birds.
Another genre of music local to New Orleans, or rather the state of Louisiana is cajun music which I have known more to incorporate accordians, fiddles, and banjos. The lyrics are most often in French and the music comes from backcountry Acadiens that, as said in class, were historically looked down upon by urban whites and Creoles.
Both styles have corresponding dance traditions and are unique to this region, as is zydeco music which is a kind of mix between Afro-Carribean and Cajun music. It is more closely associated with New Orleans' Creoles. It includes both washboards and fiddles and developed here in New Orleans as a fusion, rather than something passed down from elsewhere.
And of course the city has legends in jazz and rock and roll music, but I think those are more modern and national forms of music found throughout the US.
Here are some samples I found on youtube because I don't know how to upload music from my computer to this post:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q2k7YT6D7Q&feature=related
(The first song here talks about tomatoes, just to clarify :) )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19L36mGXLtI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXId-5dYJjE

French Quarter festival

Over the weekend I went to the French Quarter festival down town. As my friends and I headed to the streetcar I was a bit bitter because I was all for going to the Strawberry festival in Ponchatoula, which was also this weekend. I assumed that this festival would be like all of the other festivals in New Orleans, and that I within an hour would be ready to leave, but I was wrong. I had some great food and got to listen to some very interesting music. One of the best parts about the festival was that admission was free! On the website I was excited to learn about that the French quarter festival as well as a few others were non-profit.

“Orleans Style, and the Satchmo SummerFest.
For more than 20 years, FQFI has contributed approximately $150,000 toward maintenance and beautification of public
areas such as Jackson Square and Woldenberg Riverfront Park. The organization generally pays approximately 
$10,000-$12,000 per year in city sales taxes, depending on the success of individual events. The financial health
of the organization relies solely on self-generated sponsorships, event revenue, grants and fundraising.”

http://www.fqfi.org/about.html

I am still upset about missing one of my favorite festivals, the strawberry festival, but am glad that I got to experience the delicious and culturally satisfying French quarter festival.

Walking Tour

On Thursday, some of us went on the walking tour downtown. The walking tour was directed by Walter Johnson. He is a Harvard historian who specializes in slavery. Although he is a witty man, he is not hot (Dr. Hunt says you will never hear hot and historian in the same phrase). Luckily, the weather was beautiful and the tour was great.

I have to admit I wasn't extremely excited for the walking tour. I was tired that day and had visitors coming that night. However, I am so very glad I went! I learned not only about slavery in New Orleans, but slavery throughout the States. I realized that many of the facts and conceptions I had myself about slavery are in fact not true. I of course had to ask a lot of questions to find this out, but my mom always said you can't learn without asking. I have taken that advise to heart - probably to the dismay of many of my teachers :). My first misconception was that nearly anyone and everyone who was white and owned property also owned slaves. This is in fact wrong. Johnson said that it costs nearly $1,200 for a slave. This amounts to between $25,000 and $30,000 today. Although I have no real understanding of money these days, I think of that is the price of a car. Well sure, most middle class families today own two or three cars. However, cars are paid with through a down payment and then monthly payments. BUT, slaves could not be paid for in payments and down payments. Therefore that $1,200 would have to be paid in full. Most middle class families today could not afford to pay $25,000-$30,000 upfront in full today for a car so they probably could not afford to pay $1,200 upfront back then. Nearly 40% of New Orleans population during the Antebellum period was white landowners WITHOUT slaves.

My next question was about the title given to the period. The period of heavy slave trade in New Orleans (and in the United States) is referred to as the Antebellum Period. Antebellum means before war. This period was of course pre- Civil War. However, it's kind of a stupid name to give to the period if you consider that fact that people weren't aware that it was a pre- war period while it was going on.

Despite my first notions of not wanting to go on the walking tour, I ended up really enjoying it. It was interesting and very educational. And as always in the French Quarter, we experienced fumbling drunks, magicians, palm readers, and wreckless drivers.

Spring!!!

After going home to Washington, D.C. for break I was ready to come back to New Orleans for warm weather! So far since the weather has been so nice, I have got to do a lot of fun outdoor New Orleans activities. One of my first was a trip to Plum Street Snoballs. I loved the snoballs and I also loved the store itself. Its a small town neighborhood shop within the city, which is refreshing. The chapter on snoballs in Gumbo Tales was one of my favorite chapters because it discussed the history of Hansen's snoballs. After going to Plum Street, I was more interested in their history. After some research and talking to friends of mine from New Orleans I learned a lot. 

Plum Street Snoballs was founded in 1945, shortly after Hansen's and is one of the oldest snoball stands in New Orleans. Similarly to Hansesn's, Plum Street Snoballs was founded during the Depression. During this time snoballs were very cheap, they are still very affordable. However, the still do very well with business. Plum Street snoballs have become so popular, that they offer catering services as well as snoball stands at special events such as Jazz fest, French Quarter fest, and many other community events. It is also a very family oriented business. The present owners, Donna and Claude Black, employ their relatives to work at the stand and cater to various events. I'm very happy to have discovered Plum Street snoballs through our classwork! I'm excited to make snoballs a spring time tradition of my own!

Attacking Slave History

Thursday's tour of the French Quarter and its heritage of slavery really drew my attention to how history should be approached. On one side, almost all of the sites we visited that were supposedly previous slave markets had been converted into hotels or banks or something commercial to adapt to modern American capitalism. In this sense, history was completely erased and nobody passing those sites with limited knowledge of where the centers of slavery were located in antebellum New Orleans would think a single moment on the history. History was erased from view and basically forced into oblivion for 21st century visitors. On the other hand, museums are established to record history, but in a very intellectual, and almost unemotional and cold manner. Monuments are set up to commemorate tragedies like slavery and the Holocaust and to honor the victims. But such treatment of history almost conditions visitors to romanticize these tragedies and exaggerate or underestimate the reality of the anguish and pain suffered therein. On yet another side, we did see one building that was supposedly very reminiscent of the slavery market that previously existed there, if not completely unchanged since then. As a reminder, this was were the man drunk as a skunk wobbled through the group. The tour guide appealed to my emotions at least when it described the place as one where babies could be heard crying, slaves could be seen singing and dancing, malnourished workers could be seen suffering, human beings could be seen being sold, human sweat and blood could be smelled. It is nearly impossible for us now to really understand and absorb the reality of slavery, but visiting sites where years before slavery markets existed and imagining myself witnessing such atrocities, but also attempting to understand the mindsets of those who owned and sold slaves. It is so easy to judge members of a different era by present-day standards. Today we can say how awful the slavery of institution, but we can fall into the trap of not understanding the forces that drove people to enslave others. So on extremes of the debate for approaching history in my view are the complete removal of remnants of history by building banks and hotels over these sites, and building museums that record history but cause romanticization of reality. One prevents placing oneself in history as if it never happened and tells people to continue on with their lives; the other sticks people in history as if that's all that mattered and life should not move on. In the middle is something like that last place we visited, where the structure remained wholly intact and made it possible to imagine what occurred there, but had been employed as a house or some other kind of building. All I can say is that sincerely trying to place myself in the history of Southern U.S. slave-society, the tour at moments did give me goosebumps, feelings of being connected, even if just slightly, to something higher: an understanding of the institution of slavery.

A Few Words . . .

Hi all,

I want to begin the blog by saying how happy I am I went to tour today. I think all of us who went can take along something that will last forever. In a word, we toured Downtown New Orleans (and French Quarter) to discuss several aspects of the "Antebellum South." One thing that I found interesting was that not many whites owned slaves. Slaves, in essence, were only for the wealthy. I originally had the thought that all whites owned slaved; however, the speaker told us statistics that proved otherwise.

Anyhow, this weekend I'm going to the New Orleans City Hall. There will be a Unity Walk for all Cajuns and Creoles (whatever that means?...hehe.) I think it will be a fun event. Should you decide to come, here is some information:

Louisiana Creoles and Cajuns in Louisiana are cordially invited to the UNITY WALK in New Orleans, Saturday, 10 April 2010. The event begins at 10am at New Orleans City Hall and ends at 2pm at Lafayette Square. Bring your Louisiana Creole and Cajun flags and march for unity. Contact: Anna 504.821.7228

Next, since we're talking about Creole culture, I think Henriette Delille should be mentioned. After the tour, we visited a small plaque that was dedicated to her. I think she was an incredible woman with an enormous heart. According to the Times Picayune, Henriette Delille spent years caring for cast-off slaves, impoverished Africans and people of color in antebellum New Orleans.



According to the article I read, Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday issued a decree declaring Delille “venerable,” a status two steps removed from being formally recognized as a saint. It means the Vatican process that examines the historical record is formally convinced that Delille lived a life of “heroic virtue.”

I'm going to briefly attempt to sum up Canonization procedures in the Catholic Church. Basically, in order to be a saint in the Church, two miracles need to be accredited to you. (You can be dead or alive.) Various research (taking several years) is done to make sure that it is truly an 'out-of-the-ordinary' miracle that occurred.

Basically, Vatican has begun to do research into one of the miracles accredited to Delille. The potential miracle was one done in 1998. It was the cure of a 4-year-old Houston girl suffering from an overwhelming pulmonary infection. However, it may be many months, or more, before the order knows whether the Vatican concurs.

According to the article, advocates are encouraging people to ask for Delille’s favor in prayers, so that she will receive the two miracles needed for canonization.

For Complete Article Click Here.

Also, before leaving, please go to the French Quarter Festival! French Quarter Festival is from April 9 - April 11.

For more information Click Here.

I wish you a great weekend. There are plenty of activities that you can do!

Have fun,

--André

History, History, and More History!

First, I want to thank Dr. Hunt for allowing us to experience such an amazing adventure through history. I think it is essential for students and people in general to have some bit of knowledge of their hometowns. I remember in 8th grade, I had to take Louisiana history and I hated it because my teacher (even though she was really nice), was not that into it. Thankfully those days are long behind me, and now I have a greater appreciation of Louisiana.

Now, for the tour. I must say that Walter Johnson does know his stuff and I enjoyed being out on such a beautiful day. As he was showing us the places that used to house slaves, I could not help but picture how it would have looked. In my mind I saw dirt roads, with horse carriages coming back and forth. I did not want to picture the slaves too much, because even though it was so long ago, it still hard to imagine people as property. During his tour, Johnson mentioned John White a bit so I decided to look him up. However, I stumbled upon the Journal of American History which featured a historical case presented by Mr. Walter Johnson himself. It was called The Slave Trader, the White Slave, and the Politics of Racial Determination in the 1850s. The case was about a young 15 year-old girl by the name Jane Morrison (she claimed her name was Alexina) who was bought by a New Orleans slave trader, James White in 1857. Shortly, after she ran away. That was not the last time the two would see each other, because eight months later, Jane/Alexina filed suit against White to prevent him from taking her again and selling her. The case was bought before the Louisiana Supreme Court twice, and considered by three different juries. This might seem like a case where the slave wanted to get back her master, but it wasn't. Jane/Alexina had blonde hair and blue eyes.

I did not go that far into the account, but it was very interesting and I would like to know the outcome. This is the link if you would like to read it:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2567914?seq=1

I also have something very funny to share. On my home page is the att. news and they always give a list of the best or the worst things in America or the world. The topic today was the 7 worst roads in America. What's so funny about it is that some of us were mentioning how bad the streets in New Orleans are, and low and behold we are at the top of the list. Here is the link for that as well:
http://shine.yahoo.com/event/travel/7-worst-roads-in-america-1229355/

Have a great weekend :)

Really, really, ridiculously good food.

Over break, I got to get off campus and actually enjoyed some home cooking, and it was awesome. But it was long that I realized I'd pretty much eaten every typical Louisiana dish possible.

When I went to Mississippi, my dad made me red beans and rice (and it was on a Monday. Haha). His are pretty much the only red beans I'll eat. I'm really picky about my red beans.

And then before I made way back to Lafayette, I went to this restaurant in Slidell called Crawfish Paradise (It actually is now closed temporarily, it closed the day after we went, because the owners are at ends with each other and is soon to only be under one owner who has to change the name. So complicated.) located on Gauze Blvd. with my family where we enjoyed boiled crawfish. For a restaurant, I was pretty impressed. It had a good flavor, although not spicy enough for my taste, but the thing that really got me is they made it with garlic cloves (my favorite) and lemon, which I've never had a restaurant do before. P.S. Has cute waiters...just sayin. (The woman in the picture is my grandmother a.k.a. Pat)

If for whatever reason you're heading over to Lafayette, the first exit right after getting off Atchafalaya (Woo! Spelled that right on my first try!) bridge is called the Cecilia-Henderson Exit.

I would highly recommend getting off at this exit and going to the Boudain Shop and Country Store, also known as Chicken on the Bayou (Because apparently they have awesome chicken. I haven't tried it yet since it's a rarity that I stop here). Honestly, I can't think of a really good boudain place that's actually in Lafayette. The best one's are always outside the city. My other favorite place to go is in Carencro (affectionately known as "Da Cro") and I couldn't even tell you how to get there.

Here, you can get crawfish and pork boudin links and balls, pistolettes, and other things which can either be cooked up for you or you can buy frozen and take home to cook yourself. And of course, they have cracklin, which I had been craving since talking about it class, made fresh when you order it. If you ever decided to get it, ALWAYS make sure it's fresh; If it sits out for too long, it can get hard and difficult to chew and has even been known to crack some teeth (hence the name, maybe?).

Boudin Ball

Cracklin

And on top of that, my mom made seafood gumbo and shrimp and crawfish ettoufee.

After eating all this delicious food and gaining, like 50 million pounds, I realized something... I CAN'T COOK ANY OF IT! Like seriously, I can't even make rice in a pot right. I always burn the bottom and it's never the right consistency.

So it is going to be my own personal mission to learn to cook all these wonderful dishes made by, in my opinion, the best people possible, family. And I'm going to make my own cookbook from it, because no one can tell you how they make things, they just do it. That's the bad thing about Louisiana cooks trying to tell you their recipes. Should be fun :)

P.S. I took my friend over to Plum St., and got him his first New Orleans sno-ball; he's pretty much addicted.

I hope everyone has been enjoying their break as much as I have! This week has been the first week it has really felt like spring. The weather has been more than beautiful and all of the cars are covered in pollen. To celebrate this season I made a trip to the snowball stand by my house with a few friends. As I enjoyed my delicious sugar attack I thought about creole crossroads and Gumbo Tales. A few days later I enjoyed a crawfish boil with my family and friends. We sat outside on the lake and enjoyed our crawfish in the 75 degree weather. I just started reading Voodoo Queen a few days ago (I had to order it because Banes and Noble doesn't carry it in store) and am still not very far. I am excited to lean about Marie Laveau's life, reputation and status. I am familiar with the name, but only know the basis of her life and her seemingly interesting story.

So Far So Good!

Well, I've been bombarded with loads of homework over my spring break, so I haven't had time to go out as much. I have, however, had time to start reading Voodoo Queen and I find it a very good read. I'm still on the first chapter, but what I've read so far about Marie's origins and her family are very interesting. I am not sure about Martha Ward's take on the Voodoo Queen with a questionable history; sometimes it seems to me that she is making the whole thing up. But I haven't dedicated myself to research Laveau's history, so I think I might have to trust Ward's word....for now.

Hope everyone is having a good break!

Houston's Taste of Creole

Zatarains Creole Seasoning