MONDAY, APRIL 9 -- WE'RE IN LOUISIANA

We were joined in Lafayette by Sue and Joe Rokowski, our friends from Maine who wintered in GA, who are going to spend a few days touring with us.

Rod &Ellen, Keith & Joan, Tony & Donna, Joe & Sue

And, we're ready for some good Cajun food.  We went to Paul's Pirogues restaurant, a local favorite, and started with crawfish or crawdads (they look like little....very little...lobsters.  The waitress showed us how to eat them; twist off the tail, take out the meat and toss the rest.  It's bite-size!  Kind of reminds me of eating crabs; a lot of work for a little bit of food.  But, the seafood was delicious - shrimp creole, seafood platters, crab etouffee.  Yummmm! 

We toured the McIlhenny Company's Tabasco plant on Avery Island.  The company was founded in 1868 and is still family-owned and operated on the same site.  While the peppers are grown mainly in South America, they are all shipped to the Louisiana plant to be made into the pepper sauce.

Tabasco Plant

We also toured the Conrad Rice Mill, America's oldest working rice mill and manufacturer of Konriko products.  It was a really old building covered with dust and cobwebs; hard to believe they still manufacture there.  And, they had a friendly resident cat to control the mice??

On Wednesday, we moved on to New Orleans and more amazing seafood; definately not low-cal.  The next morning, we started our tour of the French Quarter at the Cafe' Du Monde, a traditional coffee shop that was originally established in 1862 in the French Market.  Its menu consists of dark roasted Coffee and Chicory, Beignets, White and Chocolate Milk, and fresh squeezed Orange Juice. The coffee is served Black or Au Lait. Au Lait means that it is mixed half and half with hot milk. Beignets are square French -style doughnuts, lavishly covered with powdered sugar.  They are served in orders of three.

This little guy at the table beside us was covered with powdered sugar from head to toe.

We strolled Bourbon and Royal Sts, took the St. Charles streetcar through the Garden District, enjoyed a French Quarter Festival around Jackson Square, and ended at the French Market along the Mississippi River.  Here are some photos that Joe took; he's a really good photographer.