Month: February 2024

“Willow wins State!”

Campbell sent me these pictures from an engagement party he put together in San Diego for Molly last weekend.  They look so happy!

We’re so happy that we were part of the proposal and celebration in New Orleans.

Denny and Anne had me over for dinner on Wednesday – they always take care of me when Diana’s out of town.  Denny’s hanger steak with chimichurri sauce was delicious as always.

As a thank you, I drove Denny, Anne and Thom over to Hammond for the state soccer final on Thursday night.  Jack is an assistant coach for the Willow school – he and Mason won the state championship a few years ago at that school (called Lusher at the time.)

It was about an hour drive, and we stopped at Middendorf’s for dinner on the way.  This is a place that has been around forever, and has recovered from several hurricanes and floods.  Denny talked about it being a destination when he was a kid – his parents would drive him out there for Sunday lunch.  Here’s some history from the menu:

I chuckled at the wine list, and was glad Diana wasn’t there to critique – Kung Fu white wine would not be atop her preferred list.

Middendorf’s specialty is “thin catfish” and it was really good:

The game was a lot of fun – the Willow team was incredibly well coached – the passing and vision so good it was hard to believe this was a high school team.  They dominated the midfield, but just couldn’t get at the goal.  That finally happened at 70 minutes, with Trent’s son scoring the first goal.  They ultimately won 2-0, winning 3 of the last 4 state championships.  That’s a heck of a coaching accomplishment.

I didn’t get home until almost midnight, but really enjoyed the evening.  It’s been a while since I watched some really good soccer live.

We went to the Broadside concert venue on Friday night.  This is just across from the Broad movie theater.  I loved the venue – outside and with all kinds of seating options.  Tinsley Ellis started the show.  According to Billboard magazine, “nobody has released more consistently excellent blues albums than Atlanta’s Tinsley Ellis.”  I enjoyed his songs and his stories.  Here’s a recording and some live music:

Marcia Ball was next – always one of my favourites.  She had a number of ballads mixed in with her boogie woogie piano hits.  Here’s “Saint Gabriel”, such a good song:

And one of her boogie woogie numbers, with the foot kicking in time:

There is a food truck embedded in the venue – Cochon BBQ – I loved the food they offered and the stickers on their window – “Music the Healer.”

Saturday was a gorgeous day – 74 degrees and no humidity.  Perfect for the kickoff of the Kingpin bar Saturday music series.  This is a local bar that showcases music out front and encourages folks to bring chairs to set up in the small park out front.  This week was the Bessarabia brass band:

Diana flew back to New Orleans during the show – “Would it be ok if you Ubered over to the Kingpin instead of me coming to pick you up?”  She was a trooper and did exactly that.  She did get to meet up with the extensive krewe out enjoying the show – including rare Libby and Laura sightings.  I’m looking forward to the next few Saturday afternoon shows before it gets oppressively hot.

It’s nice to have my wife back home.  Off to Miami Beach tomorrow.

We’re skipping the book and music sections again until I catch up on the few weeks I missed.  I do have a few hours on airplanes and so should get some reading done this week.

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

 

“Happy Mardi Gras”

Will and Christine left for home on Monday morning.  We took Campbell and Molly to celebrate their engagement at Lundi Gras brunch at Commander’s Palace.  This is a hard reservation to get and always a lot of fun.  We were seated at the “Reagan Table” – the one where Ronnie and Nancy always sat.  It does have a nice view of the entire room.

For the first time, I got the blue ribbon across the table to indicate “regular patrons.”  The roaming jazz band was very good and took a lot of requests.  Here’s a video:

 

The food was excellent, as always, right through to the soufflé with whisky cream sauce.

We caught some of the last parades on Monday night and then had an early night, in anticipation of Mardi Gras day.

It was out the door shortly after 6am to start the Mardi Gras adventure.  Chris Pete woke up the street with his tricycle and boombox.

Diana had a warm version of her Mardi Gras outfit ready to go:

Greg and Dave worked on bringing Buttercup, the rolling chicken, out from behind Hugh’s staircase.  Greg, stopping to make sure he had his yellow webbed feet in place.

We hustled over to Jackson and St. Charles and the start of the parade route.  We needed to get going before the Zulu parade started.  I pushed, D rode on the float, Dave steered, Greg and Colleen took turns with the big heads on, and everyone alternated turns on the boombox bicycle.  Diana had a huge amount of fun throwing beads and treats to the early crowd.

I told you she had a blast.  Here are some more pictures of the krewe making their way through the French Quarter.

Looking like a kid on Christmas morning!

We parked Buttercup outside Jean Lafitte’s – oldest bar in New Orleans – for a short break.

From there, we continued on down into the Marigny to enjoy some of the crazy costumes.  I particularly enjoyed Chris parting the sea of humanity so that I could push Buttercup across the intersection.

We met up with some other friends outside Harry’s Corner bar.  Amy (ladybug), Randy (toadstool), Larry (not sure) and John were all very entertainingly clad.

Then a little dance party broke out.  Greg is foghorn leghorn and Lily is the other bird.

Diana and I were getting very tired around 1pm, so we finally found an Uber that could be convinced there was a way to get us close to home around the parade route.  We had to walk across the Rex parade to make it all the way home.  That was easy due to the parade being stalled for an extended period of time – Boeuf Gras was right at our intersection, spouting smoke from his nostrils.

We were glad to get home and be able to relax after so many parades, entertaining the kids, the excitement of the engagement, and on and on.

Here’s a fun picture of Buttercup from ten years ago, with Greg and Colleen’s girls riding inside.

A week or two ago, it seemed like a good idea to make a reservation at a local restaurant for Valentine’s dinner.  We stuck to it and enjoyed an early meal at Beggar’s Banquet – just down the street on Prytania.  The mushroom toast was amazing, and the rest of the offerings were “fine.”  That’ll teach me to be an amateur and go out to eat on the actual Valentine’s day.

 

I walked over to Aidan Gill for a haircut on Thursday, passing Molly’s Rise and Shine, where Campbell took Molly for brunch before the proposal.  It doesn’t look much when closed, but there is a consistent line out the door when open.

Diana left for San Francisco on Friday afternoon – travels were all smooth.  She did encounter some very windy weather that had her a bit nervous on the hill.  She enjoyed the jazz band playing in the airport:

I walked down to District for breakfast on Saturday morning – they have really excellent breakfast biscuits – not sure if I prefer them to Gracious bakery or not.  The ambience is a lot nicer.

In the afternoon, I met the gang (Alex, Fred, Brennen,  Jack and Denny ) at Ale on Oak for a drink before watching the Willow soccer team (Jack is a coach) in the state semi-final game.  It was very cold and so we just stayed through the first half.  Kids just don’t feel the cold:

Willow ended up with a 1-0 victory, and will travel to Hammond on Thursday for the state final.  Denny and I will likely make the drive.

Kenny and Kara joined me for brunch at Mister Mao’s on Sunday.  Diana thinks the food there is too spicy, and so I decided to give it a try while she was out of town.  The food was very good, the San Francisco garlic noodles were my favourite, and nothing was overly spicy this time.

After brunch, we picked up Denny and headed to the Broad Theater to see the new Bob Marley documentary movie.

The reviews from the group were consistent – good but not great.  The Broad does have an excellent sound system, and so the music was very enjoyable.

Quite an interesting week, filled with all the things we moved here for – unique experiences, great friends, good food and music.

I’m way behind on these postings, and so will forgo the music and book sections until I get caught up a bit – hopefully next Sunday.

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!