Cajun Adventure, Post-Hurricane Rita
(continued)
Prejean's
Monday night, Anna and I drove on our own to Prejean’s to meet Cheryll Guilbeau for dinner as planned. Navigating at dusk was a challenge and I took a wrong turn, but as always, wrong turns are interesting. We were in horse country, where the streets have names like “Thoroughbred” and “Palomino.” Even in the gathering darkness, we couldn’t miss seeing an amazing plantation-style mansion sitting back as if sipping a mint julep, surrounded by acres and acres enclosed in white fences.
Finally we arrived at Prejeans, just five minutes late (whew!). Sitting outside having a smoke was Anna’s new Marine friend Josh. She had told him at Whiskey River Landing that we’d be there. The three of us went inside, where a giant taxidermied alligator reigned over the long tables below. We easily found Cheryll with her son and our friend Joe already digging into the biggest plate of (of course) fried appetizers I’ve ever seen. We dug in, too, and then enjoyed another liesurely meal full of new tastes. I found that Cheryll, like Joe, was a food-sharer. We were like one big family, swapping and sharing food off each other’s plates, using our fingers, kind of gross really but no one was sick and no one seemed to mind.
During the meal, I mostly talked with Cheryll and her son; Anna and Josh put their heads together; and Joe asked every woman nearby to dance.
“My grandmother always told me that if a woman takes the trouble to get dressed up, you should at least ask her to dance,” he said.
We were sitting not far from Les Frères Michot, three guys sitting on chairs and playing traditional Cajun dance hall/back porch music, amplified just a bit. (No need for ear plugs here!)
 |
gail grenier sweet photo |
Gail, Cheryll, her son, Joe, Anna, Josh at Prejean’s. |
Josh asked them if he could join them with his accordion, but they turned him down. Afterwards, Josh complained that they played “wanky.” “You can play traditional music without sounding wanky,” he told me.
Anna told him, “You’re just bitter cuz they wouldn’t let you play.”
I thought Les Frères Michot were wonderful. Joe explained, “There are so many Michots that you never know which of them you’ll see – and they’re all good.”
It was drizzling outside when we walked to our cars. We stopped for a few minutes and Josh gave us an impromptu concert on his fiddle. His fingers flew. Joe said, “You can hear the Celtic influences in that tune.” We sure could.
Later, Anna told me about some of the things Josh had told her. He’s a Cajun, one of six siblings. (Joe is one of eight siblings, but from the Baby Boomer generation.) Josh told Anna that unlike Northerners, people get married earlier in Louisiana and have kids sooner.
“Yall care more about money up North,” he said.
Anna countered that Northerners just want to get an education and a good job first, so they can provide for their kids – unintentionally making Josh’s point rather than refuting it. Josh also told Anna, “I probably won’t have any teeth when I get old.”