Where is My Waistline Continued?

Where was I? Ah yes, Saturday, mid-afternoon. After Coquette we went to The Joint for some smokin' BBQ, just thinking about it is making me want some of their meltingly good brisket, especially that line of fat that rides along the top of each piece. After a cruise around the 9th Ward and a little down time at the house, we were ready to hit downtown for some live music. John Boutte was playing at dba and even though I think he is a primadonna, I also love hearing him perform. It was a great show, he made me chuckle, he made me tear up a bit and there was this incredible guy who came up and did this spoken word sort of piece using New Orleans street names to create a narrative that combined history and politics and other local tidbits. I should go take advantage of living in a city with such wonderful music more often.

Sunday morning Mamma and I went to mass at St. Augustine's in the Treme. I'm sure I've been to mass here before but long ago and infrequently so it was interesting to see how it differs from Mass I am used to. Like the peace section, which went on forever, maybe a full 15 minutes! At Holy Cross, you'd wish peace and kiss cheeks with people in your pew and in those directly in front or in back but at St Aug's, people perambulated! They made their way! I went over to peace with an usher and she said "peace, my baby," which delighted me and people who couldn't get to you flashed the international sign for peace (two fingers). I found this both hilarious and endearing. Afterwards we went to Betsy's Pancake House, where there was plenty more "How we doing, my babies?" and "Everything all good, my darlings?" Oh, and two poodles getting amorous in the flatbed of a pickup truck across the street. Good, solid, breakfast entertainment.

I sent the adults off to the French Quarter to play while I went grocery shopping because Ben and I really wanted to cook for them, plus we invited my Louisiana family to join in. We have never cooked for others together, nor have we entertained in our new place and it could have been a mess but went off without a hitch. Except for the broken window but that's neither here nor there. Donovan now knows the difference between glass and plastic and thank god he didn't hurt himself worse, as he put his foot through a window and then pulled it back in with nothing more than a tiny cut on his foot.

Amy first arrived with Donovan and Neely in tow, Mamma and Greg got back and we all piled into the kitchen to hang out and have some wine before dinner. We made crawfish dumplings and charbroiled oysters to start. I was sad that I could only find Atlantic oysters. In fact, I'm so sad about it that I can't say any more except that they turned out very well, even though they weren't from the Gulf.



We also grilled drum and amberjack with chermoula and tzatziki to top it off, a hash of mustard greens, corn and potatoes, a salad with shredded beets, ginger-poached mirliton and dressed with a fig vinaigrette. Finally, for dessert, bruleed bananas foster over homemade lucuma-manjar ice cream. It was fantastico.

Here is my fireplace, appropriately decked out with a coveted shoe from the Muses parade and a picture of my grandparents. I like seeing Donovan and Neely's shoes there too.


It was a night I won't soon forget, some of my most beloved people in the world who rarely, if ever, see one another, it was very special indeed. And delicious of course.

Greg left the next day and Mamma and I were pretty low-key the rest of the time we were there. We went to the Creole Creamery for dinner (well, we had a salad first but who cares about that?). I had white chocolate-pink peppercorn, Sicilian pistachio (I think it had a hint of cardamom in it?), chocolate-cherry and....I don't remember but I liked them all. Mamma had a kinda over-salted salted cashew chocolate but her other flavors were good, especially the lavender-honey, which is one of my favorites.



We also went to Lafayette Cemetery, shopped around the cuckoo crazy antique store on Magazine where you never know what you will find and ended up at Sucre for more cold treats, it was HOT! Then I had to bring my mamma to the airport, which was sad but luckily I get to go home this weekend so parting wasn't too hard. See you soon Mamma! See you soon Buffy and wings and pizza and chicken finger subs! Chiavetta's and sponge candy and chocolate-vanilla twists at the Custard Corner!