the705 - Or How to Pass A Good Time While Getting Engaged in Your Community and Your Professional Development

So we all know it's not easy being  the "new kid."  When Sam and I moved back to Lafayette after spending almost 5 years in Austin, one of my concerns was getting back into the lIocal community while balancing school, an impending Marriage, and both of us taking on new jobs.

Whew, just thinking about those first few months makes me exhausted ;)

We were incredibly fortunate to discover the705 - Young Leaders for a Better Acadiana.  The mission of the705 "focuses on connecting, engaging and leading. Everything that we do as an organization must contain at least one of these components, and in fact, most events encompass all simultaneously."  As you might expect, they have LinkedIn and Facebook pages where you can learn more about them, their Board, and the membership.

It was truly refreshing to discover how welcoming the membership and Board were ...

Fun With Seafood - Grilled Shrimp En Brochette and Ribeye

Sam recently celebrated her 22nd birthday with me here in Austin. We had a great time together and I cooked her a birthday dinner extraordinaire ;)

My Mom taught me how to make a delightful dish called Shrimp En Brochette. Literally, that translates into "Shrimp out of skewer," according to Babelfish. Depending on how you wind up preparing it, you may, in fact, skewer the little crustaceans.

Basically, the dish is a raw shrimp wrapped around a cream cheese & jalapeno filler, then wrapped in bacon and either grilled (my favorite) or baked to a crisp. It really is sublime, and works great as a finger food appetizer or a fantastic side dish to a main entree. For Sam's birthday I did them both ways (grilled and baked) as a side with a Grilled Ribeye entree.

I've posted a couple of pictures below, and there are a few more over at my Flicker site. I'll post the recipe soon:

Facebook | BJ Hoffpauir

Facebook | BJ Hoffpauir - Ok, so I broke down and joined Facebook. I couldn't resist or something. Yeah, that's it!

Sam has been working to get me in there. Apparently I received an offer I couldn't refuse. It's a pretty easy to use social networking site, and I've got some pictures up there on my profile.

Jazz Fest 2006

I was able to wrangle a day off of work to head down to New Orleans for the last weekend of the 2006 Jazz & Heritage Festival. Truth be told, I didn't manage to make it to the festival fairgrounds proper. I had a couple of friends in from D.C., along with some s, ightseeing to do.
Truth is, I've lived in New Orleans (while Mom was doing her masters work at Tulane) and I hadn't been back since Katrina hit. I left Louisiana to come back up to Austin the weekend before it struck, and I've kind of been intentionally avoiding returning for a visit.

So, I went down and had a blast. Of course, it was depressing to see the extent of the damage (even after all this time, until you've seen it with your own two eyes, it seems unreal), but all hope is not lost. I was able to visit with my brother and some friends, and we passed a good time, cher!

For all of you who revellers who were there with us in New Orleans, you can view the pics Samantha and I took from Dinner at my Flicker Site. Download and enjoy.

First, we went to dinner at an AMAZING restaurant - John Besh's latest, "August" The meal was amazing, and the atmosphere was divine. It was one of my best friends' (John Stubbs) birthday, and we celebrated together with his two brothers (Nathan and Drew) and a few other guests that had come down from DC. A couple of high notes - sitting next to us after his show at the Jazz Fest was Jimmy Buffett:


The picture's pretty dark, I know, but that's him. We were trying to be polite and not disturb Mr. Buffett by using our flashes while he was having dinner. That's John being non-chalant and trying to tell us that Jimmy Buffett was behind him. Heh.