The Sweet Life...C'mon Down!

As the remnants of Gustav are collected by roving municipal trucks, the radio is plunking out the blues, the lusty tropical vegetation is bobbing in the breeze, and the city of New Orleans is going on right where it left off. That easygoing, island-like atmosphere is still leaking through our pores into our bloodstreams, getting up into our brains and causing a blissful sensation of relaxation and fun. Laissez les bon temps rouler (let the good times roll) is the city's enthusiastic cry, but really, how can they not? If Katrina can't stop the good times from rolling, Gustav certainly can't...and it looks like they never will stop rolling in New Orleans for any reason at all.

Which means you can come on down!! What are you waiting for (well maybe the end of hurricane season, although the news hype makes it out to be a little bit on the extreme side)? Wouldn't you love dancing, dining, relaxing on a virtual tropical island? Remember how local live music always cheers you up and makes you forget your troubles? There's really no way to describe the feeling you get when travel to a place so full of unique culture - you have to be here - in person! No video, picture or even blog post (ahem) can do it justice!

From anywhere in the USA, with the exception of Hawaii and Alaska (which by the way have their own very explorable, unique cultures) you're no more than a half day's flight or drive from this remarkable little city. So you have no excuse! Since it's a stop on the must see checklist of America, you have to come once in your lifetime, but be careful, of course, you might keep coming back...or like us, you might never leave.

Help! I'm a Prisoner in My Vacation House!

As Gustav threatened our beautiful city, we were already up in Atlanta on business. On the eve of the Katrina anniversary, we and everybody else in America watched with horror as Gustav rolled up the gulf coast and our entire city was evacuated. Rather than return to New Orleans on Labor Day as planned, we retreated to our north Georgia vacation house and gripped our TV remote with white knuckles as the water in the Industrial Canal sloshed over the wall into the 9th Ward. We gasped with relief as we saw the levee hold.

Being practical, we made schedule adjustments that kept us productive for another week, and now here comes Ike, tracking into the gulf like a deja vu nightmare! Once the only news topic on 24 hour cable, Gustav is so last week you can't even find a 30 second update, although the city is still engaged in major aspects of recovery.

OK, we live in a hurricane zone. We admit it. A possible tipoff might be that they have a popular drink on Bourbon St. named for it. But the reality of being displaced for weeks on end, fearing for the lives and property of your neighbors, wondering if your roof blew off and your possessions are scattered or soaked or both, and basic stuff like knowing your refrigerator full of food lies in dubious condition after days and days without power, suddenly becomes intimate experience. Strangely though, now we know first hand why people came back after Katrina, why they suffer through all the Gustavs and Ikes - a love for this unique city so powerful that it pervades your bloodstream. As we eyeball the new storm track, our desire to return to New Orleans continues to increase in intensity, and we are tempted to compromise everything but safety - what's a little rain and wind?!

It's lovely this time of year up in north Georgia, don't get us wrong. The crisp morning air in the lush, vibrant green woods at the edge of the lake is refreshing perfection. Under other circumstances, we might even come here on purpose this time of year, but it has become a gilded cage. We have to go home...

The Fais Do-Do Loves Tipitina's

Zydeco music in New Orleans is practically patriotic, and boy did it sound FANTASTIC last Sunday night at Tipitina's. If you want to get the flavor, go out to the Cajun Fais Do-Do "most Sundays" featuring Bruce Daigrepont. It's so casual, you can wear your sweats if you want, no kidding, and dance for hours with the most easygoing people on the planet. We didn't know the two-step (and frankly we still don't after trying while doubled over laughing at our amazing left-footedness). Folks there will be happy to attempt to teach you anyway though. A few people brought their own washboards and just stood below the stage playing along with the music. They had a birthday announcement and cake for some of the regulars at the break, and everybody kept dancing to the intermission music (which was more good zydeco and Cajun music, of course). As always, presiding over the festivities in spirit was the legendary Professor Longhair, imortalized in the giant mural overlooking the stage. What we want to know is, do all the real people live in New Orleans?

Grocery Shopping in New Orleans...

...is fun - no really! This city's charming attitude unassumingly pervades even the dumb stuff you do every day until all of life is a pleasure. For instance, these things really happened to us:

• We were standing in a grocery store (Breaux Mart) aisle looking at some spicy Cajun mustard, and the guy shopping for croutons next to us said, "Have you ever tried that? It's fantastic." Then he went on with his shopping.
  
• We were in a restaurant (Pho Tau Bay) one day looking at the menu, and the guy at the table next to us leaned over and said, "Have you ever been here? Try the chicken salad," and then continued conversing with his tablemate.
  
• We were standing outside a wine shop (Swirl) contemplating going in, and a couple sitting al fresco told us not only about a wine tasting there in an hour, but about a great new restaurant across the street (Lola's) where we went over and had dinner.
  
• You're not going to believe this one, but it's absolutely true! We were parking our car to go into a coffee shop (Rue de la Course), and a guy came out on the balcony across the street and called to us to get our attention. He then told us they were giving out $150 parking tickets for parking in that direction on that side of the street. We moved our car, walked up one block and saw a meter maid!

It's like people are nice here on purpose. In fact, the unofficial city motto is, "Be nice or leave!" and in our opinion they're actually living it.

Sneaky Good Eats

Finding incredible food for cheap is sport in New Orleans - here's a list of our most recent finds in all their inexpensive deliciousness:

1. Lebanon's Cafe - This may be the best Middle Eastern food we've EVER had (and we've been from NYC to LA looking!) They have a succulent lamb shish kebab plate and exotic iced tea with rosemary and pine nuts.
   


2. Pho Tau Bay Restaurant - Super Vietnamese, all the classics plus lots of light choices. This is our favorite cuisine, so we're choosy.
   


3. Slim Goodies Diner - The atmosphere is ALL THE WAY THERE New Orleans style - everybody goes there for "breakfast all day" from the hoi polloi uptown to the average joe - huge lines on weekends, always packed.
   


4. La Divinia Gelateria - Coconut Thai Basil sorbetto? How about Grapefruit Campari? All made from scratch - you can get two flavors in one bowl so you don't have to choose! Plus you can eat it strolling up Magazine St.

Tell us your faves so we can try them!

The Dilemma

We have been trying to describe why we are crazy in love with this city to other people and failing miserably...but we must, so here's another attempt.

It's the people - they are amazing here - humble, laid back, smart with a great sense of humor...the architecture is breathtaking...it's the atmosphere, the amniotic fluid, the intangible SOMETHING that makes your spine relax as you come over the Lake Pontchartrain bridge and glimpse the CBD, small but shimmering on the horizon...

The pace is humane here. The heavy, humid air is redolent with jasmine and honeysuckle. Food and music take priority over the acquisition of worldly treasure. Why can't we put it in a nutshell so all of our friends and family can understand?

To look at, New Orleans can sometimes be a little bit of a rumpled bed...not every storefront is spit shined...not every restaurant has immaculate linoleum floors...in fact some of the best places in town to eat have a hand scrawled sign, and you wouldn't even know they were there until you stumbled on one, poked your head in the door out of curiosity, and the place was packed!

You die a little when you leave here, and almost addict-like search the airwaves for any mention of the city while you're away...a headline about the governor...Louis Armstrong on the radio...a Food TV show on a diner you've been to down the street...

There's a song they play on WWOZ that is as ubiquitous in this city as resurrection fern on the live oak trees (no, not When The Saints Go Marching In, which you will come to have an inner shriek of joy when you hear if you move here)...but Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans? - you resonate with the sentiment so strongly that the song practically becomes an anthem, and it really does underscore the dilemma - trying to describe why we are crazy in love with this city to other people and failing miserably...

Happy Bastille Day!

We found out they actually have quite a bit of pride their French heritage around here - they celebrate Bastille Day pretty enthusiastically!! This weekend, we went to a Bastille Day street festival and heard live Parisian jazz by VaVaVoom, who are apparently French, and fantastic if you ever get the chance to see them...we may try to catch them again at the Spotted Cat jazz lounge one of these days...

Happy 4th!

We are down in New Orleans for the nation's birthday getting ready for our annual barbecue...we think we might have to do it at 8:00 AM this morning because this is New Orleans in JULY - it's going to be in the mid 90's with mid 90's percent humidity...ok...was you born on the SUN?! It's HOT!!

Then, of course this afternoon it will POUR BUCKETS of rain, like the tropical climate it is...we watch the clouds build up into super cells all day, then the gigantic raindrops start hitting the skylights in the living room like pellets, until it turns into sheets like a fire hose was turned on the house...New Orleans is the only place we've ever seen it rain in all directions - even up!

Tomorrow is market day! Every Saturday there is a charming little farmer's market down at Magazine and Girod in the Warehouse District, the Crescent City Farmers Market, which sells thriving potted herbs...we are looking for a thyme and maybe something else...we bought a giant squash and zucchini there last time for two bits apiece and grilled them with olive oil...

Then we're off to the Freret Market which we know nothing about...that's the first Saturday of each month and they apparently have local artisans, local food, and best of all local music...

Speaking of local food - we have discovered the bread they make Po-Boy's with at our grocer! We have been making our own muffeletta's, and hot eggplant sandwiches with smoked provolone that taste like the real thing, folks!

Design Your Own NOLA Themed Gift Basket

Can't get enough of New Orleans? Neither can we - we found the Crescent City included along with all the other great cities on My Favorite City Gifts where you can design your own New Orleans themed gift!

Family Visit and Tourist Fun

Our sister and her closest childhood friend came to visit and party in New Orleans last weekend...we did it up, mistah!! They stayed at the luxurious Omni Royal Orleans Hotel in the heart of the French Quarter, which had a great view of the city and the Mississippi River from their observation deck where we threw an impromptu nosh to welcome them prior to running off to Emeril's famous NOLA Restaurant a block's walk away (BTW - we had the Hickory-Roasted Duck with Whiskey-Caramel Glaze!)

We did all the tourist stuff - much for the first time, actually:

• Coffee and beignets at Cafe Du Monde


• Bus tour of the city - got the good bounce with a hilarious tour guide


• Hopped on the steam driven riverboat Natchez and saw the Port of New Orleans from the Mississippi River (and the vessel's incredible engine room!)


• Walking tour of the Quarter to haunted houses which stopped by Nicolas Cage's place and Brad/Angelina Jolie-Pitt's place for extras


• Ran over to the fabulous Oak Alley Plantation which looked gorgeous in intermittent sun showers with giant blue and green dragonflies darting around the lush, carefully cultivated flora

Last Saturday night, we joked it took guests to visit, but we finally got over to Cafe Degas, an intimate French restaurant (actually named after Degas who lived down the street for about a year) located in our old Bayou St. John/City Park neighborhood, which has been there since we first lived in New Orleans over twenty years ago...such a warm and cultivated atmosphere - and of course an epicurean gem. We have been reintroducing fine wine into our culinary adventures, and so appetizers and a lovely San Giovese at a fantastic little wine shop called Swirl across the street from the restaurant beforehand...the shop owner is a charming lady whose goal in life is to provide the best $10 - $20 wines available to her patrons whom she treats like old friends...the shop has two wine tastings a week, is dog-friendly, and is open until "8-ish" on weekdays...