“Residency Week 8 -Francais Semaine”
Week 8 started with a very pleasant run/walk in Audubon park on Monday.
We planned dinner at the Franklin on Tuesday evening, but canceled when we saw very heavy rain and winds forecast. Instead we walked down to La Petite Grocery and enjoyed a lovely dinner at the bar. The turtle Bolognese had changed to alligator, so I had to try that – even better than the turtle version. Diana had their amazing burger.
We made a good choice in not venturing far from home as the storm was very severe, including significant tornado damage a few miles away in St Bernard parish. Thanks to all of you who texted to check on us after the storm.
Diana went to an exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) on Wednesday afternoon. Anne, Kenny and Kara accompanied her. Queen Nefertari’s Egypt was the name of the show, and all seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. Here’s the description from the NOMA website:
“Queen Nefertari’s Egypt brings to life the role of Nefertari and other powerful women in ancient Egypt through 230 exceptional objects, including statues, jewelry, vases, papyrus, steles, wooden coffins, and stone sarcophagi, as well as tools and various items of daily life from the artisan village of Deir-el-Medina, home to those who created the royal tombs.”
Stela of Nakhi, “Servant in the Place of Truth”, Offering to Osiris and Anubis. New Kingdom, late 18th Dynasty (c. 1300 BCE)
The group stopped at Café Degas for a nice French snack before returning Diana and Anne to the condo. Then Denny picked us up for dinner at N7 in the Bywater area. This wonderful French restaurant is hidden away behind a fence with just a small stencil to indicate the location (as seen in this Denny does Hitchcock picture.) We had chosen to sit in the covered patio area rather than the garden or inside – great choice – the setting was beautiful. I think this was my favourite meal in New Orleans so far. The tarte flambee with caramelized onions and lardons was a wonderful appetizer, and the steak au poivre was so perfect and flavourful. Bon Appetit magazine calls this the most romantic French restaurant in the world.
Almost forgot dessert – I’m always wary of pavlova – expecting it to be nowhere near as good as the ones that Mum and Diana make. The N7 version was yummy.
Kara suggested the Booker Sessions at the Maple Leaf Bar for our Thursday evening entertainment. A nice early show at 6pm featuring John Paxson playing piano in the back bar in the style of James Booker. I was able to sit close enough to watch his fingers fly across the keyboard – a real treat. That’s a Frenchy painting of Booker atop the piano.
We enjoyed a slice of alligator cheesecake and a drink at Jacque-imo’s before the show. I love that cheesecake! And as a special langiappe, the wristbands for the Booker show were penguins.
We collected Alicia at the airport on Friday and made our way to meet the krewe for Happy Hour at Monkey Hill. Alicia had asked for as much live music as possible – and it started with Johnny Sansone playing outside Monkey Hill.
The group was getting hungry and we ultimately decided on Cooter Brown’s for a casual dinner and March Madness basketball watching. Sadly, the meat pies are no longer on the menu. They do have fresh oysters though.
I almost forgot – Diana got a love letter when she parked the car in the neighborhood on Friday morning. She’s making friends with the locals. It was written on the back of a fax confirmation sheet – so at least one person still uses a fax machine.
I was impressed when Diana and Alicia were up and ready to go to yoga with Kara and Kenny at 7:30 on Saturday morning. They attended a class in the sculpture garden in City Park – what a lovely setting. Then they enjoyed iced coffee and beignets at the City Park outpost of Café du Monde – even saved one for me.
The French school down the street, Ecole Bilingue de Nouvelle Orleans, hosted Fete Francaise on Saturday afternoon. They had food tents from a number of French and other local restaurants – including N7. Some really wonderful food and drink options to choose from. Live music was also available all afternoon – adding to Alicia’s requested intake. I really enjoyed the whole afternoon – and so close and easy.
New Orleanians never miss a chance to dress up:
The music started with the Young Fellaz Brass Band – music that always makes me smile. That was followed by Sunpie, Preservation Brass, and Sweet Crude.
The Preservation Brass were excellent, featuring Grammy award winning Craig Klein on trombone. Sweet Crude were a Creole rock band – very energetic and creative and a favourite of Greg and Colleen.
I enjoyed watching the dancer that was part of the band:
Alicia seemed to enjoy all the music as well.
As if we hadn’t had enough excellent music already, we decided to make the walk to the Kingpin where Derek Huston and friends were performing outside. We stayed until folks started feeling chilly, then ordered Theo’s pizza to pick up on the walk back. What a full day of music.
Diana and Alicia walked to the Chloe for Sunday brunch, and enjoyed even more live music – this time from Andrew Duhon. I think he has a really good voice – reminds me of Anderson East.
Greg and Colleen hosted a crawfish boil on Sunday afternoon. I had never peeled a crawfish before, but do love the taste. I had a lesson and gave it a shot. It was great to see a few folks I hadn’t run into in a few years – Chris Pete and Randy Bush – along with the rest of the krewe. Greg did a great job remodeling (pretty much completely rebuilding) their new house on State street.
I enjoyed watching the guys pour out the entire feast on to the long table.
I read another one of Diana’s books this week – “The Paris Apartment” by Lucy Foley. This was not the light, airy tour around Paris that I was expecting, rather a very dark mystery where every member of a bad family had a different and dark secret. It passed the time, but I’m not sure I’d recommend it unless you enjoy dark mysteries.
Lots of music already this week, so stay safe and kind to everyone!