Lake Charles, Louisiana

So ... as part of our getting out of dodge, and off the couch and out of Tomball plan for 2012 - we hit the road last weekend and went to Lake Chales, a little under 3 hours from our house. It's mostly a casino town and about 45 minutes from Beaumont, Texas where I did some growing up. Lake Charles isn't unfamiliar to me at all, but I haven't been in a long time- since my dad moved away in 2003.


Conrad works with someone, who has become our dear friend- who has a husband in a band. We met him Ireland, and found him delightful and now we want to spend as much time with them as we can- but alas, they live 5 hours away. So a pact was made around Christmas that when the band is close, we'll be groupies and meet them when we can!


The band is MoJEAUX and they can be found here: http://www.mojeauxband.com/


......... and may I please recommend them because they are fabulous! We had such a blast last weekend and it was great to get out of our 5 mile radius. I was so excited to get out of Texas, I took a picture of it. Here's the Louisiana sign off of I-10.

 

Laissez les bons temps rouler

All my life, I've driven down that little stretch of I-10 and seen a resturant called Steam Boat Bill's. It's always packed to the gills- and I always seem to drive by at odd times, or I'm in a hurry and I never can stop. This time, we made sure we were good and hungry when we passed by and we FINALLY got to stop and only a few months after they were featured in Southern Living which is my Holy Mecca of magazines.

If Southern Living says to grow it, eat it or paint it - I'm digging, chowing and working. I don't mess around when it comes to them. Sage advise, given monthly - I can't wait when I get my issue every month!


This place did NOT disappoint. I had the red beans and rice and they were FABULOUS. I don't know how they made that roll but it was crunchy on the outside and mushy on the inside and I just wanted to crawl inside it and fall asleep. It was outstanding. The beans were so good, even after I was done and had moved on to just chatting with Conrad and waiting for him to finish his po boy - I spied a grain of rice I had left in the bowl, exclaimed happily, grabbed up my spoon and went in and got it. I can't believe I almost left a piece of rice! I'm still thinking about that dog gone lunch.

You come here to me, you delightful bowl of legumes

Upon arrival at the hotel (which was free, thanks A and M!) .... I settled in to watch some HGTV and Conrad went to the casino to gamble.... after a few hours we met up with our friends- had some dinner ... and then went back to the hotel to get ready for the show.


It didn't disappoint either. They did a really good job and Conrad knows a lot about music. He knew much more of the technical stuff than I did - him and his dad being muscians and all - but I just enjoyed it. Here is our friend up on stage.

Rock it, Mike!

and dancing commenced, hilarity ensued:

... the Dallas Cowboy fan (that would be me) got a shout out from on stage ...  and we really had a good time watching the people dance. There was one crazy guy who was trying to dance "with" the singer, but from the dance floor. I think she was into it at first - pointing at him and kind of dancing along ... but then he sort of got out of control and started "humping" and gyrating at her and so she stopped and tried to ignore him .. and he spent the rest of the evening looking for people to gyrate with him. Always with a beer clutched in hand!

Enjoy this! Sorry you missed it -- and sorry for the poor sound quality. I took the movie from my phone.

Hire MoJEAUX for your next event!


.... and in the next weeks we will begin our search for food and fun in Houston.


Karyn