The Lower Ninth Ward

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Hard to see, but the horizontal line is the new levee.

The old and the new

If walls could talk

Julie drove us to the Lower Ninth Ward which was devastated by Katrina. There were many vacant lots and a few new homes being built. Many were the result of Brad Pitt's Make It Right project. They are all built "green" with solar panels and angled roofs, about as far from usual NOLA architecture as possible. Here is a link about that:   http://www.makeitrightnola.org/index.ph

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

We've been to the movies twice while here. We saw The King's Speech at a theater in Canal Place, an upscale mall downtown where we used the paid  indoor parking. When we bought our tickets, the man asked us to select our seats from his chart.  We were then escorted to our seats and handed a menu and cloth napkin with utensils. We sat back in our huge leather chairs with foot-room galore. The button on our chair could be used to call for service.

The couple next to us had a bottle of champagne and something from Chef Adolfo Garcia's Italian restaurant. We had some Mrs. Fields cookies we "happened to have with us".

Total Cost for two: $37 (not counting cookies)

Our other movie experience was to see Black Swan. If you haven't seen it, I must warn you that it's a psychological thriller that's not easy to watch. But not to worry, just watch it while sipping a frozen daiquiri. There in the lobby was a place to buy frozen daiquiris which came out of a Slurpee-type machine into to-go cups.

I'm afraid ours didn't have the fruit. They looked toxic but tasted yummy.

  Oh, and you could buy your tickets with a credit card from a machine next to the ticket booth or online. This theater was in a suburb with free parking.

Total Cost for Three: $30 (not counting daiquiris)

We're not in Kansas or Montana anymore!

Po Boys

Ode to the Po Boy

 It's the bread

No, it's the oysters

It's the sauce

 No,It's the shrimp

 It's the crawfish

No, it's the BBQ

It's the Abita beer
No, it's the Barq's root beer

I like mine "dressed"

I like mine often

OMG- They are so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!  There should be a festival dedicated to po boys. Oh yea, there is.

Po boys are everywhere. They are all made with WONDERFUL bread from the same bakery, Leidenheimers.

  

One of our po boy trips was to Domilise's.

Menu at Domelise's

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We sat at the bar and there was so much to look at, including signed pics of the Mannings. I bought a New Orleans Fireman calendar which made me want to play with matches.

If a "hole in the wall" that hasn't changed its decor (or staff) in 50 years
  has good po boys, it will be bursting with foodies and everyone here is a foodie. 

Trust me, Subway just ain't the same. I'm afraid Jared would gain weight.
We will miss those New Orleans Po Boys.

We went to the Creole Creamery on Prytania for dessert. 

Red Beans and Rice on Monday

Traditionally, around here, Monday meant wash day and red beans and rice. You could use your leftovers and leave the beans to cook all day while you washed. Now many restaurants serve red beans and rice on Monday.


Monday we drove along River Road, between New Orleans and Baton Rouge to see a few Anti-bellum plantation homes. We found a seafood market/cafe that had red beans on its special. I got it with fried catfish and Boo got it with sausage. Yummy and about the price of a drink at the fancy places. Of course we had bread pudding for dessert.

We visited 2 homes.

San Francisco Planation. The structures on either side are cisterns.

The rooms were well-preserved with beautiful painting on the walls and ceilings and faux bois (wood grain) or faux marble on the fireplace mantels. I love to hear the stories about the families who lived there.

The other place we went to was Oak Alley.

It was absolutely gorgeous-prettier than than photo.

Had we driven further, on the other side of the river, we would have come upon Houmas House who had as the first owner, Alexandre Latil, of whom my most noble husband is a direct descendent.  Latil  "bought" the land from the Houmas indians.

On other visits,we have enjoyed going to Latil's Landing ,the wonderful restaurant there,  with Claude's mother, nee Jan Latil. Does this mean that had things worked out differently, I could have been in Louisiana, fanning myself on the veranda with a Mint Julet in my hand,  instead of in Montana freezing my..............? oh well   :(

Latil's Lhttp://www.houmashouse.com/history.htmanding 

Wonder What the Po Folks are Doin'

Well, I'm a week behind. We are going to Sunday Brunch today and I never told about last Sunday's commander's Palace Jazz Brunch so here goes.

After Beignets (ben-yays) at Cafe du Monde, we walked over to St. Louis Cathedreal where Mass was just about to start so we stayed for that. Music was beautiful-another big organ with timpani and trumpet. The end of every song sounded like a Cecil B. DeMille scene ending.

The cathedral in on Jackson Square, super historical area where the Louisiana Purchase was signed in the Cabildo in 1803. It's fun to check out the artists there.

 

After mass we headed for Commander's Palace Restaurant for Jazz Brunch.
I had Shrimp Remoulade followed by  pecan crusted Drum fish with poached lump crabmeat and a cream sauce with a little corn -  to die for.
 
For dessert, strawberry shortcake with strawberries from Ponchatoula which is down the road from where I grew up.
There were balloons on every table and if there was a celebration, cute paper chef hats were given.I got our waiter to give me a couple of hats (for the grandchildren).

Most Sensuous Moment: biting into beignet
Funniest Moment: when the arch-bishop called Martin Luther King, Jr, Martin Luther King, Jesus.
Everyone chuckled, even the archbishop.
Most Shocking Moment: when they brought our bill, at Commanders

Duh Day of Duh-Gah

I used to say Day-gah but now I know it is duh-gah.

 For Christmas, Julie gave us a gift certificate for a tour of the Degas House and also for the Cafe Degas so we did that today.

The house is on Esplanade Avenue which is where the wealthy creoles ( born in New Orleans of French or Spanish blood) used to build their homes. We watched a great video about Degas's visit to the Mussons, His mother's brother, a wealthy cotton merchant..He only stayed there for 6 months but did many paintings while there.

The juiciest info was that his younger bro, Rene had met the Musson women when they escaped to their French relatives during the Civil War. Well, he fell in love with and married (against the family and church) his first cousin, Estelle. They all came back to New Orleans, including Edgar and the younger brother. Estelle went blind and creepo Rene abandoned her and their 5 children and went back to France with the neighbor America, who came over every day to read prayer books to Estelle. (among other things). The dirty,rotten couple took off to France to spend the family money into bankruptcy, leaving poor Edgar (who was also losing his sight) to pay off the debts.

Poor Estelle, who had been widowed by her first husband (nephew of Jefferson Davis) while she was expecting a child, was left with six children and blind with no money. Four of the six died of Yellow fever or Scarlet Fever. (I'm not making this up.) As the World Turns

Degas is the one who painted all the ballet dancers.

 After the Degas House, we went to Cafe Degas which was down the street. It was a small, but very charming French Bistro. We shared a Oyster Rockafellowish thingy and then I had  L'omelette aux Crevettes. Le Foie De Veau aux Oignons et Petits Lardons  was Boo's choice.  Eggs and liver and onions sounds so much better in French and tastes better too. (but costs more).
Dessert-Crepes Suzette and Raspberry liquor sorbet followed by demi-tasse cafe and port. Life is Good.

Thank You, Julie.

Food Glorious Food (again)

Sunday Morning at Cafe du Monde

It had been such a long time

My heart leapt when I remembered the pure pleasure

There was no dignity in this act

No matter how careful I tried to be 

It always ended in a grand mess

Stains on my clothes

Telling the world what I had done

And yet
I just didn't care

This is what I was put on this Earth to do

 All the sounds around me faded out

The strange accents, the beat of the jazz trio

The clatter of dishes

In that moment
I was home

Me and my Beignet

The French Market in NOLA is the oldest public market in the country. There you will find Cafe du Monde and the dee-licious french doughnuts and cafe au lait. Not WeightWatchers-these babies are deep fried and covered with at least a cup of powdered sugar.

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