My Life With Evangeline

There are several theater experiences I have gotten to enjoy since I was cast in Disney’s Little Mermaid at Theatre Baton Rouge in 2016.  I started seeing shows in 2002 when I went to see 1776.  I fell in love hard with the most beautiful art form I’d ever experienced.  In 2004 I was able to see Evangeline the Musical.  I was so incredibly excited that this was in the season even though most people outside south Louisiana wouldn’t even recognize the show.

Evangeline is a local musical created by Paul Taranto and Jamie Wax.  It is based off of the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  As someone who is very familiar with the story and that of the Acadians I have always found this to be one of my favorite love stories. I recall sitting in my Mawmaw’s living room in 1999 watching the PBS telethon and watching the concert version of this musical.  The story came alive.  The music was beautiful and I was captivated.  I went on to see the show performed by Dunham High School, Episcopal High School and the concert version that was performed at LSU. You could say I sort of became an Evangeline groupie.

While working on the Little Mermaid our stage manager asked me if I would like to ASM Evangeline with her.  On the outside I said yes sure that would be great.  On the inside I was screaming with excitement.  Not only is this a beautiful show that I love but it also comes with a cast of people who cherish it and follow it as well.  I would be working with the amazing director Paige Gagliano who was with the show from the start.  I also got to work with her children Ethan, Gracie and Bailey who grew up in and around this story.  I got to work with Paul Taranto who composed the show and was our music director.  On top of that there were characters that I had grown to love that came back to life in front of my eyes by Andre Chapoy as Father Felician and Celeste Angelle Vellion as Madame Hebert.  Although many of these people have become my friends and collaborators they had already left an impact on my life and it was surreal that I was going to be working alongside them.

I joined the company after finishing up a run ASMing for American Idiot.  I quickly found my place within the family that was created.  I can say with full honestly that I spent every single night with a smile on my face from ear to ear and with a tear in my eye.  Nothing is as precious as hearing the sweet voice of young Evangeline singing “someday I’ll marry you”.  Nothing is more fun than watching the townspeople dance and listening to Matt from Ville Platt sing.  Nothing is as heartbreaking as watching Evangeline and Gabriel’s boats passing in the fog on their journey to find each other.  Nothing will give you the goosebumps as hearing Celeste joining Evangeline singing “Worth the Wait”.

I still can not believe I had the opportunity to work on this show.  I will forever be grateful that I was chosen to be a part of something so special with people who have meant so much to me.  It was my absolute joy to be able to watch this show from the wings every night for weeks.  It was even more magical to capture some of the beautiful imagery as well.

 

For those of you who are not familiar do yourself a favor and listen.

For You Chef Paul

On October 8, 2015 Louisiana lost one of its brights culinary stars, Chef Paul Prudhomme.  This man was a legend in Creole cooking who was famous the world over for his blend of Southern and American style cuisines.  I distinctly remember watching him cook on television when I was little and thinking how cool was his hat and how odd it was that he cooked sitting down.  Now that I am older I can admire him for the amazing accomplishments he has had.  He was the first American born Executive Chef at Commander’s Palace.  He has had a successful restaurant, K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen, since 1979.  His brand of seasonings with his happy smiley face on the bottle can be found in all 50 states.

Today I decided to pay homage to Chef Paul by cooking one of his signature dishes, blackened fish.  Now I don’t have any fresh red fish on hand but I do have some tilapia and a jar of Chef Prudhomme’s Magic Seasoning.  Before I start my cooking I thought I’d read through some words of wisdom from the chef himself with some cooking tips found on his website.

Everyday Cooking Hints from Chef Paul

1. Always use fresh ingredients when available.
2. Always start with food at nearly room temperature.
3. To get the best flavor, remove excess moisture by patting meat with a clean paper towel before seasoning or applying heat.
4. Apply oil to meat or vegetables, instead of in pan.
5. Always start with a hot pan.
6. Season and taste every step of the way.
7. Be careful to not overcook your meat, chicken, or seafood.
8. Make sure to have a good meat thermometer on hand and use it to know when meat is cooked.
9. For more flavor when making sauces or soups that contain meat: season and brown off meat, then set aside and complete sauce or soup. Then add browned-off meat and finish dish.
10. Add butter at the last moment to get the taste, but not the fat.
11. Always remember that whatever is added last to the dish will be tasted first; i.e. garlic, sesame oil, ginger, butter, etc.

Ok now that I’ve learned something its time to cook.  The recipe is simple.  Super hot cast iron skillet.  Very little butter.  Liberal sprinkling of blackening season on each side.  Keep flipping until it becomes flaky.  In theory this seems doable.  Lets see if it really is.

I watched a few YouTube videos first just to see how other people cooked it…you know just in case so I didn’t burn my house down.  Turns out lots of people put a stick of butter in their hot pans and that worked out really well for me.  It didn’t make anything greasy or soggy it was just enough so the fish didn’t stick.  Since I had thin fish it literally took a minute and a half on each side.  This was absolutely the best fish I have ever cooked.   It was moist and flakey.  The seasoning wasn’t over powering it was just enough to make a yummy curst and have lost of flavor.  Do yourself a favor and pick this stuff up!  You won’t be sorry!