Category: Weekly Updates

This was a much quieter week than the last two.  On Monday, Diana took Kris and Cat to the airport for their flight back to San Jose with a stop at Pappadeaux en route for oyster fest.

Early Tuesday morning I headed to Houston for a couple of days – managed to avoid the majority of the heavy rain and flooding.  That night I went to my favorite music restaurant, Sambuca.  The music was disappointing – a weak cover band doing Beatles songs and the like – way too heavy on the bass and nothing much to keep my attention.  Thankfully, the chilli rubbed scallops on risotto coins was as good as ever. I read some of my book and tried to ignore the music as much as possible.

I made a couple of Blue Apron meals – Spiced Lamb and Beef Tagine with Lemon-Garlic Couscous and Labneh, and Chicken Picatta with Fusilli Pasta and Garlic Chives.  Labneh is a kind of yogurt that went really well with the lamb.  This was our favorite week so far of these meals – both had great flavor.

I signed up for the wine pairings from Blue Apron and those have been very nice.  They send you small bottles that are just right for 2 people and pair with each of the meals for the month.

On Wednesday night, the Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers very handily.  On Sunday they completely destroyed them – made the Lebron James squad look like a college team.  The performance from the Warriors bench players in both games has been amazing with different players stepping up in each game.  I looked into tickets for game 5 in Oakland – but decided to pass on $700 a seat for the nose bleed area.

We watched the movie, “A Walk in the Woods” – Robert Redford plays Bill Bryson, the travel writer who wrote the book about his months on the Appalachian trail.  I really enjoyed the book and the movie gets a solid B- as reasonably mindless entertainment.  Nick Nolte as Bryson’s traveling companion was entertaining but completely divergent from the book.

New music this week was from Marc Broussard.  He’s playing at the Granada theater on Greenville Avenue later in the year and I wanted to check out some of his music to see if it was a good pick to attend.  I saw him briefly at One Eyed Jack’s in New Orleans a few years ago but we were late and didn’t get too much to judge from.  I liked his music a lot and bought tickets.  Here’s one of my favorites, “I’ll Never Know”.  His phrasing is very similar to Chris Stapleton on several songs.

We have the Ian Moore concert at the Granada next week and I’ve been revisiting some of my favorites from him.  Really looking forward to the show.  Ian sings like an angel and is a fantastic blues guitarist.

 

 

I made a last minute trip to New York on Monday for a 6 hour meeting that ran from 1-7pm.  It was difficult to find a flight that got there in time, so I tried Virgin America for the first time.  Virgin was a pleasant change from American Airlines – the seats seemed a bit larger and the in-flight entertainment was good – including the ability to order food and drink from the seat back entertainment screen.  I watched a remake of the movie “Point Blank” on the flight – it was like a Warren Miller ski/snow board adventure film – great stunts and scenery with a weak plot and acting – good material to pass the time on a plane.  Here’s what I thought was an over the top demonstration of law enforcement as I was pulling up to my hotel to change for the meeting.

The conference room that I was confined to for 6 hours at least had a very nice view.

After the meeting I attempted to visit the Village Vanguard jazz club in Greenwich Village.  On Monday nights the Village Vanguard Orchestra plays – they and the club are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year and are world renowned.  When I got there the show was sold out but there was a short line for no-shows.  I got in line and unfortunately was the first one in line that didn’t get in – the last group of 4 taken was right in front of me.

Here’s a video of the orchestra so that you can see what I missed.

I was pretty tired at this point (car service picked me up from home at 5am) and so just headed back to the hotel with the help of the New York subway iPhone app.

On the walk from the subway station to the hotel I passed “bookend” restaurants for my time with Mark DeBenedictus at AIG.  Bailey’s is where I had breakfast with Mark when he first pitched me on the idea of leaving HP and joining AIG.  Giardino D’Or is where we had Mark’s last supper on the evening that he left AIG.

Tuesday began with a few meetings and then a flight back to Dallas.  I read a bit of my “All the light we cannot see” book – the setting has now moved to St Malo which reminds me of our family vacation in Brittany and several visits there.  I also discovered some new music on the Virgin in-flight music channels.  Here’s some things I enjoyed listening to:

Hearing the band “Pearl Django” made me think of the jazz music played at cafes in Paris – apparently it’s known as “French Jazz” or “Gypsy Jazz”.  The Pearl Django music is inspired by the jazz guitarist Django Reinhard.  Here’s some of their music and an excellent French Jazz playlist that I found on Spotify.

Guy Clark, a classic Texas songwriter, famous for “Desperados waiting on a train” and “LA Freeway” passed on Tuesday.  I remember watching a great cover of this at Tolbert’s restaurant in downtown Dallas over 20 years ago – can’t for the life of me remember the name of the musician performing it.  Here’s Guy Clark’s original version.  I also recommend the versions by The Highwaymen and Jerry Jeff Walker.  It was interesting to read that Guy was also an excellent guitar maker and made a living doing this while writing songs in LA prior to his move to Nashville and the release of his classic albums.

Wednesday was a quiet work from home day.  I managed to catch up with a few backlogged crosswords as well.  The Blue Apron delivery arrived and I made Red Curry and Coconut Shrimp Stir-Fry with Rice Noodles and Pea Shoots for dinner.

On Thursday I braved the commute to Roanoke after a few meetings at home.  A pleasant stop on the way was at the coffee shop in Grapevine where I finished the USA today crossword in reasonable time.

I escaped for a quick lunch at my favorite local New Orleans style restaurant, “Bayou Jack’s” – a bowl of their delicious crawfish bisque.  I heard a number of good new musical artists on the commutes.  Snarky Puppy is interestingly from Dallas and is playing at the Granada theater tonight.

I have to do some research to find out the name of the drummer on the Joey Defrancesco track – he sounded amazing.

I switched from Jazz and the Jam_On Sirius station over to B.B. King’s Bluesville station and came across Eric Bibb – sounded a lot like really good Robert Cray.

I arrived home to find the pool busy draining all its water out into the street.  We’re having the re-plastering redone to remove the streaks and inconsistent staining.

Another Blue Apron dinner on Thursday night.  This time soy-glazed meatballs with jasmine rice, Swiss chard, radish and scallion.  Another great tasting meal.

On Friday we headed out to the Four Seasons golf course in Irving, TX to watch the 2nd round of the Byron Nelson golf tournament.  We try to head out for at least one day each year.  It’s not as luxurious these days since EDS isn’t the sponsor – no luxury boxes, food and drink.  Here are Diana and our friend Vinod enjoying the action on the 17th green.

We walked most of the course, educating Vinod on the basics of golf as we went.  We watched Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia (getting ready to tee off below), Matt Kuchar and several others along the way.  Sergio ended up winning on Sunday after a sudden death playoff with Brooks Koepka from Florida.  It was an exciting finish with several players having a chance to win.

New albums were released this week by 2 veterans – Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan.  So far, I much prefer the Bob Dylan classic song covers.  Eric Clapton’s is pleasant with great musicianship but doesn’t keep my attention the way his older albums still do.  It’s very much of a J.J. Cale tribute continuation with 2 covers and several of the Tulsa musicians that played on all J.J.’s classic recordings.

Sunday dinner was the last of the Blue Apron deliveries for this week – Seared Chicken and Verjus Pan Sauce with mashed potatoes, mushrooms and kale.  I had to look up Verjus Blanc (white grape juice) – the tart, fresh juice of unripe wine grapes.  It is a culinary ingredient indigenous to the world’s wine producing regions that is used in sauce making, for poaching fish and meat, and to dress lettuces, vegetables and fruit.

I was finally able to track down a near pristine used copy of an album that I loved in University – “Bright Size Life” by Pat Metheny.

This was released in 1976 and was one of the first recordings by both Pat Metheny and my favorite bass player, Jaco Pastorius (of Weather Report fame).  I used Jaco’s solo album to audition hi-fi speakers – 90% of them rattle during his “Portrait of Tracy”.  This album is for Pat Metheny what “Kind of Blue” is for Miles Davis.  All music lovers should hear this music.  The collaboration of Pat, Jaco and Bob Moses on drums is amazing.  The music has a lot of empty space that highlights the way Jaco plays electric bass like a lead instrument and really enhances Metheney’s playing (which almost has a country twang sound in places – a sound rarely heard in jazz).  Moses’ explosive but very detailed drumming is quite unique and adds a very interesting texture to the music.  There’s a new documentary out about Jaco that I’ll have to watch soon.

Monday was our last full day in New Orleans.  I suppose all good things must come to an end.  We had an early lunch at St Roch Market.

“St. Roch Market is a southern food hall featuring a diverse lineup of food and beverage purveyors. Open daily, we offer a unique dining experience along with great shopping and an excellent craft cocktail bar. For entrepreneurs, the Market represents the ultimate platform to grow a food brand and build consumer exposure.”

We had some excellent Bao and a quinoa salad.  The Bao on the left is the Duo – Stir fry mushrooms, cucumbers, pickled roots, cilantro, fried onions, spicy ponzu.  On the right is the Chairman – Roasted pork belly, cucumbers, pickled roots, cilantro, spicy ponzu.

After St Roch we headed over to the Louisiana Music Factory on Frenchmen Street.  This is a local music store that specializes in local Louisiana music.  The Creole String Beans were just starting a concert in the store and played through their new album.

From the music factory we embarked on the traditional French Quarter ramble.  First stop was at Miss Molly’s for a frozen Irish coffee.  Then stops at Diana’s favorite New Orleans themed stores – Razzle Dazzle, Roux on Royal etc.  We picked up some chocolates at Sucre and then headed back to Frenchmen St via Tableau.

For our last meal on Tuesday we had lunch at a relatively new Israeli restaurant on Magazine Street called “Shaya”.  The annual James Beard restaurant awards were presented on Monday night and this restaurant won “Best New Restaurant in the U.S”, a very prestigious award.

http://www.nola.com/dining/index.ssf/2016/05/shaya_best_new_restaurant_jame.html

From the restaurant website:

Shaya is an innovative restaurant with a warm and welcoming approach to the dining culture inspired by Chef Alon Shaya’s Israeli upbringing.  Chef Alon sees modern Israeli food as a grand mosaic, drawing influence from North Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Turkey and Greece. The food of Alon’s heritage represents a country rich in diversity of cuisine and culture, inspired by years of tradition while also looking to its contemporary future. The menu at Shaya reflects the ongoing evolution of Israeli food, while celebrating the abundance of Louisiana, and Alon’s close relationships with local farmers, fostered by his ongoing work with the Crescent City Farmer’s Market. In keeping with the the ethos of all of the Besh restaurants, Shaya uses seasonal, responsibly- and locally-sourced ingredients.

Similar to Alon’s other establishments in New Orleans, the wood-fire oven is central to both the menu and the dining experience, starting with the incredible homemade, wood-fired pita. To create the menu, Alon looked to his past (many recipes are those that he cooked with his grandmother), and his recent travels; in 2014, he spent time in Israel immersing himself in the vibrant culture and cuisine of his homeland. Many of the dishes on the diverse menu are meant to be shared.

We sat on the back patio and enjoyed one of the few pleasant and dry days during our visit.  I had the falafel sandwich and Diana had a delicious lamb kebab (my favorite after the lamb ragu hummus.

On Wednesday we received the next Blue Apron delivery and continue to really enjoy the meals and the cooking experience.  On Wednesday we had crispy cod tacos with chipotle cabbage slaw.  I added all of the pepper sauce to the coleslaw and it was a bit too spicy for comfort.

Saturday was Pork Tteokbokki with asparagus and spicy black bean sauce.  It also included Korean rice cakes which had a chewy but crisp consistency like the Korean Bao sliders from a few weeks ago.  This was my favorite of the three meals this week.  On Sunday we made Spring Chicken Fettuccine with sauteed asparagus, kale, and rosemary.  Alicia commented that the kale tasted much better than she expected and for a while she didn’t even notice the asparagus that she was eating.

We had a surprise guest for the weekend.  On Thursday night Diana heard from Paul Castle Dine (PCD) in Australia.  He let her know he was coming to Dallas from Sydney for the weekend on his way to Raleigh, NC and was hoping to stay with us.  PCD worked for Diana when she was in Australia and they became great friends.

We learned when Paul arrived that while he was in the air for 16 hours from Sydney to Dallas, his Raleigh plans had changed and he was to go directly to London.  He is taking a new job with Cisco in London supporting a huge new deal with Barclay’s bank and is moving there from Sydney sometime soon.

On Saturday morning I took PCD for a haircut and then a beer at Delaney’s (our local Irish theme pub).  We sampled the Franconia beer made locally in McKinney.

Then a late lunch at Rye in downtown McKinney.  I tried the barrel aged Negroni cocktail which was much smoother and tastier than I was expecting.

On Sunday we had Tari and Bill over for a mother’s day brunch.  Tari was PCD’s boss in Australia immediately before Diana – so he had his two “chiefs” together.  Tari and Bill are in the midst of a downsizing move from their home in Allen to a private lake community in Gainsville.

What we anticipated to be a quite week after returning from New Orleans, picked up steam over the weekend.  It was great to host PCD – he’s such an easy guest and hilarious company.

 

Monday brought very pleasant weather – 84 degrees and mostly sunny. The garden is in full bloom now but severe thunderstorms, softball size hail (if not grapefruit size – good grief) and potential tornadoes were forecast for Tuesday.  We escaped to New Orleans before the storm arrived and it just brought raine.  Penelope came home today – she looks not too much the worse for wear but is missing her two “bumperettes” that will be installed in a couple of weeks.

Monday night we cooked the last of our first Blue Apron meals – Za’atar chicken and pearl couscous with asparagus and pink lemon compote.   The compote had the pink lemon, agave nectar and chives.   The couscous included asparagus and lemon zest.   Pearl couscous is semolina and wheat flours rolled into little balls, “pearls”, then toasted for nutty flavor and chewy texture.   This was a really nice meal with lots of different flavors coming together.  The Za’tar chicken rub had lots of flavor.  It paired very well with a crisp Sauvignon Blanc.

We landed in New Orleans around noon on Tuesday to lovely weather.  Stopped into “Cooter Browns” on the drive to Denny and Anne’s house so that Diana could enjoy her first dozen fresh oysters.  The place is under new ownership and doesn’t have meat pies on the menu any more – a big disappointment for Keith.  Denny came to the rescue with a typical great recommendation – down the street to “Boucherie”.

Diana tried the “Sophia Loren” cocktail and liked it.

We chose “small plate” lunches – Diana had the mussels and collard greens, I had the crispy skin duck confit and Denny had the oyster lettuce wraps – all were delicious.  We sat outside and enjoyed the great weather.

After a quick nap we headed out for an evening of music.  A stop at “Treo” on the way was another great Denny recommendation.  Great cocktails, snacks and “Duct Tape Art”.

Our first night of music did not disappoint.  Anders Osborne, John Fohl, and Johnny Sansone performed their annual jazzfest show at Chickie Wah Wah (the music club where Anne had her 50th birthday party).

A highlight was “Summertime in New Orleans”, an Anders Osborne song with the lyrics adjusted to tribute Allen Touissant who passed this year – Anders voice, Fohl’s nuanced guitar solo, and Sansone’s harmonica were outstanding.

My other favorite was “Do or Die” – a John Fohl song that I first heard him perform at “Dos Jefes” cigar bar and have listened to many times since.  I’m hoping that he might be playing there again on Monday night.

The music wasn’t finished after Chickie Wah Wah.  Denny suggested a stop at “DMAC’s” which was an excellent langiappe.  Tuesday’s there are part of a touring singer songwriter night.  We heard two great country singer songwriters – good songs and great voices.  A chance to practice our new Texas two step dancing on the sidewalk.

“D Mac” himself stopped in for a late dinner and introduced himself.  He runs a construction company out of the building next door and runs the bar/music club as a side hobby because he enjoys music so much.

Wednesday was lunch at Commander’s Palace day.   A full 3 hour experience with a lovely table overlooking the courtyard.  I had a coffee glazed quail – beautifully cooked as always.  Diana had drum which came with her least favorite vegetable – peas!

Apparently the group was able to consume 8 of the 25c lunchtime martinis.  Left to right – Gary, Alex, Laura, Diana, Anne, Denny, and me.

The rain poured down very heavily during most of our 3 hour lunch.  The road in front of Commander’s had some pretty good flooding.

Here’s Gary wading through the flood to go and pick up his son.

After lunch we stopped by the Columns hotel and sat on the porch.  I got an early birthday gift from the Ogans – a Frenchy jigsaw puzzle.  The pieces are shaped like musical instruments and other interesting shapes.  Signed by Frenchy no less.

After a quick change we stopped at The Irish House for shepherd’s pie and oysters – because we hadn’t eaten enough already.

Thursday was supposed to be the first jazzfest day – with Tedeschi Trucks band and guests Jimmy Vaughan and Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top. However, the rain continued heavily most of the morning including a few hours without power.   The closest we got was this picture posted online right before they played.  Here’s what the conditions looked like during the day.

 

We decided to switch to Friday for jazzfest and had lunch at Chiba sushi where Diana enjoyed the raw fish with truffle oil very much.  Dinner was at Kenton’s in Uptown on Magazine Street (very close to Denny and Anne’s home).  Food was very good – chicken liver pate, trout with mushrooms, and chicken under a brick.

Alicia had some big news on Thursday morning – she received an honorable mention in her “concerto solo” contest.  This is an amazing accomplishments as she was the only non-Honors band soloist competing with mostly seniors.  Only 11 out of the 70 participants got honorable.

Friday was the only jazzfest day of the weekend.  Here I am with the schedule I plotted for the day – we ended up following this almost exactly.

First job was to set up camp at the Gentilly stage and enjoy a bit of the Mississippi Rail Company.  Then over to Congo Square for some of the Tony Hall tribute to James Brown – excellent and featured the saxophone player from the New Orleans Suspects who played in the James Brown band for 12 years.

Then back to Gentilly for the end of Bonerama and rendezvous with friends.  Next was the Creole String Beans (the band from Anne’s 50th birthday) with special guest Bill Kirchen, “the master of the telecaster”, and of “Hot Rod Lincoln fame”.  I enjoyed this set very much although the Fais Do Do stage was the muddiest and stinkiest.

Lunch was a seafood ravigote and an Italian chicken sausage po-boy.  Then a meat pie later in the afternoon.

After the Creole String Beans it was back to Gentilly for The Revivalists – very popular and energetic show.  We walked down to the other end of the fairgrounds for a refreshing iced cafe au lait after that show and paused to listen to Los Lobos performing “El Pistole et El Corazon” – a mariachi album of theirs.  My Morning Jacket closed things out at Gentilly with a strong show that finished with Prince tributes.

A very good and full jazzfest day with surprisingly small crowds and not too much soggy ground from the previous day’s downpours.

Saturday brought more rain throughout the day.  We met Diane, Denny’s Mum, at “Martin’s Wine Store” for lunch.  Great black peppercorn pate, brie with champignons, and oyster Rockefeller soup

Saturday night was the much anticipated 40th anniversary reenactment of “The Last Waltz” – The Band’s farewell concert at Winterland in San Francisco in 1976.  We had dinner at Josephine Estelle in the new Ace hotel and then walked over to the Saenger theater via the Cellar Door cocktail bar.  Dinner included red snapper, agnolotti (small raviolis with sweetbread, chanterelles and black pepper), and potato gnocchi with chicken gizzards.

Here’s the makeup of the band:

The superband will be led by musical director Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule, The Allman Brothers Band, The Dead) and GRAMMY® Award-winning producer/multi-instrumentalist Don Was, keyboard master John Medeski, country superstar Jamey Johnson, The Meters’ pioneering bass player George Porter, Jr., The Radiators’ Dave Malone, legendary funk drummer, Terence Higgins (Dirty Dozen Brass Band, John Scofield’s Piety Street Band), The Bonerama Horns’ Mark Mullins (Galactic, Harry Connick, Jr.), and more still to be announced as well as superstar surprise guests.

Warren Haynes: Guitar
John Medeski: Keyboards

Michael McDonald: Piano
Jamey Johnson: Guitar
George Porter, Jr.: Bass
Dave Malone: Guitar
Don Was: Bass
Terence Higgins: Drums
Mark Mullins: Horns
Featuring The Original Horn Arrangements of Allen Toussaint

The show was a musical highlight of a weekend filled with musical high notes.  The entire band sounded great – particularly the horn section.  I was nervous about the addition of Michael McDonald but he did a solid job on the songs he sang, including “Helpless” as performed by Neil Young in the original.

Sunday was – you guessed it – another very wet and rainy day.  I decided to pass on Neil Young at jazzfest and instead we had an excellent brunch at the Red Dog diner on Magazine Street.

We relaxed at the Ogan’s home the rest of the day with various games.  A group competition over the crossword puzzle was quite entertaining.  Then a game of “Pandemic” with the boys where Keith was the “Contingency Planning” character – we were able to foil the game’s attempt to introduce an epidemic.