Saturday, September 6, 2014

Laissez les bon temps roulez

That's what they say in New Orleans, "Let the good times roll"!  Dayle and I had a doctor check up visit on Thursday at 4:20 -- by the time we got out of there, it was dinner time.  Enter, Teresa, who always knows where a fun place to dine when we're in a different part of town.  We drove through old neighborhoods filled with gorgeous old homes and wound our way to Acadia, which is located on 13th and NE Fremont.  It's a Cajun restaurant and the food took us back to our 5 years of living in Louisiana in the early 70s.  This is Bonnie, our waitress who lived in NOLA for 6 years, so it was fun to share experiences.  In fact, I had to ask Dayle to let her go put our order in.. he was enjoying telling of his days on the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico when he was a helicopter pilot there.


We usually don't have an appetizer, but when Bonnie suggested BBQed shrimp, I heard myself say, that sounds good!  And it was -- the shrimp were cooked on the barbie and then nestled down in a sauce of spicy roux and some crispy French bread to dip in the sauce.  


We both had Crawfish étouffée, and it was delicious!  When we lived in Louisiana we had the opportunity to fall in love with Cajun cooking.  We'd go to the Riverside Inn in Lafayette, where we lived, and have the Crawfish dinner.  Here's what was included -- crawfish salad, crawfish gumbo, crawfish pie, crawfish etouffee over rice, crawfish boulettes, crawfish au gratin and fried crawfish tails.  LOL!


All I can say is I blame my sister Denise for this -- she said the pecan pie was delicious there.. so we had "Pecan Pie with Praline Bacon Ice Cream and Steen's Cane Syrup".  We shared and brought most of the pie home.. groan.  :-)


The restaurant is in a very old part of Portland and was a store of some sort (probably several different shops over the years) but is now this charming "New Orleans Bistro".


Yesterday after swimming I snapped this shot of some apples in our tree.


And Kristi visited her friend yesterday and she sent her home with these fun tomatoes - Kristi took her several cupcakes she made, peanut butter ones with Nutella cream frosting.  We enjoyed the rest!


And I had to show you this -- can you guess what it is?  Kristi found this albino caterpiller!  This is the black and brown striped variety, have you ever seen one like this?  Caleb brought it in to show me and it was very wiggly, I got a quick photo and then sent them both quickly back outside.  :-)


I must tell you that going to that place to eat stirred up a lot of memories for Dayle and I of our time in Louisiana.  In fact, he's been searching through photos looking for some of our time there.  SO, our next post will be a walk down memory lane.  Do you want to see New Orleans back in the day of the early 1970s?  Stay tuned.  We're having a wonderful relaxing day here and more to go tomorrow.  I hope you're having your perfect kind of weekend.
((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

25 comments:

  1. No wonder Dayle liked my airplane photo. He was a pilot.
    I will have to try this restaurant out.

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  2. What a fun place! We LOVE New Orleans! It is a foodie's paradise!! We are actually going in April! When we went the last time, which was our first time, we ate at Brennan's, The Commander's Palace (wow), Mother's, which had the best bread pudding and shrimp Po Boys!! We had coffee and donuts and the Cafe DuMonde, and a most fabulous Muffaletta at The Market Deli!
    I can't wait to go again! I can't wait to hear more abour your experience there too!
    Also, I loved your previous post and the new camera! I tried to comment from my Ipad, but couldn't.
    Enjoy the weekend!!
    xo Kris

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  3. I'd love to see a little of New Orleans, it always sounds so intriguing. Glad you had a good meal, all very exotic! What an amazing caterpillar, I wonder what it will be when it grows up. I hope you both enjoy your Sunday. CJ xx

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  4. Mmmm! That pecan pie and ice cream looks delicious!

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  5. Hey you're sounding very Aussie with your 'shrimp on the barbie' !!! I love hearing about where you live and will look forward to tomorrow's post on Louisiana. Great photos - are these with your new camera? Have a good weekend. xox

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  6. Fun times for the two of you! I'm not too fond of spicy food but the bacon ice cream and pecan pie got my attention very quickly. :-) I'm looking forward to your walk down memory lane. Hopefully there are some pictures of you two in there too.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  7. I don't know if I have ever had any Cajan food, but my husband always planted okra and once I added it to some soup, low and behold I'm sure it was like a gumbo then cause you know what okra does when you cook it that way. He always preferred it breaded with corn meal and fried, as do I. I like shrimp but like it fried or at least dipped in cocktail sauce. Those apples, now tell me are they on the top of the tree, if so, why are the best apples always out of reach, lol. I sure hope you make something good for your family from them, apple pies, applesauce, apple butter, or even caramel apples for Halloween. They sure look good. Why, of course we want to see the pics from the 1970's. That was the year I got married, you and Dayle couldn't have been married long yourselves at that time. Heck, we were all youngsters weren't we. Hope your doctor gave you both a good health report. Have a good weekend friend.
    (((HUGS))) Susanne :)

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  8. Miaaaammmmmm ! I don't know New Orleans but I know the food is good and tasty ! Have a nice day and I'm looking forward to your walk down memory lane....

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  9. Hi Teresa - thanks for visiting, because it gives me a chance to visit your blog.........and I'll be back again, for sure. Besides the Pacific Northwest, we have Cairn terriers in common!

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  10. What fun! So glad you had a wonderful meal and it will be interesting to see your view of New Orleans, a place I have never visited. I have never seen a white caterpiller before!
    Thurs. I met some friends from NY at Multnomah Falls for lunch, stopped at the lavender farm, then visited a friend on Powell St. xx

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  11. Hello Teresa,

    We have never been to New Orleans but we really think that we are losing out. If only not to have tried this delicious looking food. You sound to have had a wonderful time.

    What a difference it makes in a restaurant when the waitress is as cheerful as yours. Somehow it makes everything taste that bit better!

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  12. I want to see anything you want to show me, well except that yummy food that has now made me hungry for something spicy instead of my blueberry muffin. That caterpillar is quite amazing.
    Hugs to you and hope you have a wonderful Sunday,
    Meredith

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  13. Hello Teresa that all looks so delicious and I would have loved to try it!! I'm not so keen on the caterpillar!!! :-) Hugs Anne x

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  14. That looks like a great restaurant. My youngest son is always begging me to make gumbo. My dad worked for an oil tool company when he got out of the Marines so I grew up in TX and LA. We lived in Broussard, LA in the late 70s. But not around New Orleans until we moved to Slidell in 1981 or 82. I worked in downtown New Orleans at a law firm until I moved to Kuwait in 1994 so I know it well. :) Have a great day. Tammy

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  15. Albino caterpillar, indeed. That is a find for sure. nope, not hungry right now. Cajun spicy food not my style. But glad you enjoyed it. Dessert looked good though. Down memory lane photos are fun. Looking forward to that and photos of you as well, in the memory lane post, please. Have a good week!

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  16. Hi sweet friend...everytime I come over here I want to go eat something...you always make me hungry with your lovely food or you make me want to go on an adventure of some sort. You are amazing. Hugs to you and Happy Happy September. xo

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  17. Oh my you eat the most fantastic food lol makes me hungry Teresa....Happy Spring from here xoxo

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  18. Hi Teresa, Great post can't wait to see more too. I have never been to NOLA but it's on my bucket list : )
    The food looks so yummy and low-cal hahaha. Great photos too.
    xoRobin

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  19. oh good grief, now I'm going to have to eat that pie too when we visit in a couple of weeks. Thanks for sharing….good thing I have bike riding planned too..!!

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  20. Okay I would have loved that dessert!!! So happy to ready all of your bright and cheerful posts!

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  21. I hope you'll also be sharing photos of Teresa and Dayle in the 70's. :) I haven't had much Cajun food but it looks delicious. I remember once when I was very young my dad went to Louisiana for work and he brought my mom a jar of crawfish etouffee, in his luggage! I guess it was a short flight and the food was sealed in well. I would love to try it sometime myself. I'm glad you had such a nice time out. :)

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  22. Awhile back I found out that there's a Louisiana connection in our extended family history so I am excited to see any photos from there! Oh BTW, congrats on your new little baby--it sounds like it'll be a lot of fun on trips and at home.
    LOVED the albino caterpillar -- had no idea they existed. Very, very cool!
    Blessings,
    Aimee

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  23. Hi Theresa,
    My name is Bonny and I am the server holding the BBQ shrimp in the above picture. I can't remember if I asked you originally when you took the picture, but I was wondering if you wouldn't mind if I share the picture on mine and the restaurant's Instagram account. I love the color you captured in it. I just looked through your photos of your trip to New Orleans and it looks like you had a blast! It was nice having you and your husband in as guests at the restaurant and I hope you come visit again next time you are in Portland. I'll whip you up the best Hurricane ever!
    Sincerely,
    Bonny MacDonald
    bonnymacdonald@yahoo.com

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  24. Hi Theresa (sorry if you get this message twice, as my internet browser was malfunctioning),
    I'm the server in the picture above, holding the BBQ shrimp.
    I can't remember if I originally asked you when you took the picture, but I was wondering if I could use it on the restaurant and my own Instagram account; I love the color you captured in it!
    I enjoyed looking at the photos of your blog entry for your trip to New Orleans, and I miss it so much, so it was a nice trip down memory lane, after having lived there for nine years.
    I hope that yall come visit us at Acadia Bistro again, next time you are dining out in Portland. I'll whip you up the best Hurricane you've ever had!
    Sincerely,
    Bonny MacDonald
    (bonnymacdonald@yahoo.com)
    Acadia Bistro, Portland, OR

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