Eating Cajun Style

It was pretty nippy when Emma and I woke up this morning with temps in the 30’s.  There was a crystal clear blue sky to go along with those temperatures, however.

                                The rising sun was highlighting the Spanish moss outside my window.

After breakfast, Emma and I headed out to do one of the three trails in the park.  I chose the 1.75 mile blue trail.  It wanders through the cypress swamp.  The biggest challenge of this trail was not to end up tripping over the tree roots and cypress knees along the trail.  I really had to concentrate on keeping my eyes down so I wouldn’t take a header.

                 My favorite shot along the way was of this great egret reflected in the calm waters.

I had to warm up inside once we returned from the hike.  I just seem to get cold a lot easier these days.  In the early afternoon, next door neighbor Kevin began doing his magic over the open fire.  He was cooking the pork, sausage, onions, and secret spice ingredients in a big cast iron pot.  It sure did smell good.  After chatting with him for a bit, I headed back to my rig and noticed a hawk fly into a nearby tree.  I hopped into the rig to change lenses, but what are the chances that the hawk would still be there when I came back outside?

I was lucky that this red-shouldered hawk was still there, and was keeping an eye on me as I tried to creep closer and closer.

I was able to sneak down to the deck on the water to get a front view before it found something interesting to attack on the other side of the canal.  This is an adult red-shouldered hawk, so you know it’s good at what it has to do to stay alive. 

It wasn’t long before it was time for me to join Kevin and Juanita and their two children, Shelby and Austin for a home cooked Cajun supper.  On the menu was Pastalaya (a cousin to Jambalaya that uses pasta instead of rice), white beans with Tasso (a kind of smoked pork), and a fresh green salad containing hard boiled eggs that were laid by their chickens. (Actually, I think their chickens lay regular eggs and Juanita probably hard boils them )  The only thing on the menu that I had ever eaten before was the salad.  Juanita had assured me that she didn’t like things as spicy as Kevin does, so the meal for this northerner was absolutely delicious!  I’ve always disliked the red kind of pork and beans, but these white beans with Tasso surprised me with how good they were.  They were most surprised by the fact that I had never eaten white beans.  I will now.    I provided ice cream with toppings for desert, and Shelby had never had butterscotch topping before.  It was a great time sharing experiences: old and new.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy