Feb 5, 2010

Louisiana Saturday Night Happy


 King Cakes are floating around, I've got the winter doldrums, and an itching for some party times.  Obviously, Mardi Gras is right around the corner, and I have one of my favorite new cookbooks to give away in celebration.

This handsome fella is John Besh, renowned chef and owner of August, La Provence, Luke, and Besh Steak all in New Orleans. So please leave me a comment telling me about one of your favorite Cajun/Creole foods (recipes if you got them ladies!), or one of your favorite New Orleans memories, and you are in the running for a copy of My New Orleans by John Besh. 




Bon Chans Y'all!

30 comments:

  1. My favorite New Orleans memory is taking my now husband to meet my extended family in New Orleans. He feel in love with the city that I love so much.

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  2. My favorite New orleans food is the Beignets! I am whipping up a batch for Sunday's breakfast in preparation for the Super Bowl Geaux Saints! I am using the Cafe Du Monde Mix that I got for Christmas! What a great giveaway!

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  3. Oh, I am LOVING this one! I have had my eye on this cookbook for a while and hoped it would show up under the tree!

    Gosh, I have too many memories of New Orleans and could probably write a book, but my favorite recent memory is going to the Saints/Panthers game in October and sitting in the fabulous club seats. The 1st half was a little scary, but of course the Saints came back with a vengence in the 2nd half and the Superdome of course crazy loud! It was so much fun!

    Great giveaway! Geaux Saints!

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  4. Yum! I lived in NOLA for four years and miss it every day. I still make Emeril's red beans & rice recipe from one of his first cookbooks "Louisiana Real & Rustic" about once a week. I'd love this encyclopedia of delish!

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  5. Oh gosh...I love me some John Besh..did you watch him when he was trying out for Iron Chef, he was robbed...

    He is so hot...sorry!

    When my parents were still married we lived a brief time in Baton Rouge. But being in Pcola for the past 3 years, and befriending some Cajuns from NOLA, I got to taste a lot of good food. But my favorite is Shrimp and Grits.

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  6. Yum Yum Yum! I don't know much about New Orleans food, but I do love some red beans and rice! I'd be thrilled to win this cookbook! Fabulous Giveaway :)

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  7. Ohhhh!!! What a delightful giveaway!!!

    I had the opportunity to visit New Orlean pre-Katrina, and reccently returned just a few months ago!

    It's such a warm and inviting city, despite EVERYTHING!!!

    Lately, I've been hearing SO much about King Cakes and bloggers actually baking their own! I'm pretty certain he has a recipe in that book for me to try my hand at?!?!?

    xoxo

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  8. Loving this giveaway, friend! Because I have too many New Orleans memories to list, I'm going to give you my first New Orleans memory.

    I was 5 years old and my brother was 2. We were living in Baton Rouge, but we'd travel with my parents on business trips to Nola often. That year we went for Mardi Gras. My parents built a box on top of a ladder for us to sit in for the parades and they stood on the bottom of the ladder to anchor it down. My brother fell asleep and was ADORABLE sitting there in the midst of Mardi Gras craziness just sleeping away. All of the people on the floats were just dumping tons of beads, plastic toys, and fun stuff into our little box on the ladder.

    We still have the box on the ladder and next year we plan to take Hudson to his first Mardi Gras. And it will be Todd's first trip to Nola--ever!

    I love the Emeril "Louisiana Real and Rustic" cookbook. The red beans and rice is amazing!

    I also love the River Road Recipes Cookbook from the Junior League of Baton Rouge. Can't go wrong with anything in there!

    But I gotta say that my mom's gumbo and crawfish etouffee are my favorites and both are made without a recipe.

    Oh! I want to WIN! :)

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  9. Wow, he's easy on the eyes, isn't he? Hmm, my favorite Cajun dish would have to be shrimp/crawfish etouffe. Yum!

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  10. I'm taking my first trip to NOLA for my birthday in May and I'm very excited. August is my dinner request!

    My husband's family is from Baton Rouge and they have some great recipes. Here's on of my favorites: http://www.thisbeautifulthing.com/2009/01/crawfish-and-corn-soup.html It's delish!

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  11. Love love LOVE! We are beyond stressed today trying to get outta here and this lightened my load a little bit! JB is so dreamy... and eating at August in September was absolutely amazing.

    I don't think I really have any authentic Creole recipes in my repertoire - which is of course why I need this book! But our Nola trip was packed full of eating - there I fell in love with boudin, had my fill of oysters and shrimp, and adored the way that a drink is the perfect accessory to anything you can put into your mouth. In fact, don't tell T this, but I'm half-planning on suggesting a return trip to Nola for my bday this spring. I have the bug!

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  12. Hi! Loving your blog.
    I love the jambalaya my friend in college used to make. That or crawfish!!

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  13. Oh ya - and my favorite cajun recipe is jambalaya - anytime! I fell in love in NOLA. It didn't last, but falling in love there is priceless, even if it doesn't work out in the end.

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  14. So fun!
    My favorite New Orleans memory is the mini-photo-shoot my sister and I did the last time we were there. It was such a pretty day and we just ran around taking silly pictures in all the pretty places.

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  15. My favorite cajun food is either boiled crawfish or crawfish etuffe. (I doubt I spelled that correctly!)

    Sadly, I've not been to New Orleans... I'd been to Alexandria, though! Gotta love to gamble sometimes.

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  16. Never been to N.O., but I love Creole food.

    I'd have to say my favorite N.O.-related dish is Bananas Foster!

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  17. I'm with Mrs. Jetplane - I LOVE me some John Besh! So it's only appropriate that one of my favorite NOLA memories is dining at Restaurant August on New Year's Eve 2007 before Georgia played (scratch that - pummeled) Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl, and the most memorable dish was Besh's venison three ways - simply divine.

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  18. Would you believe I've never had Cajun/Creole? I'm pretty food adventurous and have traveled a lot, but never to the South. :( I need to find a place in LA to try some!

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  19. I have made this dish a couple times in the past two weeks because my family can not get enough - cajun chicken in creamy penne alfredo, topped with parmesan cheese and parsley. So freaking yummy!

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  20. I've also never been to New Orleans, but would just love to go and eat some of this yummy food I'm hearing about. I've had some delicious jambalaya... It would be awesome to start making some with my very own cookbook ;)

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  21. Etouffe! Can. Not. Get. Enough. I remember momma doing some cajun cooking when I was little that she had picked up growing up. I'm originally from Natchez, Miss. She grew up in Grenada. We used to have two cajun restaurants here but sadly both closed in the last year. Boo! Guess it is time for me to step up my game and do some more cooking!

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  22. I got a wonderful King Cake at Fresh Market in Knox, but I have nothing to compare it to!

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  23. You have reminded me to find my little babies I bought in NOLA for my King Cake/aka brownies for the Super Bowl...also my birthday. :) My husband and I were in NOLA for the first time this October for a conference. We hit some amazing places but Jacque Imos was hands down the best and the Oyster Dressing with Catfish was to D.I.E. for. Also loved Gallatoire's and JB's Luke. Now, where are those babies?

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  24. well my fave drink in nola is a hand grenade. tehe.

    My fave memory is when my alma mater went to the new orleans bowl. still one of my best memories. so much fun. oh yeah, and we won!

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  25. My favorite NOLA memory is standing outside the Verti Mart eating delicious po-boys (1/2 shrimp and oyster for you; just shrimp for me)made by the mean cross-dressers inside. You became so engrossed in your sando that you fell of the curb and almost got run over.

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  26. Have to go with Jambalaya! I will be making my first trip to NOLA this April!

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  27. My favorite New Orleans memories would include your Bach or when you stepped on my face in the the hotel room!

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  28. Hands down my favorite is Red Beans and Rice with anduille sausage. So perfect on a cold rainy night!

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  29. I met my husband in NOLA, so of course it's one of my favorite cities. The entire weekend I visited, including when I met my husband, is one great memory after another.

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