Great food, great shopping, and great adventure awaited 46 members of the Peoples Bank Platinum Club who headed for Slidell, Louisiana last Thursday.
The first stop brought the group to the Bayou Country General Store, where they browsed and bought Cajun spices, mixes, dips and hot sauces, cookbooks, aprons, home decor and homemade pralines.
Then it was on into the city of Slidell on Louisiana’s Northshore for the unique experience found at the Passionate Platter. Owner Linda Franzo first treated the Platinum Club to an Herb Garden Tour, where she gave an expert hands-on talk on the herbs and ingredients that would be used in the lunch recipes to be served.
Gourmet chef Franzo’s lunch for the group was served inside the 1911 Craftsman home that houses her restaurant. It included tomato basil soup with homemade bread and herb butter, chicken salad on croissants, pasta salad and green salad, followed by individual apple pies with ice cream and herbal iced teas--all including some of the natural ingredients from Franzo’s garden tour.
After lunch, the group traveled a few miles to the site of Cajun Encounter Tours for a Swamp Tour through Honey Island Swamp. Boarding their tour boats, the Platinum travelers viewed inquisitive--and hungry--alligators, wild hogs, racoons, birds and turtles that abound in one of the best preserved wetlands in Louisiana.
The next Platinum Club trip, a day in New Orleans, features shopping in the French Quarter, the Broadway hit musical Chicago at the restored Saenger Theater, and dinner at Middendorf’s Seafood Restaurant. This trip sold out during the summer.
For future Platinum Club activities and information, call Oliver McLean, Platinum Club director, at 601-849-2210 or 601-832-1752.
