Jo and Steve and friend Nate stopped in at our place here last night, on their way home from Florida. They spent the night with us, and after we had breakfast together at the Waffle House, they headed home. We went on to Lake Charles for the "Gumbo cook-off", where about 15 different groups of people were cooking gumbo, which would be judged later on.
Gumbo is like a soup, made with a gravy base, then they add chicken, sausage, shrimp, or rabbit, any or all of the above. It's usually eaten with rice added, and with potato salad as a side dish. For the price of admission, we could eat all the gumbo we wanted.
This is still all part of the Mardi Gras celebration, and there were many people in costumes, people were handing out beads for men and women alike to wear, lots of partying going on, and this all started at 8 a.m. We're not sure why everyone gets so excited about this all. We stayed to watch a parade, where more beads, and candy were thrown to the crowd, then headed back "home".