Potluck Pitch-In

Three weeks before the wedding of Ron and Justine, The Colonel and I made a trial-run, half-batch of the Creole Red Beans and Carolina Purlow Rice that we wanted to take to the wedding reception potluck. It was so very delicious and would be perfect to take as a dish for the potluck. 

The Colonel found the recipe on line from Sense and Edibility. Once we knew that the recipe was a winner, The Colonel began getting the ingredients in order (for a full batch) so that they would be easy to transport for the 16-hour drive from Florida to Missouri when the time came. First he bought the bacon and andouille sausage, cut it up and froze it. Next, he got together all of the dried herbs and spices and put them in a sealed, glass jar. He sorted the red beans and sealed them in a 2-gallon zip lock bag. The Colonel would buy the fresh ingredients, onion, green bell pepper, celery, garlic, jalapeno and tomato paste from a store when we arrived in Sainte Genevieve. He measured out the dried rice and put that in a zip lock bag as well. 

We wanted to put our potluck dishes in something nice. I suggested terrines. We visited our local Goodwill store and to our amazement, found two terrines right off. They would be perfect. One of them had what looked like a crack in it. When we got them home, we filled the "cracked" one with water and left it in the sink overnight. No leaks! We also purchased serving spoons from the local dollar store. We had no intention of bringing the terrines or serving spoons back to Florida. 

Time to hit the road...we packed the truck and especially made sure we had all the bean and rice fixings with us and our favorite pot to cook them in. We also packed our crockpot (and bought a smaller one for the rice at a Walmart near Ste. Gen.). Not knowing if our Air B&B would have a sharp knife and cutting board, The Colonel also packed those. 

We stopped for the night about 5 hours outside of Ste. Gen. When we gassed up the truck the next morning, we also purchased a couple of bottles of water...it was time to start soaking the beans. The Colonel opened the huge zip lock bag and poured the water over the dried beans. The bag was then placed in a large plastic bowl with a lid. 

We arrived in Ste. Gen. and checked into our Air B&B on Thursday. We would begin cooking the beans that evening after we had dinner at a little restaurant down the street from us. We wanted to cook the beans then, because as we all know, beans, soups and stews taste better when they have a day to meld together all their yumminess. 

Time to start the beans...The Colonel began to sauté the bacon and sausage.

Then came the vegetables.

In went the soaked beans, herbs and spices and the water.

The beans cooked until they were tender. It was time to cool them down so that we could put them in the little, college fridge in the kitchen. I suggested we fill the sink with ice and put the bean soup back into the big plastic bowl that was used to soak the beans in and put the bowl into the ice-filled sink. That did the trick. Soon the beans were cool enough to put in the fridge. The fridge needed a little help to keep the beans cold enough, so we put the ice in the sink into a zip lock bag and set that bag on top of the plastic bowl in the fridge. Perfect. Now to let them meld until Saturday morning.

Saturday morning arrived and it was time to get the beans warmed up for the wedding reception. The  Colonel woke up at 6 am to start the heating up process. He put the cold beans in our large crock pot and put it on high. We stirred them occasionally. While the beans warmed, The Colonel began cooking his rice.

The rice recipe was a purlow style (a rice that starts with a flavorful base). The Colonel chose to use four rashers (a thin slice of bacon), boiled in three cups of water. Once the rashers were completely cooked, they were removed and the 1-1/2 cups of rice was cooked in the bacon flavored water.

When the rice was done, The Colonel transferred it to the small crockpot to keep it warm.

We took our crockpots of red beans and rice to the house where the wedding reception would be later and plugged them in to keep everything warm. We had our two Goodwill terrines with us too and two large serving spoons.

When it was time to set out our dishes for the reception, The Colonel spooned the red beans into one of the terrines. It looked like an old 18th century terrine. Perfect. 

The rice went into the other terrine.

The Colonel made signs for the red beans and rice. He even put a QR code on the bean sign that once scanned, would send you to the recipe he used. One of the other guests loved the beans and told us she scanned for the recipe. That pleased The Colonel very much.

All of the food we partook of at the potluck was delicious but I must say, I think The Colonel's red beans and rice were the most delicious and I am not just saying that because he made them (okay, well, maybe just a little).

Night of the Werewolf

The second time The Colonel and I visited Sainte Genevieve, Missouri (that was when we first met Ron and Justine from YouTube) was in October of 2023. Because we had been watching Ron and Justine's YouTube channels, we heard, through them, about a very interesting event being presented by The Centre for French Colonial Life. When we heard about the event, we knew we had to attend.

The event was called Nuit de Loup-Garou or Night of the Werewolf. It was held on the third Saturday of October and the weather was perfect. The event is an annual, family-friendly one designed to share the lore of the early French settlers and their love of fun social family gatherings while offering some educational activities before Halloween approached.

While staying in Ste. Gen., we lodged in a very beautiful log cabin. It had been a former corn crib built c. 1840.

The upstairs bedroom.

The downstairs bed, right off the front door and across from the sitting room.

There was a microwave hidden in a cupboard along the wall, perpendicular to the sink.

There was a television hidden behind the quilt on the wall of the sitting room.

Such a darling place and Kandye who owns and runs the Air B&B (Sassafras Creek Cabin) was so very friendly. It felt as if we had known her forever. 

Evening was approaching and it was time to head to The Centre for French Colonial Life and the Nuit de Loup-Garou. Ron and Justine are associated with the Centre and would be key players in the night's program. We briefly spoke with them before the program began.

A little history about werewolves...The word werewolf literally means man-wolf. Werewolves are thought to have been purposely placed under a curse or affliction from a bite or scratch of another werewolf. Their transformations happen on a night of a full moon and they return to their human form by day.

By the Middle Ages, many Europeans believed wolves were instruments of the devil and so they were hunted. Trials of supposed werewolves emerged in what is now Switzerland in the early 15th century and spread throughout Europe in the 16th, peaked in the 17th and subsided in the 18th century.

When hunting werewolves, the French did not want to kill them, they regarded them as a human gone astray and believed that there was a possibility that they could be redeemed. 

It was time for the night's program to begin. The Colonel and I joined the others around a roaring fire. An 18th Century French priest told tales of the werewolf.

The town's Militia were on duty, awaiting the call to arms and to patrol the nearby streets to protect us from possible werewolves.

Suddenly, Justine ran into the Militia's camp and told us that she and her fiancé Ron had been walking together when all of he sudden an animal attacked Ron. She believed it was a werewolf. Soon the call rang out. A werewolf had been sighted and Ron was missing. It was feared the werewolf had bitten him and he was now in danger of becoming one himself. Ron, must be found. The Colonel and I, as well as others, joined the Militia and Justine as they walked the shadowy, dark streets of historical Ste. Gen. by lantern light. We all called out Ron's name as we searched for him by street and alleyway. The Militia's boot steps rang out and echoed against the homes that were clustered along the streets.  All of the sudden, one of the Militia men shouted he had spotted the werewolf on the porch of one of the old houses.

A shot rang out and the Sulphur smell of the riffle's smoke filled the air around us. The shot missed its mark and the werewolf escaped. Our search for Ron continued. Finally, Justine spotted Ron standing on a wooden fence. It was as we had suspected, he had been bitten and was now a werewolf himself.

Justine pleaded with Ron to come to her so that she could help him. The Militia shot at the beast that was Ron and he disappeared only to reappear along the fence he had been standing on moments before.

Justine was able to coax the beastly Ron to come closer to her. When he was close enough to her, he grabbed her and tried to carry her off. The Militia fired their guns in order to scare him away from Justine. He released her and then the Militia surrounded him, fell upon him and subdued him.

They carried him to the Militia camp and tied him to the fence.

If it were possible, the Militia wanted to save poor Ron by shooting him, not to kill, but to wound him. Only special silver bullets that have been blessed with holy water and marked with the holy cross could be used. When the werewolf's blood comes in contact with the blessed silver bullet and holy water, the curse is broken and the werewolf returns to his original human form.

It was a success! Ron was once again returned to his human form.

Justine ran to be by her fiancé's side. After Ron's redemption, there were tours of the Bolduc House, s'mores and apple cider for those who wanted them.

But where did the werewolf go that attacked Ron? It was not seen again that evening. Perhaps the Militia's gunfire scared it away? Or maybe not...

The Colonel and I loved participating in the werewolf event. What fun! We always enjoy our time while in Sainte Genevieve, Missouri.

The Wedding of the (18th) Century

I know, I know, where have I been lately? Well, The Colonel helped to put an old photo editor back onto my computer (one I am most comfortable using), so now I can edit all the photos I have been accumulating since my last blog post. I promise you that there will be some interesting posts coming. I have, as you can imagine, quite the backlog. I have just edited some photos of an incredible wedding that The Colonel and I attended in historic Sainte Genevieve, Missouri on May 11th of this year, 2024.

It was our third visit to Ste. Gen. and each time we go, we fall in love with it again (three people told us we should buy a house there...a sign from God?). We arrived in Ste. Gen. two days prior to the wedding. As we came into town, we drove past a couple who were eating outside on the sidewalk on a little café table and chairs. They just happened to be the couple whose wedding we would attend two days later. We pulled up to them, The Colonel rolled down his window and asked if they knew about a wedding happening this weekend. They were surprised and glad to see us. They weren't sure if we would make the 16-hour drive up from Florida to see them get married. We said we wouldn't miss it for the world.

Here is the backstory on the young couple and how we met and were invited to their spectacular wedding...

During the height of COVID, The Colonel and I began watching Ron and Justine on YouTube. Justine cooks historic recipes, or called receipts in colonial times, over a hearth's fire on Early American (https://www.youtube.com/c/EarlyAmerican) and then she and Ron eat the food and talk about it, a chew and chat, on their other YouTube channel, Frontier Patriot (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0t3mcaVPodGgETsPRlLiHQ/videos). They wear colonial clothing in their videos. Ron and Justine are also living history educators. 

Our last visit to Ste. Gen. before this one, was in October of 2023 (that is a story for another post). We had gifted Ron and Justine some money to go towards their house build before that visit. We let them know we would be back in Ste. Gen. soon and they suggested we meet them for lunch when we were in town. They wanted to thank us in person for the monetary gift.

The Colonel and I were tickled pink. We were going to meet the YouTube stars we had been watching for a couple of years. Our daughter calls them our "YouTube friends". It was good to see them in person (I was a wee bit nervous to meet the YouTube stars). We ate at one of the local restaurants called the Old Brick House. The house was built around 1800 and is one of the oldest brick buildings west of the Mississippi River. The food was delicious and served buffet style. While at lunch, The Colonel and I gave Ron and Justine their wedding card (7 months early). We had enclosed another monetary gift for them to put towards further house construction or the upcoming wedding. They were surprised and very happy. The Colonel and I were going to pay for lunch too but Ron had paid for it before we could. Ron and Justine are genuine, they are who they are on YouTube. They were a joy to talk with and dine with. They are a sweet couple. After lunch, The Colonel and I had one more gift to give them...a gift basket filled with Florida themed items. One of the items made it on one of their channels, the alligator shaped chocolates. We even put a toy in the basket for their cat Mish Mish. Here are Ron and Justine the day we had lunch with them.

On one of their channels, Ron and Justine put out the invitation to their wedding to all their viewers. It would be a potluck on the grounds of Fort de Chartres in Illinois and everyone in attendance would have to be in colonial clothing. Well, things changed and the new venue would be the yard behind an old French house in Ste. Gen. called the Bolduc House built circa 1792. It would still be a potluck (The Colonel would bring a Creole Red Bean and Rice dish...another blog post) and colonial garb required. Since the venue changed, Ron and Justine had to cut the guest list down to a couple hundred. If you received an invitation in the mail, you were invited. Our invitation arrived in March. We ordered our colonial clothing ASAP from Samson Historical.

So...we arrived two days before the wedding (Thursday) and the next day we were walking around town, looking at the historical houses and who do we see but Ron and Justine working on pre-wedding setup in the back yard of the Bolduc House. They took time out to speak with us. We told them that we were at their beck and call if they should need us to help with anything. We had given them their wedding  card and gift back in October of 2023, but we still had one more thing to give to them. We gave them a "wallet" filled with Cracker Barrel gift cards and some cash that they could use on their honeymoon trip. They both love to eat at Cracker Barrell and Justine likes to go antique hunting to purchase things for their house which will be decorated in the 18th century style but have some modern amenities. They both laughed when they saw the gift cards. They said they would be 30 pounds heavier when they got back from their two-week honeymoon (they are going to Washington D.C., Jamestown, Williamsburg, Monticello and Mount Vernon. Justine will be able to cook in Mount Vernon's kitchen. They also are having their whole wedding, pre and post as well as their honeymoon filmed by a professional company who will make a 2-hour documentary about it all. It will be called "My Big, Fat, 18th Century Wedding). We said our goodbyes and that we would see them at their wedding the next day.

The Colonel and I had a delicious pasta dinner at Oliver's that evening. The restaurant was directly below our Loft. The food was very delicious and plentiful. The husband and wife team were a hoot. After dinner, The Colonel and I had to walk off some of that pasta. Who did we run into but Ron again. We told him he should be home resting that evening before his wedding. He said he was to meet Justine, General Washington (a man who portrays him at Mount Vernon) and the Samson's (a young couple from Indiana who own the Samson Historical A Colonial Outfitter) for dinner. We said have a great dinner and we would see him tomorrow early so that we could help if needed in preparing the wedding venue.

Wedding Day! Mish Mish and Alfred welcome guests as they sign the guestbook.

The Colonel and I showed up at the Linden House's (c. 1813) back yard at 9:30 am. That would be where the reception would be held. It was just across the street from the Bolduc house where the wedding ceremony would take place.

The Colonel had to take our two crockpots into the Linden house's kitchen and plug them in to keep his Creole Red Beans and Carolina Purlow Rice warm for the potluck later. Ron put us to work. He asked us to cover the plastic pots the two rose plants were in with some sheer, green cloth. The plants would be flanking the bench used in photo ops. Ron also asked us to help his mom with anything she needed done. The main thing we helped her with was the charging of the tiny glasses with Madeira for the toast General George Washington would make for the newlyweds (about 160 of them. The night before, The Colonel and I purchased the liquor pouring spouts to assist in the pouring and are we glad we did).

We helped a bit more until it was time for us to head back to the Loft and change into our colonial attire. When we were dressed, we strolled down the three short blocks of Rue Principale (Main Street) to the Bolduc House's back yard. We felt and looked as if we had time-traveled 250 years. When we arrived, we mingled with General George Washington and King Louis XIV of France and his Queen.

Soon it was time to take a seat. The chairs were inside the fenced Bolduc House yard. There was a crowd of people standing outside the fence, watching the whole affair. I felt honored to be one of the invited guests, within the fence, to this historically-themed wedding.

The guests of honor were announced by the bell ringing town crier. First the King and Queen of France and then General George Washington.

Ron rode his horse up the isle and to the wooden arch he made (and stained the day before). He dismounted and passed the reins to one of his sisters and then stood awaiting his bride's arrival.

It was time for Justine's arrival. She was on the arm of her father and looked radiant in her bridal gown made in France.

It was a very beautiful wedding and the weather was perfect.

The newlyweds then left to have photos taken and the town crier rang his bell (he rang it throughout the day to let the guests know what was to happen next) to tell all guests to pick up their chairs and make their way across the street to the Linden House's back yard for the reception.

The Colonel and I set our chairs at a table and then made our way to the kitchen to put his rice and beans in two terrines we brought with us. We set them on the table which held all kinds of delicious foods brought by other guests. While Ron and Justine were having photos taken, there were several plates of appetizers to feed the waiting guests before lunch was served.

The sun was beaming down upon the tables, so the town crier rang his bell to announce that all the men should move the tables into the shade and we ladies helped to move the chairs. Much better.

We guests visited with one another as we ate some of the appetizers. The Colonel and I introduced ourselves to Mrs. Samson (of Samson Historical) and let her know we were also Hoosiers who now live in Florida. She said we needed to come back to go to some of the historical reenactments they are part of back in Indiana. Who knows, maybe one day, we have the clothing for it.

Finally Ron and Justine arrived. They cut the cake with General George Washington's sword and gently fed one another a piece of cake. Justine and her soon-to-be sister-in-law made the cake. It was a receipt from 200 years ago. It was delicious! General Washington then gave a lovely toast to the newlyweds. All who wanted some Madeira got a glass. I personally brought the General's glass to him on a silver tray.

Ron and Justine painted their cake topper to look like them in their wedding attire. I think they did an excellent job.

Justine is half Assyrian on her mother's side and after the cake cutting ceremony, her uncle played a Zurna (a reed wind instrument) and her cousin played a drum. It was a very nice blending of the cultural tradition of Justine's family.  After the toast, it was time to feast. The long tables covered in white tablecloths were heavily laden with delicious foods: Smoked chicken and pork, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, soups, homemade bread and butter and of course our red beans and rice (that was completely gone by the end of the feast). The wedding cake was excellent too and the Madeira honeylike. 

After feasting was dancing. Ron and Justine had their first dance as husband and wife and then others joined in a colonial Contra dance. The music was provided by Dennis Stroughmatt and his two band members. They played French Creole music for the dances and throughout the reception. It was very toe-tapping.

Before The Colonel and I left the wedding festivities, we had our photo taken with Ron and Justine (notice the green cloth draped on the rose pots).

We wish all good things for Ron and Justine. Their wedding day will be one we will never forget.