Ellen Byron

It’s Gumbo Season… in SoCal?

When I joined SoCalMWA, the local chapter of Mystery Writers of America, I lucked out. Every year, the chapter kicks into gear in the fall with a gumbo party, hosted by chef extraordinaire Bill Fitzhugh and his lovely wife Kendall. If you know my connection to New Orleans, you know how happy this makes me. (Bill is from Mississippi, but his gumbo is so good I’ll accept his bona fides.)

In New Orleans (and Louisiana), gumbo signals the arrival of cooler weather. In southern California, the heat generally lasts through Halloween, which was the case Saturday night. Still, it didn’t put a damper on the festivities.

The Fitzhugh’s backyard is always set up beautifully…

The first thing I do every year is hit the appetizers; two tasty samples are pictured below. I avoid eye contact with anyone because it will slow me down and the barbeque shrimp may disappear. That’s happened before. Yes, the sauce is fabulous to soak bread in but still… I want my d-mn shrimp.

I then force myself to socialize while keeping an eye on the kitchen where the gumbo is bubbling to perfection. Among the wonderful authors at the party Saturday night was my doppelganger, Laurie Stevens. Someone once pointed out we look alike and we’ve both leaned into the fun of that. Twinsies! Jer and I also got to hang out with Lawrence Allan and his delightful wife, actress Deepti Gupta, who’s got a recurring role in the upcoming HBO drama, The Pitt.

Larry, Deepti, Jer, and I discovered we all had a ton of things and people in common, so chatting with them almost distracted me from my mission of being the first person in line for gumbo. Almost… but not quite.

Once again, I unashamedly achieved my goal of being numero uno. But a surprise nearly waylaid me. To my shock, an old friend from my improv days – and I when I say old, I’m not kidding; we helped found a Theatresports company in NY in the early 1980s – actress Clara Rodriguez was in the kitchen! It turns out she’s friends with Bill from a theatre troupe they both belong to. It was great to see her. And now that you’ve seen her, you’ll recognize Clara from the many commercials she’s in.

With a line starting to form behind me, I elbowed Clara aside as politely as possible and filled a bowl with chicken gumbo and a plate with crawfish etouffee and vegetarian red beans and rice. (I went back later for the Shrimp Diane and the beef and andouille gumbo.) Chef Bill certainly earned that drink!

After multiple returns to the kitchen, I loaded a plate with desserts that attendees, including me, had brought. I especially enjoyed the homemade pralines. Whoever made them, if you’re reading this, thank you! And I blame you for me being too stuffed to waddle back to the dessert table and photograph it for this post.

That’s Clara in the kitchen helping to clean up. What a trouper.
(See what a I did there? 😉)

Jer and I tore ourselves away from the evening at ten p.m. knowing if we made another run at the amazing eats, we’d need seatbelt extenders for our Honda Civic. But as I write this the day after the event, I’m still dreamy about everything that makes the annual Gumbo Party so special: the food, the atmosphere, and the glorious opportunity to spend time with my tribe, the SoCalMWA mystery community.

But mostly the food.

Readers, do you belong to an organization that throw one particularly special event? Tell us about it!

27 thoughts on “It’s Gumbo Season… in SoCal?”

  1. At last, I got to attend the SoCalMWA Gumbo Night! Virtually, anyway. El, do you remember when, shortly after we met online and I planned to visit LA, we plotted to get me, an East Coaster MWA, into the gumbo gala as a “guest”? Of course, I am allergic to seafood of any kind, so…it might not have been such a hot idea. As it was, I enjoyed the ambiance from afar this morning–though IRL I would have been posted at the dessert table, hoovering up anything that didn’t originate in the sea. As far as yearly events go, I’d count the joint SinCNE/MWANE Crime Bake conference as a fave. (The mascot is a lobster in handcuffs.)

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  2. My, oh, my but does that all look amazing! What a fabulous annual event for Bill and Kendall to host!

    As for me, I used to belong to a French conversation group that threw a fabulous party each year for la Fête Nationale (aka Bastille Day). Everyone would bring a French dish along with wine, and you can imagine how delicious all that food was!

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    2. That sounds fun, Leslie!

      Personally, whenever anyone cooks for me I feel like I’m living the high life, and I love a good gumbo. I look forward every January to our Colorado Sisters in Crime chapter’s Kick Off The Year Party. So much fun, food, and drink. Makes me want to kick off the year twice!

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  3. Looks like a fabulous party, Ellen. I have to be careful of the spicy food these days, but those pralines sound divine.

    My SinC chapter is having the annual retreat in two weeks. Always a lot of food and laughs at that.

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  7. No, I don’t, but my husband makes the best gumbo ever. It took him a long time to perfect it. It is all in the roux. He was told to find the oldest darkest penny ever, place it beside the iron skillet and start. 45 continuous minutes later you have good roux. Then you go from there with what to add. “Cher is sum goot Gumbo,” as they say in Cajun Country.

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  8. Sounds like you had a wonderful night! And you and your twin definitely look like each other, and how lovely that you got to see your friend from back in the day. Awww.

    (At the Left Coast Crime conference in Reno, I was very honored to be allowed to attend the SoCalMWA party. I can’t remember why…but someone gave me a ticket. It was so festive and delighful, and everyone was super nice and welcoming.)

    I have enjoyed all of the Sisters in Crime gatherings both locally and nationally.

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  10. Thanks for this recap, Ellen. I loved it and having never been to the gumbo party, it made me feel like I was there. Looks as wonderful and fun and delicious as everyone says! Some day I’ll make it up there…

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