What a week for great music!
On Wednesday night Harvey and I went to see Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr., perform at the Sliman Theatre in downtown New Iberia. Buckwheat, or Buckwheat Zydeco--as the group is known, has been playing music for more than thirty years, has toured all over the world, and when they came home to Louisiana and scheduled a performance in New Iberia, it was time to celebrate!
Friends on Allen Street invited us over for pre-show sandwiches and drinks. We are not talking about white bread sandwiches, though those are to die for since I never buy white bread. No, these sandwiches were made with homemade focaccia, an Italian flatbread--tender, salty, airy, perfect for enclosing meat and cheese, drizzling with olive oil, or stuffing with herbs and seasonings. Of course, you can do any of those things one at a time--or all three of them at one time. When someone invites you to have a sandwich made with homemade focaccia, don't ever refuse.
Since this was a Buckwheat Celebration, I offered to bring a buckwheat dish, though I had no idea what that might be. Who cooks with buckwheat? I've heard of buckwheat pancakes, but that was out of the question since we already had great bread in the works. Of course, Google came to the rescue. I found what I was looking for at 101 Cookbooks. All of the cookie recipes on this site look terrific, and I can vouch for the Nibby Buckwheat Butter Cookies, though I changed the recipe slightly to Chippy Buckwheat (Zydeco) Butter Cookies--a bit longer title, but a good deal less expensive since my cookies were made with chocolate chips at $3.00 a pound, instead of cacao nibs at $15.00 a pound! I've never tasted cacao nibs, so I don't know what I'm missing. It must be close to a religious experience at that price--and I might pay it one of these days--just once!
The food was delicious and Buckwheat was great! That was Wednesday.
Thursday night's memorable musical performance was part of a series put on by the Performing Arts Society of Acadiana (PASA). The moderator for the evening introduced the performers with these words: This is possibly one of the best performances PASA has ever brought to Lafayette [or something like that]! PASA has brought some terrific performances to Lafayette, so who could blame me for being a little skeptical.
I shouldn't have been. Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer were not just good; they were not just great; they were not just fabulous--they were the best! Each musician is a virtuoso on his instrument. Each one individually has enough talent to hold an audience spell-bound for an entire performance. Having all three on the stage at once, hearing them perform so beautifully as a trio, truly was a religious experience!
That was Thursday. Friday was lecture night with Dr. Glenn Albrecht.
This was Music Week. "Solastalgia" will have to wait for another day.
