Welcome to the American Made Brand Blog Tour!

Thanks for visiting Louisiana!  We are excited to have you and hope you enjoy your visit to "The Pelican State."  Louisiana earned it's statehood in April 30, 1812 and is the only state to govern using the French Napoleonic Law: the reason we have parishes rather than counties.

Many people think of New Orleans when they think of Louisiana, and that certainly is reasonable when one considers the impact NOLA has on our economy, history, culture and lives.  But there is much, much more to our state. Let's travel from city to city for a glimpse of the culture and traditions of the magnolia state.

Louisiana has a predominately Catholic community in the southern parishes, myself included.  I can't imagine going to New Orleans without visiting or attending mass at St. Louis Cathedral.  Within walking distance of the cathedral are the French Market, Cafe du Monde, and the Riverfront. Plan to spend most of the morning in the downtown area for beignets and shopping and strolling.

Of course, there's the French Quarters with its party atmosphere, music, and delicious alcoholic concoctions.  Be warned!  A hurricane (and every other drink) is potent.  Every sip has consequences.


Have children in your party?  Take them on a street car ride to the Audubon Zoo, but don't forget the Aquarium, IMAX, Insecterium, New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) and WWII Museum.  All are filled with interesting, fun activities and history.  Like the weird?  Voodoo and cemeteries are a big draw.  I could go on, but we need to move on.  To represent NOLA, I included the Mercedes Benz Superdome because so many people visit.


Baton Rouge is next on our route.  The Louisiana State Capitol is a definite stop.  On my license plate it's the tall, pointed building.  I have memories of searching the tree line for the first glimpse of the Capitol as we drove into BR when I was a child.  It is the tallest state capitol in the union, a point of pride for Louisianans. Visit Baton Rouge is a good place to do some searching if you're planning a trip.  The zoo is awesome and there's lots of shopping at the Mall of Louisiana.  Do yourself a favor and visit River Road plantations and the LSU Rural Life Museum.  


Lafayette is city of cajun French culture.  Visit Acadian Village...like the Rural Life Museum in BR, it has a collection of historical buildings.  Architecture is important to Louisiana's history and culture.  Mardi Gras is a huge festival in Lafayette but with a family friendly atmosphere. Swamp tours, food, history, festivals, and friendly people are all attractions that draw people to Lafayette.  You definitely want to go to a Zydeco concert.

I would not do my state justice if I left out our swamps.  Louisiana has swamps in every section of the state, including the northernmost parishes. Of course, swamps are far apart in the north, but it's interesting to travel along the interstate in pine woods and hills and suddenly there's a small swamp of cypress trees, moss, and lily pads.  


And speaking of the northern parishes, there are two cities that I must mention: Shreveport in the west and Monroe in the east. In Shreveport there's the Boardwalk for shopping; riverboat casinos; golfing, fishing and outdoor activities; and beautiful public gardens.  Monroe has parks, gardens, a zoo, and outdoor attractions.  Of course, Duck Commander is located here, but you know that from Duck Dynasty.  

Between these Louisiana cities are lakes, woods, small towns and interesting historical places, such as Poverty Point.  Louisiana has too many things to do it justice; I can only hope that my license plate gives one a sense of the beauty, culture and people of Louisiana.  

Don't forget to visit Olive and Ollie to see the Ohio license plate.  It debuts today, also.  But before you go, enter to win the giveaways.  First place is a set of eight fat quarters from the American Made Brand by Clothworks.  AMB will send the fabric once I choose a winner and contact them with your info, so make sure I have an email address for contacting you.  The second prize is a small fleur de lis wall hanging that I made a few weeks ago specifically for this giveaway.  Again, leave an email address.

How to enter?  Couple of ways actually:

1.  follow my blog and leave a comment telling how you follow
2. like my Facebook page and leave a comment saying you did
3. share the American Made Brand website and leave a comment telling us how you shared.  Click here and scroll to the very bottom for a list of ways to share, such as FB, Pinterest, Twitter and so on
4. leave a comment telling where in Louisiana you have or would like to visit

Each comment is a opportunity to win.  I'll choose a winner on Thursday, June 5.  Must have a U.S. address to win.  You can come back as often as you'd like to re-enter.  Now, hurry, go visit Olive and Ollie...Heather would love to see you!

Swampin' Again

We did it again!  Two of my sisters and I went back to Lake Martin (post here) in Breaux Bridge to Cajun Country Swamp Tours for a two hour tour of Louisiana's beautiful swampland.   Although we went just last summer, we enjoyed the tour very much and saw some different areas of the lake.  For example, today we saw an alligator nest but missed the wasp area.  

The best part of the trip is being able to spend some time with my sisters.  We don't get to see enough of each other, so this weekend has been fantastic.

If I were to choose the part of the tour that is my favorite, I'd have to say the lotus flowers.

They are beautiful and smell wonderful.  The sweet scent lightly waifs into the boat adding another dimension to the beauty of the swamp.  

And they are everywhere.  Lily pads and white flowers dot the open water and there seem to be hundreds of them in an area.  

I was surprised to learn that the young leaves are edible and can be cooked like cabbage.  The seed are also edible, but I didn't try tasting any of it.

I picked a seedpod and opened it to see what the seed look like, but I wasn't so brave as to eat one.  The pod was brown and dry, and the tour guide said that those need to be cooked, like dry beans.  We didn't get close enough to a green one, but I wouldn't have eaten one anyway.

Who wants to get sick in a boat in the middle of a swamp?  Not me. And while I wasn't really worried that the seed would get me sick, I didn't know for certain and I surely do not want to tempt fate!

Angie and Laura would not take me on another adventure if I did such a goofy thing.  Besides we do enough goofy things just being ourselves. 

Return to GWC

On Tuesday I drove a bus of students to Southeastern University in Hammond then to Global Wildlife Center in nearby Folsom. 

The kids were tasked with learning all they could about the university, admissions, scholarships, and college life.  At GWC they were to feed the animals while learning about their habitats and needs, countries and climates, and conservation efforts. 

The photos I'm posting tonight are all from Global Wildlife. There are many more, but I've cleaned up these already.  I'll try to post some from the tour at SELU later this weekend.  Unfortunately, I can't post any of the kids here.  But I can post some on the Bunkie High Facebook page, so if you're really interested......

 

The baby animals are just so cute, of course, and they know it! They are smart little darlings, too, running around, begging for tidbits, sticking out their tongues, hopping on hind legs if they so much as think you'll tip that white cup.

The worst, though, are the cup thieves...those big, tall guys who jut their heads into the wagon, take advantage of your shock to grab the cup of feed, and lumber off, upturned cup empting into their mouths before you realize that $2 just walked off while you were unawares.  Oh, they can try your nerves!

 

And the hoards!  They come running in herds of hundreds at the slightest shake!  That white cup is one powerful little dinner bell: barely move, the rustle is a loud ring of "come and get it"!

 



Come and get it!  Supper's ready!  Yum yum, get some!  These guys understand all dinner bell calls.

Jambalaya Recipe

As Louisianans we are lucky to have a few "home-grown" products that are easily purchased.  Many of them are a vital part of our Cajun culture.   


Because we love our Cajun foods and traditions, we tend to build product lines around them.  It would be difficult to name all the Cajun food product lines, but there are a few that I especially enjoy:  Richard's meats, Tony Chachere's seasonings, Community coffee, Savoie's roux, Steen's syrup, Tobasco hot sauces, and Zatarain's seafood boil.

While I've mentioned some specific items, the businesses sell many, many different items in addition to these.  Plus, for every business there's a whole line of tee shirts, caps, bumper stickers and other items that cater to our huge tourism market. 

Louisiana Jambalaya
1/4 pound each--smoked sausage, tasso, bacon, smoked ham cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 pound chicken, deboned and cut into bite-size
               pieces(may substitute with pork or beef)
Slap Ya Mama seasoning
2 tablespoons Savoie's roux
1/4 cup each--onions, bell pepper, celery
1 clove garlic
3 cups rice
3 tablespoons oil
6 cups water

Heat oil in deep Dutch oven, add chicken and brown, remove chicken to platter.  Cook bacon in Dutch oven until crispy, and remove to meat platter. Pour out excess fat reserving 2 tablespoons, add sausage and brown lightly, add vegetables and saute until onions are clear.  Return meat to pot, adding remaining meats, stir.  Add 1/2 water and heat to boiling.  Stir in roux, rice, seasoning, and remaining water.  Mix well and bring to boil.  Cover with lid and lower heat to slow simmer.  Cook 30-45 minutes until rice is completely cooked.  Serve while hot.

Serves 8.  Freezes well in zip-top bags and can be reheated in microwave.