Exploring Cajun Culture

http://picasaweb.google.com/daniel.lauve/Lafayette

 

So I’ve been meaning to write a post about our trip on the last weekend of April, but the last several weeks have been busily filled with old friends and renovations. I celebrated Cinco De Mayo at Z Tejas with Andrea, Anna, and Laura—we worked together at Keller Williams became close in a short time. I also went to Cover 3 for a XHHH (which refers to a happy hour with my girls I remain friends with even after all of us have since left Holt, Rinehart and Winston—hence the X). We even have more to share about our fun Memorial Day weekend in our next post. And lastly, we are knee deep in home renovations this spring. Our early May project was for Daniel to hang dry wall to finish out the garage and hang shelves and hooks for all of gardening and yard tools. The most recent is staining the bathroom cabinet to complete the half bath renovation we started earlier in the spring.

So the last Thursday in April I called my parents on the way home from the Hilton after the end of the close of Masterminds (one of my events I manage for KW) to see if they were on board with going to Louisiana for the weekend. When Daniel and I went to Jasper during Easter weekend we talked about crawfish season. Since we decided to split up our Easter weekend with both families it meant I wasn’t going to get to go to the crawfish boil at Memaw’s so we mentioned how it would be great to get back to Louisiana again. Both of my parents have family in Louisiana, and Dwight Breaux, my Mom’s cousin, owns a restaurant known for delicious crawfish, Cajun dishes and barbeque on Sundays. Somehow we ended up with a tentative plan four weeks ago, and the planner in me had been anxiously awaiting the confirmation that the trip was a go. I had talked to my mom  several times and by Thursday night my parents were finally ready to commit—Whew! I only had one day to unpack from staying downtown for a week, wash clothes, book the hotel and research some museums in the Lafayette area. Much to my parents enjoyment I was a little wound up! Since my Mom and Dad can kind of roll with ideas and remain fairly spontaneous they think my planner tendencies are curious and funny!

Friday night when Daniel got home from work I had us packed and ready to leave for Jasper. We spent the night in Jasper and then drove to Vidor to pick up my mother’s sister and my Dad’s stepmother; our entire family lovingly refers to her as Memaw. We had great car rides all around with good stories about farming from my Memaw and my parents chiming in on how different life was 40 years ago. And soon, we arrived in Lafayette. We had seen a couple of Acadian Museums online and decided to go to St. Martinville. It is the 6th oldest city in Louisiana and is where many deported families first arrived from Acadia. Acadia is in Nova Scotia and is where many of the French decided to sail to so that they could start a better life for their families. The museum had a great narrative of people of color in Louisiana (slaves and Creoles) as well as the history and culture of the Acadians---I never knew that the term “Cajun” is taken from “Acadian”!  On Saturday afternoon we went to Iris and JC’s house to visit, as that is where my mom’s uncle Dallas lives now. We had a good time and he is looking remarkably good for his 101 years of age!

Then we went to our hotel.  Daniel picked out the hotel, and he made it painfully obvious why he should always leave the travel arrangements to me.  The Lafayette Crown Plaza was undergoing some renovations, and they’re obviously still getting their stuff together.  The woman at the counter tried to claim my dad’s credit card didn’t work, and when we got to our rooms they had not been cleaned and looked like a rock band had stayed the night there---they were absolutely trashed!  The second set of rooms had no televisions, but the third set of rooms were just right!

Dwight’s restaurant is one of Lafayette’s hot spots for crawfish, and he treated us to a great meal.  I really loved the charbroiled oysters, which were served topped with cheese and in cooked on the grill in their shells.  The crawfish were great---Dwight’s even has holes in the middle of the tables with buckets underneath to easily discard your carcasses.  We caught up on family stories and met with the whole family, including Maverick and Mary, and Suzie and Dwight’s daughters Brandi and Chelsea.  After dinner Dwight showed us around his kitchen.  He has some great innovations for transporting, sorting, and cooking his crawfish and other foods.  He even has one woman whose only job is to shell all the smaller crawfish for etouffee and other dishes.

On Sunday, we went to early Mass and then headed out to the Acadian village.  They had numerous houses that showed how people of the late 18th and early 19th century lived, as well as some of their belongings.  We think that my great grandmother’s spinning wheel is among the donated items that are featured in the village, but unfortunately we couldn’t figure out which one it was.

We had lunch at Dwight’s---his Sunday barbeque is a buffet line that you can either take out or eat in the restaurant.  I had some really good etouffee, and I also had some of Daniel’s ribs and sausage, which he thought were really tasty. He’s kind of BBQ connoisseur.

Our trip to Lafayette was a great mix of food, family, and history.  We hope to have more trips like it very soon!

The Minnesota Maxes

http://picasaweb.google.com/daniel.lauve/MinnesotaApril2009#

Texans should be forgiven for harboring a little resentment toward the Land of 10,000 Lakes.  After all, when Adam and Jenny Max left Austin for Minneapolis in the summer of 2005, it broke up the one-hit wonder known as Ausbats.  I had a homeschool conference in St. Paul last weekend, so it gave Brandi and me an opportunity to go pay them a visit.

Brandi and I got to their house late Saturday afternoon and got immediately acquainted with their two children Owen and Audrey.  Now, saying these kids are cute is kind of like saying that Ben Sheets is a dubious guy to take in the 15th round of your fantasy baseball draft.  (Quick aside...Adam and I had our fantasy draft Thursday night for Adam's "B" league, and it was poorly attended.  There were two humans and eight automatons, but with the errors Adam and I made using the draft software, it might actually have been better to be on autodraft.)   Owen is really into throwing things, so he and I got along swimmingly, even if he was a bit bashful to begin with.  And Audrey crawls all over the place!  It's hard to believe that the last time I was in Minnesota, Jenny was about five months pregnant with Owen and I had, just the week before, had a really bad second date with a girl I'd met earlier in the year.

On Saturday evening we had some pizza and played Taboo down in the basement.   We also played some Wii Sports.  Brandi and I brought our Miis all the way from Austin, which ended up being a lot of fun.  I set a new record in Home Run Derby and stormed out of the dugout like George Brett when Adam declared my home run swing to be illegal.  And the Lauves got plastered by the Maxes in the first four-person game of video tennis any of us had played.

On Sunday we started off at Edina Grill, which has some of the best French toast I've ever had.  Then we went sledding--remarkably, a few inches of snow fell overnight, and even though it started melting before noon, it gave us a nice window to take a couple sleds down the hill.  Brandi had never been sledding before, so I really enjoyed seeing her take it all in.  Later, Adam and I had a rousing game of Wii Game Party while the ladies went shopping.

Then we all met up at General Mills headquarters.  We got to see all the different mascots, the Betty Crocker Mixer show that Jenny is working on, and the experimental cereals that are about to hit store shelves.  I won't ruin the surprise, but suffice it to say that gummy bears and peanut butter make an excellent combination!

Every chance we got to play with the kids was a blast.  Owen's a rambunctious kid who enjoyed intentionally tripping while running around the house, and Audrey is very talented at putting everything in the house inside her mouth.  Adam, Jenny, and Brandi think she may be teething.  Owen and I remain on the sidelines of the teething debate, awaiting more evidence.

For dinner Jenny and Brandi made chicken breasts with a tomatillo sauce, along with rice and vegetables.  It was so great getting to catch up with a couple people who were such a huge part of the two years I spent in business school.  Our lives have all changed in huge ways, but it was great to know that we still have so much in common.

On Monday morning we said goodbye to the Maxes, got checked in for our flight, and headed off to the Mall of America.  We rode the SpongeBob Rock Bottom Plunge, and Brandi visited lots of...get this...clothing stores!  If you took the roller coasters out of the Mall of America, what you'd have is basically a collection of stores under one roof connected by escalators and featuring a food court.

Beatles Rock Band Wish List

Could September 9 seem any farther away?  A hundred sixty-five days is a long time to wait for a lot of things, but it seems especially long to have to wait for the release of the Beatles Rock Band video game.  Personally, I'm waiting to make the Beatles game my first Rock Band purchase so I can have the Beatles peripherals, so the agony is compounded by seeing bunches of tantalizing downloadable content being released for the existing Rock Band games.  The game is rumored to contain 45 Beatles tracks, so I figure that's enough to build a wish list from.  Here we go, from most wanted to least wanted:

1)  Hey Bulldog:  I’m pleased to see this one show up on more than a couple wish lists.  It’s not the most well-known Beatles song, but it was pretty much made for the Rock Band format.  Fun to sing, great guitar parts, perfect.
2)  Please Please Me:  This is maybe the only pre-Rubber Soul track that’s an absolute must for me.  This song should come with lockable content: if you master it, you get to stop hearing about how fascinated the boys were with the double meaning of the word “please.”
3)  Revolution:  I’m looking for the live version where they add in the “shoo be doo wop” from Revolution 1.
4)  Paperback Writer:  The desperate pleadings of a wannabe artist.  Sounds pretty appropriate for the format.
5)  Happiness is a Warm Gun:  I, too, am well acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand like a lizard on a window pane.
6)  Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End:  Everybody gets a solo.
7)  Back in the U.S.S.R.:  If you’re playing with anyone under the age of 20 or so, they might ask you what a “U.S.S.R.” is.  And they probably won’t get the whole Beach Boys thing.
8)  Helter Skelter:  There’s definitely a difference between listening to music and playing music.  Nobody has this as his favorite Beatles song, but plenty of people have this as their most wanted Rock Band track.
9)  Don’t Let Me Down:  My roof’s a little steep, but I’ll give it a shot.
10)  Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band:  The only problem with this one is it’s so short.
11)  Help!:  Several of these songs are screaming for backup vocals.  I hope that’s somehow an option.
12)  And Your Bird Can Sing:  This is Brandi’s #1 choice.
13)  Rain:  Playing the last verse backwards is the toughest part.
14)  I Want You (She’s So Heavy):  At over seven and a half minutes, it might require an intermission.
15)  Nowhere Man:  This list is getting very Lennon-centric.
16)  She Loves You:  Other than Revolution, there might not be another song I’d be more surprised to see omitted from the list.
17)  I’ve Got A Feeling:  This is another one that’s not one of my favorites to listen to, but I would love to play it.
18)  A Hard Day’s Night:  From what I’ve read about the Beatles Rock Band game, it sounds like there’s going to be a chronological progression from the early years to Abbey Road.  It makes sense—when you break up the early songs, the guitar/drums/vocal parts don’t seem as complicated.  This one does have a tricky guitar solo, though.
19)  Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came in Through the Bathroom Window:  Hopefully they count this as one track.
20)  Here Comes the Sun:  Even though this is one of my absolute favorite Beatles songs, I may be less enthusiastic about playing this one because I’ve tried it on guitar and failed miserably.
21)  From Me to You: Please be forgiving on the falsetto.
22)  I Feel Fine:  This one has been rumored to be on the real list.  I hope it’s true.
23)  I Am the Walrus:  Enough guitar?
24)  Octopus’s Garden:  This one has two vocal modes: easy and easier.
25)  Savoy Truffle:  Unlockable content: images of crazy sounding British sweets.
26)  Come Together:  This may be the first game that makes you want to play the bass.
27)  Taxman:  Should be a pretty safe bet that this one’s in.
28)  Drive My Car:  This one, too, seems to be a natural fit.  Come to think of it, pretty much all the opening tracks to the various albums would work pretty well.
29)  I’m Down:  Play the drums with your elbows.  There’s rumored to be a Shea Stadium part, so this song would seem to have a place there.
30)  It Won’t Be Long:  A very underrated song.
31)  We Can Work It Out:  Doing a Beatles version of Rock Band brings up so many questions, like, Will the vocal allow (require) you to sing both the Paul part and the John part?
32)  One After 909:  The Let It Be album is going to fare pretty well in this format.
33)  Oh! Darling:  Another piano-centric track I hope they can somehow make work.
34)  It’s All Too Much:  Possible I’m alone on this one.
35)  Sexy Sadie:  One of several that could be an American Idol track.  Forget the instruments, I just wanna sing it.
36)  I Want to Hold Your Hand:  Unlockable content: the digital Ed Sullivan.  Really big shoe.
37)  Strawberry Fields Forever:  Might want to use one of the Anthology versions.
38)  Eight Days a Week:  First song to fade in at the beginning.
39)  If I Needed Someone:  Probably the earliest example of great Harrison songwriting.
40)  Norwegian Wood:  Fans who are asking for a sitar to come included are probably setting themselves for disappointment, but I think they’ve got the right idea.
41)  Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey:  Rock Band might really cause me to re-evaluate side 3 of the White Album.
42)  Birthday:  As hard as it is to rock out to “Happy Birthday to You” (save for Helter Skelter, this is about as edgy as Paul gets), I think this one would be fun.
43)  Old Brown Shoe:  Haven’t heard this one mentioned—I wouldn’t mind seeing it.
44)  Tell Me Why:  Here’s a problem with going chronologically: some of the early Lennon songs wreak the most havoc on the vocal cords.  Anybody without a healthy appetite for yell singing shouldn’t be in the room when I’m attempting this one.
45)  While My Guitar Gently Weeps:  I’m not as crazy about this one as most people, but you can count on it making the cut.

Looking forward to Spring

February is a kind of a tough month for me. I am usually ready for winter to be over by the time it rolls around. I start to really miss the sun and the long days of summer. It is also the month for Family Reunion, which if you know me than you have heard of it--it is the largest Keller Williams event of the year. I spent eight days in Orlando for the convention, and while it was a lot of work and exhausting, it was the best Family Reunion (out of the five) I've been to!

February was a little more difficult this year because my mother's Mom passed away on February 10. We were blessed to have Mama for 96 years, but as a friend put it so succinctly, no matter how long you get to have your family on this earth it still hurts when they leave. Still my heart is full from all of the family and friends that showed their love that week with flowers, special cards, prayers, visits, and donations to the cancer society in her name.

Obituary link:

 http://www.broussardsmortuary.com/services.asp?page=odetail&id=5335

On the day she died, I sat down and wrote this letter as a tribute to her and as my way of saying goodbye. I also thought what better way to honor her than to share my memories with all of you. Thank you for reading!

What did you dream of as you were going home? 

Were you thinking of cotton fields and horse drawn carriages? Or of the days when you made cush-cush with corn bread, or pumped your own water? Were your last thoughts in English or French? Maybe you were remembering the grandfather I never had the chance to know.

 

Or maybe you thought about when your family first owned a car, or when you moved from Louisiana to Texas. Maybe it was thoughts of electricity and running water. Or maybe about the last phone you saw that was much smaller than just the receiver of the one you first owned. That reminds me of the roll of paper by the old phone in your kitchen that all of your grandkids unrolled when we came over to write on and prove that we were here.

 

Did you dream of all the places you went in your long life? You were always active, from your family in Louisiana to your trips to Hawaii and Florida. Through most of your days you were never afraid to go anywhere by yourself or talk to anyone that you met. You were one of those grandmothers who talked to anyone who listened about her experiences or family.

 

Did you think of your children? You had four daughters, Audrey, Melva, Ena and Connie, and their children and children’s children, that you left your legacy of hard work and determination with each of them. It was never in your nature to give up (some call that stubborn, others call it survival). You, along with my grandfather, came up with ways to barter and create a living for your family through farms, cotton fields and building houses. Yours was a tough life, and I never heard you complain. That just wasn’t what you did with the life God gave you.

 

Did you dream of the beautiful flowers in your garden? I think of the day lilies and the crepe myrtles that are in so many of our Easter pictures from my childhood. You tended your yard well into your late years which in turn kept you healthy and thriving like the flowers and vegetables in a row. Allof your children and grandchildren would catch a glimpse of your work when fetching the key to the house (under the ice chest in the green house around back) that remained a silent reminder that the door was always open. I can still hear the screen door slam shut as we entered the old house on Duff Drive. Did you hear it?

 

More importantly, did you hear Jesus calling you home to be with him and all the loved ones that went before you? Like Ruby Arceneaux, hers was the first funeral I ever attended, did she call you in? Your friends over the years that you outlived in your good health, your sisters and brothers, your daughters' husbands, Winston and Melvin, and Michael and his sweet daughter, Haley. And of course Mr. Melancon is there too. Was my Mother’s  Daddy waiting patiently to have you join him in a new and everlasting peace?

 

We won’t know what you dreamed of as you were going home until we join you, and we are so grateful that your journey with us has come to a close so that you can be with our Lord today, tomorrow, and for eternity. We love you MaMa.   

 

Full House

http://picasaweb.google.com/daniel.lauve/DownstairsBathroom

This past weekend we finished the first of several projects on the house. We started the renovation of the half bath before my parents arrived this weekend, and their visit was timely as we ran into a snag with the installing of the new light fixture. My dad, who I always think knows everything about houses though he begs to differ, really pulled us through the rough spot! Daniel did a super job of patching the hole left by the 80’s boxed-in fluorescent light, which was our first tape and float project. Can you tell I’m really proud? Together we did a great job of priming, texturing, and painting the small room. I must say I never expected to hug one of my toilets sober, but how else do you paint behind them? Not to point fingers, but it certainly isn’t going to be the one of us who is over six foot tall.


We had a fun weekend otherwise with Mom, Dad and Brent (who is still living at the house), but I’m afraid I have no pictures to share, so a picture of a margarita will have to do.  We consumed lots of Mexican martinis and margaritas, which is my Dad’s favorite. We played several games on the Wii, which included a rather one-sided round of me playing the new American Idol game that Daniel bought me. (My family claims that they don’t know where my performance bug came from, although I remember going to family reunions when I was little and my Dad’s mother’s side of the family would play instruments and sing songs all afternoon.) I am not the one of us who has sung karaoke most recently, so Daniel did sing at least one song Friday night. Everyone else joined in on bowling, boxing, and Scattergories.

We did our usual run together on Saturday, and for some reason my Dad had to coax Daniel and me into finishing three miles. Daniel and Dad shared the Wall Street Journal over the weekend, and all of the guys enjoyed a Sunday afternoon of football together while Mom and I snuck out for some shopping and talking. The parents left Monday, and we enjoyed the end of our three-day weekend by finishing the half-bathroom! Next on the house updates list is the upstairs guest bath and the kitchen…

Family Time

http://picasaweb.google.com/daniel.lauve/SanAntonioJanuary2009

On January 3rd this year Daniel and I drove to San Antonio for the day to meet with his mom’s uncle, Evaristo. He lives in Mexico City and just bought a house in San Antonio, so we may get to see him more often. We ate lunch with Daniel’s parents, Evaristo, his daughter’s family, and Evaristo’s sister---Daniel’s grandmother, Sara. At one point during the meal Saralicia, Evaristo’s daughter, made the comment that her dad was one of her favorite people! That definitely hit home with me. They were so kind and warm (lots of hugs and kisses), and I think we were invited to visit them more than once. I hope one day soon we will go to Mexico for a visit. I had a wonderful time getting to know them and enjoyed meeting Daniel’s extended family. Click on the picture above to see more from our visit!

Christmas 2008

http://picasaweb.google.com/daniel.lauve/Christmas2008

This year we left for our Christmas travels on Monday night, December 20th and arrived at Teresa and Roger's house to stay the night with them to break up our trip and get to share a little love with the Salinas family. Although the visit was brief, it is always good to see my cuz and her family!

Our first Christmas of 2008 began with another exciting round of Reindeer Rally.  After last year's scavenger hunt through Katy Mills Mall, we knew we were going to have different teams, and we weren't sure what the format was going to be.  It ended up being another scavenger hunt, this time through the main outdoor shopping section of Sugar Land.  This time around, Brandi was with Diana and I [Daniel] was with my mom.  I was looking forward to getting to be on a team with my mom because she had had a very stressful few days with school ending up, Christmas shopping and wrapping, and with ongoing new house issues.  Also, her last place finish in 2007 meant that she was primed for a huge bounce back.

And what a bounce back it was.  We were out of the gates quickly along with many other teams, and having fewer tasks to complete meant that speed in getting from place to place could mean the difference between first and second.  My mom and I were consistently getting to the stores after Alicia and Cecilia, so for one of the final tasks, going to the cigar store and having your picture taken pretending to smoke a cigar, I decided to cut a little corner.  With Alicia and Cecilia inside the store, I stopped outside the front door, stuck a pen in my mouth and took a picture, retaking a slim lead that we did not relinquish.  Multiple teams complained that I had to leave my mom too far behind (the rules explicitly say that teams need to stay together) to accomplish this, and they may be right.  I did tell my mom that we needed to stay together when she kept telling me to run ahead, but there were times when I did get a little bit past her.  The judges awarded us first, but I guess history will be the ultimate judge.  After Reindeer Rally, we went back to my grandmother's house to open presents to and from the Neelys.

This is Brandi and I won't go into all the things that Daniel did to "help" his mom win because it will make me sound like a sore loser. :-) Anyway, we had a lot of fun just like last time and it really is a great way to spend time with family members you may not always get enough one on one time with. Again we owe all of the creativity and planning to Diana--she did a great job!

Some of my favorite parts of Christmas Eve were our run in the rain that morning, the little child singing at Children's Mass who sang "Happy Bir-day Jesus, I'm so glad it's Cwris-mas" that was almost too cute to bear, visiting Daniel's Grandad and being hit on by Rachel, a woman in her late 70's that is also a patient at the Silverado Home, seeing the beautiful new house Linden and Lisa will living in soon and having dinner with the Lauves as a family.

You might be wondering about Rachel but most importantly she is harmless. I learned my lesson that I must wear pants to visit his grandad, unless I want my "smooth and silky" legs to be felt up again.

Christmas morning we got up and found our presents from Santa!! Daniel got a Wii, which I think he was pretty excited about (he's playing Wii golf as I write this) and I got a scrapbook supplies carousel organizer which I've been wanting for awhile plus lots of stuffers in our stocking. We had a great time visiting with and dressing like the girls in Christmas PJs Lisa bought us all, singing to Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is You", playing Reindeer Rally, and talking about "White Christmas" the movie and the White Christmases the Lauves have had. We also were treated to Daniel doing his annual telling of Twas the Cheesy Animatronic Baby Elephant at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

We left the Lauves house mid morning and headed to my Memaw's for lunch. There were lots of people and it turned out to be a great time to visit with all my extended family. I usually see them all about 4 or 5 times a year. This year we made calendars on Shutterfly for our families as Christmas presents. I think Daniel's side of the family turned out the best--with over 70 important dates on my families it left a lot of room for error. Everyone liked it and I can't wait to do another one for my Memaw next year!

For the remainder of our Christmas we opened presents my parents and brother that night, Daniel got sick with a fever, Dad and I got some good runs in, we enjoyed Mom's good cooking, and we had fun playing games and watching movies. We got some great gifts too, like a Chi iron for me and laptop cooler for Daniel.

To round out our Christmas travels, we ended with a visit to the Comeaux's in Port Neches on Sunday night. We opened presents with Kaylin and Madison, and Amber and Jed cooked for us. Amber's parents, Rodney and Shirley, came over and visited with us too. Their family has always been a part of my Christmas season, and I appreciated Daniel putting up with my travel tour of southeast Texas.

After all of our Christmases, I have to say though one of my very favorite gifts I found in my stocking at Daniel's grandmother's house. You may read the sonnet he wrote me that describes each month in our first 12 months together as husband and wife:

From last September's joyful promise said
A fortnight's bookends: Islands, Broadway plays
The turkey's end to pigskin triumph led
A Reindeer Rally hunt through Katy's maze

A hoop, a cap, a Nunez yule five strong
We raced and raced to close the seventh book
The monuments and blossoms flew along
A guest foretold the hit our pantry took

A mic, guitar and drums kept us awake
The sweetest cake I've had, though peaches lacked
Great lake's and gulf's shores gave us family breaks
The hilly Human Race we both attacked

To ancient boot, the hub of Western life
I long to see more places with my wife.

We hope you had a wonderful holiday season in 2008 and are praying that all of you in internet land have a blessed year in 2009! We look forward to our paths crossing soon in the year to come.