we learn to play accordion...

more on that later in the post-

our day started out with dancing lessons (I of course have a tear in my left knee meniscus so was unable to join in- LOL- thank god for small favors- LOL) but everyone seemed to have a really good time and the teachers (Lou & Cal Courville) were very patient.

after dancing we went on a city tour of Lafayette - many murals on buildings and a number of lovely parks -

 

 

then on to Dwyers (which was one of the Plate Lunch places featured in the movie last night called "Raised on Rice and Gravy"

 

 

 

Phil had the chicken and I had the meatball stew- both were yum yum yummy!

then we went back to the hotel for a lecture on Louisiana history which was extremely interesting including a little known fact that West Florida was once an independent nation! who knew???? the woman (Diane Monteleone) who lectured was fabulous and knew her material- we could have had another hour with her no problem! but- we needed to move along to the accordion factory!

 

where we met Junior Martin and his daughter Pennye and his grandson Joel!

Pennye gave us a brief history of the accordion and some information about the various styles of instruments-

and Joel gave us similar information but about the standard Cajun accordion...

Penny added some more about the manufacturing process-

then they all gave us an in-house concert of some of the local music!

even Junior's dog joined in-

afterward we were free to explore the company quarters-

then we headed straight to DeanO's for pizza samplers which were fab! - I liked the Cajun Executioner and Phil loved the Jacques Boudreaux

tomorrow is our final day of the course (boo hoo! - we have been having such a good time and learning so much we really aren't ready quite yet...)

the trip that came in between

so there I was slowly but surely making my way through the China trip photos and story when I was called away for another trip! I had to break my rule of not going anywhere until the last trip's photos were completed... mostly because this was a kind of/sort of trip- not really a tourist thing but a course-

the course was in the culture of the Cajuns through music, food and dance... OK with my torn up knee I didn't do too much (any) of the dancing. the instructors were wonderful and we learned a huge amount of information about Cajun culture that we had no idea about before we spent our week at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette LA.

we started the adventure by spending a couple of nights in New Orleans at the Omni Royal Orleans in the Vieux Carre (that is what my grandfather always called the French Quarter and one of its names)- below the view from our room which overlooked Bourbon Street...

we did the usual stuff- beignets and café au lait at the French Market...

walked around and dropped dollars at numerous street musicians' baskets and ate fabulous food in a town where I believe you would be hard pressed to get a bad meal!  We started at GW Fins- a place new to us for a fish dinner on Saturday night (hours after we arrived) and were very happy with the excellent meal!

blue crab potstickers (below) and lobster dumplings (above)

my parmesan crusted drum with crabmeat, crispy capers and brown butter

Phil's scalibut - scallops over halibut

dessert was an apple pie made to order- served a-la-mode

the next day we lunched at Luke - one of my personal favorites and now one of Phil's- the pictures aren't so great but the food was fabulous!

We then dined in the evening at August-

photos of the tasting menu below-

We walked home that evening in a light drizzle, past classic New Orleans architecture.

On Monday we headed out US90 (the back way) to Lafayette and stopped at a po' boy sandwich shop for lunch before we checked into the hotel for the week long course.  The back to back meals were sort of from the sublime (August) to the ridiculous (Bon Creole Lunch Counter) but both were superb examples of their genre of cuisine!

as you can see Phil went for the shrimp po boy and I went for the oyster po boy! both were spot on!

Next up - the class begins!