After the "Is Food Art" event on Thursday evening, I spoke with Ken Albala about some of the festivals that were going to be happening in and around New Orleans while he was in town. This weekend alone there are over 8 festivals! Here are some of them: the Atchafalaya Catfish Festival, the Cattle Festival, Oktoberfest, the Louisiana Seafood Festival, the World Championship Gumbo Cook-Off, the Japan Festival, and the Celebracion Latina...
Ken and I decided that it would be fun to go to the Festivals Acadiens et Creoles in Lafayette, Louisiana (about a 2-hour drive away). We decided that it would be best to head out to Cajun Country as early as possible, so we left New Orleans at 8:30 am yesterday. Thanks to our handy-dandy Google Maps application we found Girard Park, home of the festival, without any problems. To our surprise, there were not many people there when we arrived. After a quick conversation with a local, we found out that the festival didn't start until 5:00pm that night! So, with a determination to stay positive about our little scheduling mishap, we took the local's recommendation to head to the sleepy town of Abbeville, LA to kill some time (thus beginning our 14-hour long tour of Acadiana...)
En route to Abbeville, we came across a local meat market that was selling a Cajun specialty, boudin blanc (e.g. white sausage)! Boudin blanc is a mixture of pork and rice stuffed into pork casings. It is served piping hot at many roadside meat markets in Acadiana. Typically, you do not eat the casing, but tear a hole in it and push the delicious filling directly into your mouth. We enjoyed two links of boudin (over a pound) for $3.28:
Will our bellies full, our fingers slightly scorched, our lips tingling with lingering spices, and our hands sticky with boudin grease, we powered on toward Abbeville...
To be honest, there is not much going on in Abbeville. The town was bustling, in a sense, because they were hosting the Cattle Festival that evening. But, most of the shops were closed! We did stumble upon a few good finds like the historic train depot, the local Catholic cemetery, and the Steen's cane syrup factory:
After our short trip to Abbeville, we headed to Jefferson and Avery Islands (the local cafe owner encouraged us to venture there next). Jefferson Island is home to Joe Jefferson, a famous actor known for his portrayal of Rip Van Winkle. He also built a beautiful estate and gardens in New Iberia, LA in the 1870s. While on Jefferson Island, we took a guided tour of the historic home and property and also meandered through the gardens:
Our next stop was Avery Island, home of the Tobasco plant! We were able to duck our heads in on a tour of the plant, taste every single variety of Tobasco pepper sauce, and walk the Mcilhenny family Jungle Gardens where we saw live gators!
After touring a good part of Acadiana, we made our way back to Lafayette for the Festivals Acadiens et Creole where we indulged in fried boudin balls, crawfish etouffee, jambalaya, and Abita beer. After our bout of culinary tourism we headed to the main stage to hear the Jambalaya Cajun Band:
It was such a lively atmosphere. Half of the festival grounds was taken up by couples waltzing along to the steady exhalation of the accordion and sweet melody of the fiddle -- a beautiful combination. The band members were great entertainers too. They told stories, cracked jokes, and kept the crowd energized through the entire set by dancing along to their own music.
Somehow, after this long and exciting day, we made it back to the Big Easy...
Ken and I decided that it would be fun to go to the Festivals Acadiens et Creoles in Lafayette, Louisiana (about a 2-hour drive away). We decided that it would be best to head out to Cajun Country as early as possible, so we left New Orleans at 8:30 am yesterday. Thanks to our handy-dandy Google Maps application we found Girard Park, home of the festival, without any problems. To our surprise, there were not many people there when we arrived. After a quick conversation with a local, we found out that the festival didn't start until 5:00pm that night! So, with a determination to stay positive about our little scheduling mishap, we took the local's recommendation to head to the sleepy town of Abbeville, LA to kill some time (thus beginning our 14-hour long tour of Acadiana...)
En route to Abbeville, we came across a local meat market that was selling a Cajun specialty, boudin blanc (e.g. white sausage)! Boudin blanc is a mixture of pork and rice stuffed into pork casings. It is served piping hot at many roadside meat markets in Acadiana. Typically, you do not eat the casing, but tear a hole in it and push the delicious filling directly into your mouth. We enjoyed two links of boudin (over a pound) for $3.28:
Will our bellies full, our fingers slightly scorched, our lips tingling with lingering spices, and our hands sticky with boudin grease, we powered on toward Abbeville...
To be honest, there is not much going on in Abbeville. The town was bustling, in a sense, because they were hosting the Cattle Festival that evening. But, most of the shops were closed! We did stumble upon a few good finds like the historic train depot, the local Catholic cemetery, and the Steen's cane syrup factory:
After our short trip to Abbeville, we headed to Jefferson and Avery Islands (the local cafe owner encouraged us to venture there next). Jefferson Island is home to Joe Jefferson, a famous actor known for his portrayal of Rip Van Winkle. He also built a beautiful estate and gardens in New Iberia, LA in the 1870s. While on Jefferson Island, we took a guided tour of the historic home and property and also meandered through the gardens:
Our next stop was Avery Island, home of the Tobasco plant! We were able to duck our heads in on a tour of the plant, taste every single variety of Tobasco pepper sauce, and walk the Mcilhenny family Jungle Gardens where we saw live gators!
After touring a good part of Acadiana, we made our way back to Lafayette for the Festivals Acadiens et Creole where we indulged in fried boudin balls, crawfish etouffee, jambalaya, and Abita beer. After our bout of culinary tourism we headed to the main stage to hear the Jambalaya Cajun Band:
It was such a lively atmosphere. Half of the festival grounds was taken up by couples waltzing along to the steady exhalation of the accordion and sweet melody of the fiddle -- a beautiful combination. The band members were great entertainers too. They told stories, cracked jokes, and kept the crowd energized through the entire set by dancing along to their own music.
Somehow, after this long and exciting day, we made it back to the Big Easy...
wow!! crazy day! your pics are coming out BEAUTIFUL!!!! seriously!! they look awesome!
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