“Residency Week 3 – Happy Saint Valentine’s Day”
Rather than deal with the crowds for Valentine’s dinner, I talked Diana into a picnic in the lovely Audubon park. We picked up supplies (sandwich and salad) at the wonderful St. James cheese shop on Prytania Avenue, then made our way to a relaxing spot beside the lake. BP was very pleased to be included and had a ball watching all the arguments and other activity in the duck population.
We walked down to Baru tapas restaurant for Tuesday dinner. I had been there years ago on a boys’ trip and really enjoyed the food. I’m glad we went when we did as Baru has been closed for renovations for the last few weeks. The food was as good as I remembered – arepas and croquettes – right up K alley.
Wednesday started out poorly for me. “What happened to cause that?”, you ask. Well…Diana beat me on the crossword with a sub 6 minute time – she’s getting pretty fast with her new, larger phone. Going to have to really pay attention going forward.
Things picked up later in the day with a fun “work” event. A virtual scotch whisky tasting masterclass hosted by one of our vendors. They shipped me a couple of really delicious and quite different whiskys to sample with the on video expert. I really enjoyed the hour of sipping and learning.
We woke up to this view from our balcony on Thursday – how did that happen? It took several hours to clean up and Diana saw the policeman who had obviously just written an upset lady a ticket, pause and give her a big hug. Nice to see.
Our first Tipitinas show was John Cleary and the Monster Gentlemen with openers Cha Wa. BP did sneak in – and without paying his cover – bad penguin! Cha Wa were fantastic with their Mardi Gras Indian outfits and all.
Jon Cleary had an excellent band and really entertained us with his New Orleans style piano and singing. It’s so nice that such a world class music venue is only a 5 minute walk from the condo.
On Friday, I treated Diana with a trip to Effervescence in the French Quarter. This is a place that specializes in everything champagne related. Diana had a flight of three different glasses that she really enjoyed.
After champagne, we walked down to Jewel of the South – a Denny restaurant recommendation. Probably the most creative and precise meal we’ve had so far on the residency. I was able to get a drink that I liked – and it was wonderfully balanced and delicious. Bone marrow custard, foie gras mousse and a celery root dish were all excellent. We’ll need to try and sneak in another visit to this gem before our stay is over.
Saturday was a busy day. It started out with a run in Audubon park – Laura was the pace setter – I didn’t even try to keep up.
The parades started in earnest on Saturday, with Choctaw, Freret and Sparta all rolling down Napoleon – 2 blocks from the condo. The crew assembled and we had lunch at the local Cuban restaurant before getting in position for the parades. Denny and Alex picked up some Mardi Gras shirts next door – very bright and sparkly. Here’s some of the parade action:
All the way from home.
The Krewe.
Professor Longhair float.
Dr. John float.
“Throw me something Mister?”
That’s a ring that one of the riding Elvis troupe put on Diana’s finger. Should I be concerned?
That last one shows D up on the ladder that the family next to us brought for their kids. And this video shows her nimble hands catching beads:
A group next to us had way too much crawfish, shrimp and corn leftover, and so we all retired to our back terrace and enjoyed that. Then there was a silly dance party to follow.
Sunday brought even more parades with Carrolton and King Arthur. The weather was really perfect for standing outside.
Diana went to quite a bit of trouble to get through the crowd for the picture of the Budweiser Clydesdales – so majestic.
I know a lot of folks have a misconception that Mardi Gras is just one big, crazy parade on Fat Tuesday – but it really is a solid two weeks of parades and parties. And it is certainly a marathon and not a sprint.
This has been a pretty long post, so I’ll skip the music section – and again I didn’t have much time for progress on my book.
Stay safe and be kind to everyone!
Denny and Kenny invited me to join them at Martin’s Wine Cellar for Friday lunch. I walked over from the condo and enjoyed a yummy salad – as D says, “It’s good to mix in something green sometimes.” We passed some time listening to music on Kenny’s porch and then made our way back to the condo to welcome our guests. We dragged them down the street to Juan’s Flying Burrito and they really enjoyed the hearty Mexican food and margaritas after the long drive. Some pool across the street at St. Joe’s Pub and it was time for bed.
