Louisiana-style shredded chicken thighs with maque choux & chicken Andouille rice.
And I just finished a glass of absinthe. I used 50% more absinthe, 50% less stevia sweetener, and a little less water this time than the first time. It tasted MUCH better, but too weak. At least it wasn't sickeningly sweet this time. I have both my water bottles half full of ice in the fridge and I'll be making my last drink momentarily. I'll use less water and try filling the glass halfway which will be roughly 69 proof. Once I see the louche effect occur it should be watered down enough. I think it looks whiter this time from the extra absinthe in the water. But it looked even whiter as I added more water and stirred it, which seems contradictory. After I drink the next one I won't worry about it.
Maque choux is a a traditional Louisiana recipe of corn, green bell peppers, and onions, sautéed in bacon grease (because bacon grease makes everything taste better) until softened, and spiced with a blend of Cajun seasonings. It can be served as a side dish, or act as a base for a main meal, and use local ingredients such as bite-sized portions of chicken or crawfish. Shrimp is often added in the later stages of cooking as well. And to some people, even if you spell it crayfish, it's pronounced crawfish. But any Cajun can will tell you they're called mudbugs.
They do some things a little differently in the kitchen there. In French cooking they have mirepoix, a flavor base made from diced vegetables cooked, usually with butter or oil, for a long time on low heat to sweeten the ingredients rather than caramelize them. The vegetable mixture is onions, carrots, and celery, with the traditional ratio being two parts onion, one part carrot, and one part celery. That combination is used lots of places, as a recipe base, or the mixture is used as a stock base, but the Cajun/Louisiana Creole "holy trinity" is onions, bell peppers and celery. Etouffée, gumbo, and jambalaya all start off with the holy trinity.
The only thing I miss about Louisiana is muffuletta sandwiches and I think I only had one, once. And that was probably only a half since the sell quarters and halves at Johnny’s Pizza House. I think that's the right place. It was called Johnny's Pizza and this is a whole chain of pizza places. I think that's the pizza place that had big shakers or red pepper flakes and Parmesan cheese on the tables, too. They describe the muffuletta as, "A hot buttery sesame seed bun with ham, spicy salami, melted provolone cheese, olive mix and mustard. Also includes chips!" I think the bun had garlic butter on it when they toasted it. It was really good either way. The traditional-style muffuletta sandwich from a century ago consists of a muffuletta loaf split horizontally and covered with layers of marinated olive salad, salami, ham, Swiss cheese, provolone, and mortadella. Quarter, half, and full-sized muffulettas are sold. I've seen places online selling olive salad for making muffulettas, and I bought mortadella at an Italian deli here before, so I could put that on one if I find the right kind of bread.
https://www.johnnysph.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muffuletta 
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