Day 4, Touring New Orleans

We left our hotel and decided today was the day to see and do everything all the other tourists see and do in New Orleans. And so it goes.

We strolled by one of Emeril Lagasse's three restaurants in New Orleans -- this one is on St Louis St, and is called simply NOLA (New Orleans LA). We had reservations called in earlier by the concièrge at the hotel. Ah, the high life -- having someone else call for your reservations.

But hey, that's what the concièrge's job is, taking care of the hotel guests. Well, Charles got us reservations for lunch at 1:30, and it was only about 9AM, so we had plenty of time to tour the Quarter.

Right across the street is Johnny's Po-Boys Sandwich Shop. Now a po-boy, or poor-boy, is a traditional New Orleans sandwich made with French bread. Not the type of French bread we're used to, but due to New Orleans' high temperatures and high humidity, a very light, quick-rising, airy French bread. Poor-boys come in an innumerable variety -- y'all can put anything y'all want into it. We didn't stop in because we didn't want to spoil lunch at NOLA, and we were headed to the Café du Monde to try their beignets.


We turned left onto Decatur, found the Hard Rock Cafe where we'd stop later for souvenirs (we're Hard Rock freaks, I guess). A short walk took us to world-famous Jackson Square and St Louis Cathedral. The annoying thing was all the calèche drivers (mule-drawn carriages) who were hawking their tours incessantly, but I guess that's what a touristy area is like. St Louis is one of the oldest, still-active, cathedrals in the US, having been built in the early 1700s, and rebuilt in 1798 after the fire which destroyed virtually all of New Orleans as it was then.


We walked across Decatur, photographed this beautiful building on the corner of Decatur and St Louis St, and then went up to the "Moon Walk", not of Michael Jackson fame, but named after New Orleans mayor, "Moon" Landrieu, who pushed for riverfront development, and built a walk along the Mississippi River, maybe half a mile long. It's a great way to view the city and the river, as one can see "uptown" with its skyscrapers, and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MrGO) as well as the Lower Ninth Ward (we didn't go over there, where there is still massive destruction FOUR years after Katrina hit).


After leaving the "Moon Walk", our goal was the Café du Monde, world-famous for its beignets. Tourists MUST stop here (even though we preferred the beignets at the Café Beignet). We were standing in line ready to wait maybe 20 minutes, when some other tourists told us to go into the main building and grab a table rather than wait in line. So we did.




The place was busy, as one would expect of a serious tourist institution. However, the service was not very good, our server barely spoke English, and she did get our order wrong. We ordered two coffees and two orders of beignets, she brought three orders. Oh well, at $1.82 per order we weren't about to complain. We found the beignets definitely good, but not as good, in our opinion, as those at the Café Beignet.

After the beignets, we went back to the Moon Walk, and watched the trolley pass on its tourist route. We didn't take it because it just basically went back and forth on the same route we had just walked, so we ambled over to the French market. There has been a trading post at this site since before New Orleans was settled. The French built the first buildings here in the early 1700s, and it's been in continuous operation ever since. Today, there are maybe a dozen sidewalk cafes, a couple of restaurants, and a whole "flea market" section. While we were in the French Market, the rain, which had threatened all day, finally began to fall. We had left our umbrellas back in Kentucky, and we figured it'd be a quick shower. It wasn't.

While we were trying to avoid the rain, we came across a fully-decked out funeral hearse. New Orleans funerals are something different. Though we didn't see one during our stay, we certainly saw this funeral hearse. The idea is to celebrate the life of the deceased through dancing, music, and general reveling in the streets. This hearse would certainly give anyone a great send-off.






We ran from balcony overhang to balcony overhang, trying not to get wet. But with an inch and a half of rain in about an hour, we were totally soaked by the time we got to Central Grocery. (That's Barry in the wet maroon shirt and white UK hat) It's a small Italian grocery store but the line waiting for the muffulettas was out the door. People dripped on each other while buying this New Orleans signature sandwich. It comes in two sizes, gigantic (half) and humongous (whole).

They are made from a type of round Italian bread, about 10 inches in diameter, and maybe 4 inches tall. Split, the bread is filled with a concoction of salami and other meats, a couple of types of sliced cheese, and an "olive salad" which is basically four or five types of olives, chopped and spread on top.

Apparently all the muffulettas are the same, because they are pre-made, cut (half in two, whole in four), and wrapped in butcher paper. Total time to buy: waiting in line, 5 minutes, actual purchase 1 minute, final taste, PRICELESS. We put the sandwich in the handled bag (which by the way was invented by a man from Danville, KY), along with our other purchases from the French Market, and headed to Walgreen's, where I finally bought an umbrella. Of course, when the horse is out, that's the time to close the barn door, but at least we wouldn't get any wetter, now would we?

We waited until traffic on Decatur eased, then ran across to the Hard Rock Café. We didn't stop for libations there because we had a date at Emeril's NOLA and we didn't want to be too stuffed to enjoy that treat, to which we had been looking forward ever since we first planned this trip! So we just bought our usual souvenirs, and by that time, the rain was almost over. So back up St Louis St we went.

We arrived for lunch at NOLA about half an hour early, and weren't sure we could get in yet, but the hostess graciously took care of us. We rode an open elevator to the second-floor dining room, where we were seated. Now NOLA is not a budget restaurant, as one might expect. As we were seated, the hostess took our napkins and shook them out, then placed them on our laps. Never, ever, have I had anyone do that in any restaurant. We knew we were in a classy place. And here we were in soggy t-shirts and shorts, practically still dripping. Oh well, our money might still be good.

The lunch menu was, of course, elegant. Luckily I could pronounce almost all of the words in the listings. What really looked good was the (from the menu) "Hickory Roasted Beef Brisket with Orecchiette Pasta-Brie Cream Mac & Cheese and Honey Baked White Beans". Barry made that choice.

I took the "Buttermilk Fried Breast of Chicken with Bourbon Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Smithfield Ham Cream Gravy and Sautéed Sugar Snap Peas".

The sommelier came by to ask what we would like for wine, and since we'd had a chance to look over the lunch menu, Barry ordered a red, and I a white. The bread server came by with a jalapeno corn bread, and a nice bruchetta. Then the meal. Everything was delicious, and we really enjoyed just BEING there as much as anything else. It was a highlight of the whole trip. Now don't ask how much lunch was, but let's say my first apartment's monthly rent and my first new car's payment were both less! We probably won't do it again, but it was surely a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us, since we use Emeril's "Essence" in nearly everything we cook, and had watched his show on the Food Network for years.

After lunch, we walked back to the hotel for a rest before going out for one more special treat. Good thing we had that muffuletta back in the room too.

We walked down Bourbon Street, which was beginning to get busy as it was getting dark. We turned right on St Peter Street, to Pat O'Brien's. The tour guides say, "it's the law" that you have to get a "Hurricane" here. The Hurricane is a fruity rum drink concocted here in the early 1940s.

Story goes that most of the grain which would have gone into distilling whiskey and other liquors was going to the war effort, so distilled spirits were hard to get -- legal once again, but just not available.

However, the islands of the West Indies produced loads of rum. Pat O'Brien had to buy 50 cases of rum in order to buy one case of whiskey, so he had all this rum he didn't know what to do with. He mixed it with fruit extracts and added rum, a cherry, and a slice of orange, serving it in a glass shaped like an old-fashioned hurricane lamp. The drink was named after the shape of the glass. So we had one. And one is about all you need!

In the courtyard of O'Brien's, there was this really unique fountain. It was lit with gas, so it had both the gushing water and the gas flame at the same time. Don't know why the water didn't put the fire out though!








After Pat O'Brien's, we stopped at a few other watering holes on Bourbon St, and came across an emergency rescue vehicle that looked as if it had been washed in hot water and shrank. We asked someone if they only charged "half price."







Anyway, thank goodness, we had that muffuletta back at the hotel waiting. Barry had filled the ice bucket with ice, put the muffuletta on top and covered it with a heavy bath towel, so it was nice and chilled for us to chomp on after a night of enjoying much of what the French Quarter had to offer.

Day 3, Driving down to Venice, LA

Day 3 - New Orleans to Venice, LA

Barry had always wanted to drive as far south in Louisiana as he could get. Well we did just that. After breakfast. About 3 blocks from our hotel is a restaurant called Café Beignet. It was obviously convenient, but we didn't realize at the time that the beignets were FAR better to our tastes than the much more famous ones at the Café du Monde, which we tried later. The beignets here, served three per serving, are like fried raised doughnuts on the outside and cream puffs on the inside, and they are covered with confectioner's sugar. I had mine with New Orleans café-au-lait, a steamed milk mixed with coffee and chicory. Strong but really good!


We drove down LA Route 23 to Venice, which calls itself "The End Of The World". The road was 4-lane divided and completely flat for nearly the entire 81 mile length. We followed the west shore of the Mississippi, and as we approached the village of Empire, we crossed a large bridge. From the top, we were looking out into the Gulf of Mexico, and all we could see was water with little bits of swamp land and bayou as far as we could see.

Throughout the trip today, we noticed damage from Katrina. Buildings which were not built on stilts didn't survive for the most part. A new motel is a collection of FEMA-like trailers. Katrina actually came ashore at Port Sulphur, LA, which is exactly 2" above sea level. With a storm surge of even 2 feet, everything would have been flooded. At Pointe a la Hache, the storm surge hit over 14 feet before the gauges failed. In coastal Mississippi, only a bit higher above sea level, storm surges reached as high as 26 feet -- and the whole area is only about 5 feet above sea level. No wonder, we were told, all the casinos along the Mississippi coast filed for bankruptcy after Katrina!

Reconstructed buildings are nearly all on tall stilts -- even the South Plaquemines Parish Middle School. Those which weren't on stilts didn't survive, for the most part.

When we arrived in Venice, certainly not a traditional tourist spot, we saw evidence of the oil industry. Helicopter pads were everywhere, Oil rig parts, pipes, all the equipment needed by the hundreds of off-shore drilling rigs, were everywhere.

And then we found the Venice Marina. And the shrimp boat fleet. And Crawgator's Bar and Grille. Not even a sign outside to indicate that it was a restaurant, but were we pleasantly surprised. The wait staff was friendly and talkative, and didn't mind being asked all kinds of questions by two tourists. This is the spot from where deep-sea fishing takes off, and the successful bring in their catch to be filleted and packed fresh on the spot. The food (shrimp, of course) was wonderful and the onion rings were first-class.


On the way back we stopped at numerous spots on the road, which as I said, was only inches above sea level. If this area had Maine's tides, it'd be under water 12 hours a day!





We photographed cypress swamps, egrets, the water, everything one would expect, and not, of the gulf area.









A car in the bayou, and the "Avalanche", a ship that capsized during Katrina, are both still there.







One of the really sad aspects of Katrina was the cemeteries. In this part of Louisiana, burials are all above ground because of the high water table. So coffins are placed in above ground mausoleums.









When Katrina came ashore with 140 mile per hour winds and 14 feet of water, these mausoleums were often smashed, and the coffins are floated away. Sadly, many will never be found.




And so we returned to New Orleans, having completed one of the major goals of the trip -- driving to "The End Of The World."

New Orleans Trip, Days 1 and 2

Day 1 - Home to Hattiesburg, MS

We left home at 6AM, an hour earlier than we had planned, which was great because we avoided a load of early traffic that way. We got on I-65 at Elizabethtown, then it was on through Bowling Green, then to Tennessee through Nashville. We stayed on I-65 through Huntsville AL (see the Jupiter rocket) to Birmingham AL, then took I-59 southwest into Mississippi, passing through Meridian, MS, to Hattiesburg. A nice day, finished off with a nice meal at Chesterfield's in Hattiesburg. We arrived early enough and with only a bit more than an hour to go to Biloxi, we COULD have made it to the Gulf Coast in one day.

Day 2 - Hattiesburg to Biloxi, MS and on to New Orleans, LA

Leaving Hattiesburg, we drove toward Biloxi, about an hour away. The countryside was rolling and hilly, but the road was straight as an arrow. As we approached Biloxi, we caught our first glimpse of the Gulf of Mexico. We quickly and easily found our target -- Hard Rock Cafe and Casino. Right next to the Casino, we saw a building which was damaged by Hurricane Katrina -- the first of many we noticed later.

At the Hard Rock Casino, picture two veteran gamblers playing on the slots. Then picture one of them hitting the JACKPOT! The machine went, "ding, ding, ding, ding" for about 20 minutes! Of course we were only playing the $.01 machine, and Barry won $9.54. Quite a haul for a $.01 investment though!




We also saw gulf shrimp for sale. Barry asked one of the vendors if these were Louisiana shrimp. The guy drawled, "Naw, these all are MISSISSIPPI shrimp." Oops! Anyway, they were selling for $2.00 a pound. Jumbo ones are 4 to a pound, large are 7 to a pound. One of these days, we're going back to Biloxi and coming home with a cooler FULL of these little critters!



As we left Biloxi, going through Gulfport and Pass Christian, we noticed there were many, many house lots for sale. We also realized that there USED to be houses there.


The live oaks in the median strip were gone, the houses, some 150 years old or older, were gone. The storm surge from Katrina reached 26 feet in the Biloxi River. So sad.






We stopped along a public beach and actually got our feet in the water in the Gulf of Mexico.







On our next trip down here, we're definitely going swimming there! Of course, swimming season there is from March to November, so we have all kinds of chances to do that.







After we left Mississippi, we took I-10 to New Orleans. The causeway had been partially destroyed by Katrina, but it was still amazing to see this huge 4-lane expressway built over the eastern end of shallow Lake Ponchartrain.






We finally arrived in New Orleans (NOLA). We checked into our hotel, then began our stroll around the French Quarter. This was the original area of the city, built on relatively high ground compared to the rest of the city. It was practically the only part NOT flooded by Katrina, though the flood waters did reach south from Lake Ponchartrain to the very front doors of our hotel -- the Chateau Bourbon.



Most of the buildings in the French Quarter date from the early 1800's and it shows. They are often painted pastel colors, with bright accents, typical in the warmer climates of Florida and Mexico. They all front on the sidewalk, but most have a private courtyard in the back -- we got a glimpse of some between the buildings.









As the sun set, we found ourselves on world-famous Bourbon Street. It was fairly quiet -- doesn't get hopping until midnight (WAY too late for us old folks), and grabbed dinner at Oceana, a very nice, reasonably-priced restaurant specializing in -- wouldn't you know? -- seafood. We both had the fried shrimp -- the first of several shrimp meals we were to consume!

Then it was back to Bourbon Street as things began to hop. The place is so touristy with really tacky strip joints along with fine hotels and restaurants. It's sort of like Old Orchard Beach on steroids! When New Orleanians say "Laissez les bontemps roulez" they mean "Let the good times roll"!

One more project done

In the late afternoon, our back deck gets full sunshine from about May to October. It makes it uncomfortable to sit there, and plants that require some shade don't do well. So leave it to me -- another home handyman project! This will allow us to sit out on the deck in late afternoon and early evening, and will give the plants some needed shade.

Of course, with one project down, now I'm thinking of what comes next -- a duplicate screen on the other end of the deck, and a pergola over it? Railings and seating benches? Who knows!

Barry got some shots of several wildflowers -- we've sent the pictures to the University of Kentucky to see if we can identify them -- one we know, the white one is the "Field Bindweed", and we think all three are relatives of the morning glory.

Murder mystery, and watermelons, etc.

Murder mystery first. A gal from Indiana posted an inquiry on www.findagrave.com about a cousin of hers who was, as she noted, convicted and executed in 1946 for a murder he did not commit. Well, Barry and I took that as a challenge to find out what happened. We've been to Frankfort to the state archives, and researched the appeal of the case; we've been to Somerset and copied newspaper accounts of the crime, the trial, and the execution; we've been to Nancy (near Somerset) to photograph the grave stone. End result -- reads like a Perry Mason mystery. The guy and his accomplice both participated in the murder, but conflicting testimony in today's jurisprudence would not have gotten either of the parties executed. Unfortunately, we're working with 1946 standards and rules, and, yes, the man was executed, his partner receiving a life sentence. We're willing to do genealogy and historical research for anything or anyone! Gives us something MORE to do. Interesting case though.

On a brighter note, it seems that Barry's gardening skills and Kentucky's soils will grow about anything. Again this year, the front garden has gotten away, and is growing so fast, the squash vines will soon reach the Tennessee border. The compost we made last fall and winter didn't fully kill all the seeds, so wherever Barry used the compost, we have vegetables sprouting up. In the slash pile behind the carport, we have tomatoes and potatoes. In the herb garden, we have squash and melons. In the window boxes with the petunias we have more tomatoes. And this little gem... Yup, it's a watermelon, growing in the driveway -- crushed rock, and who knows what soil, if any, is underneath it. Right now it's about the size of a softball, but with another couple of weeks of growing time, it'll fully grow and ripen.

Barry has the second crop of broccoli started, and those will go in the ground in another couple of weeks so we'll get a fall crop too. We haven't bought vegetables in a grocery store since April 2008!

The cucumbers were grown as an experiment on 4 foot high fencing. They are free of bugs, and are growing so well we've already canned 6 quart jars each of dill and bread and butter pickles, with more to go. The peppers -- he picked a 5-gallon pail full just to get the weight off the plants -- and we made green pepper relish, another 7 jars.

The onions are doing quite well; we have about a dozen drying now, and will either try to keep them or will freeze them -- YES, we found directions on how to freeze onions and peppers! Slice them the way you want them, arrange them on a tray in the freezer, then when frozen, pop them in freezer bags.

We're gonna have to get a second freezer.

For Pushpa

When Pushpa asked me to send her some pictures of the garden, I thought, if I send her the ones I want, it'll take her days to read the email. So I remembered -- "Hey dummy, you have a blog website, why not post them there?"

Well, here they are, Pushpa.

Amaranth -- it'll produce an edible grain, but I think it's just a beautiful shrub in the meantime.














Back garden -- early crops are out, waiting for fall plantings of cool-weather vegetables. At least a peck of red potatoes out of just TWO hills! Enough strawberries to eat AND to freeze. Beets, chard, collards, broccoli, cilantro are among other occupants of this garden.









Crepe myrtle -- it looks BEAUTIFUL this year, and will bloom well into September or October. The previous owners trimmed it way back apparently quite frequently, but we want it to grow its own way -- it may eventually reach to 15 feet -- right now it's about 5.










Cucumber trimmings -- we're growing cucumbers on 4 foot wire fencing this year -- this is just ONE of the tendrils Barry cut off because they're growing SO well he had to thin them out. We've already picked enough to make 8 quarts of pickles (see pic below). This is the side porch -- most of which is now freshly-painted.














Cukes on wire fencing -- they grow upright so they don't have those yellow spots from being on the ground; and they are CLEAN! We tried them on nylon netting, the kind you use to keep birds out, but they just grew over it and dragged it down. But the wire fencing is a GO for next year!











Front garden -- note the single lonely sunflower (there are actually several, but only this one shows in this picture) and the amaranth. This is where we plant the warm-weather crops. Tomatoes (3-4 types), corn (2-3 types), melons (3-4 types), cucumbers, green peppers, string beans. And this year, amaranth an the occasional sunflower. That's a white pine tree on the left -- we actually PAID MONEY for it down here. But then the trumpet vine which grows wild here, Barry paid money to get up in Maine. Go figure.




Front garden 2 -- looking back toward the shed. Pink shrub in the back is the crepe myrtle. Shot includes as well, the east end of the house, where the white porch is.















Grapes -- no, not for a winery, just a few for eating. It looks like we installed telephone poles, but these will give the grapes 7 or 8 wires on which to spread.




















Kiwi -- actually Chinese gooseberry, growing on the south side of the shed. The vines get up to 25 feet long -- these are growing along a 16 foot deep shed wall.












Sage in blossom -- an older pic, but haven't posted anything like it yet.















Barry making pickles -- 6 quarts of dill, 6 quarts of bread and butter. I insisted he use the larger cucumbers, and unfortunately, they didn't fill the jars up quite enough and left lots of space, so he ran out of brine. I'll wise up next time.










Finally, a photo Barry took of me and my grandson, Gannon, at the Maine Mall. He's always smiling, and even his eyes smile. He's SO cute!

Strange finds in unexpected places.

When we first moved here, we noticed lots of round-ish rocks, which we later found out were "geodes." They are generally hollow inside, and contain crystals of calcite, amethyst, or other minerals. In fact, there's a house not far from here where the entire central chimney and front porch structure are made from geodes. We're using them for landscaping all around the house.

Well, one of these has been on the back deck since we moved in. Just the other day, I noticed (and Barry photographed) something unusual on the surface of the geode.

A bit of research (isn't Wikipedia wonderful?) shows that it's a fossil trilobite, a little marine creature much like a modern horseshoe crab. There are over 20,000 species of trilobites and they range in age from 250 to 500 million years old.

A bit more research and I sort of figured that our little trilobite died and was laid down in the sediment at the bottom of the Ordovician ocean about 450 million years ago. At that time, most of the US and Canada were submerged under a shallow, warm ocean somewhere near where the equator was then.

You never know what's out there until you open your eyes, I guess.

Hummers are back!

Well, at least ONE is back. Barry and I were sitting out on the back deck looking at the garden and the bluebirds nesting in the cleveland pear tree when all of a sudden there was a "whizzzzz" just near where the hummingbird feeders were last year. Sure enough, it was a little (or is that redundant?) hummingbird who REMEMBERED where the feeders were.

So in a jiffy I came in and, following Barry's expert culinary guidance, made my first batch of hummingbird food. Four cups water, one cup sugar, boil and simmer, and put into the feeder when cool.

If you have a feeder DO NOT USE RED FOOD COLORING. It harms the bird's liver and can actually kill them. The feeder, being red, is what attracts them. Other red flowers will do the same.

The window boxes are done, with red and blue petunias and white alyssum, and Barry planted red salvia and red impatiens around the bird bath as well. The early garden is all in and we've already had a few servings of spinach, chard and lettuce.

Now, Spring can officially begin!

A freeze scare...

We've been spending a great deal of time watching the weather reports -- the other day it was 76 and sunny, and I got the front lawn mowed. Sunburn was a real possibility, but the lawn looks great.

Last night, with the peach tree budded out and the strawberries beginning to bud, we were supposed to have a hard freeze. Luckily, temps only got down to 32 -- which is WAY cold for this time of year here. And we actually had SNOW on Monday -- a whole 1/4 inch!

Everything looks OK today, and it is warming up slowly.

Last week, we had a round of severe weather, with an EF1 tornado touching down in Casey County, about 30 miles south of here -- it was only a little one but it did over $1,000,000 in damage, destroyed 2 barns, killed 2 horses, and one woman's heart attack was directly related to the storm. Luckily again, all we got here was lightning (enough so that we didn't need any of the lights on in the house), and a wind-driven, pelting rain, for about 3 hours.

SO many people down here are "sick of winter" -- I wonder how they'd survive in Maine!

This weekend, it's a spring tradition here, the Spring Meet at Keeneland Race Course. We're going up to Lexington for Friday and Saturday's races. On Friday, Maker's Mark, our favorite Kentucky bourbon (Barry and I are both MM Ambassadors) is hosting the Maker's Mile, with a purse of $300,000 (divided among the top 5 finishing horses), and on Saturday, it's the Bluegrass Stakes -- one of the most important preparation races for the Kentucky Derby.

Hopefully, I'll win enough at the races to pay my income tax bill!