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Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Murder at Mardi Gras (A murder mystery party with friends)

Conversation I recently had with one of my language partners from Japan:

Onnasan:  What changed for you this week?
Jeff: hmm, well I had a party.  For Mardi Gras.  That's an American Holiday.
Onnasan: I see, is it a Christian Holiday?
Jeff: Umm, well it started out that way, but it's not anymore.
Onnasan: Yes, ok.  So what did you do at the party?
Jeff: *pause*  We solved a, uhhh, a murder.
Onnasan:  A murder!?  *pause*  That does not sound fun, it seems very serious.
Jeff:  No, it was fun.  We got to dress up and everybody had clues and secrets, and we all had to guess who the killer was... (to myself: I guess it does sound a bit grim)
Onnasan:  Ah...  Well, Japanese people are very serious.  I do not think we would enjoy a party about Murder.
Jeff:  Haha, yes but it really is better than it sounds.

Trying to explain a murder mystery party in another language is not easy.  And now that I think about it, it does seem like a strange way to spend an evening.  But Americans love solving mysteries, why else do we watch so much 'Scooby-Doo' and 'Law and Order'.  And who doesn't love to dress up?  I pretended to be a Cajun gator wrestler/aspiring lawyer and my wife was a classic French maid.  To get into character my wife scoured youtube for videos on how to fake a French accent.  It was terribly fun.  And I was very proud of my friends, as they all did a great job dressing up and acting like their characters.  The story was full of outrageous plot twists and greatly added to the evenings silliness.  In fact, our murder mystery party was about as far away from serious as one can get.

Bonjour!

Magnolia Beauty Queen / young heiress who my character was engaged to

An occult novelist who lives next door

A gold-digging wife from Vegas and Jazz Musician

The family cook who was secretly dating the French maid!

Mardi Gras Tie

My catchphrase for the night: (in a cajun accent) I gaur-ON-TEE, it was not ME

Happy Mardi Gras!

Since the party and mystery were both Mardi Gras themed, we cooked up some amazing Mardi Gras food.  Cooking in the kitchen surrounded by friends also working on culinary creations is itself great fun.  I've never been in a band, but I imagine this is what it feels like.  Working in the same space with others, everybody doing their own thing but all working towards the same goal, a delicious meal.

Jazz Musician Chad takes time away from music to work in another medium, Flavor.

French Maid Misty helps prepare dinner for the guests

Finished Product: jambalaya, collard greens and bourbon mashed sweet potatoes

We also cooked Cajun food the night before

Crawfish, fried okra and taters

I spent my summers growing up in Baton Rouge, so talking with a cajun accent and eating crawfish and jambalaya was a comforting reminder of home.  I had a fantastic time and I can't wait to solve another murder mystery soon.  Maybe I'll even write my own one day, that sounds fun.  And in case your were interested *Spoiler Alert* it was the victim's best friend/lawyer who did it.

1 comment:

  1. That looks like one fabulous time!! I went to a murder mystery dinner once, but yours looks like way more fun!

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