Lately, I've been craving some beefy noodles in a rich broth, something close to ya ka mein. Don't worry that you're not up on your Cajun or Creole foods if you've never heard of it--it's neither. Ya ka mein is a soup with these main characters: beef, soy sauce, and spaghetti noodles, topped with green onions and a hard-boiled egg. You see it at festivals, fundraisers, and Jazz Fest, and rarely anywhere else. Here's a little background on it, from the Gulf Aid concert in 2010:
Last Sunday, we went to the Gulf Aid benefit concert with some dear friends. It was an enchanting, oh-so-New-Orleans kind of event: walking through Mardi Gras World, where hundreds of floats and float adornments are created and stored; sampling soundly delicious seafood creations by some of the city's best restaurants and caterers; watching the tugboats and barges troll along the Mississippi; listening to heartfelt, intensely dedicated performers like Tab Benoit call us to attention, lest we forget whom we need to help; chanting "Who Dat?!" spontaneously, like a family, because we are a family.
Singing "You Are My Sunshine"--our state song--a capella, at the tops of our voices. You hardly ever hear the final Louisiana-specific verses, and we didn't sing them either, but here they are, in all their sweetness:
