“Variety Week”
Monday was typical for McD – lot of pickling and a workout.
Tuesday was haircut day for me. That was followed by a trip to Trader Joe’s. I texted Finn this picture from the checkout line.
He replied that you feel less guilty consuming them because they are “Teeny Tiny.”
We did very well at trivia in the evening, albeit with a couple of disruptive team members – I won’t name names this time around. I didn’t think we were confident enough on the last question – put four forts in order from furthest north to most southerly. The group consensus was to wager the full 20 points. A wise decision as we were the only team to have it correct, winning by a margin of over 40 points – maybe our strongest win yet.
Interestingly, we could have won by an even bigger margin. I was relatively sure that the answer to, “Which artist has the most cumulative weeks on the Hot 100 music chart?”, was Mariah Carey. I had heard it somewhere pretty recently. The group was more comfortable with Michael Jackson. Mariah was correct – I should have been more vocal, but wasn’t completely sure.
Similarly, Thom was sure of the answer to, “In what state of matter does 99% of the visible universe exist?” He pushed for plasma, saying that’s what made all the stars glow. Denny and I had not heard of a new entry to the “Solid, Liquid, Gas” family and so pushed for Gas. Kenny did ask “Are we sure we want to ignore the answer from the only one of us with a PhD?” We did and were wrong – sorry Thom.
My final trivia story – there’s a question type called a “mashup” that involves putting two things together in a single phrase. Alex and Pepperoni have been good at that in the past and we commented that we were going to miss them both for that question. Our scribe became a big indignant, sharing that he had successfully guessed several in the past also. “The Legend of Zelda Fitzgerald” was a nice demonstration of the scribe pulling from a few team members to arrive at the correct “mashup.”
Diana started her Wednesday with yoga (inside for the first time in a while) and pickleball. She then made a quick change before we joined the KKs for Happy Hour at Cafe Degas. Kara had suggested that we meet there prior to a talk we planned to attend at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA).
We shared some of the usual favourites – escargots, meat and cheese platter, fries with aioli, and ravioli. Then we added in a new twist – a dessert called “île flottante”, meaning floating island. Have you had it before? I believe this is my first introduction and it was quite delicious.
A floating island of soft meringue sits atop crème anglaise. The meringue is quite different than the typical kind used in a pavlova, for example. The pavlova is crispy on the outside and chewy inside. The “island” type is soft and served at room temperature rather than hot.
Our talk at NOMA was part of the “Elders Sacred Talk Series” and featured Jackie Harris and Deacon John. It was quite similar to the talk we attended at the Jazz and Heritage Center a few weeks ago – also featuring a celebration of Germaine Bazzle. There was no music at the NOMA event – just conversation, and I think it would have benefited from a small band playing a few songs with Deacon John or at least some videos that he could react to.
Both participants answered the questions well and I thoroughly enjoyed the time.
We took advantage of another library culture pass on Thursday. This time for the Pontchartrain Conservancy Lighthouse. Established as a lighthouse in 1839, all but destroyed by Katrina, the building now stands tall and proud.
We were fortunate to get a private guided tour (the only two folks there) that gave us a whole new understanding and education about the history of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain.
The old lighthouse lens was interesting – a Fresnel type.
There is a weather camera at the top of the lighthouse that often provides footage for the news – particularly if waves are crashing off the sea wall.
I surprised Diana with a visit to the nearby Desi Vega’s Steak Burgers. Lindsey was a wonderful bartender/waitress. Can you believe what was showing on the TV? As if we didn’t have enough pickleball on our schedule.
We both enjoyed the burger that we shared and Diana particularly enjoyed the tater tots.
While Diana was getting her hair done on Friday, Kenny picked me up and drove me over to Rocky and Carlo’s restaurant in Chalmette. This is as far as I have driven for a meal in a long time – the better part of 30 minutes after waiting on a train and the raising/lowering of the canal bridge.
Trey met us at the place which specializes in large portions of Italian classics (veal and eggplant parm, stuffed peppers and the like) and po’boys. Trey was as unfiltered and entertaining as ever. I had the eggplant parm – didn’t really care for it but did enjoy the “side” of mac ‘n cheese that provided 3 or 4 left over meals.
The boys went to Bruno’s to watch football on Saturday afternoon and recruited our local food writer, Ian McNulty, to join their group.
Meanwhile, we headed to Nic and Sandi’s to celebrate her birthday. Nic loves Italian cooking and had been at it all day. All kinds of yummy meats had been bubbling away in his red sauce. There were six couples at the dinner party, all with some pickleball connection: Bill and Shanie, Ken and Rachel, John and Beth, and Laurie and Michael. There were two couples I didn’t know and it was fun to chat with Ken and discover that he likes all the same music and food as I do and retired to New Orleans three years ago for all the same reasons that we did.
Nic sent us home with plenty of leftovers. What a lovely evening.
We both had early starts on Sunday morning. I was out the door at 7:25am for a pickup by Kenny and Diana had 8:30am tennis. Kenny and I met Chris Peet at Stanley for breakfast. This is a famous French Quarter breakfast place, right on Jackson Square, that closes for good on Labor Day (Monday).
Diana and I had planned to meet Chris there a few weeks ago and then he had a conflict, and so he suggested that we go before it closed. Kenny and I spotted him and the Love trike from down the street.
I’m glad we made the effort to visit Stanley one last time. The food and company were very good. Kenny even got to take a spin on the Love trike.
The rest of the day was spent watching US Open tennis and football. I’m so glad to have football (college this week and NFL next week) back.
I finally finished up Villa Coco this week. It really was a bit of a slog, interrupted occasionally by some very funny pieces. I really wouldn’t recommend this one.
Here’s an example of some of the writing that made me smile:
“He removed his hat as one removes the lid from a pot, then smiled to all of us as if sure we were admiring the single blond lock that clung to his otherwise bald forehead like a price sticker to a melon.”
An interesting comparison of America and Italy:
“What Americans know of Italy is a confection of movies and food; for expedience’s sake, restaurants and filmmakers have grafted Naples to Sicily, Rome to Florence, creating a Frankenstein’s monster of pasta and accordions and Leonardo and cheese. In fact, the nation is much younger than America itself; unification was achieved only in the time of Dickens. It is the opposite of America: not a colonizer’s canvas cut into political states but ancient kingdoms brought together into one nation. And so the passage from Tuscany into Emilia-Romagna was not like that from South into North Carolina, which, no matter how Americans may squabble, is hardly to be noticed, but more like the passage from Spain to Morocco (one I made in my later travels). There was a change of landscape, of culture, of history, of language, and, of course, of cuisine.”
Clorinda loved to buy a raft of Christmas panettones to distribute amongst friends and family:
“A bakery displayed domes of Christmas panettone in dark blue paper and plain pandoro wrapped in clear plastic, ready to be shaken with powdered sugar, and some other cake labeled Focaccia Natale that looked nothing like what we had eaten in Recco.”
Funny but true:
“She took the cane in one hand. “You are still thinking of America?” “I have a ticket.” She was saying: “We both know what would become of you.” I snapped to attention. “And what is that?” “You would go back to old habits,” she told me, tapping one of my slippers with the tip of her cane. “Such as?” “You would start thinking again that literature began with Hemingway and art with Warhol. That the fate of the world depends upon your presidential election. That a proper dinner conversation is to discuss your favorite television shows. Like every American, you would lose—””
A new artist for me that I’ve been enjoying this week:
The new Jayhawks album continues to get a lot of play: