So, Mother's Day is right around the corner. Here, in southern Louisiana, every occasion can be a reason to get together with the family for a big feast. Let's make a change! For those that know me well, you know I often encourage enjoying and having fun with people without having the focus on food. While I know food is always around, let's find something else besides food to be the center of attraction for the day. Here are a few things you can do instead of sitting around the kitchen grazing the day away.
- Go bowling~take the whole family! It can be girls against boys, just like it used to be.
- Have a hula hoop contest. If you decide to do this, please video tape it and post it on the blog! :)
- Take your mother to have a psychic reading-whether you believe in psychic abilities or not, this would be so fun!
- Spend the day with her, doing whatever she wants.
- Give her your service as her Mother's Day gift. She may like for you to clean her car, help weed the garden, or just sit and listen to her.
Whatever you choose to do, remember that your mother is the reason you are here. Celebrate the day in a way that will give her long lasting memories and don't forget to give her thanks for making you who you are today!
Thank you my best friend, mom! XOXO
Today was the last day of Festival, so I couldn't miss it. I decided to go back and try a few more foods. We were only there for a short time today; my body needed time to recooperate.
We started with the LA Seafood House's Shrimp & Grits and Blackened Tuna Wrap. The Blackened Tuna Wrap was awesome-the tuna was slightly spicy, with the perfect amount of lettuce covered in a barely sweet sauce, wrapped with a wheat tortilla. Yummy!
Shrimp & Grits was good, but the shrimp were swimming in butter (or something) and difficult to eat because it was hot. I have trouble eating hot foods when it's hot outside. That's one of the biggest downfalls to Fest Food.
The last thing I tried for Festival Internationale 2011 was Alligator Shake's Alligator Sauce Piquante. It was spectacular! It was the kind of spicy that makes you sniffle. I really enjoyed the few bites I took, but again, it was too hard to eat because it was hot & spicy, and I was hot & sweaty. I wish I would have tried that yesterday when it wasn't so hot out, I think I would have enjoyed it more.
So this is the end. I'm sad to see it go, but thankful to have been a part of it. While healthy food and a southern Louisiana festival are a little oxymoronic, I can say there was good food that I was able to enjoy, both with my tastebuds and my wellness. Goodbye Fest Internationale, thank you for the music, the food, and the memories. I look forward to next year, only 359 days to wait...but who's counting?
Another full day of Festival...We were there when it got started (even in the rain) and stayed until we shut it down! I got to try lots of different food. Here's the breakdown.
I started the morning choosing between the Village Wrap and the Holy Guacamole Wrap from Village Market. The Holy Guacamole Wrap won-it was a tortilla stuffed with turkey, guacamole, lettuce, and tomatoes. I'd had my eye on it for a couple of days, but it didn't live up to my expectations. It was tasty, but not really what I would consider "festival food."
Next we had the Crawfish Corn Macque Choux from Antlers. It was served over rice, which I found odd. The macque choux was seasoned to perfection and the flavors of crawfish, corn, and tomatoes merged wonderfully. Although, it would have been much better without rice, even if the serving was smaller.
My hubby tried Fezzo's Crab Cake topped with Seafood Etouffee. There was nothing healthy about that one!
Right about this time I was really wishing Dean-O's still served the Marie Laveau pizza. Oh Dean-O's, please bring it back to festival~it is missed very much! There was not much enticing about pepperoni or cheese pizza, so I skipped them.
Later during the day we tried Poupart's Stuffed Bread and Shrimp & Tasso Pasta. Both were pretty good, but they don't qualify as Best (Healthiest) Fest Food.
Now, if we are talking about incredible Fest Food, I can't go without mentioning Bon Creole Seafood's Crawfish & Spinach Boat.
While one could argue that this is nourishing to your body because it has spinach (a vegetable automatically makes it good for you, right?) there is nothing about this dish that qualifies as healthy. However if sharing this with a few people it could be totally worth it! But don't try to finish the bowl.
To round out the day we finished with Couchon's Smoked Pork Sandwich. It was much better than I anticipated! Instead of lettuce it had what tasted like slightly pickled cucumbers, which was an added bonus.
Now for the last day of Festival. I am trying to decide if I'm headed back to Festival International or will swing another local festival, the Etouffee Festival in Arnaudville. Oh, decisions, decisions...
