Saturday was SUCH a gorgeous day -- clear blue sky, temperatures in the low 70s, and a light breeze -- that after my pastoral errands and meetings, which took all morning, Big Man and I decided to take the drive to Ponchatoula to get some strawberries. It wasn't the Strawberry Festival or anything, we just wanted the drive and the berries. So we packed Keely into the car and drove over the Bonne Carré Spillway in the gorgeous weather. Along the way, we saw lots of egrets (but no eagles or pelicans as we have on previous drives). At Pass Manchac, the sun glittered beautifully off both Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchatrain.
Ponchatoula was sleepy and quiet and quaint (not like it'll be the weekend of the festival!). We went to the very same young man with a truck full of strawberry flats at the junction of the highway and the main street that we bought from last year. Big Man thought we only wanted half a flat but I insisted on a whole one, since I figured we could unload the other half with my sister L (which turned out to be the case). The strawberries looked almost UNREAL, they were so deep red, so perfect in shape, so fresh. We immediately ate several, straight from the box.
We had noticed a produce stand as we came into town, so we put Keely on a leash and walked over there. (I was a little worried about whether they'd let Keely inside, but they were cool about it.) The open-air but covered stand had lots and lots of goodies -- fresh vegetables and fruit, refrigerated perishables like delicate lettuces, rows of home-made preserves, jams, jellies, pickles and sauces, hot items such as several kinds of boudin, boiled peanuts, and crawfish etouffée, an area where they put together gift baskets of produce and stuff, and an alcove with pottery stuff from Mexico. (If you go, this produce stand is just to the left of the main highway into town that you get on from the first Ponchatoula exit off Interstate 55.)
We picked up a beautiful glossy eggplant, a head of lettuce, some nice tomatoes, a package of prepared angel food cake (to have with the strawberries), and a jar of bread-and-butter pickles with pineapple and jalapeno peppers (really, who could resist that??) and a jar of strawberry fig steak sauce (wow!). After giving Keely a quickie little walk-around, we found places for everything in the car, the inside of which already smelled like strawberries. (I said to Big Man, "This smells so good -- they should make a perfume that smells like strawberries." And he says, "They do, it's for 8-year-olds.")
By now, we're both pretty hungry, and get back to the car for another drive. I had picked out a place in Madisonville that I had heard advertised on the radio that was supposed to have good seafood. Madisonville is the next little town over from Ponchatoula, an easy drive along the main street of Ponchatoula that becomes a state highway as it heads east. As we drove, it was interesting to see how much both little towns had grown over the years, with housing developments of McMansions popping up, despite the rural setting. (It always amazes me how far some people are willing to commute, to either New Orleans or Baton Rouge.) The day was fine, and the air smelled sweet, like strawberries and flowers and spring greenery (but we didn't sneeze!).
Friends Coastal Restaurant turns out to be situated right on the Tchefuncte River in Madisonville, in the "main" part of town, along with late 19th and early 20th century houses, many with tin roofs. The parking lots was full and there was clearly a waiting line, but when we walked in (poor Keely in the car in the shade with the windows rolled partly down), we were told if we were willing to eat *inside* we could get a table right away. The hostess led us, past all kinds of nautical décor, to a table that overlooked the deck on the river. It was the next best thing to eating outside, and it was wonderful to view the river, the boats, and the fancy-shmancy houses on the other side of the river (clearly the new construction side). They even had live music on the deck, a guy on guitar who was not bad.
Friends has a great menu, full of stuff you want to eat, and it took us a while to choose. In the end, we ordered the king crab as our shared appetizer, I got the puppy drum-fresh spinach wrap with a balsamic vinaigrette sauce (yum!), and Big Man got the lobster-andouille pasta (very high on the OMG scale). We also ordered little cups of their crawfish-corn chowder -- mmm, rich! Everything was fantastic, and while we hadn't actually intended to go out and have a $50 lunch, we were not at all sorry.
After lunch, we walked Keely around the little marina, admiring the gorgeous old boats (Madisonville is the home of the Wooden Boat Festival every October). We took that same highway back to the Causeway. Corrugated clouds had gathered over the lake but it was still beautiful and sunny. We agreed that Friends Coastal was well worth the drive and vowed to return soon.
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