Strawberry Stock-up

by Pistolette on May 16, 2012 · 1 comment

in Cajun Kitchen

Louisiana Strawberries

As far as I’m concerned, we easily do strawberries as well as seafood in this state. Every year I go the farmer’s market and pick up a flat when they are perfect (see image of perfection above). Then I come home, put a few aside for nibbling immediately, and then start de-stemming the rest to store in the freezer. I can make smoothies out of these for months. And in New Orleans those are some long hot-ass summer months. Considering how I’ve bumped up my workouts I will reaaaaaaally need these strawberries. Anyway, this was the first year that the kids were aware of what I was doing. They were all, “Mommy, why’re you cutting the STAW BURRIES?” So I sat them down to help me do the job.

Louisiana Strawberries

Eva helped, Savi did not. He nommed – through a basket by himself.

Louisiana Strawberries

I was wondering why I take so many pictures of Savi eating. It’s probably because his sister never eats (thereby breaking my wee home cookin’ heart), and because his faaaaaace. He so enjoys whatever he’s eating and will try ANYTHING. He tastes, he thinks, he moans, all while staring off into gastronomic bliss space. I can’t stop watching his contentment.

I just realized I have no idea what color eyes he has. Khaki?

Louisiana Strawberries

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Savi At Three

by Pistolette on May 7, 2012 · 1 comment

in Journal

Today is Savi’s birthday. My youngest is THREE. It seems like just yesterday he was this wee gummy bear in my tummy…

Baby #2 - 9 weeks

Now he’s shooting me with water guns while wearing a wicked grin. And I LOVE it. Because he’s so mine.

Easter 2012, Savi

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Festival International de Louisiane
Eva making her tigress cub growl after her face painting was finished.

I’m always on the lookout for bilingual events in the area for the kids, especially in French (their school language). Last year we discovered Festival International de Louisiane which is the largest Francophone music fest in the USA. It’s one of the few events you can go to in Louisiana where you’ll actually hear the French language – the acts are announced in it, many of the bands perform in it, and you can hear it being spoken around the fest by some if you’re lucky. I’ll take a guess and say this is the most French immersion opportunity you’ll get at a free event inside the USA.

The fest was started in 1987 to preserve Louisiana’s French-speaking heritage so encouraging the language is the point. With the rise of French immersion schools’ popularity in southern Louisiana post-hurricane Katrina/Rita, there are now more French-speaking youths in the state than since the Americanization of the Cajuns in the mid 20th century. It was wonderful to see schoolchildren performing songs in French in the Scène des Jeunes (Youth Stage) area of the fest, and I’m really grateful (and envious) that my kids get to grow up during this cultural renaissance in Louisiana.

I was interviewed by The Advertiser newspaper about how to prep for the festival with kids. I find it a bit confusing that the title of the article is Festival Can Be a Place For Kids since they have so many activities there designed for kids, but it also has a very global-bohemian reputation so perhaps that’s why. I mean, there was…

Face-painting…
Festival International de Louisiane

Illicit fountain activity on city property… (Actually, I’m completely unsure if this is allowed or not since everyone brings swimwear for their kids to do it, and no one got fussed at). I love how the face paint is dripping down her face here.
Festival International de Louisiane

En franglaijun… (Grammar nerd alert: The acute accent marks on “scene” should be grave accent marks. You can shoot me anytime.)
Festival International de Louisiane

Of course, no words are necessary for Cajun food. Just moaning… (That’s a pistolette on the left there, by the way.)
Festival International de Louisiane

A really talented, unusual, and very fun Quebec band called Canailles played for a sweaty crowd of post “Courir du Festival” 5k runners (Q made a personal record that morning!). The band was surprised that we were drinking after a race… and drinking in the morning. I guess I should be glad they didn’t call me out for doing both with a baby on my hip. Hey, I never confuse the sippy cups, people.
Festival International de Louisiane

This is the only photo I have of my son because he was moving too fast to catch on camera. Now this is what a fully sated preschool kid looks like… (He fell asleep right after this and snored through a very loud and rockin’ Acadian band, but managed to clap after every song in his sleep!).
Festival International de Louisiane

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Thumbnail image for Dye Flowers, Dye

Dye Flowers, Dye

April 30, 2012 Journal

It’s bad enough that I have to think about what might be in the food I eat when I’m buying it, but now I have to think about what’s in my flowers too?! Take last week. Q was returning from a business trip so I grabbed some flowers on my way to the check-out line [...]

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June Challenge: Eat Local Food

April 24, 2012 Zen, Dammit

I signed up for my June challenge at the Crescent City Farmer’s Market this morning. It’s the Eat Local Challenge! I know you’re probably wondering what happened to the April and May challenges, and I’ll get to that… I’m only mentioning this one early in hopes that others will sign up too! If you’re not [...]

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Thumbnail image for 2 Blocks From My Front Door

2 Blocks From My Front Door

April 23, 2012 Journal

One of my favorite bloggers, Design Mom, is doing this series called “Love The Place You Live” where you explore something in your area and blog about it. She lives in rural France so you should really check out how beautiful her dispatches are. Anyway, when I pondered my first post for this I realized [...]

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Thumbnail image for Street Festivals

Street Festivals

April 10, 2012 Journal

New Orleans is known all over the world for its big festivals like Jazz Fest, French Quarter Fest, Essence Music Fest and Voodoo Fest. But I’ve only been to three of those ONCE. I’m not big on crowds, and I really have to talk myself up to walk around in direct sunlight for several hours. [...]

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Grass Dilemma

March 30, 2012 Urban Gardening

I have this dilemma with the grass in front of my house. See, technically I don’t own it. The City of New Orleans owns everything between the sidewalk and the street (including the historic oak trees). The problem is that they don’t maintain their property. The people who own the property beyond the sidewalk are [...]

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Thumbnail image for Completing vs Enduring

Completing vs Enduring

March 27, 2012 Zen, Dammit

I guess I have some explaining to do. Yes, I stopped doing Nablopomo (National Blog Posting Month) – at the very end too! What can I say, it was a busy and trying weekend. Plus, I never really had my heart into the posting every single day thing. I’d rather do higher quality, lower quantity. [...]

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Thumbnail image for Baby Nursery, Most Popular

Baby Nursery, Most Popular

March 23, 2012 Journal

It’s Friday. I’m going to play. But before I go… The daily post. I was going through my Flickr stats and it looks like my baby nursery photo set still gets the most traffic. It’s kind of funny because they aren’t even good quality or properly sized. I think there’s just a lot of crazy [...]

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