Driving Across America: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama

5/17 I called and made a reservation for dinner at John Besh’s La Provence! He spoke at my 2008 graduation from the Culinary Institute of America. Claire and I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out on the south side of Lake Pontchartrain. Getting some ideas of where we want to be around this area on the boat! We plan to sail the bayou area and hopefully live and work here for a season. We loved the dock houses. Visited SYC, the Southern Yacht Club, gorgeous facilities. Took the extremely long bridge across the lake to Mandeville where La Provence is located in a farm setting. Had an amazing dinner. When I called to make the reservation Kerry (the maître d') and I got to talking. When she asked what time I wanted the reservation for I replied, “well when does the kitchen close?” I must have shocked her and she asked what I did for a living [to be so courteous]. I gave her the short story about John Besh at my graduation, my culinary background, plus Claire and mine’s travels; we would be passing through and wanted to stop by. The entire staff was thrilled to have us! We were spoiled rotten. Claire did a marvelous job keeping up with my eating abilities. We had over 8 courses, plus a delicious Rhone wine. After dinner we got on the road, heading to a campground about 2 hours away in Pensacola Florida. Claire instantly fell into a food coma. 

We had quite the ordeal trying to find the campground. We got pretty close to it, but La Sancha was not equipped for the sandy roads. We stopped to look at the map, windows down because the dark tint is hard to see through at night, and Piña jumps out!! Most likely chasing a moth, her favorite past time. We jump out frantically, chasing her with our Dorcy spot light. I find her meat loafing behind a bush, and toss her back in the car. On the road again, we pull into a closed gas station to continue studying our possibilities on the map. A semi-intoxicated driver pulls into the parking lot. It’s about 3:00AM. He tells us “I saw the volvo and said to myself, lost hippies!” He gives us directions to Navarre where we popped the tent on the beach around 4:30AM

Lake Pontchartrain

we miss our boat

this is how we want to live!

SYC (southern yacht club)

charts of louisiana

driving the long long bridge across lake Pontchartrain

Here's the link. Click it.

foie mousse

beet salad

quail gumbo. it was stuffed with rice, veggies, and all the fixin's! crack that crunchy skin open.

oysters oh lala

wild boar raviolis

our delicious rhone

seared gulf ahi

house made rolls

mmm rabbit