2nd Annual Pyrate Day
So, there I was middle of last week, minding my own business, sitting at my desk working on something when my cell phone rang. It was the president of Keep Terrebonne Beautiful (main sponsor of 2nd Annual Pyrate Day) saying that he had just had an EKG and was on the way to the hospital at that moment. While my concern over his condition was serious, my concern over how in the world I would step into his shoes and take over all his duties for Pyrate Day without any of his notes was equally as serious.
Set at the downtown Houma marina on the banks of Bayou Terrebonne, it was the perfect location for the event and had the potential to be a grand day. Pyrate Day was to be much larger this year, with a raft race, a dozen hand-craft vendors, three local food vendors, a children’s tent, and three bands. As Executive Director of KTB, it was my job to make sure this event took place, as we already had about three months of planning invested in it–not to mention co-sponsorship with the parish and the Regional Military Museum, plus multiple advertisements in print, online, and on radio. I called KTB treasurer and friend, Dr. Bee, in a panic. After she talked me off the ledge, we split up the duties and then set about pulling the event together.
The day of the actual event, I was so busy organizing and troubleshooting, that I didn’t get to take my usual boat load of photos, which, by the way, felt very strange! I did manage to borrow a few from those posted on Facebook. As usual, Capt. John Swallow, Q.M. Seika Hellbound, (founders of NOLA Pyrate Week) and Master Gunner Irish Tortuga all stayed at Camp Dularge. If you would like to “meet them” a little more up close and personal, then hop over to WWL TV’s news feature 504 on the Pyrates.
The inaugural “Recycled Raft Race” featured two age groups in two categories for the rafts had to be made constructed from 70% recycled materials, none of which could have previously come from a boat of any kind, including sails. Below is Boy Scout Troop 311 and the brave boaters and winners of the race are Logan Gautreaux and Zach Riche`.
“All Things Peppers” was one of those vendors that really caught my attention, and I hope to do a piece about them soon. They grow their own peppers and make candied peppers, pepper jelly, and pepper vinaigrette, all delicious as can be. Oh, and they introduced me to ghost peppers and scorpion peppers, although I didn’t try either one, yet!
“Lights, Lamps, and Lagniappe” is another little homemade business owned by a woman named Dena. I hope to do a feature about her and her work soon, too. I love her little fish lights and ended up with three because I couldn’t decide on a color. Aren’t they cute?
Another unique vendor for the day were the Blanca Isabel purple-rice folks. You can read all about the natural purple rice and its health benefits here. Courtesy of them and Capt. John Swallow, I’m going to give away a free bag to someone in the comments section of this post OR a jar of ghost pepper jelly.
We managed to get in about 4 hours of festivities before the rain put a slow end to things. I would like to personally thank all the vendors and crafts people again for being such troupers and braving the rainy-weather forecasts. Big thanks also to the Whiskey Bay Rovers who came all the way from Lafayette and provided our only music for the day,. A big bayou thanks to my family and friends who gave up a Saturday to help out: Dotter, Jenny, Kay, and Steph. And last but not least, many thanks to Dr. Bee for keeping me sane through the entire thing! (Special thanks to KTB President M. Porche, who is recovering nicely from his hospitalization last week.)
Please be sure to leave a comment to be entered into a random drawing for a bag of Isabel purple rice. It is soooo good!
Ahoy, mates!
BW
Love reading your descriptions of events, makes me feel like I am there in person.
Thank you, ma’am! Did you know you won the last contest? Been waiting for you to email me!
AARRRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Thats what you’re gonna say when you try the ghost peppers! LOL!
LOL! I might eat them in a pepper jelly or candied, but I won’t eat one raw at all. Never!
Thank you for mentioning us..:). I have not summoned the courage yet to try any of our peppers. The fear of invisible fire consuming my tongue kinda prevents me, lol . It makes for a great tasting jelly though..
If you’d like, you may post the link to the Youtube vide of your father-in-law tasting his first scorpion pepper! Great meeting you and look forward to getting to know you better and try more of your products!
Girl, I knew you could do it!! Not a bit surprised. YA’LL have too much fun! Naw, I am just jealous.
Well, we try to have as much as we can between all our hard work!!!
I think the prize should be a jar of ghost pepper jelly!
How about a jar of “Back to da Ba’yah” pepper jelly? It’s made from ghost peppers!!! Want some?
You know I do!
Sorry the weather didn’t cooperate, although what time you did have sounded successful. Have you mentioned the purple rice before? I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never seen or tasted it.
BTW…I never try something spicy (peppers) without having a glass of milk handy to put out the fire.
I’ve never mentioned the purple rice, and I tell you what. I missed out on fodder for about five interesting pieces for y’all, but I was so preoccupied making sure things went smoothly all day that I just couldn’t relax, carry my camera, and talk to folks. That made me really sad at the end of the day. This rice is non GMO, has very high anti-oxidant qualities. They cooked some onsite in an elec. rice cooker, added a little garlic powder and salt, and I ate it plain. DELICIOUS! It’s a very healthy rice grown right here in La by a family business, and the family was there themselves.
Blanca Isabel (named for the Matriarch o’ the family, the lovely Mrs. Blanca Rush, whom ye met) is also the ONLY rice in the world that is completely Gluten Free!
Man, I’m definitely making plans to come next year! You know RenRed would love to try some of those peppers. We made some candied jalapeños, and they are great! I’d love to try the purple rice. Should have put an order in with you. Will check out the websites.
Love, love, love the fish!
I thought of him when I started reading ingredients! Call me later!
I’ve never heard of purple rice, but I think I’d like to try it. Is it yummy? Nice job on the Pyrate event!
Yes, Carolyn, it is very yummy. They cooked some onsite with salt and garlic and I ate it plain. It was very, very tasty and I like the consistency.
blu be cooking up some forbidden rice with a bit of rosemary to go with my chili…. Instructions are way off on cooking times I think.
Rice cooking time is off?
yeah the package sez 20 minutes or in rice cooker.
I figured it at an hour. Really black licker in pot too.
I rinsed it probably lost all the antioxidants.
Love the photos and I will pass on the ghost and scorpion peppers. I know those things are HOT HOT HOT!! I happen to be married to a pepper lover and both of our kids and a couple of the grandkids love them too so, I plant different types each year. One of our favorites is the longhorn. Looks like the horns of its namesake. I love the light! I thought it was a soda bottle that had been worked on to look like a fish at first glance.
Well, I like peppers too but not those super hot ones. Daddy and I used to play “chicken” with peppers at the dinner table. Fond memories . . . . and I had never seen a fish bottle before. Looks like Blufloyd is familiar with them . . . .
Ahhhhhhh alrighty a Pescevino bottle my fave Italian white table wine for making Italian Beef. Haven’t seen it in ages though….
REALLY? Is that what they are? I figured they were just a cheap reproduction of something . . . and probably are . . . a repro of that very wine bottle you mentioned!
So you saying you drink like a fish blu? LOL
You sound like you are feeling better man, sure hope so.
Blu impresses me more and more every day . . . .
http://www.snooth.com/winery/pescevino/
Hey if youy facebook . helloooo…. anybody??? Please try and find out why I am getting spammed by friend requests. I have no account so no access to the freaking mess that is facebook.
Ok back to whatever…. I just deal with nose and tummy issues.
Blu, does that mean you’re getting emails from Facebook? As a FB user, I don’t get any emails from Facebook other than page view updates if I requested such notification. So, I have no clue why you’re getting those. Anyone else have a clue?
Blu they do me that way, not much you can do, they just can’t stand for someone NOT to be social networking.
Everyday FB send that message, “you don’t realize how many of your friends are looking for you on FB”….LOL
If they are my friends they know I don’t do that….LOL
No I am getting requests from fbookers not fbook….
Looks like ya did a fine job BW. You are just getting out in the public eye, next you’ll be running for alderman or something. You know with all that spare time you have……
Congrats on a job well done. Next year talk to the tribe about doing and anti-rain dance. Maybe J.Paul can help out.
A hearty THANK YE to Wendy, Dr. Bee and all those who helped wrangle this event together with us – a lot o’ hard (and often frustrating) tasks were accomplished with grace and determination! Thank ye to all the fantastic Merchants/Artisans who showed up, setup and welcomed visitors throughout the day inspite o’ the weather (it did cooperate for the most part) – and thanks to the lovely ladies o’ the Terrebonne Parish Library and the fine crew from the Regional Military Museum. Thanks to the fine folks from “Street Survivors” for showing up on their bikes in questionable weather to support us – these folks are fundraisers for many local causes, most helping Children and families (and they added a Boudreaux and a Thibadeax to our Theriot and Cheramie for truly Cajun representation!)…and the folks from Thunder Roads Magazine, Louisiana for helping promote the event & cause farther and wider.
A special thank ye to our Sponsors, Rush Rice Products (Blanca Isabel Rice), Louisiana Spirits (Bayou Rum), Pirates Alley Cafe (New Orleans)…and o’ course Camp Dularge – our sanctuary in the Bayou!
The spirit o’ the Bayou and all our ancestors certainly was with us – everyone had a grand time!
What a wonderful event. It sounds like it had just the right mix of music, food and fun events for people to participate in or watch. That purple rice is intriguing. I’ll have to read to see if the color’s natural or if they’ve developed it to match the LSU colors. Up in College Station, where the Texas A&M colors are maroon and white, they’ve developed maroon this and that among the veggies, for fun and (I suppose) profit. The first time I saw a maroon carrot, I nearly died. Tasted good, though.
It’s good to hear Mr. Porche is recovering nicely, too.
@Shoreacres…FYI, maroon carrots weren’t develeoped – they’re supposed to be that colour! “Heritage (or Heirloom) Carrots” are the “origina of the species” if ye will – and while they do occur in orange, they grow natuarally in purple, white and yellow too! Applies to most vegetables (heirloom tomatoes are not red – sort of purple-brown-green mix).
Usually taste better too…
If ye really want a treat, try some “heirloom cacao” (a debated terminology – but basically, the REAL Cacao from whence the original, very good for ye, chocolate comes from!) http://www.naturalnews.com/029628_cacao_chocolate.html
Oh, my. Pyrate Day sure sounds like something that would be right up my alley. Pyrates, rice (Purple? Really? Cool!), rafts, crafts and PEPPERS!
Those fish lights are neat looking.
I love my hot peppers and hot sauces but I’ve never gotten too terribly high up the Scoville Scale. I can manage jalepenos and cayennes but the thought of eating a scorpion or ghost pepper kinda puts the brakes on! lol
I’m not surprised to hear that you were able to pull off taking over the reins. I knew you could do it.
@Gue’ – ye might be surprised by how far up the Scoville sacle ye can travel – safely – with folk who know what they’re doing, like “All Things Pepper”.
While the heat is important, the FLAVOUR is paramount! Smoked and blended in proper proportions with appropriate added ingredients, something as hot as Trinidad Scorpions becomes extremely flavourful – and with heat, but not burn.
Most “hot sauce” on the shelf is only concerned with being hotter than the next guy – and totally devoid of flavour (most have the same 3 ingredients and the peppers aren’t smoked or properly marinated). I know a chap who makes his own sauces and the “tame” sauce uses Ghost Peppers…his latest includes Mouga Scopion and Maple Syrup!
Capt. John, you’re so right about flavor being paramount. While I like the heat, if it doesn’t have a good flavor, I won’t use it.
No offense to anyone that likes it but I hate Texas Pete and it can be hard to find anything else locally.
I found some Hell’s Kitchen Hot Sauce at Big Lots one time and it was great. It must have been a one time thing, as I haven’t seen it since. The local grocers don’t carry much of a selection.
What I’d like to find is a hot sauce hot and tasty enough for me but will burn the bejesus out of anyone at work who helps themselves to it from the break room icebox without asking first! I’ve tried putting my name on it, a note to ask first, etc, etc and when I go to get some, the bottle is mostly empty. Or gone. Grrrrrrrr………
I keep crushed red pepper flakes and chili powder in my desk drawer to spice up my soups and whatnot for lunch, since I’ve had no luck keeping sauce in the icebox.
Gue I don’t think I ever kept hot sauce in the reefer. My tabasco, Louisiana Hot sauce, Pick a Pepper, Tiger Sauce, They all sit in the cabinet with the spices. I always figured they were brined……
Same with Mayo, it doesn’t need to be kept cool, but once you cool it, it has to be or it breaks. Unrefrigerated fresh eggs last a couple a months at sea in the bilges and its just egg whites. And old Cajun man and his wife that lived in a shack on a spud barge taught me that.
They might separate, but they always did in the old days and ya just stir it back up or shake it.
People think I’m crazy when I tell them this truth about eggs, especially if they are FRESH and have never been refrigerated. My father-in-law was a shrimper, and with a tiny ice box, the eggs took up too much room, so they sat on the counter in the galley. No need to refrigerate at all, at least for their short voyages. I don’t refrigerate my hot sauce, either. Not mustard, not ketcup (?), but I do mayo. I guess, again, because Mamma always did and it contains egg. It’s great to see y’all are carrying on the conversation without me. I have been “swamped”, no pun intended!!!!!
Did you know that if you refrigerate your Tabasco sauce that it will never turn that yucky brown color?
Iffen THAT’S the case, I’ll stash a bottle at my desk.
Been using the Try Me brands (Louisiana Sunshine and Cajun Sunshine), which I can find at one or two local grocers.
As mentioned, most of the stores carry Texas Pete or yer basic Tabasco and that’s about it.
When I find something different, I grab it and give it a try.
Captain John, does your friend sell that sauce w/maple syrup? I would love to try some.
Gue, I am Texan and I don’t like Texas Pete sauce either. I do like Franks in my stews and soups and hubby is addicted to Tobasco. You can sign up on Amazon to be notified if/when the Hells Kitchen sauce becomes available again. My daughter loved a particular hot sauce that we bought at the farmers market but, it was discontinued and she can’t find another to replace it. I hate when they do that with favorite foods. Tease us with them then quit supply them. UGH
Uncle Nathan’s Hot Sauce – made in Hamilton, ON (Canada)
That one is called FML (Flaming Maple Leaf)
I’m sure he’d ship it if ye ask – it’s all available by the case (get an assortment) or usually in sample packs o’ 3 bottles!
Tell him I sent ye…
http://www.unclenathanshotsauce.com
https://www.facebook.com/UncleNathansHotSauce
FYI, his sauces include twenty two ingredients including roasted garlic, ginger, apple, pineapple, along with fresh herbs. All Natural, Gluten Free
thanks, I’ll check those out. With the dearth of sauce choices around here, I may be forced to break out and use the credit card!
There was a place downtown in the Tourist Mecca Area that carried dozens of different hot sauces but I think they closed. I hate going down there. Too many people and no parking.
I recall the place ye mentioned – mostly filled with “burn yer a##” type bottles – nothing o’ flavour.
Outside o’ a good sauce, I’m partial to “Slap Ya Mama” spice blends – good flavour, nice heat, no MSG or weird ingredients. Sadly, MSG is in MANY Louisiana based spice blends…and while we used to put it on popcorn back in the ’60s before we knew better, it should be avoided (often what affects folk poorly in spice blends – not the spice!).
Wendy, it was great to finally meet you Saturday at the Best of the Bayou See ya next time around!
Oh the pleasure was all mine! It’s great seeing families working together! And I love the crab apple jelly, too! I’m planning to pull out all 4 flavors next time we grill duck breasts and see which one is the favorite of my family! Look forward to seeing you at next year’s Third Annual Pyrate Day on April 5th.