Early Mother's Day Surprise
Celebrating Mother's Day is such a joy. I know all to well that being able to spend the day with my two favorite moms is truly a blessing.
Today was special for a few reasons. First, my sister planned everything. Second, the day's activities were unknown to my mom. Though she may have suspected what we were doing, she did a great job of being surprised.
Before we get to the adventure, I have to fill you in on my g-baby. He is five and quite often pretends that he doesn't understand the words that are coming out of one's mouth.
On this Surprise Saturday, he gave me a special treat -- a clay hamburger sprinkled with dog hair. Apparently, this was his peace offering before he turned his activity button from calm, calm to calm, high. Within in an hour, he had popped some cars off of a piece of environmental art; come outside sans clothes; destructed a play area; and let the dog out.
For each of his occurences, he had a semi-sweet jesture. The burger came after the car incident. However, when I sent him back into the house to put clothes over his undies, he smiled and sang "remember, I gave you a burger."
After he let the dog out, he stood at the door and smiled at him as if to say "Be free!" Tiger, on the other hand, had mixed feelings about running past the patio. Luckiky, after about three minutes of coaxing, we got him back into the house. As I fussed about the situation, g-baby announced that he wanted his burger back. Apparently the burger was a set-up.
On to the rest of the day... My mom, sister, and I set-off on a journey. We loaded up the minivan, hopped on Interstate 10 and drove an entire 20 minutes to Lacassine, LA. In this rural town, there is lots of agricultural work going on. There is also a rum distillery.
Bayou Rum uses locally sourced sugar cane to create their rum beverages. We were able to take a tour where out tour guide showed us where bottles are labeled and bottles are filled. He also walked us through the process of distilling from start to finish.
It was quite amazing to learn that in this localy distillary with less than 30 employees, they were able to distribute their products to 45 states and 50 countries. They have four types of rum-- silver, spiced, satsuma, and select. The select is aged in barrels from Kentucky for three long years before it is ready for tasting.
At the end of the tour is a tasting room. Your party can taste the rums. I opted to try the spiced rum and the select. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the spiced rum. It didn't taste like spicy candied liqour. It had a very pleasant light flavor. This is probably one of the first flavored anything that I have actually enjoyed.
I also tried the select. Well, if you like strong, smooth whiskey or brandy, this is the ticket. An ounce or two in the appropriate vessel will make for some great sipping and relaxing. After a few sips, you could definitely feel that warmth in your chest that lets you know that this is the good stuff.
As if that wasn't enough, we had a sip of their cocktail of the day and we were able to sample some great desserts. We received a sample of the two varieties of rum cake that they sell in the store. Oh my goodness... the chocolate satsuma was my favorite. Both were great; however, the chocolate had a delightfully moist texture and the perfect proportion of chocolate love.
At the end of the tour, we revisited the gift shop. There are lots of Bayou Rum branded items. You can take your pick from attire to glasswares. But the best part is that you can leave with your very own bottle of Bayou Rum and one of those fantastic rum cakes. I opted for some novelty drink mixes including a diy "juice" pouch kit, a hot chocolate mix kit and, of course, a cake.
The Bayou Rum Distellery is open year round for free tours Tuesday through Saturday. If you are planning a trip through Louisiana, this might be a great pit stop. Call ahead to reserve a tour time, be sure to identify a DD, and enjoy a quick tour, sips, and souvenirs.
#MothersDay2018