Nicki Lirette Boudreaux

I grew up in Paincourtville, about 5 miles away, but my grandmother lived in Grand Bayou my whole life, and I would go there on the weekends. I was a lot younger than all the rest of my cousins. My mom was 15 years younger than her closest sibling, so when I would go to Grand Bayou, I was one of the only kids around. I would go spend weekends wih my grandmother, and we would play a lot of cards. I would sit under the big oak tree and read. I would just sit and swing on her porch, we would visit her and my great aunts and listen to them tell stories, and we would walk across the bridge and go to the store. I would play cooking under the oak tree with a stick and some dirt. We would play a lot of hide-and-seek with some friends if I was able to bring some. I just enjoyed a lot of the simple things.

Probably just my grandmother in general. I can picture so many things about her she’s been gone now since 1997. My grandmother and Grand Bayou are one in the same. Her house isn’t there anymore, so it’s just…. she was Grand Bayou.

My grandmother’s cooking. Just like any good Cajun, the thing that lives is food. We talk a lot about things Maw Maw cooked and so that’s how Grand Bayou still lives on for me. It’s cooking the things she cooked or trying to cook the things she cooked. So far, I have her spaghetti and vegetable soup recipe down pat. I would say that’s how Grand Bayou lives on for me, is through my grandmother’s food.