RUM PUNCH

New Orleans, LA

June 5, 2012

Miriam’s dad, a professor at Tulane University, had two guest passes to the large recreational center on campus, so we decided to take our morning workout indoors for our last day in New Orleans.

The Reilly Center offers practically everything you could want in a gym, and Miriam attempted to do as much as possible, from running to playing racquetball, but I kept it simple and stayed on the treadmill. After our workout we headed home to clean up and get our day started.

One of the goals for my last day was to get a daiquiri to go, which is very popular in New Orleans, so we thought it would be a good idea to cross that off the list right away. We stopped by New Orleans Original Daiquiris Cafe and found we had the place to ourselves. I had never seen it so empty! The bartender looked bored so I sampled a few things before deciding on Rum Punch. 

Funny story about Rum Punch...when Miriam took me to my first Mardi Gras a few years ago, we stopped at Port of Call, a bar/restaurant that is known for its burgers and a drink called the Monsoon. I asked the bartender what was in a Monsoon, and he said, “Rum and punch.” Well, punch can be a variety of flavors, so I asked what kind of punch, at which point he grabbed two bottles, held them up, and growled at me, “It’s Rum AND PUNCH.” I sheepishly said, “I’ll take one,” and left it at that. So I was very amused when the flavor that called out to me on this day was Rum Punch.

Miriam waiting for my daiquiri

I even opted to get a bigger size in order to get the fabulous souvenir travel cup (I had been looking for a cup similar to it the entire time we’d been in NOLA). It wasn’t until we got back in the car and I was happily sipping away at my drink that we realized it wasn’t even noon yet...whoops! 

We then drove back over to Tulane to visit the music department and pick up Miriam’s dad for lunch. It was at this point that I realized I was slightly intoxicated (and still sipping the drink), which meant that stairs were a daunting task and interacting with people was a little bit amusing. We had a good visit, talking with a number of staff members who had watched Miriam grow up and who were always excited to see her come home for a visit.

We then drove back to the house with her dad, and made a few sandwiches, me trying to soak up some of the alcohol in my system, and them trying to catch Jeff’s local commercial for his pizza place (we didn’t see it) and laughing at my drunk behavior.

And as quickly as the intoxication came on, so did the hangover. By two o’clock that afternoon my head was pounding. Thanks, overly-sugared alcoholic beverage. All I wanted to do was take a nap, but we had too many things to do. 

I sucked it up and climbed back into the car for the bumpy ride over to visit our little friends Jadyn and Zoe one last time (gotta love the uneven NOLA roads when you’re hungover...). Jadyn was busy playing outside when we pulled up and was very excited to see her Mimi again. Zoe was once again taking a nap. I was jealous. We had fun playing with Jadyn-- well, Miriam played and I took lots of pictures-- and chatting with Jadyn’s mom, Christa. 

Jadyn playing in the sprinkler

Once it started sprinkling we decided it was time to head out. We had shopping to do!

Now, when I say shopping, I don’t mean for fun souvenirs...I mean Wal-mart... *hangs head sheepishly*. When you live in New York City, where Wal-marts do not exist and everything is a bit more expensive, sometimes a trip to Wal-mart is very exciting. We like to stock up on little things, like our favorite Crystal Light flavors, and things of that nature. So we finished all our errands and then headed back to the house for a nice, home-cooked meal. 

Miriam’s mom was making us a delicious dinner and insisted on inviting our friends Jena and Sarah over so that we could see them one last time. There was so much food on that table that by the time we finished dinner I think we had to be rolled out the door. So good! Sometimes it’s so nice to have a Mom-made-home-cooked meal. There’s something truly special about it.

We had talked about getting ice cream with Jena and Sarah after dinner, but we were all too full, so they offered to drive us to the French Quarter instead, where we would be spending the last part of our evening. We said goodbye to the girls and began our saunter through the Quarter.

It’s always fun to walk around the French Quarter. There’s so much art and beauty but at the same time debauchery and crazy Voodoo shops. It’s great! And it’s nice that you can walk around the streets with a drink in hand to take it all in (I passed on the drink, thank you very much-- still recovering from the daiquiri).
Our destination that evening was Preservation Hall, the famous jazz hall located in the Quarter, and a place I had, surprisingly, never been to before. We were hoping to catch the early show but arrived to the line just after a very large school group in bright, lime green tshirts. Preservation Hall isn’t very big, so that school group got all the spots. We hunkered down to wait the hour in line for the next set. At least we were now near the front of the line, which meant we would get good seats.

Preservation Hall is simply a jazz hall. No food, no drinks, no cameras, no recording devices. You pay your entrance fee, find a spot on the floor or a nearby bench, and you sit back and listen while a bunch of New Orleans jazz legends play fabulous music for 45 minutes.

While we waited for the next set, I left Miriam to hold our spot in line and walked around the Quarter for a little bit to take some photographs. By the time I got back to her, the line was ridiculously long, and I was glad we opted to stay in line. Every once in a while we could hear the band playing through the windows. I was even able to sneak some photos of the band through the small holes in the shutters.

The famous Lucky Dogs vendor 

The line for Preservation Hall 

Once the early show cleared out, we were allowed to go in and claim our seats. Miriam suggested sitting on the cushions on the floor so that we could be up close to the band without people being in our way, but I didn’t think I could sit for that long on the floor so we grabbed seats on the first row of benches. Excellent decision.

We were allowed to take photographs of the stage and the instruments before the show, but as soon as the band members came out we were told to put all cameras away. And they’ll call you out on it, too, if you try to take a picture! We saw it firsthand. Someone attempted to take a photo and the band members stopped what they were doing to point the guy out (luckily, they were only talking and not playing so nothing was interrupted). 

The show was a lot of fun. You can tell the guys love what they are doing and have so much fun playing music. 45 minutes goes by really fast with jazz music. We only heard 4-5 songs total because of all the solos and riffing.

Up on the wall is a price list if you want to make a request, and someone actually paid the handsome $20 price for “When the Saints Go Marching In”-- it used to be a staple to play, since NOLA is home to the NFL team, the Saints, but the guys got tired of having it requested multiple times a night so put a hefty price on it. 

After the set came to an end, we had the option to stay for the next set (once you pay the entrance fee you can stay as long as you want), but it was starting to get late. We tipped the band and thanked them for the fun show, and then called Miriam’s parents so they could meet us in Jackson Square.
We couldn’t leave New Orleans without going to Cafe du Monde for chicory coffee and beignets, the special NOLA fritter served covered with powdered sugar. Our plan was to grab some to go, but Miriam’s dad was able to find a parking spot, so we settled in to one of the outdoor tables, ordered up some coffee and one order of beignets. It was the cherry on top of a fun trip to New Orleans.

I had a really great time in New Orleans, doing a lot of things that I had never done there before, but it was time to pack up and head on to my next adventure: Wisconsin.

Jackson Square

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.