A Day Of Rice And Boudin

I tasted boudin today and was pleasantly surprised. It was great. I would have to say it was kind of like a Louisiana version of the cabbage roll without the cabbage. We stopped at Abe's Grocery in Lake Charles and picked up a pound of mild boudin.

It was warm when we got it and we were able to eat some immediately. I thought boudin was blood sausage, but it isn't. There are several kinds of boudin; mild, spicy, crawfish, shrimp, all mixed with rice and stuffed into sausage casings. We had the mild kind. And it was wonderful, slightly spicy, and very tasty. Who knew!!

After sampling the boudin we headed east as far as Crowley, which turns out to be rice capital of America.

The town has a museum in City Hall dedicated to the production of rice in the area. It has a few other museums as well under the same roof; the Ford Museum and the Miller Museum.

The Rice Museum talked about processes of growing and harvesting rice as well as crop rotations in the area. After the rice crop is harvested, the farmers grow crawfish, then sometimes a crop of soy or have cows graze on the fields before planting the next year of rice.

The Miller Museum shows a recording studio and songs written by J.D. Miller as well as record labels he produced under.

The Ford Museum was put together in the actual building where Crowley once had a Ford Dealership. The building is now Crowley's City Hall. Back in the day, Ford cars were shipped to dealerships not fully assembled. The vehicle assembly was completed at the dealership. The building had a freight elevator used to raise the cars to the second floor where an assembly line was set up to complete assembly on the vehicles prior to being put on display in the showroom on the main floor.

Crowley also has several other buildings of historic interest. The Rice Theatre is of Art Deco design, and was built in 1940.

There are many old residences in Crowley as well. This one belonged to Raymond T. Clark, the first court clerk of Acadia Parish. It is a Victorian Palace built in 1898.

Boudin, check.
Historical buildings, check.
Now in search of beignets. Wish us luck.