You gotta have a shed to store stuff in, at least until it falls apart like this one's doing--then you either buy a new one at Home Depot or stick your stuff in the local storage facility. I was wandering around Lacombe, Louisiana recently--I was actually trying to find a plantation and think I drove right by it without realizing it was what I was looking for. I do that alot, unfortunately. Fortunately, I drove by this shed and it looked so cool that I stopped and took this shot. Being me, I would have loved to have seen what's inside--TREASURE!!--but no one was around and the house on the property didn't look occupied. Plus I'm such a wuss about stuff like that. Those are the times I wish I had my ballsy friends Gwen (note: she is demanding to called a "ballsy bitch"--so there) and/or Meredith (so far, just ballsy) along: they have no fear. Lacombe is a little bump in the road off Interstate 12 between Slidell and Mandeville--the main street has a burger /poboy shop, a retirement home, a cute cottage for knitsters, several boarded up buildings, strip shopping center, post office, the ever-present daiquiri shop/sports bar . . . and Sal & Judy's Restaurant. They serve pasta dishes and great po-boys stuffed with fried srimp or ersters (no typos there), gotta be fully dressed (LOL, the po-boy AND you!), or platters mounded with boiled crabs, fried crabs, crab claws, crab whatever. Beverage of choice is sweet tea or beer--this IS southern Louisiana, after all, so even if it's Sunday you can whet your whistle with an Abita Amber and be happy. Sal & Judy's has a whole line of pasta sauces and salad dressings that were blessed by the gods of the sugar-free diet "Sugarbusters" (started in Lousiana) and they proudly advertise the fact. It's crawfish boil time down here so that's another yummy option at the local restaurants, but of course it's more fun to have a berl (again, not a typo) with ya mama 'n dem. Buy 'em live, watch the little kids grab a couple and let the crawfish grab their earlobes ("Look, MeMe, I'm wearing earrings!"), then throw the critters in a pot of boiling water enlivened by crab boil, corn on the cob, onions, red potatoes, whole heads of garlic, even oranges, lemons and cans of asparagus. Before you have too much beer, remember to punch holes in the cans. When it's all ready, two big guys grab the pot and upend its steaming contents on a picnic table covered with newspaper and everyone, including MeMe, MeMaw, PawPaw, all the Bubbas and Boos, digs in. The locals suck the juice out of the heads but I like to go for the succulent meat and all those extras, especially the corn and the potatoes. If the cook knows what he's doing, he'll have made everything so spicy that your eyes water and your lips puff up to Octomom size. Beer, beer and more beer is the remedy, and a good time is had by all!
