Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Raising Readers
Friday, December 26, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Christmas In Acadiana, Part IV
Deboned chicken, stuffed with crawfish
Sausage from LeJeune's Sausage Kitchen
We will enjoy it all!!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
You Better Watch Out.
You better not cry.
Better not pout, I'm telling you why:
Because Santa already has the pouting covered.
(Thanks to my Aunt Sarah for telling me where to find this sad, pouty Santa.)
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Cajun Twelve Days Of Christmas
This isn't my work at all, but how can I go all season without sharing it!?
Enjoy!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
A Bit Of History
The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist in downtown Lafayette, LA stands as a sentinel to the faith of generations of followers. It is the third church built on the site donated by Jean Mouton in l821, when Lafayette was the town of Vermilionville. The present Dutch Romanesque landmark, completed in l916, is on the National Registry of Historic Properties. Massive brick walls contrast with graceful arches and delicate red and white brickwork. Turrets flank the octagonal steeple above, from which the bells toll.
St. John Cemetery is the oldest in the city of Lafayette. The high water table in South Louisiana makes aboveground burial almost a necessity. The tomb of Jean Mouton, who donated the property for the church, is in this cemetery. Along with his son, Alexandre Mouton, governor of Louisiana from l843 to l846, and his grandson, J. Alfred Mouton, a West Point graduate and general in the Civil War.
Information provided by the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist website~ here. Pictures taken by me.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Christmas In Acadiana, Part II
Only here in Acadiana can you get your picture taken with a Christmas crawfish...
Or see some boudin (boo-dan) under the Christmas tree!Saturday, December 13, 2008
Death of a Sneauxman
He never really belonged around here anyhow, in south Louisiana. All he ever really wanted was to evaporate and go back to the bayou. It was nice having him visit, and maybe he'll come back another time.
Goodbye Sneauxman!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Sneaux
Snow actually, but most things with that O sound end in eaux around here! We went to bed with thoughts of morning snow, realizing that it's unlikely to happen but hopeful. We woke up to this~
I know snow isn't part of the south Louisiana culture, but somehow it showed up out my back door this morning! The schools have closed for this 'snow day' and kids are running all over the yards playing. I could hear neighbors having conversations with each other at 5:30 this morning and just laughing together at this phenomenon. It's fantastic!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Music Lesson
Cajun Music, A Reflection Of A People, Vol. I, Ann Allen Savoy
Structurally the instrument is small (6" x 11" when closed) and light weight (8 lbs.). The size, however, is no indication of its sound power. The finest Cajun accordions have 46 reeds (four reeds per melody button and three reeds per bass button) which supply them with much more volume power than a 28 pound piano key accordion.
Though the diatonic accordion has many reeds, it has a limited range, having a full tonal range in only one key. A talented accordionist can perform in as many as four keys, but the 3rd and 4th keys are short of many notes. The Cajuns generally prefer C accordions, the second favorite being the D accordion.
On the right hand side of the instrument is a button keyboard consisting of basically ten buttons arranged in a “major" scale. Each button produces two notes, according to whether the bellows are being pushed in or pulled out while pressing a button. A tune is played by pushing or pulling the bellows in or out while pressing the button that corresponds to the needed melody note.
Here you can see my uncle playing his cajun accordion. He's pretty good!
You can see him in action with the accordion here.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Christmas In Acadiana
Over the next few weeks, as I come across uniquely cajun Christmas things, I will be sharing them with you (my 4.7 loyal readers).
Step one to celebrating Christmas with a cajun flair:
You have to have the alligator under the tree.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Super-Ugly Bug
It's a bird....
It's a plane...
No, it's Super-Ugly Bug that totally freaks me out!!!Saturday, November 29, 2008
Pork Steaks
Here in Acadiana, it's pork steak (with rice dressing, of course).
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Tis The Season...
This only happens about once a year, so I captured the moment on film to prove that we actually bake around here.
The guys headed out for the LSU game this morning, so we girls decided we didn't want to spend the day cleaning house alone. After sitting in the orthodontist's office for several hours of the last 2 weeks, we came across this recipe in the Family Fun magazine. That's what happens when you have 2 kids going in/coming out of braces. You gain weight from all the recipes you read in the office.
So, after a grocery store run and cleaning the playdough off of the rolling pin, my daughter and I made these.
You don't believe me?! It is sort of hard to imagine, but look~
Two things to note in the picture above~
1. No, I do not own a pastry brush. Remember I said I don't bake. Since we were the people eating them, we figure pointer fingers work just as well as the pastry brushes that someone likely spent $22 on at the William Sonoma store in the mall.
2. Notice 2 of the leaf cut-outs are gone and have been replaced by more acorns. The acorns could hold way more filling chips!
How much sugar is TOO much sugar anyhow!?
The finished product. (Yes, the acorns look even more like goldfish crackers now. I know.)
A few changes I would make to the recipe~ Use larger cookie cutters, use pie filling instead of the chips which turned out dry and not really great (cherry filling would be pretty and tasty or apple filling would be great in some apple cut-outs), and use more egg wash and sugar on top.
That's the baking for 2008.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
A Cajun Staple
I have heard rice dressing is easy to make. You can buy a dressing mix (like the container below) in the fridge/freezer section of any grocery store, cook it, and mix with rice. I'm sure this is good stuff~ I trust the lady on the carton!
Our family has found that we really enjoy a good rice dressing (and not all rice dressing is equal), but we aren't having any with our Thanksgiving meal. I confess~ we'll be having a choice of cornbread dressing and mash potatoes.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Flourishing
How do these trees grow inside this building?
How long has the building been roofless and open, allowing seeds to grow into saplings and then into large, strong trees? Years? Decades?
Psalm 52:8-9 (NIV)
But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever. I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints.
May I be open, allowing the rain and sun inside, so I can flourish too.
(Building is just outside Opelousas, LA on Hwy. 190)