Marcel Bienvenu: Paradise on Bayou Teche

Tag : Green Bell Pepper Seeds

My husband and I and two other couples had a grand stay-cation (oneof those stay-at-home vacations) last week. We "borrowed" acousin's party house, which is about a half mile away from ourhouse on Bayou Teche.
My cousin's house is also on Bayou Teche. It has three bedroomswith three baths and a huge kitchen that opens onto a largeentertainment area complete with a bar, plus a covered pier,barbecue house and screened-in porch.
We all arrived on Thursday evening loaded with groceries and"resort wear" for a long weekend. Meal assignments were made inadvance so everyone knew what to bring. Thursday night it was bakedham, potato salad and marinated tomatoes, followed by ice creamcones dripping with chocolate syrup.
Crawfish pies, eggplant casserole and green salad were on the menuFriday evening. Dessert was fig preserves spooned over homemade icecream. On Saturday evening, we slapped big steaks on the grill andaccompanied them with twice-baked potatoes, grilled corn-on-the-coband green salad followed up with butter-pecan poundcake and moreice cream.
We managed to burn up lots of calories by going on early-morningwalks through a nearby cypress grove where we spotted frogs,turtles, egrets and a family of raccoons. There were a couple ofvisits to my cousin's goat farm to pick up goat cheese and yardeggs. In between, we visited our local museums and parks, cruisedon the bayou, and had cooking classes to demonstrate how to make aperfect omelet and biscuits the size of cat heads.
On Sunday, after our guests returned to their homes in Loreauvilleand Lafayette, my husband and I cleaned up the party house anddecided to spend one more night and enjoy the spacious environs. Wecalled our neighbors over. Rock picked them up in the party barge,while I biked home to see what I could rustle up for supper.
I found a couple of bananas and peaches, a bag of couscous, somegreen beans and a few sprigs of mint from my garden. I made a quicktrip to the supermarket and picked up some salmon. After a quickscan of my brain, I remembered a meal I made last summer with manyof the same ingredients.
Supper would be taken on the screen porch overlooking the bayou.White wine was chilling at the bar. Candles flickered everywhere.Distant thunder warned of a possible early evening rain. BennyGoodman tunes played softly from the speakers overhead and on thepier.
Stay-cations are fabulous!
Grilled sesame salmon
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