A friend of mine wrote a post yesterday on "lagniappe" and it got me to thinking. Lagniappe is a word taken from Spanish yet most commonly used in Louisiana French which broadly means 'an extra or unexpected gift or benefit'. It was originally used to describe a small gift presented by a shop owner to a customer with the customer's purchase; like a baker's dozen of rolls. It is used most often in Southern Louisiana and Mississippi, especially in the New Orleans area.
My first experience with lagniappe was by way of a local restaurant by that name in the early 90's. It was a Cajun French eatery that heavily favored the French side. The servings were tiny...and if you have ever been seated at a real Cajun's table, you know that the food is plenteous! Every time I see that credit card commercial where the couple is finally able to go to dinner at the fancy new restaurant only to storm the convenience store afterwards because they are still hungry, I think of this place.
The next time I saw the word was in Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen cookbook. There are bits of information at the end of some of the recipes that give a little better explanation of ingredients or shortcuts. In the definitions area, Chef Paul describes lagniappe as 'a popular term in south Louisiana...means "a little something extra" - as a gift or a show of appreciation'.
Well, I was the unexpected recipient of 'lagniappe' yesterday. I received a telephone call from my sister just before noon asking me to meet her to do a little shopping. She and her husband were in town for a business meeting and she had some extra time on her hands. I quickly finished my work so that I could leave right after lunch. We had the best time, mostly window shopping. Even though we get to see each other four or five times a year (and I just saw her two weekends ago) we rarely get to spend time one on one.
We ate a light lunch at Cheesecake Factory and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the Galleria. Later we met up with our husbands for a late dinner at Sullivan's Steakhouse and visited a little longer in their hotel room before heading home at 12:40 AM!!!! It was a wonderful 'little something extra' that I had not planned on, but enjoyed immensely.
So, here is wishing you a little 'lagniappe' in your life today!
2 comments:
How sweet lagniappe has certainly entertained my mind over the last few days. I was looking in the dictionary just last night for the word.
What a wonderful day for two sister to share "a little something extra".
How nice that you were able to spend some 1on1 time with your sister.
I first heard the word lagniappe when DH and I went to a nice fancy dinner in Anchorage (the chef trained under Emeril) and while we were waiting for our food the server came with lagniappe from the Chef with some of the things he wanted to try that wasn't on the menu. At first, I thought it was the name of the dish... :)
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