THEY ALL ASK'D FOR YOU

New Orleans, LA

June 4, 2012

"I went on down to the Audubon Zoo, and they all ask'd for you. Da monkeys ask'd, da tigers ask'd, and da elephant ask'd me, too" ~ The Meters, from "They All Ask'd For You"

It was Monday morning, and rather than miserably pushing myself out of bed to go to work like I usually do, I was going to go visit my besties, Jean and Panya, at the Audubon Zoo. Who are Jean and Panya, you ask? Why, they are the resident elephants of New Orleans. And how are they my besties? Well, hold on to your britches; we’ll get to that in due time.

A swan and a duck with her babies

Even though we had a relatively late night out on Frenchmen, we still managed to get up at a decent hour for a good morning workout in Audubon Park. This time I planned on doing more of an actual workout than I did the day before. I still carried my camera with me, but the plan was to walk/run with Miriam the whole route around the park. Having company would keep me in check, even though it slowed Miriam down a bit.

I walked and ran alongside her, sometimes running on ahead to try out some new photography techniques of her jogging. And every once in a while she was forced to run in circles while I stopped to photograph beautiful swans or amazing scenery. It was a lovely trek around the park, and I was glad to finally see the whole park instead of the first half-mile.

Miriam running over the bridge. 

After getting showered and ready for the day, we headed over to one of Miriam’s favorite coffee places, PJ’s Coffee, for some iced coffee. Right down the street was Maple Street Book Shop, a local bookstore that we just happened to have a Groupon to, so we ventured in to pick up some books. Maple Street Book Shop has two stores side by side. One store is a regular bookstore while the other is their used bookstore. We took a look around the regular store but didn’t see much we wanted, so we decided to try the used store. We had a little better luck here, but still the pickings were slim.

Maple Street porch

We had just recently seen the amazing play Peter and the Starcatcher on Broadway and had fallen in love with it, so we were excited to see the book the play was based on in the children’s used books section. We snatched that one up right away. We ended up finding a coffee table book of the inside of the fancy homes around New Orleans and grabbed that for Miriam’s mom. The rest of our purchases were of magnets and postcards. 

It was at this point that I realized I had been subconsciously scratching my bare ankles and legs with increasing intensity. I looked down at my legs and notice all sorts of little red dots around my ankles. Miriam realized she had been doing the same thing and that she, too, was covered in red dots. The store had fleas in the carpet and they were eating us alive! I immediately left the store and sat on the front porch while Miriam made her purchases, trying not to give in to the itch all over my legs.

We then headed over to Miriam’s brother’s third and newest pizza place, Pizzicare (pronounced peet-see-car-ay), a by-the-slice or by-the-pie joint. We each grabbed a slice (one regular cheese slice and one Margherita slice) and also ordered garlic knots and the pepperoni sticks. There was no way we could eat all of that, but we had heard so much about the garlic knots and pepperoni sticks that we at least needed to try them. Everything was so delicious! Once we ate our fill we boxed up our leftovers and hit the road.

It was zoo time!

Now, here’s a little back-story about the elephants and me. When Miriam and I first met, she asked what my biggest dream was (besides the obvious “I want to be a performer” answer). My automatic response was always: I want to meet an elephant.

Unbeknownst to me, Miriam made it her personal mission to make that dream come true. She contacted every zoo, circus, and elephant habitat she could find in the United States, getting the same answer every time: Sorry, no.

Then in 2007 her networking paid off, and she was told that the zoo in her own hometown might be able to help. We were in the process of planning a trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama—just a few hours away from New Orleans—to vacation with some of my family members, and we were having a hard time finding reasonably priced airfare. So Miriam slyly suggested we fly roundtrip to New Orleans—which was a lot cheaper to fly to—and drive to Gulf Shores in one of her parents’ cars. That way, she said, we could spend some extra time in New Orleans at the end of the trip. I bought it, hook, line, and sinker.

Miriam had filled my family in on what she had planned—a visit to the zoo at the end of our trip—and everyone kept it very secret. They did get a hoot out of my response when we were talking our biggest dreams, and I said it would be the greatest thing in the world to meet an elephant and went on to explain just how much I would love it.

Cut to the end of our trip, we’re driving around New Orleans, and Miriam says we are meeting someone around lunchtime. My mind automatically thought: we are meeting the elephants at the Audubon Zoo. I have no idea why my mind went there, but as we drove towards Audubon Park, my insides started going crazy. When we pulled into the zoo parking lot, I was shaking and holding back the tears. And when we finally met the zoo curator and he asked if I was ready to meet the elephants, I started crying (at which point Miriam had to tell him that this was a surprise and the tears were ones of joy).

Best. Day. Ever.

The experience was amazing. I got to feed them and pet them and talk to them, and then the elephant keeper even took Jean out of her paddock and let me stand next to her. I could feel her eye watching me, and her trunk kept swinging up to sniff at me. As soon as we left I ugly-cried like I have never ugly-cried before (to put it into perspective what that day meant to me, I’m crying right now, five years later, just retelling the tale). Miriam ended up sending the zoo a picture of my ugly-cry, and it’s still up on their office wall. I’m known as the Girl Who Cried.

So, back to 2012! Every time Miriam and I visit New Orleans we always try to visit the zoo because 1. it’s a pretty zoo, and 2. I get to see my friends. I’ve never gotten up close and personal with them again, but I’m content standing back with the rest of the zoo crowd and looking longingly at them. Have I mentioned that I love elephants?

Anyways, I’m excited because they are currently building a whole new habitat for Jean and Panya, so they’ll have more room to move around. That was always my one complaint. They do get daily walks around the zoo before it’s open to the public, but elephants aren’t sedentary creatures so I always wished they had more space to walk. Now, hopefully, they’ll have lots of space! I look forward to visiting the zoo after the new habitat has been unveiled. 

We had an amusing, yet slightly freaky, moment at the big cat area, when we realized that one of the female leopards was hungry for a baby boy being held in his mama’s arms next to us. Mom and Dad were pointing out some sleeping leopards to their son and commenting on how they wished they all weren’t sleeping when I noticed another leopard slink out of her den on the other side of the pen—all eyes on baby boy. It was crazy! She totally stalked him, all crouched down and hiding behind things, until she got to the barrier and she couldn’t go any farther. She then started pacing along the barrier, never taking her eyes off the infant, and it was at that point that I mentioned to the parents that kitty was hungry for baby. They were fascinated! And very thankful for the barrier. 

We wandered around the zoo for a few hours, taking tons of pictures, and even running across a male peacock showing off his plumage in a beautiful and up-close display. We made it through most of the zoo before we decided to throw in the towel. We were exhausted!

My favorite of the ASPCA Mardi Gras bead statues.

Miriam’s brother, Jeff, amazingly had a night off from his various restaurants and asked if we wanted to go out for a family dinner, so that evening we all met Jeff and his long-time friend Sadie, at Mat and Naddie’s Restaurant in Uptown New Orleans. Mat and Naddie’s looks like it would be just a house at the end of a quiet block, yet it’s a very popular restaurant with delicious food. (Something I’ve noticed about New Orleans is that some of the best places to eat don’t always look like restaurants from the outside—I’ve been completely fooled on numerous occasions!) The menu was very diverse, and we all had a hard time deciding an entrée. We ended up getting multiple dishes to try and there wasn't a disappointed tummy in the house! Would anyone like to start off with a little artichoke, sun-dried tomato, and roasted garlic cheesecake? Yes, please!

We said goodnight to everyone and headed out for a little business meeting over coffee. Miriam’s friend, Rightor, who is now bicoastal in both LA and NYC, has a friend who is working heavily in the film/TV industry currently booming in New Orleans, and he introduced us so that we could get the lay of the land in case our plans to move to New Orleans ever come to fruition.

Bryce works on the behind-the-scenes side of the film industry—the kind of stuff I love to do when I’m not performing—so it was fascinating hearing about her work. She didn’t have much information on the acting side of things, but she did confirm that the film industry is steady in New Orleans at the moment. It sounded reassuring, as long as we can get our feet in the door.

We closed down the coffee shop, sitting outside at their tables, sipping our coffee, and chatting away, until we noticed we were the only customers left, and the employees were starting to put the chairs up on the tables inside. That was our cue to go.

We said goodnight to Bryce and realized we were close to Jeff’s apartment, so we decided to drop by unannounced—and managed to catch him eating Popeyes. He’s notorious for giving Miriam the “healthy eating” speech, so catching him with Popeyes after our delicious dinner at Mat and Naddie’s was incredibly hilarious.

It had been another long and eventful day in New Orleans. Only one day left and a long list of things still planned. Oh, what is a girl to do?
I'll leave you with the ugly-cry.

LAISSEZ LES BONS TEMPS ROULER

New Orleans, LA
June 2-3, 2012

Laissez les bons temps rouler. Let the good times roll. 

Nothing sweeter can be said as you head to New Orleans, Louisiana. And let the good times roll I most certainly did.

The beginning of May marked the culmination of my very first stint as a musical director. I tallied up hours upon hours of rehearsals, uncountable late nights at my piano, and months of preparation. Needless to say, by the time the performances rolled around, I was exhausted and ready for a vacation. And an invitation to a wedding in Miriam’s hometown of New Orleans was the perfect excuse I needed to get away.

Miriam booked her flight to NOLA (New Orleans, LA, for those of you who couldn't figure that out) in the spring, but I held out, unsure if I could afford to go. I had to travel to Wisconsin twice in June and was invited to a total of five summer weddings, so I had to figure out if NOLA was in the cards for me. 

When looking at flights to Wisconsin I was floored at the ridiculously expensive prices. Not only that, but both legs of my trip would have two layovers. Two layovers?! Forget about it! And those prices were basically screaming, “You ain't goin' to New AWlins!” There was no way I could afford a flight to New Orleans plus two outrageously priced flights to Wisconsin (let me put it this way, I flew to Europe for roughly the same price as one of the Wisconsin flights). For fun, I tried a multi-city flight, going from NYC to NOLA to WI and back to NYC. For $80 more than the original NYC-WI flight I could fly to New Orleans AND Wisconsin and only have one layover per leg. Sold! I picked out a flight that had me landing in NOLA around the same time as Miriam (she was flying a different airline) and leaving NOLA around the same time as Miriam—that way her parents, who were graciously chauffeuring us, would have fewer trips to make to the airport. 

Sidewalk street sign

We landed in New Orleans really late on Friday, and our butts fell right into bed. The next morning we woke up and headed out shopping right away, needing clutches to go with our evening gowns. Our first stop was Magazine, a street known for its chic shops. While it was fun to look around, nothing was really in our price range. We eventually found appropriate clutches at Stein Mart, a discount department store on Tchoupitoulas (go ahead and try to say it...). 

I was fading fast from the traveling and lack of sleep, so Miriam dropped me off at the house for a nap while she went to get a mani/pedi for the wedding that evening. (By the way, you pronounce that street name like this: chop-Ih-too-luhs.)

When I awoke from my nap, it was time to get ready for the wedding. The ceremony was taking place at the Westin hotel in the French Quarter, and the bride, Alexa, was a childhood friend of Miriam’s. The hotel was a gorgeous venue-- its lobby had two story windows sweeping across the building, providing a grand view of the Quarter, the levee, and the Mississippi River.

Mardi Gras bead dogs to benefit ASPCA

The wedding was an intimate affair, and the ceremony was short and sweet. During the cocktail hour Miriam caught up with a bunch of old classmates whom she hadn't seen in years. We came to discover we were all sitting together at the same dinner table, so we had a very entertaining evening.

At one point we all abandoned the free cocktail bar to go in search of vodka shots so we could mix them with pop rocks (entertaining idea), yet, strangely enough, none of the bartenders in the hotel had shot glasses nor knew how to make a proper vodka shot! (The bartender handed us all warm vodka...um, ew.) 

We then proceeded to have a lot of fun with the wedding photo booth, where we got to act all goofy for the benefit of the bride and groom. I have decided that if/when I get married, I, too, shall have a photo booth at my reception. I love people acting fun and crazy!

The evening ended fairly early (around 11 pm), so we headed back to Miriam’s parents’ house and called it a night.

Photo Booth!

Since we got to bed much earlier than expected, we were able to get up nice and early so we could workout at Audubon Park before it got too hot and muggy (New Orleans in June = HOT). Miriam planned on going for a run, while I brought my camera along and prepared for a leisurely walk around the park. It didn't take long for Miriam to disappear off in the distance and for me to stray from the path, taking photographs of the Spanish moss in the trees and the interesting waterfowl.  25 minutes later Miriam called me to find out where I was, and I discovered I had walked only a half mile away from our starting point and could still clearly see the entrance to the park from where I stood. Whoops! Totally distracted by the scenery!

Spanish Moss

After freshening up, we went with Miriam’s parents to one of her brother’s restaurants, called Crescent Pie & Sausage, for their pop-up Huevos brunch. Miriam’s brother, Jeff, owns three different pizza restaurants. The first is called The Dough Bowl, a pizza joint near Tulane University's campus that sells pizza by the slice and is hooked to a bar called The Boot. It’s the kind of pizza you’re looking for on a drunk night. Delicious. His most recent venture is called Pizzicare, another pizza-by-the-slice joint, but I’ll go into that more in the next blog. Crescent Pie & Sausage is the more high-end restaurant, serving homemade sausages and specialty pizzas, as well as amazing New Orleans fare (this restaurant was featured on the very first episode of the Food Network’s show “Heat Seekers”). When the restaurant was being built, he opened up a small brunch spot right next door, called Huevos. It was an incredibly popular brunch/lunch place, but it was too small to accommodate the demand, so he decided to close it up once Crescent Pie & Sausage opened and created the Huevos pop-up brunch on the weekends in the main restaurant.

Jena & Sarah

We decided that brunch would be a big event, and we invited our friends Sarah and Jena to join us, as well as a number of family friends, and the family that Miriam used to nanny for when they lived in New York. It was a giant party! The food was delicious and so beautiful. Definitely check this place out if ever you are in New Orleans.

After brunch we went to spend more time with Miriam’s former charges, Jadyn and Zoe, which also gave me the opportunity to see their amazing (and HUGE) house. They moved from a two-bedroom apartment in NYC to a multi-storied mansion in New Orleans. It was absolutely gorgeous!

By the time we got there, Zoe was going down for a nap, so we hung out with her older sister, Jadyn, for a while. Mimi, as she likes to call Miriam, is one of Jadyn's best friends, so getting to hang out and play with her was a big treat. I miss the phone calls I used to get when Miriam was her nanny-- she would ask to call me at my office so she could tell me about her day (and to tell me “Redrum” in a creepy demon voice. It was awesome!). 

Besties!

Later that day, we met up with Miriam’s parents to visit with their former housekeeper, Olivia. Olivia is a lady who had been through a lot of hurricanes, so when Hurricane Katrina was threatening, like other stubborn New Orleanians, she refused to evacuate. Eventually, her street flooded and she was trapped in her neighbor's house where she had to be rescued and evacuated. She tried to move back to New Orleans for a while but couldn't take care of her home, so she moved in with family out of state. Miriam lost track of her and was completely devastated, thinking she had heard the last of Olivia. But, if there’s one thing I know about Miriam and her mother, they will not go down without a fight. They contacted everyone they knew to find her, eventually talking with an employee at Olivia’s former church, who gave them the perfect lead. Olivia was back in New Orleans, living in a retirement community on the outside of town! Miriam was so excited she practically wept.  

Miriam and her parents with Olivia

Olivia was ecstatic to see all of us, even me, whom she remembered meeting a few years prior at Miriam’s niece’s birthday party. We were thrilled to see she was living in a beautiful apartment with help close at hand if she needed it. 

We had a lovely visit, in which she walked us around the apartment building and grounds, showing us the views of the lake, the little outdoor seating area, and the various public rooms in the building, all the while talking about her new life. It was a really great visit, and it made Miriam so happy to finally see her again. 

After our visit, we dropped Miriam’s dad off at home while we ladies (Miriam, her mom, and me) ventured off to get a sno-ball. If you travel to New Orleans in the spring or summer, sno-balls are mandatory, and one of the best places to get them is Plum Street. Sno-balls are along the lines of sno-cones, but the ice is ground much finer-- to the consistency of soft snow. It is then topped with the syrup of your choosing and any extra toppings you may want. My personal favorite is strawberry cheesecake cream syrup with sweetened condensed milk poured over the top. Delicious! 

It was a hot day, so what better way to top off a sno-ball than with a dip in the pool! We wanted to spend more time with our friends Jena and Sarah, and Jena's parents just happen to have a pool, so we all met there for a little pool party. It was perfect. We lounged around in the pool, drank some cold beverages, played with the puppies, and caught up on life. 

By this time brunch had finally worn off and we were ready for another meal, so we cleaned ourselves up and headed over to Parkway Bakery & Tavern for po' boys. Po' boys are another obligatory food item one must try when traveling to New Orleans. Po' boys, or poor boy sandwiches, are submarine type sandwiches made on French bread, usually consisting of some sort of meat or seafood. I've eaten po' boys at various places around New Orleans, but I must say that Parkway is my favorite. The sandwiches are really yummy, and they offer a large amount of seating, inside and out. I've now been to Parkway twice, and I wholeheartedly give it two thumbs up. (And, as they say on their website, their sandwiches are so good even President Obama has eaten there.)

After saying goodnight to the girls, Miriam and I decided to get a little taste of the Quarter the local way. When most visitors of New Orleans think of the French Quarter, they think of the debauchery on Bourbon Street, old school jazz at Preservation Hall, beignets at Cafe du Monde, or the cathedral in Jackson Square. Unbeknownst to most tourists is Frenchmen Street, home to tons of live music venues, where you can hear so many styles of jazz just by wandering down the streets.

I was first introduced to Frenchmen Street by Miriam’s brother-in-law, Daniel, during my last visit to New Orleans. Miriam was in NOLA for work, and I tagged along, knowing there would be a few nights when she’d be off at work. On one such night, Daniel offered to take me to the Quarter so I could get my much-desired daiquiri, and then we walked over to Frenchmen, where I fell head over heels in love. Not only were there live music joints every few feet with music pouring out of their open doors, but there were also impromptu bands jamming out on the sidewalks and street corners. On this particular night, a bad-ass brass band set up shop and totally had our entire crowd rocking out on the street. It was amazing.

Ever since that night I've wanted to go back to Frenchmen and experience it again, so Miriam obliged, and I had my fingers crossed that we would find some amazing street music on a Sunday night. We didn't have to go far at all! Right as we were arriving, a Cajun jazz band by the name of Loose Marbles was setting up shop. What made them Cajun, according to Miriam’s music professor father, was the use of a washboard as part of their percussion.

The Loose Marbles

Me and part of the street crowd

They were so fun to listen to that we ended up camping out on the sidewalk for their entire 30-minute set. At the end we even dropped $20 in their tip bucket and picked up one of their CD's  This was exactly what I was hoping to find on Frenchmen!

After the Loose Marbles finished up we ventured down the rest of Frenchmen, stopping in doorways to check out who was playing in the various bars, but nothing could top the experience of sitting out on the sidewalk and watching the music wash over everyone who came upon it.

It was certainly the perfect way to end the day.