Here is a pop quiz. Name this plant... if you are from south Louisiana, you will recognize it instantly as rice. It is the principle crop here, after crawfish and oil. Speaking of crawfish, we have seen dozens of stores, restaurants, as well as roadside and backyard vendors selling boiled crawfish. Last night we had a meal at a great seafood restaurant, the Little River Inn in New Iberia, Louisiana. We had shrimp remoulade, crab cakes and a house specialty, shrimp and catfish pirogue. A pirogue is actually a wooden boat used in shallow water while fishing or crawfishing, or simply to get from point A to point B. In this dish, the pirogue was actually fried eggplant, with a mound of shrimp and catfish with a yummy sauce over it.
Some of the spices and food you find in stores in Acadiana (otherwise known as Cajun country, down near Lafayette, Breaux Bridge and New Iberia) is different here; we bought a string of Cajun chicken and shrimp sausage (moderately spicy), but passed on the boudin and cracklin' from Billeaux's Market. Also passed on the industrial size containers of cayenne pepper; 32 oz. bottles... they were on the rack in the market by the dozens, so people actually do use that much hot pepper. We are wusses....
Today we arrived in Beaumont, Texas and visited the Babe Didrikson Museum. On to Houston tomorrow.
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