We attended the little town of Vinton's Mardi Gras Celebration and Gumbo Cook-off.
The balloon lady was the most popular for the kids.
But the hot ticket for the adults was the Crawfish Boil. A totally new experience for us and my new favorite food. My taste buds will scream in protest when we leave Louisiana.
A wonderful lady covering the event for the local paper taught me the art of eating crawfish. First you snap off it's head (sucking out the fat from the head is optional but she loves it), then you use your thumbs to peel the shell away from the tail ( just like a shrimp), hold the tip of the tail and pull out the wonderful, delicious tender meat.
We were curious about the process for the boil. The crawfish are brought in live and dumped into kids swimming pools. They are hosed off to clean the mud off them. When the water is clean they add salt.
Then they are loaded into the big boiling pot filled with cajun seasoning along with a few potatoes and ears of corn.
When they are cooked your order is handed to you in a plastic bag and you can take it to these special tables anchored over a trash can. You can then shell them and throw the shells directly into the garbage can and enjoy the wonderful spicy flavor. Walt agrees that they have a good flavor but thinks they are too much work. As for me..............I would work twice as hard to be able to partake of them no matter which name they are known by.
They had what I think must be the world's smallest Mardi Gras Parade.
But the tradition of throwing beads was not left out and I got my share.
A few decorated jeeps.
And one float and a good time was had by all.
Then it was on down to the the Knights of Columbus hall for the Gumbo Cook-Off. First a bed of rice in the bowl.
Look at the huge pot of Gumbo.
The finished product. Very Good! Thank you Vinton for your hospitality reminding us how good it can be to live in a small town.
I couldn't wait for more Crawfish. We went to LeBlue's Landing in Sulphur.
This time is was Crawfish Bisque and Crab Cakes. The next sampling was Crawfish Etouffee and fried tails. Yes, Crawfish is my favorite.
Lest I give the impression that everything we are seeing is paradisiacal it's not. There is much of scenes like above. There is poverty, there is humidity and standing water everywhere. Even in January there are mosquitos so I cannot imagine what it will be like when it warms up. The litter and garbage dumped along the roadsides are dreadful. For every one of the stately, beautiful homes that we see there are many that are being lived in that look like they should be condemned. The petroleum industry fills the land with facilities that are not pretty and the smokestacks spewing fumes in the air can't be healthy. But, southern hospitality shows everywhere, people are gracious and you can never have enough "ya'all and bless your heart."
Plus if you live in Louisiana it makes getting dressed every day much easier. If you are not in LSU gear you are in camo.
“Being Southern isn't talking with an accent...or rocking on a porch while drinking sweet tea, or knowing how to tell a good story. It's how you're brought up -- with Southerners, family (blood kin or not) is sacred; you respect others and are polite nearly to a fault; you always know your place but are fierce about your beliefs. And food along with college football -- is darn near a religion.”
Jan Norris