Where Y'at!?!! 2000

February 26, 2000 Norco, CA
Having been here about a year and continually boasting about the glory of Louisiana cooking and festivities, my compatriots insisted I finally put up or shut up. A good buddy of mine, Lynden Dunn, agreed to host (and fund) a party if I took care of the cooking. Thus was born "Where Ya’t!?! Mardi Gras turkey-frying, beer-drinking, crawfish boiling, gumbo cooking fiesta!" (see Fig. 1)

It took us about three weeks to get everything in line. Lynden took care of ordering the food and drink. I collected as much cooking equipment as I could. I had to take a couple of days off work since it took a full day to do all the grocery shopping and I spent another thawing and marinating the turkeys. Let's not even discuss the roux.

I cobbled together a handout poster on my computer that didn’t come out half bad and we made sure everyone we knew got one or knew someone who did.

The flyer we made for the shindig.
So on a clear Saturday late in February, I showed up at Lynden’s house with a battery of propane cookers, grandmother’s 12-gallon cast iron cauldron (which I had to have sandblasted and re-seasoned before I could cook with it) as well as my eclectic assortment of utensils and pots.

A buddy who works at a hardware store brought a 3-foot long axe handle for a stirrer. Made my day.

I wore the 1998 New Iberia gumbo cookoff shirt my cousin Paul designed as well as protective gear provided by my friends with the Riverside County Fire Department.

Making cooking magic.

 Over the course of about 15 hours I cooked eight fried turkeys, 120 fried biscuits, 90 pounds of boiled crawfish (the FedEx guy wasn’t real happy about the smell) and about 10 gallons of gumbo.

Also provided was one baked ham, one turducken, a catering plate of fried lumpia and, of course, a king cake.

No Beignets were served.
Some of the guys got really into the swing of things and bought throws and masks to properly celebrate. Lynden really came through and invited all the girls who bartend for him at his various establishments of questionable repute. Later, they really made the bead throwing an authentic experience. God bless, ‘em.

There’s hope for these people yet.

We later estimated about 200 people showed up over the length of the entire party. It was folks from our bar, work, neighbors and a couple of people who heard the commotion and just came on over.

We even were graced with the presence of some fine officers from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department – twice.

By the time it was all over, the bar had been drained of, two gallons of Tequila, one gallon of Vodka, a gallon of Rum, a half gallon of Gin as well as three kegs and 15 cases of beer. An assortment of different shots were offered as well but there is no reliable statistic available due to the conditions of the experiment.
Tom Buckley arrived and then proceeded to cook, bartend and expostulate at great length about the more interesting details of Louisiana culture. I can sense your surprise.

The far end of the bar at about 7 p.m.
It wasn’t until 1 a.m. that I finally got to start really drinking. Here is me, Lynden and the bartender, Shawn, enjoying the fruits of our labors at long last. Exactly one week later people started asking us, "When’s the next one?"

The wild shall wild remain.