Rep. Schweikert blows out the candles with gumbo

Forget the cake — there’s one food that Rep. David Schweikert can’t live without on his birthday: gumbo.

The Arizona Republican loves a good gumbo, so much so that the classic Louisiana dish has become a birthday tradition for the congressman.

{mosads}The lawmaker shared his love of the spice-filled stew with his colleagues, Reps. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) and David Dreier (R-Calif.), along with hundreds of other guests at his 50th birthday bash last weekend in his home state. Schweikert hit the half-century mark Saturday.

Schweikert’s press secretary, Rachel Semmel, tells us her boss’s adoptive parents were both from the South and he grew up chowing down on Cajun food.

The secret to a good, gut-warming gumbo, says Schweikert, is all in the roux (that’s the flour mixture used to thicken gumbo, for all you Cajun cooking novices).

At least one partygoer at Schweikert’s Cajun-themed fundraising celebration was well aware that the congressman goes gaga for gumbo. We hear this guest came dressed as a giant crawfish.