ShaneMan, you are right about the way Cajuns celebrate. This year, we had a crowd of about 50 people at our host's house. Mostly their family and friends. My wife and the hostess went to high school together (and are still talking), so that is how WE got the invitation. They had a pickup truck with iced kegs of beer. They had a homemade boom box using an ice chest as the chassis. Darned big speakers, too! They were playing country rock because that is what the host's son likes. West of here about an hour or so, you would be listening to a Lafayette, Louisiana radio station playing Cajun music for an otherwise similar gathering.
Anyway, this year's gumbo was based on chicken, sausage, and perhaps a little bit of duck. No gator this year because the host was recovering from heart surgery and just wasn't in the gator-hunting mood. (Darn!) The jambalaya was similarly embellished.
An anthropologist would have a field day with that crowd. Just like it might have been in tribes long ago, light the bonfire and watch the crowds stand back to that point where the heat is just right. Then, as the fire slowly burns down, the crowd gets closer and closer. And all this time, folks are eating, dancing to the music, or smooching under the light of the moon. (Me and wifey did the eating and smooching; her back is not yet ready for the dancing part.) A modern-day tribal gathering!
Rich, roasting nuts or toasting buns, each to his preference.
