Houma, Louisiana where the rain started

We drove from Baton Rouge, LA to Houma, LA to meet a possible future employer. He took us to a local seafood restaurant for lunch. Surprisingly the lunch lasted a couple of hours. We talked a lot of shop, and bored our wives. It was that morning that the heavy, "tropical downpours" began. 

At dinner we joined an old friend of Lucretia's family at his house. He was a classically trained chef who cooked a four course dinner for us. It was a traditional Louisania crab/shrimp boil, and so much more.  First was a shrimp bisque. It was thick, creamy, and spicy. The shrimp flavor was not masked, but enhanced by the variety of cheeses and spices included in the soup. One of the best I've had. One regret of the evening was that I didn't get a picture of the bisque.  Next was a wahoo sashimi that he caught. Sweet, buttery and tender. After that he produced a beautiful shrimp cocktail that was as fresh and delicious as anyone could imagine. The cocktail sauce was his own spicy blend which included a good quantity of horseradish. Next up was the blue crab, shrimp, sausage, corn on the cob, and potato boil.  The crab had been literally crawling around in his kitchen sink until they were dropped into the boiling pot. They were so alive that one grabbed his tongs and would not let go until the claw had broken off and the rest landed in the pot. I'd like to say I felt bad for the crab, but I knew they were going to be so damn delicious that I really did not. Being landlocked, we both needed a refresher on how to get the meat out of the crab. He obliged and the crabmeat was tender, sweet and spicy all at the same time. The shrimp were cooked perfectly. After four hours of feasting and resting, feasting and resting, and feasting and resting, we went back to the hotel for some much needed sleep. His caliber of cooking was on par with Lu's.  That's a comparison I don't think I've ever made. Very rare indeed. 

The rain continued all night and into the next day. The bayous and backwaters that flowed through Houma were almost full. We knew that if we didn't get out of town soon we may be stuck there for a while. More heavy rain fell throughout the weekend and didn't stop until 20" of continuous rain were dumped on Southeastern Louisana. The national news showed many dramatic water rescues and called it the worst flooding that they had seen in recorded history. It was so bad that the Vermillion river reversed its course and flowed northward into the swamp instead of southward into the gulf.  So glad we left when we did.