Today is the Fourth of July, the day the United State's Declaration of Independence was officially adopted by the Continental Congress in 1776. It is also Day 8 of our project, and my turn to come up with facts about five states and a food item from one of them.
- Vermont Montpelier is the only U.S. state capital without a single McDonald's restaurant, and the state is one of only four (along with Hawaii, Maine, and Alaska) to ban billboards to protect its scenery.
- Louisiana The state flag features a white pelican, but the official state bird (chosen in 1970) is the brown pelican
- Alaska Because of their massive municipal boundaries, the four largest cities by area in the United States are all in Alaska: Sitka, Juneau, Wrangell, and Anchorage. (Sitka is roughly four times larger than Rhode Island.)
- Georgia The first major gold rush in American history didn’t happen in California—it happened in Dahlonega, Georgia, in 1828. The gold dome of the State Capitol building in Atlanta is actually covered in locally mined gold.
- Iowa The only state bordered by two major rivers—the Mississippi to the east and the Missouri to the west.
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Tony and I didn't have big plans for the day, mainly due to the excessive heat that's been around for the past week. Neither one of us wanted to be outside for hours.
I knew I didn't want to cook today, and would have taken the day off from the project except for the fact I knew that if I chose something from Louisiana there were a number of Cajun and Creole restaurants in the area that would be happy to fill our stomachs. We decided to go out for lunch. I researched which were open on the holiday and gave Tony a list of three to choose from. After some discussion we decided on Sister Cities Cajun.We got there just a few minutes after the restaurant opened, and the chef was in the dining room. When we told him it was our first time there he told us a little about the restaurant and what the most popular items were. We ended up ordering both of them.
My Smothered Catfish had a freshly-fried filet on a bed of white rice and was smothered in shrimp and crawfish etoufee. (I was able to sub out the shrimp for extra crawfish). A piece of cornbread was perched on the side of the plate.
Tony's Dirty Chicken started with a smoked chicken breast on a bed of dirty rice, all smothered in seafood gumbo. It also came with a piece of cornbread
Five years ago today: A Song About America For The Fourth Of July
Happy 4th of July to you, Kathy! The food looks very tasty!
ReplyDeleteBanning billboards is a fantastic thing to do. They are so ugly. I smiled at the white pelican - I suppose it shows up more readily than a brown one.
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