Emeril's One-Pot Blogger Party: Banh Xeo - Vietnamese Crepe

One of the things we picked up from our time living in New Orleans was a love for Thai and Vietnamese food. Never would have expected to find it there, but they've got quite a large community and it shows in the quality of food that you can get in the general area. Another place I wouldn't have expected to find a good Vietnamese recipe would be in a cookbook from Emeril Lagasse. But it was there, and it was a pretty big hit. Banh Xeo is a dish I've never tried in a restaurant so I can't vouch for its authenticity but it's certainly one I'll be making again and I would definitely order it off any menu.

Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo

We moved to Mandeville, Louisiana (just outside of New Orleans) just a day before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. We were there for just a year but the experiences we had in helping to rebuild, the friendships we made and of course the food, will always be a part of us. So this month when the Daring Cooks announced the challenge was Gumbo, I was pretty excited. I had some great gumbo while we were in New Orleans but I've never tried to make it myself.

Mardi Gras King Cake

We've lived quite a few places around the country since we've been married but one of our favorites is certainly our time spent in New Orleans, Louisiana. We were there for just a year but we fell in love with the people, culture and of course the food. One for the best events we were able to participate in was the fantastic series of parades leading up to Mardi Gras. We lived in Mandeville and they hosted some great family friendly parades that the kids loved to go to. It was so much fun standing alongside the parade route cheering and trying to get the best toys and trinkets from floats. We still have bags of beads and trinkets that the kids love to play with just from the one year that we were there.