Fighting the February Funk

 

Chicken noodle soup, french baguette, and C Monster Smoothie from Whole Foods, Arabella Station. Just what the doctor ordered (not really, you know the doctor ordered three unnecessary prescriptions). Full of flavor with gorgeous chicken chunks. The seafood courtbouillon is also highly recommended.

Finished Strong

What a day! What. A. Day! The day before yesterday, otherwise known as Mardi Gras Day, was one for the record books. Like the Saints, we closed this crazy, amazing, glorious election/football/carnival season out with a bang. Walking in the St. Anne Parade for the day, my friends and I danced, skipped, laughed, ate, drank, and generally enjoyed the hell out of being alive as we meandered down Royal through the Marigny and the Quarter.

The day began at a friend's friend's dad's house where we munched on yummy goat cheese and spinach quiche and touched up our face makeup and costumes. A lot of time was also spent on the porch sipping mimosas from Cutters and watching the crowd gather on Franklin & Royal. Cutters is a nice little neighborhood bar room that was serving a free breakfast buffet and some delicious (not free) mimosas. The bartender was a sweetheart who we later ran into on the parade route.

Along the route, we stopped in at Sukho Thai where they were selling spring rolls with a sweet sauce. Crunchy and hot, these were perfect to warm us up on this chilly morning. A few blocks later, as we passed by the taco truck on Frenchman we had to try the chicken and the pork with pineapple tacos. They both rocked, but the pork with that sweet grilled pineapple was fabulous. The pineapple tempered the intense heat from fresh jalapenos just right. I'll definitely be back for more. The perfect cheap date - music on Frenchmen and a visit to the taco truck. At this point I am contemplating a move to the Marigny.

 

 After making it all the way to Canal Street the Devil With a Blue Dress On decided the pain from his 5 inch heel, lace up leather boots was unbearable despite the many pain softeners imbibed so we walked the route back to the car for a pair of New Balance. A second trip to Sukho Thai allowed us to sample the pad thai, more spring rolls, and more wine. Piping hot, the pad thai kept well in those chafing dishes. A shot of hot sauce and it was just right, giving us the stamina to continue galivanting through the Quarter.  After doing the Macarena in the street,  taking pictures with tons of tourists, witnessing some very public displays of affection from a few balconies, and accomplishing our goal of stopping in every bar between Franklin and Toulouse, we were ready to call it a win and head home.  We closed the night with a rookie mistake but whatever: pizza from the Boot. Only a small insult to the palate on an otherwise perfect day. Counting the days until I can do it again.

Special thanks to the gracious Royal St. antiques store owner who took pity on a geisha who could find no place to pee, and my lovely friend Jake, the Devil with a Blue Dress On, who encouraged me to join in the festivities. Who Dat!

Raining on My Parade

I emailed this to Rouse's Supermarket today:

Hello,

As an Uptown New Orleans resident, I love supporting local vendors and getting good prices and that is why I shop at Rouse's. Unfortunately, the complete lack of customer service has caused me to stop going. On my most recent visit, February 9 at 2:15 pm, I encountered a grocery bagger that did not treat me with the mere indifference that I am used to from your employees but what felt like thinly veiled contempt. "Let me have your basket" were the only words spoken to me. I tried my hardest to be polite so that I might receive a half smile, but that was too much to wish for. What I did get was crumbled chips and smashed spinach. It is clear that the employees at your Tchoupitoulas store take no pride in their work. I don't know if better pay or benefits might change that but I hope you value customer service and would invest more in your employees. Until then, I will be trying my hardest to afford Whole Foods, where I know I will never leave feeling like a cloud of darkness has been placed over me. Have a good day.

Does anyone relate?  

A Weekend To Remember

Start this momentous weekend off right with the perfect low key (let's pace ourselves please, you'll thank me at 5pm on Sunday) evening at Swirl, a wine store in mid city. Here is an email I received from them earlier this week:

Show Your Saints Pride Tonight!

Put on your Saints gear and your game face and come to the shop this evening to kick off the Super Bowl Weekend! Gabe Daigle will be getting you ready for the big game with free wine featuring great bubbly and a black and gold theme, so come celebrate with us!  The first 25 people to the tasting table sporting black and gold Saints gear will get a chance to win a bottle of Laetitia Sparkling ($20) and La Storia Zinfandel ($24) to pop for the big game.  The drawing will be at 7:30, and you have to be there to win.  As he is every Friday, Chef Dan Esses will be dishing out his infamous tapas plates for $5!  And the bar will be open if you don't feel like standing in line for free wine!  Tonight, 6-9ish.

GEAUX SAINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Free champagne and the opportunity to win more champagne? You can count me in. 

Mid City Farmers Market

From 3 to 7 in the evening each Thursday the parking lot of the American Can Company turns into a lovely little outdoor food market. With only about 12 booths, two rows of 6 each, you will be surprised by the variety. There is one of everything: a vegetable booth with tomatoes, greens, bell peppers, broccoli and other vegetables, some fish "fresh from Lake Pontchartrain," grass fed meats, goat cheese and milk, tamales, baked goods, Dan Esses' delicious tomato sauces and pasta. Although the Tuesday market is definitely better with about three times the offerings and the always scrumptious green plate special, this one has the redeeming quality of being the only one open late enough for the 9 to 5 crowd. If I lived in Mid City I would stop here on the way home from work on many a Thursday. Also, it just recently came under the Crescent City umbrella, so I would expect growth in time. 

For twenty-seven bucks I was able to use my debit card ($2 fee, $1 of which goes to the Crescent Fund) and took home a head of broccoli, a half pound of drum, 6 bean and corn tamales, four Meyer lemons, 16 oz. of marinara sauce and a parsley plant for the herb garden. Add some pasta, tortillas, and a pound of ground turkey and I had two dinners: fish tacos and tamales one night; spaghetti with a side of broccoli the next.

I wouldn't recommend the fish, it was fishy. That lake may be clean, but the fish don't taste too good. Or the woman who sold it may have been lying about catching it the night before. The gorgeous citrus and Dan's sauces (also appearing at the Tuesday market) are worth the trip alone. I had a really difficult time resisting the goat cheese, but $6 for cheese is out of my price range at the moment. The samples were delicious.

It's not the cheapest way to eat. But if you're the type that's willing to pay extra for what's not in your food - foreign government approved pesticides, sludge, artificial preservatives, steroids, hormones, yadda, yadda, yadda - or if you just like to support your local producers, it's worth it. And you know homegrown always tastes better.