And it's all about Food

As the customs are different, so is the food.

Our first indiation was at a Flying J Truck Stop, the pork and beans were really black eyed peas. I thought there was spinach but it was collard greens. Warm sausage, pulled pork and pulled beef are standard here. All delicious.

In Louisiana, highway signs were advertising crawdads (crayfish) and bodins, a sausage of rice and pork. Our first dish was a chicken and sausage jambalaya in New Orleans. Apparently, the 'red' jambalaya made with tomatoes is characteristic of New Orleans Ceole cooking while the 'brown' version, no tomatoes is the Cajun version. You start with a roux (flower and oil) and when nicely browned, you add spices and whatever you want. I have 2 recipes for chicken and sausage and a ham and shrimp one. The one we had was delicious, served on top of a bowl of rice and nicely spiced. It made us think of Randy's Low Country Boil, a dish served by the Louisiana tailgunner on our Yucatan caravan. It is said originally the Indians made a soupy kind of dish and added whatever vegtables they found and shrimp, wild pig, whatever. Time has stirred in the Old World influences from France, Italy, Spain, a dash of Africa and the Caribbean. We had red beans and rice on Bourbon St, which also had sausage in it and very good. Jambalaya is a twist on Spanish paella.

We went out for dinner with another couple to Gill's Grill locally. I had grilled catfish which had a light Cajun spice and was delicious. It was served with mayo slaw, baked potato with oleo ( margarine, no butter around here it seems), hush puppies, and a quarter dill pickle. Hush puppies are 2' round, deep fried cornbread and were good. Today we went to Swamp John's and it was a hoot. It is an old garage with pumps out in front and the inside is now an eating area. The concrete floor was painted red once but it's worn off and the oil stains are most prominent. Ron stuck to his omelet and I had a "smashed potato". They take a large baked potato and literally smash it on your plate, then cover it with chicken, onions, green peppers, tomatoes and cheddar cheese. Very tasty. One of your finer diners, you get 1 plastic fork, Styrofoam cup and plates, mine covered in tin foil. We haven't had any gumbo or po-boys yet. I would love to have enough time and eat my way through Louisiana.
When we went to Tupelo, the town where Elvis was born, we had lunch at Johnnie's Drive In where it is said that Elvis used to go. Talk about a scene from the 60's, the booths are still the original plywood and the green Formica on the tables has been worn off to plain white.

Ann and Ron