This Will Explain A Lot!

OMG!  Miss Ginger has found a blog that she simply HAS to share with her dear GingerSnaps, as it will explain a lot about the crazy "lady" you have come to know as "Miss G!"  "Stuff Cajun People Like" is like a walk down memory lane, straight through Momma G's kitchen!!  It's a compendium of everything Cajun, and there are a few points in particular that warm Miss G's soul to no end! Here's are a few of Miss G's favorites:

#1- Community Coffee

Community Coffee has been the connoisseur's choice in South Louisiana since before Starbucks was even invented! It would be unheard of to enter a Cajun's kitchen west of Baton Rouge prior to noon and not smell a pot of Community Dark Roast, in an aluminum drip pot bathed in a pan of water on the stove, if you go back as far as Miss G's early childhood! East of Baton Rouge,  the preferred product was "New Orleans Roast", a combination of coffee and chicory popular there. It's the only coffee most Cajun's will drink,  and Momma and Daddy G NEVER traveled without a coffeemaker and a can of Community Dark Roast! So addicted were they that, the only time Momma G every traveled overseas, they arrived in London, checked into the hotel, and took a taxi straight to Harrod's to buy a coffeemaker that would work with a European outlet!! Momma G was NOT going to wake up on her first day of vacation without a cup of Community Dark Roast!

#10- Gumbo- You all know how Miss G feels about that!

#24- Evangeline Maid Bread  

In Momma Ginger's kitchen, on the counter between the toaster and the coffeemaker,  there was ALWAYS a loaf of Evangeline Maid bread. Large loaf. Thin sliced.  All 5 of us boys knew exactly which bread to buy if Momma G sent you to the store for bread. Which she did. Often. Lord, the 7 of us could go through some bread!  Momma G would buy 2-3 loaves when she went to the store, and put a couple in the freezer, but it never failed- right after dinner: "Oh, crap, we're not gonna have any bread for your daddy's toast in the morning!  Who wants to go to the store for Momma and get a loaf of bread.. and you might as well get some milk,  too!"  Usually, it was whomever had most recently gotten their drivers license.  Unless we were between new drivers. In which case it fell on Baby G.  "Baby, get one of your brother to take you  to the store to get Momma a loaf of bread.  Here's $5. You can keep the change."  Sounds like cha-ching- BUT-  usually Baby G had to offer to split the change to get one of the brothers to drive.  Still, I guess a 2 buck tip to fetch a 96 cent loaf of bread is not a bad days work!  

And it was the best damn bread you ever laid a lip on!  So soft- like butter!  They don't sell it anywhere north of I-10!!

#34- Goin' to Lafayette

Lafayette is smack dab in the middle of Cajun Country-  the hub city for hundreds of little country towns that follow the bayous, rivers, and lakes that surround it.  (The pink area on this map is "Cajun Country")  Even though Miss G grew up in Lake Charles, which was almost as big as Lafayette, we STILL went to Lafayette all the time, to shop, eat, or something!  There was a little butcher shop that Daddy G LOVED because they sold these stuffed pork chops filled with Cajun pork sausage and covered in red pepper rub.  They were about 4 inches thick, and so big that Momma G could make 3 meals out of hers.  Daddy G would take an Igloo cooler (known in Cajun Country as an "ice chest") in the back of the station wagon and load up on pork chops, roasts, steaks, and other sundry cuts of the one true meat, and take them home and fill the freezer for months of cookouts to come!  But the night of the trip, when we got home, we always had those delicious pork chops, which would we eat in their entirety! Such gluttony!  What a happy child was Baby G!  Miss Ginger still travels to Lafayette,  but now it's all business because one of her stores is there! 

Stuff Cajun People Like a charming site!!  Pay it a visit- and if you leave a comment-  tell 'em Miss Ginger sent you!

More Southern Goodies with Miss G!

After we got to NOLA yesterday, Bubba G and I found out that Harrah's and Budweiser sponsor an even every Thursday during crawfish season call Bugs, Buds, and Bands, out on the street near the casino. What a deal! with a Total Rewards card, crawfish were $1.00 a pound, and Budweiser products were $3 each! We even got our picture taken for free by a chick from the BreweKrewe! What a great time we had!

Today, it poured a gullywasher here in NOLA! Such a storm that there was NO WAY Bubba and I were going out to the Fairgrounds for JazzFest! What a muddy mess that would be!! So, we stayed close to the hotel at first, and went to Felix's on Iberville Street for lunch. Felix's is cattycorner across the street from the famed Acme Oyster Company, where there is always a line. Miss G is constantly amazed as to why! Acme is delicious, don't get me wrong, but Felix's is just as good, if not better, and NEVER has a line!!

While many parts of the country serve these lucious bivalves as "raw oysters", here in NOLA they are more commonly known as "royerstyas" and they are served in a very special way! Do you see the little cup in the middle of the plate? It comes to the table with only a couple of lemon slices in it. On the table upon arrival there is a big jar of ground horseradish, a bottle or Tabasco, and a squeeze bottle of ketchup. Since everyone has there own tolerance for heat, one is allowed the chance to create their own cocktail sauce with just the right amount of "kick". Miss G always starts with a big glob of horseradish, and works her way from there.

After lunch, we needed to find a place to hole up and shelter from the rain, so Miss G took Bubba to the Bourbon Pub, figuring we could at least grab a brew and run if it wasn't fun or if Bubba wasn't comfortable there.

Well, wuncha know that Lisa and Tim were working, so it was like old home week for all at the back bar! Lisa has worked at the Pub as long as Miss G can remember, and Miss G and Bubba went to college with Tim, so there was lots to talk about and catch up on, plus lots of fun sharing stories about the "glory days" of old! We drank and carried on until almost dark, when Miss G realized she better get some food into Bubba pronto!

After a pit stop at Clover Grill, we headed to Molly's at the Market to visit our favorite NOLA feline, Mr. Wu. As usually, Mr. Wu was holding court on the back bar, and was as happy to see us as we were to see him!

Don't Eat the Dead Ones!

Here we are in Baton Rouge, and all we want is some boiled crawfish, and we can't find any ANYWHERE!!!!!

Actually, we are coming to the end of the season (crawfish boils are an Easter thang!) but some places still have them. We went to a little place for dinner called Parrain's, because we were told they had boiled crawfish. But guess what. They didn't! But, it was a really enjoyable evening, and Miss G kinda stuck to her diet by eating a dozen roy erstas (raw oyters) and a shrimp remoulade, which was delish. And, we were sitting by a window that overlooked the porch, and there was a little teeny tiny baby kitty playing out there and he was SOOOOOOOOO cute! I totally wanted to catch him and keep him, but he was waaaaaaay too skitterish and would have none of that!

By the way, Parrain (say pah-'ranh) is Cajun French for "grandfather", so it reminded Miss G that someday she shall have to post pics of her Parrain and Marrain, but they are on the computer at home, (the pictures, not the grandparents!) so that will have to be later!

So, during our crawfishless dinner, we decided that tomorrow we would have a 3 hour workday, and then go have crawfish and beer for lunch, then make the hour drive back to New Orleans to catch our flight back to Houston! Well, of course, the late Momma G is looking down upon her child from the heavens to remind him that beer for lunch in Baton Rouge before a drive to New Orleans is dangerous and illegal. But, since she's dead and can't talk, she just insured that there is not one singe restaurant in all of East or West Baton Rouge parish that serves boiled crawfish for lunch- I called them all! That's just the way Momma G rolls! You gotta love it!

Anyho, we'll still cut out early and eat something, and I'll bet by 2pm there will be a bloody mary or 2 at the little bar near gate D-3, because they are so awesome!

Oh, and as for the title of this post- "Don't Eat the Dead Ones!" It's kinda of a standing "joke" in South Louisiana to tell first-time crawfish eaters "don't eat the dead ones!" They kinda go "huh?", because, of course, after being boiled, they are all dead! Of course, within a 40lb bag of wriggling live crustaceans, there are sure to be some "casualties", but it's way too laborious to try to pick out the ones who didn't survive. Plus, how do you tell if they are dead or just resting? So, you dump them all in the boiling water and hope for the best! But after they are cooked, the little tails curl up on on the fresh, live ones, and anything that went into the water dead cooks up limp and straight. So, everytime someone picks up a straight one, someone always says "don't eat the dead one!" They are spoiled and not fit to eat, so they are trown into the "burial pile" with the rest of the shells! Ya see, you never throw away crawfish shells- it would stink up the garbage something awefull! No, you dig a hole in the back yard and bury them so they return to the earth. At our house, first one up had to dig the hole. Man, we could sleep late after a crawfish boil!

Who's up for a crawfish boil at Miss Ginger's next year? Start saving your plane fare! Boy G will start digging the hole!

Miss Ginger's JazzFest Report

Miss Ginger is home from the JazzFest, and has SOOO much catching up to do, since she was out of pocket with a broken computer! She missed blogging about the dearly departed Bea Arthur, and it seems like kind of old news at this point. Perhaps a tribute later.
JazzFest weekend was awesome! When Bubba John got into town we downed a coupla dozen chargrilled oysters at Drago's, then headed to the casino for some gambling. After while (and some $$$) later, it was decided a trip into the Quarter would be in order, so we walked up Decatur to Molly's at the Market. Molly's is a great locals "dive" near the French Market, and believe it or not Miss Ginger stayed up till 4am quaffing brews and chatting with the locals! And, in the back bar at Molly's, Wu holds court, and holds the bar down pretty much 24/7, or so I'm told! That's a long shift for any bartender, so Mr. Wu has been known to catnap between customers!

We met a real sweet girl there named Heather, and enjoyed talking to her until the wee hours!

The next morning, we walked down to the Jackson Brewery to catch the shuttle to JazzFest.

Because the Fairgrounds is in the midst of a residential neighborhood, there's not much parking. I couldn't find a crowd estimate, but Miss Ginger guesses there were at least 100,000 people there!

Lots of people drag folding chairs and coolers with them and set up a sort of "camp" near their favorite stage (there were 10 this year!), but Bubba John and I just decided to wander. You can hear great music all over the fest, and wandering and people watching are as much fun as listening! So we wandered from beer stand to beer stand, drinking booze, watching the crowds, and just enjoying being together!

And then there's the food! And what food! You'd expect to find crawfish pie and gumbo, and there was plenty more cajun favorites. There's a town in the middle of Louisiana called Natchitoches (say NAK-a-tush) that happens to be where "Steel Magnolias" was filmed. But long before Shelby wooed Jackson, they were making little fried meat pies that made the little town famous! EVERYONE from Natchitoches will tell you their mommas/grandmas/aunts meat pies are the best, and they are probably all right! Miss Ginger scarfed down several, and decided to pass on the food at the next booth- it just didn't seem like it would hold up in the infernal New Orleans heat!

After those spicy meat pies Miss Ginger needed a tall drink of water!

After noshing, we decided we needed to sit for a while, and we found a tent with a brass band and a "second line".

If you've ever been to New Orleans, you know that Dixieland Jazz is the soundtrack of the city. You hear it in the airport when you step off the plane, on the car radio in the taxi cab, and on the hotel Muzak when you check in. It's what gives the city it's rhythm and soul, and New Orleans just wouldn't be New Orleans without it. Miss Ginger got a little bit teary eyed when the lead trumpeteer introduced his bandmates, and told how long each had been playing. 10, 15, 35, 70 years! The oldest of them, 86 years old, had been playing since he was 16!!

There were lots of tourists and locals "second lining", as the dance is now called, but none did it as well as The Lady Jetsetters Marching Club! These ladies are smooth!

So, who's up for planning a "SnapFest" at JazzFest next year? We'll get all the GingerSnaps together and REALLY show them how to second line!