St. Paddy’s Day Part 2: Party
Our friends Lisa and Ron live in the Irish Channel and invited us to their annual St. Paddy’s Day Party, hosted jointly with their next door neighbors. Lisa said they would have a porch band and a crawfish boil - a real New Orleans shindig!
As we walked to the party we were surprised to see that the parade was still going, and was coming back in the other direction on Magazine Street. We didn’t need more beads, but the float riders seemed eager to give them away, so…
We arrived at the party as a rock band played on the porch of Lisa and Ron’s historic and beautifully renovated “shotgun” house. There were plenty of cold refreshments, friendly neighbors, and cute kids. It was all very festive, and we felt very welcome.
Check out Courtney’s beautiful beaded cummerbund, which she hand-sewed herself!
It was our first crawfish boil, so we were curious about the process. To a huge pot of boiling water, Ron added spices, then vegetables, then more spices, and finally, the crawfish.
It was exciting to watch the “boil drop”. You’ll just have to imagine the heavenly aroma wafting from the big pot!
Everyone gathered around the table and dug in. Lisa showed us how to eat a crawfish: twist it apart, suck the flavorful broth from the head, then use your thumb to push the tail meat into your mouth. We found it hard to stop eating those delicious crawfish! We also helped ourselves to corn, potatoes, mushrooms, and garlic. Our lips burned from all the spices, but we didn’t care because it was SOOOOO GOOD!!
A second band began playing on the porch - a lively jazz band - and we danced in the street with our new friends.
THANK YOU, Lisa and Ron! We had a marvelous time! It was the best party ever, and the perfect way to spend our last evening in New Orleans.
