Lake Fausse Pointe State Park

We enjoyed three days this week in a cabin at Lake Fausse Pointe State Park, about 25 miles south of Henderson along the Atchafalaya west protection levee.  Also enjoyed driving over to St. Francisville and New Iberia seeing the harvest in the muddy cane fields.

Sunrise from the deck of our cabin at Lake Fausse Pointe State Park

Chicken breast stuffed with spinach Madeline, corn macques choux, corn grits from Poches Market

Loading cut sugar cane

Listen to the birdsongs with a view from our cabin.

a Louisiana getaway - Opelousas, Grand Coteau, Sunset

On a summer Friday and Saturday, we drove an hour and a half to St. Landry Parish and enjoyed the old towns of Opelousas, Grand Coteau, and Sunset.

In Opelousas we enjoyed breakfast at the Palace Cafe across from the court house and a great lunch at the Back in Time Restaurant.  A very special attraction was the Orphan Train Museum.

We enjoyed a drive around historic Grand Coteau, lunch at the Creola Cafe, and a short jaunt over to Arnaudville.

In Sunset is Antique Woods of Louisiana, a place full of old wood, doors, tables, and some old decorative cast iron.  We wandered through there for quite awhile.  We stayed at La Caboose B&B which is a collection of old rail cars and structures - a caboose, mail car, ticket office, and the depot in which we stayed; not fancy but certainly unique.  Ms. Margaret, the dear owner, also has a shop where she sells her homemade jelly, jam, and decorated gourds.  We bought one with a turtle.

Margaret with our turtle gourd

Cafe Josephine is a fine Louisiana restaurant just a couple blocks from La Caboose.  Enjoy this video of our trip:

Pig Roast

Tonight out at our Kiwanis Camp, we are having our annual member appreciation barbq.  Bill Halliburton built a great fire pit which he and others fired up at 4:30 a.m. this morning, and started cooking a 175 lb. hog which our club purchased from a young 4H Club member earlier in the year.  It should be a great feast with good fellowship.

View videos of the process and the result.

Crawfish for dinner

Last night we had boiled crawfish from Debarge's.  They were some of the best I've ever tasted, nicely spiced and real juicy.  Boiled crawfish are one of my favorite foods.  Throw in some corn and potatoes, and you have a great meal.  Even though we had a cold winter which slowed the growth of the crawfish, these were fairly good sized.
Here is a pile of heads after my meal:

Kartchner's Grocery & Specialty Meats

Whenever we drive home from Baton Rouge, I like to stop at Kartchner's for a link of hot smoked boudin.  Yesterday we also picked up some "loaded baked potato soup" which we enjoyed for dinner.  This non-descript grocery story on the edge of the Atchafalaya Swamp is chock full of fine Cajun food.