Month: April 2016

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.