Busy Day In New Orleans - Part Two

On Saturday we had ventured out in the morning to the Westwego Jambalaya Cook Off, which was great fun. After returning to the trailer for a siesta, we were all ready to taste the delights of The French Quarter of New Orleans. So we loaded up and drove into New Orleans, parked the Van and walked in to the French Quarter by about 4.00. We first walked up Canal Street then along Royal, because that is where there are plenty of street performers in the afternoon. The first thing we saw was a New Orleans Wedding Procession, complete with a Boss Man and a Band, the bride and groom, policeman on a motor cycle and all the guests walking the street, it was very colourful.

We wandered up the street and listened to the street performers, who were mostly very good - one couple used a resonating mandolin! and electric gourd, an 'mbiri', or thumb gourd, with a pickup mounted on it.

Another good group was a classical violinist with a blues guitarist.

After Royal St we turned down to Jackson Sq and did a bit of people watching, the tarot cared readers and another posh wedding, with a full size harpist (no you fool the harp) playing against a background of passers by. There was also a particularly striking Street Statue entertainer. Well, having got so close we could not pass by without beignets in the Cafe Du Monde.

As evening approached, we watched some street dancers doing their stuff, very impressive. Buy now it was dark as we made our way back up the French Quarter to Bourbon St, which was now fully alive with people and street entertainers including a pirate, a man performing as a baby in a cut away car seat (I should have taken a picture, but it looked kind of gross), clowns, nearly naked ladies and a particularly good Michael Jackson/robotdancer.
Up above there were people on the balconies looking down at us looking up. It was all very pleasant. After walking Bourbon St, we walked back to the car and came home pretty well exhausted after what we thought was a pretty good taste of New Orleans.

Busy Day in New Orleans - Part One

Today is Saturday and we are planning to be out and about today. Our first stop is the Westwego Jambalaya Cook Off Festival,then later we will adventure out after dark into French Quarter of New Orleans
Westwego is the town which is at the entrance to the Bayou Segnette State Park we are staying in. It is a sleepy suburban town on the other bank of the Mississippi, i.e not in New Orleans.
When we arrive we had seen the advert for the Cookoff today, but knew little about it. So bright and early we set off to find it. We found it. Following Katrina, Westwego built the equivalent of a town meeting place. It is a small outdoor arena (100yards x 50), grassed and paved, with a stage at one end. Round the edges are what look like decorated garages, with no front or back. There are toilets and small rooms as well. Here they can hold concerts, meetings, family events and COOK OFF'S, which is what we are going to.
A Cook Off comes in a variety of forms. I have seen Chile Cook Off's, BBQ Cook Offs and Chicken Cook Offs, but you could have one for any dish you like. It is a team event, so you have 2 -4 people per team who enter to make a large quantity of a dish. People come in and taste each team's offering and then judge which is the best. It is usually meant as a money raiser for local charities and often the Fire Department feature prominently. I am assuming that the teams pay for the Jambalaya ingredients themselves, as their part of the money raising.
Well this cook off was a Jambalaya Cookoff, so each team was making a huge pot of Jambalaya, using a special, huge pot. The teams area from all sorts of places, perhaps one family, a business, the local Fire Squad, or a church. They just kept making it all day.
For this cook off each team is assigned one of the areas round the edge of the arena. We paid $10 entry to the event. That meant that we could then go to every table and eat as much as we wanted to. The Cook off opened at 11.00 and went on until 10.00 at night. As well as the Jambalaya there was food and drink available (you paid for that), music on the stage, fire trucks to look at and lots of people to watch. Everyone brings their lawn chair, finds a favourite place and sets up, then wanders round tasting each Jambalaya being offered, talking with the teams, trying to find out their secret ingredients and generally having a great day out with the family. Frankly, I do not know of any parallel in England, except maybe a local Horticultural show (where you get to eat the competition entries).
Well we had a great time, eating and drinking and talking in the warm sun, with clear blue skies overhead.
As for the Jambalaya, well. Jambalaya is a rice dish - basic ingredients pork, sausage and rice, but individual recipes vary, garlic, secret seasoning, chile, tomato, mushroom, onion, chicken, dozens of local sausage - we are not talking Walls Pork here, there are dozens of locally made sausage,from pepperoni style to gator tail sausage. Even when a standard sausage, such as pepperoni is used, there may be a dozen different pepperoni sausage styles. Westwego is known for its seafood (shrimp), but almost everyone makes their own sausage.
Consequently no two Jambalaya taste the same, so of course the best one is down to personal taste and how nice the makers are. Oh yes it is great fun and a cheap way to get dinner. Well, we had a good old mooch around the festival at Westwego, doing lots of eating, listening to the bands, and people watching, but after a couple of hours we thought it time to move on into New Orleans to see the sights there.