Mr. Lake's New Orleans Forum

tell me all about the food and stuff and photos would be nice too LOL

I sure wish I could go, MisRiv! Houston isn't as exciting as NO and my traveling buddy is heading back to NOLA today to handle some personal business, so even if there WAS something as fun and food-fabulous as FQF in Houston this weekend, I would not be able to go w/o her here. Darn it!

I'm not a fest person (don't like crowds and waiting in line), but I do like FQF. I am sad not to be attending this year. Like JuJu, my traveling partner is gone, in my case mostly for good, and I don't have any friends who operate the way I do. I gotta get some new friends!

As far as the food at FQF, there is some really good stuff there, but again, long lines, one thing per plate, and I'm not great at eating while holding plates and glasses and walking around or standing. Good way to sample lots of different things, though to try some dishes/restaurants you've never tried.

Personally, I go for the music and the enjoyment of listening to it outside on a nice, sunny day. So relaxing! Oh, well, maybe next year.

I think I may go Sunday. I have no plans. I'm so looking forward to the weekend. Getting up early (for me) and going to the Strawberry Fest tomorrow & having my annual daiquiri at 10am, then to the crawfish boil. Sunday FQF & you know I'll take a bunch of pics. Sunday afternoon more berry picking. I'm a little concerned since we saw one live snake last weekend and one HUGE dead one. With the spillway being flooded the snakes will have to find new homes, like my berry spot.

Speaking of snakes (and I know I'm veering way off the topic of FQF) the only time we ever saw snakes in the lake (Lake Pontchartrain) was after a Spillway opening. Spillway openings also brought alligators and jellyfish (?) to the camp as well as several varieties of "foreign" fish.

I hear that the lake fisherman are upset about the consequences of the Spillway opening but I got'ta tell yawl. we never saw any long-term detrimental effects. Lake Pontchartrain is big enough and viable enough (since the halt on shell dredging) to recover relatively quickly. Hell, even after Katrina the lake was back to normal in due time.

I remember everyone freaking out about opening the spillway when I was in college. I had no idea back then what that meant/the effects on the fisheries and environment. Fisheries officials were really unhappy. But really, that couldn't have been that long ago, 10 years, and I don't remember hearing about it for very long afterwards. Maybe I'm just not in the know, but it does seem a better option than more flooding. Haven't we been through enough of that for a while? Plus, the next year the crabs are great! (from what I hear) lol

First opened in 1937 the Bonnet Carré Spillway is a marvel of simple yet massive engineering. I often say that it's the only thing the Corps of Engineers ever got right. I can't verify but I have a good source who says that some of the original "pins" are still in use (the "pins" are timbers that are in place when the Spillway is closed and raised -- one by one -- when the structure is opened.

My grandad worked on the Bonnet Carré project. He worked for a civil engineering company, TL James which was based in Ruston and did work all over the state. He worked on lots of those kinds of jobs in south Louisiana, mostly in the 40s. That's where my grandmother learned to cook gumbo, turtle soup, etoufée, etc. as she traveled with him then while my mom was a child.