Creole Tomato & Sweet Onion Salad or Oyster & Artichoke Florentine

[BOSSHOG]

or Shrimp and Crabmeat Stuffed Merliton with Creole Sauce. Just checking out the menu for the French Quarter Festival this weekend.

http://fqfi.org/groupoffice/fqfi/final_menu_06.pdf

Lots of good food, music booths all over the quarter, and ice cold beer. We are aiding the NOLA economy one purchase at a time.

[havocmom]

1. Sounds like a wonderful idea

Wish I were there.

Be sure and tell us about it afterward!

[BOSSHOG]

3. We are going Friday

Every year it seems to get better and better. Its like a mini Jazz Fest and used to be mostly locals, but now it is getting a lot of tourists coming down. The food is incredible.

[Jacobin]

2. Love the French Quarter Festival

Enjoy it for me. Can't make it this weekend.

[BOSSHOG]

4. One of my favorite weekends

in the quarter. I have them all listed one through 52. The quarter is getting better and better each week. The ninth ward is still a disaster area as is Lakeview.

[Jacobin]

10. I hope the contortionist is on Royal Street

I watched him a couple of years ago, lying on the street with a straight jacket, manacles and chains, and over a period of about 45 minutes he wriggled his way free, disclocating both shoulder blades in the process (on purpose) to get out.

Lots of blues bands scattered all over the quarter and riverfront, amazing food booths everywhere.....that city is simply a treasure, a feast for all the senses. I never get tired of going there.

[madokie]

5. our son is in NO working on the cleanup maybe he'll send me some photos

[BOSSHOG]

7. I will post some here if I can figure out how to do it

You may want to check out www.nola.com throughout the weekend. They have a section asking for festival pics. And a hearty salute to your son and all the fantastic volunteers down here. I hope he gets the opportunity to join in the jocularity. Did I mention the food is incredible? (and cheap)

[madokie]

12. Have some of that food for me. We plan on making a trip down to NO to

visit our son but it will be later this summer. To what I'm used to I would bet that it would seem like a party to me even on a slow day. With what little I've been blessed to eat, I love Cajun Food.

[BOSSHOG]

19. FYI

Satchmo fest is 5-6 August. Not as big as French Quarter Fest. Its a tribute to Louis Armstrong. Lots of food and music and fun. (and heat)

[madokie]

27. That will be a good time to shoot for. thanks

[BOSSHOG]

28. More FYI!

Website:

http://www.fqfi.org/

provides info about Satchmo and other quarter events.

[Lochloosa]

6. I went last year for the first time. What a great time.

BOSSHOG there is was a little pizza place right across from the flea market. Do you know the place? It had the BEST pizza.

[BOSSHOG]

8. The Louisiana Pizza Kitchen

95 French Market Place. And I agree with you, one of the best Pizza places on the Planet. Sometimes I get aggravated going to New Orleans; there are too many great places to eat.

[Lochloosa]

9. That was it. I had the spinach pizza....damn.

:toast: enjoy the weekend!

[Jacobin]

11. Hey, Boss

If you haven't tried Coops on Decatur, across from the French Market, you have got to try it.

Great bar, small kitchen in the back with incredible food and very reasonable.

[BOSSHOG]

20. Coops is one of my favorites

and a pool table smack dab in the middle. Ya gotta love a place that has their menu on a chalkboard. They can work majic with a bowl of veggies and a little hot sauce - cher! We like to get a window seat and watch the world stroll by.

[DinahMoeHum]

13. Damn, so many good choices. Me, I'm partial to anything crawfish

followed by bread pudding with bourbon sauce, then pralines.

:9:9:9

[BOSSHOG]

29. We've had a great crawfish crop this year

There was some concern about the effect the hurricane would have had on the crawfish but they were safe and sound underground making babies (or whatever crawfish do underground.) I tend to pig out so much on the main courses I never have room for the sweet stuff. We've had crawfish dishes for supper the last three nights.

[BOSSHOG]

30. "PARROTHEAD?"

You gotta come down. Margaritaville and the Tropical Isle are Parrothead landmarks and both places will have booths at the French Quarter Festival.

[DinahMoeHum]

33. (sigh!) Looks like I'll just have to tune in to Radio Margaritaville

and listen in on their late afternoon Friday show.

:evilgrin:

[mcscajun]

14. Louisiana Crawfish and Goat Cheese Crepes.

Crawfish Pies
Cajun Meat Pies
Crawfish Remoulade Salad
Smoked Duck Po-Boy
Crawfish Sausage Po-Boy
Mojitos

Oh...did I mention Crawfish?

Somebody ship me down there...or ship me up one of each, plus some Bananas Foster Cake. :9

[BOSSHOG]

23. We had boiled crawish

on Easter Sunday then we peeled what we didn't eat and my wife made an incredible hot and spicy Etouffee and we had that Monday and Tuesday. My little Kansas Mrs has turned into quite a cajun cooker.

FYI - Crawfish is going for around ten bucks a pound in the quarter. That's a ridiculous price.

[mcscajun]

34. Wow. That IS pricey.

There'll be a Crawfish Boil and music festival up here in NJ first weekend in June. Our latest report from the organizer (a Louisiana native, btw) say that there are 500 acres of crawfish ponds flooded thru May and into June to assure us of live crawfish. Two vendors from prior festivals are lost due to some post Katrina Problems, and while they're hoping to have them back in 2007, he's still looking for new vendors for crawfish pie, bread and Muff's.

Here's the sad note for the menu: We won't have beignets (SOB!) this year. ;(

[BOSSHOG]

36. This may Help

Check out:

http://www.cafedumonde.com/main.html

You all could make the beignets or you may just want to make some for yourself.

Crawfish fest in Jersey. Now that's decadent.

[mcscajun]

38. That's what it's about...fun, music, food...and Decadence.

And afterward, the trash cans are bursting with crawfish remains and beer cans. :)

And thanks for link...I may just try my hand at making 'em myself. Again. I tried about ten years ago, but the Cafe du Monde site didn't have all the instructions and tips that they have now. I think I have a better shot this time. :)

[kestrel91316]

15. Oh, go ahead and order one of each! You only live once.

[Joe Fields]

16. Your posts always make me hungry.

[BOSSHOG]

25. Don't forget

The Duck Maple over cranberry wild rice or the creole cassoulet (white beans, shrimp and andouille over rice. Then a little sweetness; Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey Ice Cream with an oatmeal cookie. Finally, a Jimmy Buffet "Who's to Blame" Margarita and a stroll through the quarter to get ready for the next stop at a food booth.

[tatertop]

17. sounds like a mighty big injoy'!

[warrens]

18. Bitch

Wish I could be there. I saw Alan Toussaint playing that festival one time. Actually, twice, since he was at Tipitina's the night before. Eat double for me.

[TahitiNut]

21. OAF!

Oyster & Artichoke Florentine, that is. :evilgrin:

[BOSSHOG]

22. Presented by By-Water BBQ

I had that last year and it was delicious. You get a nice helping for just $4.00.

[TahitiNut]

24. It'd put "lead in my pencil." Yum!

I could follow it up with some linguini in (white) clam sauce, heavy on the garlic. Yum!

[suffragette]

26. Now I'm hungry

When I was a child, a friend of my mother's was from there and she made the best shrimp salad I've ever had.
Mmm- mmm.
Wish I could join you there, but the best I can do is raise a glass and toast you for going.
:toast:

[eppur_se_muova]

31. Warning, this post could get locked ... too many calories!

Though it has to be admitted the flavor/calorie ratio (which is what really counts) is exceptionally high!

[BOSSHOG]

32. The best and worst thing about fat is that it tastes so good

When going to the FQF throw all logic out the window and have another beer.

[mtnester]

35. Sigh...we were there two years ago in May (last full week) and

we fell in love with your city, sir.

The most memorable parts of the trip, for me, became poignant 2 weeks after we left..We had been in Jackson Square, standing, facing the river, on the right hand side of the back side of the park. Of course, there was a guy there ruining things for everyone using a bullhorn to castigate all the sinners in the Square (palm readers,those having their palms read etc...of course always mentioned gays too). We found out that EVERY shop owner called the cops because there are rules about amplification in that area just because of whack jobs like this guy. SO, right before the cops came and dragged him away (of course he made a scene and got idiotic), I sat down at the closest palm reader to this guy, mostly just to irritate him for fun and because I never had my
Two weeks later, my mother died suddenly and tragically. I did not even remember my reading until a few months later....so that is a sad part of remembering NO.

BUT, many more happy things....the Maitre'd from NOLA running after us, calling out our names, after we left a cheap sack of trinkets under our dinner table....this MOST dignified man calling out "Monsieur David, Madame Kristi..wait!" all for a bag of beads (BTW, we had a WONDERFUL meal there and the service was top notch).

The wonderful young man who drove our swamp boat during a tour, telling us fabulous stories about how he lived, how he hunted and trapped nutria (that name still cracks us up, sounds like a sweetener or medicine) and that was his primary source of income...how he was about the 5th generation of his family that made a living from the swamps, his little daughter that was soon to be born...we wonder if that young man is even alive, or if he can still make a living from the swamps.

We listen in horror when a friend of ours just came back from NO, and how many people are making a living giving tours of the ravaged areas, how the tour operators talk about NO PLAN, and just how ANGRY people that go to NO now come back...I heard an older lady who NEVER voiced her politics out loud say last week after coming back...

"you know whose fault this was don't you? George Bush...he should be ashamed, and he should hand in his resignation immediately".

This woman was a Republican.

God bless you and everyone there Boss...hubby and I are planning to come on in next spring.

[BOSSHOG]

37. It is a very memorable city

Someone is always leaving a bag somewhere after dinner or after a beer at a Bourbon Street Bar. Some religious yahoo is always trying to save us all and hustlers can be found on just about every street corner. Parts of New Orleans are still a mess but the tourist destinations are doing fairly well. I'd have to agree that bush is guilty of doing very little for the city. If he can shovel dollars into Iraq then he can send some to the gulf coast.

FYI: The 2007 French Quarter Festival is scheduled for 13-15 April.