Pain Perdu
Pain Perdu Elda “Sis” Rousseau Guillot’s recipe for “lost bread,” or French toast. INGREDIENTS 1 egg 2 tsp sugar 2 slices stale bread Prep 1 beat 1 egg with 2 teaspoons of sugar take 1 slice of stale bread and coat in the mixture makes 2 slices Cook 2 Put in a skillet with a small amount of oil or butter & cook on both sides. Done in a short amount of time Once cooked top with butter & enjoy!
Ellen Aucoin Grisaffe
Ellen Aucoin Grisaffe Current Hometown: Baton Rouge Grisaffe was born and raised in Grand Bayou. She left when she married at 19. Favorite Thing to Do I enjoyed walking the lane to my grandmother’s house. There were houses along that lane in front of my mother’s house and that lane separated us from the bayou. Favorite Memory Swimming in Grand Bayou. Most Missed The community. It was a very small community but people were either distantly or closely related or lifelong friends. Grand Bayou Traditions I still enjoy walking. My mother liked to garden and I still garden. [I miss] the community. It was a very small community but people were either distantly or closely related or lifelong friends.
Katherine LeBlanc Landry’s Kitchen
Katherine LeBlanc Landry was born in September 1946 in Grand Bayou to Icy “Nice” Rousseau LeBlanc and Murphy “Pote” LeBlanc. She married Lee James Landry and had three children and 10 grandchildren — creating lasting memories with her meals. When Katherine died in 2018, her granddaughter Chelsie Dinino put together a cookbook with all of her “granny’s” recipes. Her collection included her personal favorite: meat pie, a recipe that was passed down from her great grandmother Nice LeBlanc’s kitchen. Chelsie Dinino and her granny, Katherine LeBlanc Landry Chelsie Dinino, center, and her great grandmother Icy “Nice” Rousseau LeBlanc, left, and her granny, Katherine LeBlanc Landry, right. Chelsie Dinino and her granny, Katherine LeBlanc Landry Chelsie Dinino and her granny, Katherine LeBlanc Landry From the Kitchen Cheese Bread Katherine LeBlanc Landry INGREDIENTS 1 loaf French Bread 1/2 stick butter 1/4 cup green onions 1 cup mayonnaise 8 oz mozzarella cheese Prep 1 put butter, green onions, mayonnaise and mozzarella cheese on French bread Cook 2 Preheat oven to 350 degrees Bake until cheese melts Bride's Punch Katherine LeBlanc Landry INGREDIENTS 1.5 large cans frozen orange juice 1 can limeade 1 bottle ginger ale 1 cup sugar (optional) Pineapple chunks Cherries Make 1 combine punch ingredients add enough water to equal one gallon Meat Pie Icy “Nice” Rousseau LeBlanc INGREDIENTS 3 pkgs frozen pie shells (thin crust) 3 lbs extra lean ground beef or ground chuck 1 onion 1 bell pepper 1.5 stalk celery 2 tsp minced garlic 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped 2 tsp Tony’s Seasoning 1/3 tsp salt 1/3 cup oil 1/2 cup all-purpose flour Make Filling 1 chop onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic in food chopper heat 1/3 cup oil on medium fire to dark brown remove from heat and add ground beef and all chopped ingredients quickly stir and cook for 10-15 minutes until meat is brown add 2 tsp Tony’s Seasoning and 1/3 tsp salt cover and cook on low-medium for another 25-30 minutes, stirring every few minutes don’t add water take frozen pie shells out of the freezer and put to defrost while the mixture is cooking start draining excess oil and water that accumulates on top as you check and stir after 30 minutes, remove from heat and drain any other excess oil that comes to the top Bake 2 preheat oven to 350 degrees leave 3 pie shells in pie pans pour cooked ground beef in shells and use additional pie crusts as tops wet fork and pat down edges make several holes in tops of crusts bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown Cracker Pudding Katherine LeBlanc Landry INGREDIENTS 1 box unsalted crackers 3 cans Pet milk 2 cans water 1 can condensed milk 4 egg yolks (save whites for topping) 2 tablespoons vanilla 1 cup sugar Prep 1 with mixer, mix milk, water, egg yolks, vanilla and sugar. break crackers into big pieces in dish or pan then add milk beat 4-8 egg whites with an electric mixer adding about 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoons Cream of Tartar and then gradually adding almost 1/2 cup sugar to the egg whites. Beat until stiff. (don’t add sugar to the egg whites all at once because it’ll weigh down the egg whites and they won’t be fluffy) pour milk over crackers Bake 2 preheat oven to 350 degrees bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown
Living On // Traditions
By Wes Rhodes, Staff Writer People who grew up living in Grand Bayou say it will always have a special place in their hearts. While the small community is no longer habitable for residents, the people of Grand Bayou left behind traditions that still keep the spirit of Grand Bayou alive today. An early Grand Bayou tradition was promoting the love and appreciation between family and friends. Grand Bayou was a small, close-knit community, and the vast majority of the people that lived there were related, says former Grand Bayou resident David Rousseau. Rousseau now lives in Plattenville, La., which is seven miles away from Grand Bayou. He says he recalls a time where everyone in Grand Bayou felt like family. “I remember being able to walk a short distance and being able to be at one my aunt’s or uncle’s houses or someone who was related to me in some type of way,” Rousseau says. “I feel like small, family-orientated communities aren’t very common anymore.” He says those strong family ties that were instilled in him as a child is something he still carries with him. “Family is important to me. I live on the same street as two of my sisters, so we are always getting our families together for things like crawfish boils and LSU football games.” Rousseau says this tradition of family gatherings reminds him of Grand Bayou, and he believes it is something that will get passed down to the next generation. Another tradition that remains with some people who lived in Grand Bayou is food. Nicki Boudreaux, whose family is from Grand Bayou, says the tradition of cooking her late grandmother Mabel Hebert Rousseau’s special dishes is something that not only keeps the memory of Grand Bayou alive, but the memory of her grandmother alive as well. “To me, my grandmother is Grand Bayou. We still talk about the things that MawMaw cooked,” Boudreaux says. So cooking the things she cooked or trying to cook the things she cooked is how Grand Bayou still lives on for me.” Boudreaux says she has her grandmother’s spaghetti and vegetable soup recipes down packed, but she stays away from trying to bake her grandmother’s famous pineapple upside-down cake. “Baking is not my thing, I never tried the upside-down pineapple cake because no one that has tried has been successful.” Boudreaux says like any real Cajun, the tradition that will always live on is food. Some traditions are started by families, while other traditions are created by circumstances. There was no sign of the internet in the 1960s when former Grand Bayou resident Clarence “Bud” Rousseau was growing up; however, he says back in those days he did not need it. Rousseau says there was enough to do outside to preoccupy his time almost every day. “I liked being outside as a kid growing up in Grand Bayou. My cousin and I would go catch crawfish or just go to the bayou and fish for hours at a time when school was out,” Bud says. Bud now lives in Thibodaux, La., and owns a camper and a boat. He says he still tries to get out as much as he can. “I’m much older now so I can’t take the boat out as much as I want, but when I do get the chance to put it in the water it always reminds me of fishing in Grand Bayou.” For Greg Leblanc, Grand Bayou native, the best tradition is picking turtle eggs. He says he used to go down to the bayou side to pick turtle eggs and still continues this fun activity with his grandkids. “Ever since they were two or three years old, I would still pick turtle eggs with them and hatch them,” LeBlanc says. “Had to show them how we did things in the olden days.”
Still Battling // Salt Dome Legal Case
By Emilee Theriot, Staff Writer On August 3, 2012, a sinkhole developed near the Napoleonville salt dome in Assumption Parish. After the sinkhole emerged, various parties filed lawsuits. Now, with the 8th anniversary of the Napoleonville salt dome sinkhole approaching, the legal battle is not done. “In all of my years working at the First Circuit, I have never experienced so many appeals from one incident,” says Rodd Naquin, the clerk of court for the First Circuit Court of Appeal. The lawsuits were filed by locals and businesses to recover out-of-pocket expenses, loss of profits and loss of business, among other damages. Local governmental entities, like the Assumption Parish Police Jury and the Assumption Parish Sheriff, sued to recover the cost to respond and monitor the sinkhole until the environmental disaster was brought under control. Various pipelines and drilling companies brought separate lawsuits against Texas Brine. In each of the lawsuits, the pipeline companies sought to recover damages to their respective inoperable pipelines due to the alleged negligence of Texas Brine’s operation of a brine production known as the OxyGeismer #3 well (OG3). Texas Brine responded to each lawsuit by asserting claims against various parties, seeking recovery for its own damages in the form of reimbursement expense for environmental response cost, litigation expense and lost profits. According to legal documents, Texas Brine began drilling and operating the OG3 well on property Occidental Chemical Corporation owned in 1982. Texas Brine was the sole operator of the well, which was solution-mined for almost thirty years. Texas Brine’s operation of the well provided brine to a plant owned by Legacy Vulcan Corporation (Vulcan). The OG3 well continued to expand the size of the cavern until it approached the Napoleonville Salt Dome’s western edge. A trial was held in Assumption Parish in the fall of 2017 to determine what caused the sinkhole to form and who, if anyone, was at fault. The evidence presented at trial established that the 2012 sinkhole was caused by three primary factors: the proximity of the OG3 cavern to the edge of the Napoleonville salt dome wall, a leak in the OG3 cavern, the plugging and abandoning of the OG3 well and cavern without continued monitoring of the loss of brine and reduction in pressure in the well and cavern. The trial court found the close proximity of the OG3 cavern to the edge of the Napoleonville salt dome was a substantial factor in causing the sinkhole. The close proximity allowed for the solution mining operations to create a thin cavern wall at the salt dome’s western edge At the time of Texas Brine’s drilling in 1982, Hook Chemical Corporation, now known as Occidental Chemical Corporation, owned the land. Vulcan was the mineral lessee of the salt dome, and Texas Brine was the operator of the well. According to the written reasons of the trial judge, the evidence showed that both Texas Brine and Vulcan knew, before the drilling of the well, that the salt dome’s edge was a serious issue that would require the parties to proceed with caution. With Vulcan and Texas Brine fully aware of the edge of dome concerns, Texas Brine continued to supply brine to Vulcan at an accelerated rate until Vulcan sold its interest in the salt dome to Oxychem in 2005. In its written reasons for judgment, the trial court pointed out in June 2008, Oxychem’s expert recommended that Oxychem terminate mining the OG3 cavern and expressed concerns of environmental risk, including the remote possibility of a sinkhole. Oxychem discussed the expert’s recommendations with Texas Brine and both parties possessed the authority to immediately terminate the OG3 operation. The trial court found both parties placed financial and business interests above environmental concerns. The OG3 well was plugged and abandoned in early June 2011. The trial court noted in its reasons for judgment that both Texas Brine and Oxychem failed to prudently monitor the OG3 well by not assuring that the OG3 well cavern reached pressure equilibrium before plugging and abandoning. The trial court found the evidence showed Texas Brine and Oxychem were equally responsible for the untimely plugging and abandoning of the OG3 cavern and its contribution to causing the Napoleonville salt dome sinkhole. “A common theme of this case is that Oxychem, Texas Brine, and Vulcan each placed their economic interests over environmental and safety concerns,” says Trial Judge Thomas Kliebert, Jr. The warning signs were present for each party; however, each party was affected by the financial implications of their actions. On December 21, 2017, the trial court signed a judgment allocating fault as follows: Oxychem was assigned 50 percent of fault, Texas Brine was assigned 35 percent of fault and Vulcan was assigned 15 percent of fault. The trial court assigned the most fault to Oxychem because the court found Oxychem possessed superior capacity over Texas Brine and Vulcan to prevent the Napoleonville salt dome sinkhole. Texas Brine was allocated a significant percentage of fault for negligently operating the OG3 well/cavern system and Vulcan was assigned the least percentage of fault for its actions in the early stages of the OG3 well. The judgment of the trial court did not end the sinkhole litigation. The parties have appealed the trial court’s ruling. Various appeals are pending at the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal. According to Naquin, the sinkhole incident accounted for 80 appeals and 255 writs. “To put that into perspective, one must understand the First Circuit Court of Appeal hears appeals from 16 parishes. On an average month, we may receive 80 writs from all of the 16 parishes. For the sinkhole incident, we received 255 writs,” says Judge Mitchell Theriot of Lafourche Parish, one of twelve judges that sits on the First Circuit Court of Appeal. A three-judge panel of the court typically hears thirty appeals from all sixteen parishes in one sitting. “This one incident produced eighty appeals. That clearly shows the magnitude and the volume of legal activity this one incident in Assumption
Pecan Pie
Crawfish Stew
Crepes
Passin’ A Good Time // Entertainment
By Shaun Breaux, Features Editor When the people of Grand Bayou were not playing or swimming in the bayou, they would often have big neighborhood visits. While there wasn’t anything fancy to do in Grand Bayou, residents say they would find their own entertainment. “Whether it was playing cards or other games or just watching other people do the stuff, we always laissez les bon temps rouler (let the good times roll),” says Grant Gautreaux, a Grand Bayou native. At these popular house parties, people played games like Pedro, a sneaky card game, to Bourré, a trump or trick talking game. “Nothing more friendlier than a pedro winner,” says Barry Schexnaydre, who visited family in Grand Bayou frequently. While the rules varied from parish to parish, finding a South Louisiana native that doesn’t know how to play these games is the exception, says Schexnaydre. Before house parties became the main source of entertainment in Grand Bayou, a fais do do was the place to be. The name fais do do is referred to as a party where traditional Cajun dance is performed. The phrase literally means “to make sleep” and derives from the children going to bed before the party could begin. Street dances associated with festivals are also sometimes called fais-dodo in Cajun culture. Jessica Rousseau Baye, Grand Bayou native, says that when they went out, they would go to Pierre Part or Donaldsonville. “That was, you know, the places where they had bands and music,” Baye says. “We weren’t sheltered from that part, at that age.” Although former Grand Bayou residents say they now find it hard to recall memories of when dance halls in Grand Bayou did exist. The Bon Chance Club was introduced in the 1930s. Bon chance means “good luck” or “good courage,” making The Bon Chance Dance Club the center of entertainment in Grand Bayou at the time. “That would have been way before my time, but yeah there was a little dance hall and they would have dances. My daddy, Howard Dupré Jr, used to play sometimes. He would have a guitar and a harmonica around his neck, play them both at the same time and then sing. I don’t know how he did it all at one time,” says Joey Dupré, Grand Bayou native. Dance halls in Grand Bayou and throughout southern Louisiana flourished well after the early years. A flyer from the Assumption Pioneer in 1976 says, “Deep in your heart, don’t you prefer dancing at the old Gear Room (150 years of dancing pleasure). Music by Herman Couple and his boys every Saturday 9 p.m. to 1 p.m. and Sunday 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Free dance every Sunday except holidays and free supper at the Hulla Hoop every Tuesday.” The bottom of the flyer read, “Hwy 69, Grand Bayou.” GAMES DANCING CRAWFISH BOIL BIRTHDAY PARTY Grandfather Howard’s Birthday Party CARD GAMES HAZEL ROUSSEAU AUCOIN AND KELLY NAQUIN ANDERSON Playing Scrabble A GRAND BAYOU PARTY
Remembering // Mabel’s House
