On the Road Again with Merle

[Jolipapa]

As you know my friend, black 'Black Pudding' is very traditional in the north of England, but the best I ever had was in France

EVERYBODY hates the British!

I may have told you already this story : when we attended the Norton Inter Rally in Clonakilty all British people told us with a great smile : we will have the best black pudding. At breakfast my son tried some and asked if it was made in a tyre factory!

EVERYBODY hates the British! I could say the same about us! In fact we are two reflections of the same mirror!

 

[Jack Black]

I may have told you already this story : when we attended the Norton Inter Rally in Clonakilty all British people told us with a great smile : we will have the best black pudding. At breakfast my son tried some and asked if it was made in a tyre factory!

You made me laugh then my friend!

EVERYBODY hates the British! I could say the same about us! In fact we are two reflections of the same mirror!

 

[SVTFreak]

Thanks SVT. You are in an area of the country I've never had the opportunity to visit, but based on your descriptions of the food I feel like I would fit right in.

Being from south Louisiana, we don’t travel to eat better food lol! I do enjoy experiencing other cuisine, but we have the best here!

What a feast! Merle is certainly having a great tour, I'm jealous!

A couple of links relating to the Acadians. Lots more info online for those interested

Acadia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Expulsion of the Acadians - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Thanks jack! I will be reading those after church today.

SVTFreak
That yummy looking boudin is called here an andouillette, of which it is said that to be good it has to smell shit a bit. Grilled and served with various sauces, the most frequent being à la moutarde.
If you ask for boudin here, you will get blood sausage instead. (or boudin blanc at Christmas time).
Your Dad was absolutely right. Everything is good and useful in the hog. Oink makes delicious fromage de tête.

A great song by The Band... (amazingly, British Canadians)
There's a joke about Louisiana accent saying it is due to the tons of soap eaten at school to punish from speaking French. But that's just a tale of course...

We also have blood sausage here but it’s a different thing. I’m sure someone has made blood boudin, buts it’s not common. Thanks for the lesson in French and showing where some of ours comes from!

 

[SVTFreak]

One last shot of merle with his much less well traveled brother.


Gave him a well deserved wipe with some mineral oil, slid him back in the leather slip and boxed him up to send on to HEMI 49 for some time in New York. Was nice to share some time with y’all through him. Reminds me that I need to spend more time here.

 

[SVTFreak]

SVTFreak
That yummy looking boudin is called here an andouillette, of which it is said that to be good it has to smell shit a bit. Grilled and served with various sauces, the most frequent being à la moutarde.
If you ask for boudin here, you will get blood sausage instead. (or boudin blanc at Christmas time).
Your Dad was absolutely right. Everything is good and useful in the hog. Oink makes delicious fromage de tête.

A great song by The Band... (amazingly, British Canadians)
There's a joke about Louisiana accent saying it is due to the tons of soap eaten at school to punish from speaking French. But that's just a tale of course...

Joli, I went back and checked out your link (is that a pun there? Lol). We also have andouille here. Usually, it is a sausage made with larger chunks of pork in it, very much like sausage just bigger grind. It doesn’t have the rice that our boudin has. Andouille is most often used in gumbo for the Acadian French culture.

 

[Leslie Tomville]

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I appreciate the interest in Louisiana's Acadian culture. The expulsion of the Acadians was an epic tragedy. Longfellow’s poem “Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie” describes their suffering. Fortunately, many of the Acadians, including my ancestors, found their way to Louisiana where they became known as Cajuns. Our vibrant Cajun culture remains strong to this day.

The photograph of the George Rodrigue painting depicts Evangeline waiting in vain, under a moss covered Louisiana live oak, for her lover Gabriel to join her. I believe Merle is hidden from view in her left hand having just cut her flowers. He sure gets around!

The historical text is from a marker in Quebec. It succinctly relays the Acadian saga. If you would like to know more, please come down for a visit!

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[Jolipapa]

Joli, I went back and checked out your link (is that a pun there? Lol). We also have andouille here. Usually, it is a sausage made with larger chunks of pork in it, very much like sausage just bigger grind. It doesn’t have the rice that our boudin has. Andouille is most often used in gumbo for the Acadian French culture.

No, no pun intended, it is not very flattering to call someone an andouille (I did not!), neither is boudin, usually aimed at women! .
It is amazing to see how some words slightly changed of meaning with time and distance (a kid is often called a gosse, don't do it in Québec! )

Cajuns were prohibited from speaking French in school. Rule breakers probably received a punishment worse than a mouthful of soap!

It was certainly very efficient as now mostly old people still speak some French.

 

[btb01]

After these stops, me and Merle was hungry. So, we popped into a place called griffin grill for a hamburger. Now, we don’t have any juicy Lucy’s or the like here. But this place has some history. The same family that owns it used to own a place called burger delight. It was in business 40 years before shutting down in 2010. Here it was right after it closed down. A real hole in the wall but the best burgers around.

The family had opened a second, griffin grill, and held to the same principles. Fresh ingredients bought every morning, seasoned properly and made to order. And, one of the only places you can get a true malt! I didn’t get a malt today though, just a burger, tots and a coke.

Thats a shame about Burger Delight. I love places like that. We had a similar little drive-in where I grew up in Arkansas called Susie Q Malt Shop, they had great chili dogs. It’s still open, as far as I know.

I forgot to get a pic, so google will have to work, not as interesting as the 1st location. Just a suite in a strip mall now. But dadgum yummy burgers!

On the plus side, it looks like you could get breakfast, lunch and dinner right there in a row.

Jack, British running them out may very well be the persecution they encountered up there. Again, I’m not real up to snuff on that history part, so, your knowledge is quite possibly correct.

Tonight is probably my last real time with Merle. I intend to ship him off to HEMI 49 Monday. So, I tried to feed him well.

I started with some boudin. It’s similar to sausage. Traditionally, it is made with the leftover parts of the pig. We used everyone but the oink, my grandpa said. Boudin used the organs and some of the less desirable parts, in the intestine casing along with onions, bell pepper, celery and spices. It also uses rice. It’s how poor people, who where not able to “live high on the hog” (meaning eat the better cuts that come, generally, from the upper parts). Then, it’s steamed. I prefer mine smoked, which gives it the darker color you see here. And, this is just pork shoulder boudin. And, it’s nice and spicy. Got a good kick. A friend of ours owns a local store and they make it in house. Regular and smoked. You don’t find the real deal stuff for general sale too often lol.

Merle slit the casings for me, and cut them in halves. He cut one up for me to make boudin balls for my wife. It’s exactly that, a ball of boudin breaded and fried. Some folks stuff them with pepper jack cheese. My wife has celiac so I make up a gluten free breading for her. She doesn’t get this too often.
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Next, we grilled some smoked Cajun sausage and diced it up nice and small
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While waiting on everyone to be ready to eat, I bartered and fried the boudin balls.
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Fini!
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Now you’re making me hungry (and bringing back some nice memories)! We had next-door neighbors growing who had moved up from Louisiana. We got to know them pretty well, the dad would pay me a couple bucks to help him mow or split firewood, and he taught me some guitar and bass lessons (he was a talented bluegrass musician and could play just about anything with strings). Anyways, they used to make boudin (made it themselves, if I remember correctly) and would always share some with us. That’s going back quite a few years now, but I remember it being fantastic.

Now we prep the cajundillas. Now, these aren’t something you find around here. It’s kind of a brainstorm me and my son has one night and, dadgum are they good.

We take a tortilla and use about 1/2 a link of boudin. Crumble and spread that. Then, sprinkle the diced sausage on and then top it with pepper jack cheese.
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Grill that puppy up till it’s nice and golden and crispy on both sides. HAS to be a black iron skillet.
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Once done, slap that baby on a cutting board and cut it however you want. My wife and kids like it in 1/2. I prefer it in 1/3 or overnight 1/4’s. Guess who did that job.
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I can say, merle approves!

Here it is all prepped and on our finest 16th birthday paper china. lol. Add a big ole dallop of the roumelade we made earlier (dadgum that’s good after sitting in the fridge awhile) and a boudin ball, and let’s eat, cher!
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I had all intentions of making some white beans to go with this today, but some other things that I won’t bore you with happened and, well, I just forgot. Instead of quesadillas and refried beans, we have cajundillas and white beans lol.

I hope y’all enjoyed the little tour of my area of south Louisiana and seeing some of the heritage of my area.

It may not be traditional Cajun cuisine, but it sound pretty good to me. I like making up my own sort of hybrid dishes like that, especially when I have leftovers. They aren’t always winners, but sometimes you find something like that that becomes a favorite.

One last shot of merle with his much less well traveled brother.
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Gave him a well deserved wipe with some mineral oil, slid him back in the leather slip and boxed him up to send on to HEMI 49 for some time in New York. Was nice to share some time with y’all through him. Reminds me that I need to spend more time here.

Thanks for taking the time to show us around, Joey! I enjoyed your posts!

 

[SVTFreak]

Old merle shows delivered to Brent (hemi 49). So hopefully we’ll be seeing him show back up on the radar!

 

[HEMI 49]

Ahh, yes..... Merle arrived in great style this afternoon.... No dents, dings or damage..... Joey ( SVTFreak ) had him perfectly packaged for the trip north.....

Tomorrow morning Merle is going to assist with some chores at home before we depart for a few days at camp in the Finger Lakes Region of New York.....
Brent

 

[SVTFreak]

Sounds like he got there just in time for a vacation !

 

[Rookie82]

I think Merle's whole life is a vacation! Must be nice.

 

[HEMI 49]

Merle arrived at camp this afternoon..... My wife and I live in a small town south of Rochester, NY..... A few years ago we decided to locate a spot that we could travel to and enjoy on weekends and holidays... We found the perfect spot in Springwater, NY....

Springwater is at the southern end of Hemlock Lake which is one of the finger lakes....The location is an easy 45 minute drive from our residence... Incidentally, Hemlock Lake supplies the majority of water to the city of Rochester and has since the 1870's....

We have a 30' travel trailer on a permanent site in Springwater.... Pretty much anything we can do at home we can do at camp and vice-versa.... Now that my wife has retired we can be found at either location at random times.....

Tomorrow is "Soup Saturday".... Members in our camp neighborhood gather around 3pm with a pot of their favorite soup..... Probably 15-20 different soups to sample and enjoy.... I'm making Beef Vegetable..... Merle will be helping with some kitchen chores in the morning and of course attending the gathering in the afternoon.....

Attached is a shot of Merle as I watch the evening news..... I'll get more pictures tomorrow as the day unfolds....

 

[mrknife]

glad to see it in NY again!

 

[Jack Black]

glad to see it in NY again!

"It"??!!!

 

[HEMI 49]

Today was a busy day for Merle..... We had to get a pot of soup ready for the people attending 2022 Soup Saturday.... Merle seemed to enjoy his time in the kitchen and really stayed on top of things....


We had a pretty good selection of soups to chose from.... I enjoyed a spicy Thai soup while my wife dug into a pot of French Onion.... Also sampled was the Vegetable Beef.....


Later in the day we tidied up the area and headed back to camp..... It was a good day and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.... Tomorrow's activity will be somewhat dependent on the weather....So we'll check things in the morning and make a determination then.....

 

[RLB0414]

Today was a busy day for Merle..... We had to get a pot of soup ready for the people attending 2022 Soup Saturday.... Merle seemed to enjoy his time in the kitchen and really stayed on top of things....
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We had a pretty good selection of soups to chose from.... I enjoyed a spicy Thai soup while my wife dug into a pot of French Onion.... Also sampled was the Vegetable Beef.....
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Later in the day we tidied up the area and headed back to camp..... It was a good day and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.... Tomorrow's activity will be somewhat dependent on the weather....So we'll check things in the morning and make a determination then.....
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The handrawn sketch is awesome

 

[HEMI 49]

The handrawn sketch is awesome

It actually a post processing app on a Samsung cellphone.... There are about a dozen effects to choose from....

 

[RLB0414]

It actually a post processing app on a Samsung cellphone.... There are about a dozen effects to choose from....

Wow. Nice

 

[HEMI 49]

Merle was up early this morning.... My Wife was very interested in watching The Queen's funeral, which started around 0600 EST in the U.S..... After breakfast Merle settled in with the family to watch the event on the TV at camp.....


Merle and our Golden Retriever, Wilson, have become great buddies... Wilson is going to be celebrating his 16th birthday on 10/30 which is quite an achievement for a Golden Retriever....


The weather today is not conducive to much outdoor traveling.... I'll see if it clears off later on and I'm able to get Merle outside for some photos....