A Foreign Land

Not a great picture of
the jambalaya, but so worth
documenting!

After leaving Mississippi, I headed to New Orleans.  I had gotten a tip to take part in a cooking demonstration at the New Orleans School of Cooking.  I got there in time to get a spot for the lunch demonstration.  Am I ever glad I did!  It was the most incredible experience!  It was like watching a cooking show on TV, but you’re in the   same room and you get to ask questions and you get to EAT THE FOOD!!!!  The chef was an older lady who had lived in New Orleans her entire life.  She explained how to make the recipes, why certain ingredients were used, what events and groups of people had influences over the types of food they eat, shared an overview of the history of the city and region, and even gave several restaurant reviews!  It was so interesting to hear her talk and even more fascinating to see her make so many incredibly delicious dishes so naturally!  Cooking really is an art and it was incredible to see the food go from separate ingredients to mouthwatering plates of food!  She made gumbo, jambalaya, bread pudding with a whiskey sauce, and pralines (and we got bonus biscuits too!).  It was all totally outstanding, but I must say, the chicken and Andouille gumbo was the best thing I have ever eaten! 

After a most enjoyable morning at the New Orleans Cooking School, I headed out to walk around the French Quarter.  I enjoyed seeing the various building and sites.  It certainly had a decidedly European feel to it.  It also had a rather dilapidated and disorderly feel to it.  After a while, I got rather uncomfortable walking around by myself, and while I really wanted to keep eating, I was still stuffed, so I decided to move on to a new part of Louisiana.

Grand Isle Sate Park

I drove down to Grand Isle State Park.  I got there about six seconds after the ranger station closed, so I headed to the campground host’s site.  After struggling through some communication issues, he gave me a site.  I quickly found my way to the beach.  It was incredible to be on the beach in the Gulf of Mexico right so close to where the Mississippi delta is!  While I was on the beach it was raining over the water and I was able to see a rainbow.  I also got to see a lot of pelicans and some oil rigs.

Restored school house in
Lafayette, LA

In the morning, I went to the ranger station to pay for my site.  The lady was very crabby and made it clear that she felt I should not have gotten that site.  Then she very angrily told me that I could stay in the park all day if I wanted.  Instead, I headed to Lafayette.  I made it there in time of some more gumbo for lunch.  It wasn’t quite as good as the day before, but it was still quite enjoyable.  Then I went to a reconstructed Cajun settlement that the AAA book claimed would explain the history of the region.  Again, I got a less than warm reception from the lady that took my admission money.  It was as if she was a little angry that I was interested in learning more about her state and culture.  I took my bilingual guide and wandered around.  It was interesting to see the structures and artifacts (and fun to get to use my very rusty French), but there wasn’t a great deal of explanation about how things got to be the way there were depicted or how things are today.  I kind of got the feeling that they didn’t really want to share that information.  I also got the feeling that they wished they were their own country.  I will say though, the food made up for the crabby people!

Pelicans at Grand Isle State Park