Slidell, LA -- restful day

We stayed an extra day with Trace and Artis and just took a day to rest and relax. Even though it's father's day, Trace has been busy all day feeding us. While the food was cooking, we learned a bit about crawfish (this is a huge topic of discussion around here). Rice is a big crop here in Louisiana and once the crop has been harvested, the small pieces of the stocks that remain are prime food for crawfish. The crawfish come into the newly harvested fields and feed on what remains of the rice plants. The crawfish become larger from this rich diet, and the farmers get 2 harvests from the field -- the rice and then the crawfish. This is what sets the season for crawfish -- from early spring, reaching the peak of the season around Easter, and then the season finishes around mid-June, so we just made it.

Trace outdid himself with cooking today -- making his famous TAFT (Tracy's Awesome French Toast). This is 2 slices of French Toast, stuffed with a mixture of cream cheese and dried cherries, and topped with a generous coating of powdered sugar -- it is New Orleans, of course, and the powdered sugar coating is a nod to beignets. He uses various stencils to decorate the TAFT (ours is a skeleton head in honor of our cemetery tour yesterday).

The afternoon was spent sitting in the warm sun and chatting

with neighbors while the grill was filled with delicious food. Trace loaded it up with a grilled pork tenderloin stuffed with cream cheese and jalapenos, mushrooms stuffed with crab meat, and alligator sausage. The sausage was very spicy and somewhat dry but very tasty. The tenderloin was absolutely delicious as were the mushrooms.

But my personal favorite was the crawfish bread. Trace sliced a fresh loaf of French bread and put a layer of creamy Havarti and crawfish meat on the bottom and smoked gouda on the top half, put the 2 halves together, lightly butter the bread, wrap it in foil and bake it in the oven (350) for about 20 minutes, turning a couple of times. It was delicious beyond words -- warm, cheesy, and with the distinctive taste of delicious seafood.

For dessert, the local bakery provided a Chantilly cake --

white cake with a taste of almond, layered with whipped cream and fresh fruit.

So our visit to Louisiana ends tomorrow when we leave for Texas. It has been a wonderful few days -- so nice to see Artis, and Trace. Trace, you are an amazing tour-guide, full of so much knowledge of the area, and an excellent cook. Artis, you are a wonderful hostess and a treasured friend. We had so much fun and we love you both.