Thursday, February 28, 2013

To Betty's in LA & Cookin Cracklin

Our 430 mile personal record day was really not too bad, just long.   Four hundred of the miles were on I-10 and with the exception of about 20 miles in Louisiana the road was in good shape and there was almost no construction.  We even managed to arrive in time for Betty's famous Happy Hour. Here are a couple of sites from along the road.
We passed through (and under) Mobile and could see the vomit comet, Carnival Triumph, in the repair facility.  Makes us wonder if we will ever go on a cruise.
We always know we are close to Betty's when we cross the Atchafalaya Basin just east of Breaux Bridge.  This is an impressive 18 mile stretch of elevated highway.  The water in the basin was very high from all the winter rain they have had. 
One of our favorite things about being at Betty's is the great food.  On our first day almost everyone went to Chef Roy's in Rayne.  The food was fantastic and a fun time was had by all. 
We have always wanted to go to Touchet's Cracklin Cookin' Party, but it is usually in January when we aren't here.  This year it was delayed because of the weather so we got to go.  We were not disappointed as it was a wonderful day of food, drinks and music.
There were about ten cooks who all prepared cracklin using their secret recipes.  Cracklin is deep fried bits of pork rind and fat that each cook spices their own way.  They also all cooked other delights.  Top right is a big pan of beans and sausage, left is some boudin, bottom is cracklin with spicy powder and fried beef.  There were also wings, meatballs, sausage, sweet potato chips and many other tasteful treats, and it was all free.  Gotta love this place.
 
Nanc with Irene and Merlene.  Here is a tater tot with cheese and jalapeno that was wrapped in bacon that I enjoyed with a beer.  All before 10AM.  The afternoon cholesterol seminar was not well attended:)
Patty, Paul, Dan, Marvin, Merlene and Peggy from Betty's at the party.
John and Jan enjoyed some fried goodies.
At Touchet's this is know as the horny corner.  Here are John, Peggy, Carol, Jan, Wendy and Ray.
Celine and Jean Paul, our friends whom we visited in Quebec after meeting them at Betty's, enjoying the music.
Me with Betty.  I got this pic off Ruth's blog, Home is Where We Park It. You can check it out for more pictures of the activities at Betty's.
Gervais, Claude, Diane and Jocelyn at Touchet's.
Dan and Merlene looking to see what is happening inside while all the cookin was happening outside.
And there was plenty going on.  This is one of three bands that played non-stop all day.
The place was packed with dancers and partiers having a great time.
 We are looking forward to more fun times here in LA.
 
BLOG NOTES
I added three more blogs to my blog list, Ruth's, Home is Where We Park It, Dan and Merlene's, Goan's On, and Ray and Wendy's, Anywhere USA.   We met Ruth, Dan and Merlene at Betty's on previous stays and have been enjoying reading about their travels.  When we pulled into Betty's this time Wendy and Ray, who are new fulltimers, recognized us from reading our blog.  On another note our blog passed the 50,000 hit list this week.  We are now usually averaging between 40 and 50 readers a day.  Thanks for reading and for the positive feedback. 

1 comment:

Ray/Wendy said...

Congrats on the blog milestone. Great meeting the new friends at Betty's and what a time we had.