About Forty-Five Minutes Southeast of Thibodaux, Louisiana

Happy Mardi Gras!


If you have read this blog you know the two things I like talkin' 'bout the mostest is chasing ladies on social media sites and cookin' food.  And if I'm talkin' food I'm usually talkin' 'bout poor folks food like jambalaya or paella or anything else you can scratch up and throw together in a pot and stew on all day.  Of all the topics I've written about (food or chasin') Creole food on Mardi Gras has been perhaps my favorite and my most consistent annual post.

Another thing I love is visiting restaurants where the real food is made and enjoyed by the locals.  Not the tourists, the people who like the real deal.  I've spent some time down south and across those bayous in Louisiana.  One of my all time favorite "diner, drive-in and dives" type places I've come

across is the Jambalaya Shoppe.  The original store is in Gonzales, LA near Baton Rouge.  It's kind of an In and Out Burger meets Boudreaux the Cajun.  The Jambalaya Shoppes have franchised out across Louisiana now totaling about a dozen shops.  But they all serve great food.  One unique item they have that is sort of a new take on classic flava' (Cajun dialect) is Pastalaya.  So since I've done just about every creole recipe I know I present you today with -


The Jambalaya Shoppe's Pastalaya

Ingredients:
2 Tbs     Butter
1#          Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breast Cut into 1" cubes
1#          Andouille Sausage cut into 0.5" rounds
2 Cups   Trinity:  equal parts finely diced yellow onion, green pepper, and celery
2 Cups   Fresh Tomatoes chopped
1 Cup     Chicken Broth
2             Garlic Cloves minced
2 Tbs      Creole Seasoning:  paprika, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil, white pepper, thyme, celery seed, cayenne, ground black pepper
1#           Linguini, cooked
0.25 Cup Green Onion Chopped

*     In Dutch oven melt butter over medium heat.  Add chicken and sausage and cook until lightly browned.  Remove meat and set aside, leave butter and drippings.
*     Add Trinity to pot an cook until softened, stirring occasionally for about 7 minutes
*     Add back in chicken, sausage along with tomatoes, chicken broth, garlic, and creole seasoning.  Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and cover.  Let simmer for about 15 minutes.
*     Stir in cooked pasta and green onions

Here is some more information on the Jambalaya Shoppes down dere in Louisiana!

http://dastylishfoodie.com/2016/04/the-jambalaya-shoppe-louisiana-home-cooking/

http://www.thejambalayashoppe.com/lafayette-la.html

And here are my past Mardi Gras food posts, laissez les bon temps roulade!

Here are my other Mardi Gras Food Posts
2011 - Cajun vs Creole
2012 - Muffuleta
2013 - Po Boy
2014 - Shrimp Creole
2015 - Gumbo Rice Fritters
2016 - Gumbo
2017 - King Cake Cupcakes


And here's you dat old Cajun song about dat dere man in da swamp....

As for that other love in life, yeah I did that as well recently.  Here is my latest effort on AM, do you think this note will get a reply?

 Well Ms Bell, Here's to hoping you grade on the bell curve and that I can be just ahead of the median male message on this forum! You've hit on a lot of my hot button topics - namely goofy! I love that, isn't that kind of what this is all about, getting outside the comfort boundaries a bit and pursuing who we want to be in our most free spirited moments. So you sent me to wiki a few times on that profile which is good, I love to learn; now I know what eigenstate means (only took one quarter of physics in college). So I think what you are saying is that the home life is kind of like Newton's First Law, cruising at a constant speed and direction and you have no interest in having an external force applied to that vector. Now comes AM and a desire to find that "alternative third place" or perhaps utilizing Newton's Third Law to achieve a certain balance, an equal (yet not evasive) opposite reaction (or relationship journey) that vectors towards the exciting if not thrilling and to get spiritual achieves a certain feng shui balance with that first law state of being. And of course you seems to be active and like active people so we can even throw in some of Newton's second law and say we can generate great force when our dual masses accelerate expeditiously towards fun! Or a walk along the river, etc. As Einstein said (in his law of happiness): "A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness." So let's not move around restlessly knocking electrons off our atoms, let's move with balancing purpose and find that tranquil (and goofy) third place journey. Stay off the ice and have a wonderful evening! R