Cajun Food Where You Find It
Cajun French: le manger (lu mon-jā) – food
In our locavore quest for farmers markets, it is not often we take part in a tradition dating back three centuries. The Habitants de la Poste de Vincennes knew the importance of fresh locally grown food in the early 1700s. The farmers would gather at the market and sell their items. Today this tradition is continued at the Vincennes Historic Farmers Market in the Riverfront Pavilion. Continue reading “Farmers Market – Vincennes IN”
Cajun French: la pomme (la pom) – apple
Farmers market – the name resonates with us. They are so much a part of our travels and at times determines which direction we head. Some markets are so so and other are exceptional, large and small, great selection or mainly the same items. For us, none of that matters. What matters is local, fresh and seasonal. And the creme de la creme is making two markets while parked in one location. Continue reading “Farmers Market – Montague, MI”
Cajun French: le jardinage (lu jar-deen-aj) – vegetables
The morning dawned rainy and cool. Normally no problem, but we were headed to an outside farmers market. A little rain never stopped us before so we bundled up, put rain boots on and headed out. For a small town, East Jordan had a decent farmers market. Continue reading “Farmers Market – East Jordan, MI”
Cajun French: la chevrette (la shuv-ret) – shrimp
New Orleans BBQ Shrimp does not have BBQ sauce or anything related to BBQ. In fact, no one is sure how the name came about. What is sure, the original BBQ Shrimp was developed at Pascal’s Manale Restaurant in New Orleans in the 1950s. The recipe was based on a dish had by Vincent Sutro, a regular at Pascal’s, while visiting Chicago. Unfortunately Sutro could not remember the exact ingredients; something about shrimp, butter and pepper. So chef Jake Radosta went into the kitchen, came out with a dish and served Sutro. Sutro said it was not the dish he had in Chicago, but it was better than the dish he had. BBQ Shrimp was born and has been on the menu ever since. Today many restaurants and home cooks prepare BBQ Shrimp, each having their own twist.
Being Cajun, we add our own twist to the recipe. To be honest, it is the way it was prepared in Laurie’s family. The Cajun Trinity is smothered down in olive oil before adding anything else. We like it this way because the trinity gives the gravy some substance, especially when dipping bread.
We admit there is an enormous amount of butter. But then that is what makes the gravy so good. Don’t shortchange on the butter. It is not an everyday dish, so make it and savor every bite.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: la cuisine (la kū-zeen) – kitchen
Railroads built our country and we observe that heritage wherever we travel. Not only in towns and cities, but also in buildings. These railroad buildings are now home to a variety of businesses and some are even homes. The White Timber Logging Company operated in Boyne City, MI, in the late 1800s. One of their buildings built in 1899 is now home to Stiggs Brewery and Kitchen. Continue reading “Stiggs Brewery and Kitchen – Boyne City, MI”
Cajun French: le manger (lu mon-jā) – eat
With all the hustle bustle on Mackinac Island, we decided not to have lunch there. Upon our return to St. Ignace, lunch was the order of the day. We had two requirements for a lunch place – outdoor patio and quiet. Two restaurants met our needs and we were very happy to have chosen Mi Patio. Continue reading “Mi Patio Bar and Grill – St. Ignace, MI”
Cajun French: la bière (la bee-air) – beer
Enjoy
After a day of hiking and walking piers looking at antique boats, a barstool sounded great. A brewery in a state park sounded even more interesting. So after viewing Tahquamenon Falls from various angles and lookouts, we headed to Tahquamenon Falls Brewery. Continue reading “Tahquamenon Falls Brewery Paradise MI”
Cajun French: le boulanger (lu boo-lon-jā) – baker
Michigan is amazingly very rural. Because of this there are great number of farmers, or people who live on lots of land and raise large gardens. The makes for great Farmers Markets and our last market to shop in Delta County was Rapid River Farmers Market. The market is on Wednesday afternoon in downtown Rapid River. For a small community, the market offered a good variety of items along with entertainment. Continue reading “Rapid River, MI Farmers Market”
Cajun French: le poisson (lu poo-a-son) – fish
Fresh Whitefish from Lake Michigan
We were camped on the Eastern shore of Little Bay de Noc, way up at the North-Western end of Lake Michigan. Across the bay is the small town of Gladstone which hosts a farmers market on Mondays. The market has afternoon hours so we toured the town during the morning (that is another blog), enjoying the waterfront and lighthouse. We were told the market has a fisherman selling his fresh catch, always changing. Our radars were honed in on fresh fish. Continue reading “Gladstone MI Farmers Market”
Cajun French: l’ail (l’a-ee) – garlic
Arriving in Delta County MI we thought we had arrived in farmer market utopia. For a small in population (approx 37,000) county, there are three markets. We had an option of Saturday or Wednesday markets and we shopped them all. Each offered a variety of items with some vendors selling at all markets. We were in the area only a week yet we got to know a few of the farmers and enjoyed talking with them. Continue reading “Escanaba MI Farmers Market”
