French Quarter Music Festival...the second time around!

It was with great anticipation that Jack and I drove into the French Quarter RV Park that Thursday afternoon.  It had been two years since we had been here and we have never forgotten our last visit!  The first time we came to New Orleans, it was to coincide with a visit with some dear friends of ours while they were celebrating their wedding anniversary.  While here, we found out that the following weekend was going to be the annual French Quarter Music Festival, a free 4-day, full-on, 200+ bands of all kinds (well, mostly) of incredible music played throughout the French Quarter, how cool was that?  Well, we trotted right over to our RV Park and asked them if by any chance in heaven if they still had space available during this time, and yes, one!  So we grabbed it!  We soon fell in love...with the town, the food, the music, all of it, and vowed to come back again some day...and that day was today!  It took us two years, but we made it!

We settled in, freshened up, and took off to the Riverfront where we knew the action would be.  We made a brief stop at the Visitor's Center to pick up a schedule, and headed out.  First stop, the Cajun Stage!  My kind of music!  I love it (more than Jack, even tho he likes it too).   Once we got a spot and settled in, I went for food, I was starving, and had purposely waited to eat until we got there because I wanted good 'Nawlins food and I knew that's where I'd get me some!  We started out easy with "Po boys", knowing I would have a chance to build up from there, and I wasn't disappointed, Yum!

Thursday night was time to sit down and take a look at the schedule and "see who was playing where".  Having been here before, really made a (nice) difference!  No need this year to go running around and see & hear everything and everyone, we could be picky and select who and where we wanted to be and just set ourselves up for several sets at a time, or an area at a time.  So much easier (on the "older bodies"!).   One of our favorites is a band we had first found on the street called Tuba Skinny.  We soon found out that they are quite popular and have a large following, especially with the Lindy dancers!  Because of that, we have to get to the stage early if we want to be anywhere near it to see them, so that had to be accounted for!  ;-)

Having done my "research" we set out each day, chairs in hand.  Was it my imagination, or did the crowd seem bigger this year?  Hm mm  Anyway, the weather was lovely, sunny with a nice breeze, so no complaints here.  Having "done" New Orleans before, I didn't really even take my camera with me until the last day...I just relaxed and lost myself in the music and watching the dancers.  They never cease to amaze and entertain me.  There was one special young man that caught my attention this year though.  A delightful 6 year old from Germany.  He was here with his parents and grandparents.  I first saw him while we were all enjoying Cori Walters and the Universe Jazz Band.  Cori is a female drummer and I could tell he was mesmerized by her.  He sat perfectly still for the full hour of her performance completely entranced by her!  A 6 year old!  The following day I ran into them again enjoying Fritzel's New Orleans Jazz Band, one of our favorite's from before, and again, there he was, entranced.  That's when I went and talked with his parents and found out that he loves the drums (plays at home) and that one of the drummers had given him his sticks yesterday (much to his delight!) so he took them and began playing on a nearby can, much to the delight of the drummer!  Later on, during the performance, the young boy, got up and went to his mom and asked her to dance!  He was pretty good too!  There was one other (fantastic) couple doing the Lindy that he watched and did his best to copy where he could.  What a little man.  In so many ways, looks, personality, age...he reminded me of one of my grandsons that it brought sweet tears to my eyes. 

All to soon the festival was over.  As we took our last pedicab home we sighed that we had not been disappointed.  So many times the "second time around" doesn't live up to one's expectations, but this one did!  We enjoyed every moment of it!  As we entered our RV Park, another couple was walking towards us and stopped us, asking for advise on where to eat that was close by.  They had just arrived, never having been to New Orleans before, didn't know about the festival, only staying the night, couldn't really walk very far...we looked at each other and began to chuckle...we knew just where to send them and how to get them there safely (we were now the experienced ones!)

...on the road in Louisiana,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

New Orleans! Part 1 Continued: Images...

Out and about in NOLA! (That's the acronym they use for New Orleans LA, it's printed on just about everything!) The French Quarter is a photographer's dream. If you like people shots, there is every kind from cute to crazy. If you like architecture, they have the gambit from the very very old to the new, from falling down to the refurbished and all the color & decoration you can imagine! If you like art, they have it everywhere, on the streets, along sidewalks, next to buildings, under, over & on top of just about anything they can find to attach it to! If you like landscape & flowers, they tuck plants and flowers where ever they can...and the magnolia trees are just about everywhere, and were starting to bloom! See? A paradise, so you can imagine how I felt, carrying my wonderful new red camera around, snapping away. It took us forever to get from one block to the next as I would yell to Jack to "stop! Just look at that door!" (or "balcony" or "building" or...you get the idea).

It looked as if they had a couple of "themes" going as well, but couldn't quite get them going. One was small painted coffins (I thought that was a bit weird myself, but I guess they thought they would play up their reputation, and it's a "bigger canvas") of which we only saw a couple. The other were these funny looking dogs, again, we only saw a couple. "Sponsor" info or "message" info wasn't prevalent, so hard to say what either of them were all about...but of course, I took pictures of them!

Here's a sampling...if you want to indulge, there's lots & lots more on my Flickr account!













































































































...kicking back in Louisiana, Marie

New Orleans Part 1 Continued: Food, Southern Style!

One of the things you have to embrace when you come to Louisiana, is the food; there's nothing else like it anywhere else! New Orleans is known for their wonderfully warm, smothered in powdered sugar Beignets, Crawfish cooked every which way, spicy Gumbo, and the traditional New Orleans sandwich, the Muffaletta.

Everywhere you turn the smells joined the sounds coming from every cafe & restaurant along every street in and out of the Quarter. I couldn't get enough. Even Jack, who is the pickiest eater ever, found wonderful dishes to savour. So, when we found a brochure for a cooking class, I nabbed it and read on. Seems that lots of us would love to learn "how they do it" enough to at least make a dish or two after we leave this wonderful city. The New Orleans School of Cooking offers morning and afternoon demonstration classes every day of the week, and...you get to eat what is made! Yum, count me in!

My class was on Corn & Crab Bisque; Chicken Etouffee (means to "smother"); and Pralines. All dishes that I knew Jack would eat (no crawfish for that boy!). The school and General Store (all the spices and supplies you will want to add for your new found skills) are located in a renovated molasses warehouse built in the early 1800s in the heart of the French Quarter. Chef Michael was a delight, entertaining, educating (did you know that if your dish got a little to spicy or to salty, you could just add cream sherry to counter it? I didn't) and a great chef! All the dishes prepared were outstanding, full of flavor without being to "hot" or spicy, easily explained and with just enough history and comic additions to make it really fun. Since I'm "known" for my soups, and will definitely add this one to my menu, let me share it with you.

CHEF MICHAEL'S CORN AND CRAB BISQUE

INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup Flour
1/2 lb Butter
1 Quart heavy cream
Enough stock to cover corn (and a little extra)
1 lb Crab meat (claw)
1/2 Cup Chopped garlic
1 Cup Chopped green onion
2 lb Whole Corn Frozen
1 Cup chopped parsley (for garnish)
Joe's seasoning to taste (this is their Seasoning Mix - you can use any special mix that you like, or go on line and order from their store)
Shrimp and Crab Boil to taste (this is also a product they sell, but you might be able to find it in specialty stores. It's a mild hot sauce)

PROCEDURE:
Put corn in pot and cover with stock. Bring to a boil and add garlic, Joe's stuff, and 1/4 Cup of the green onions. Reduce to simmer for about 30 min. Cut corn from cobs. (you can use already cut corn, he just felt it was more flavorful this way)

Make a roux with equal parts of butter and flour to desired color (his note on site: it will smell like cooked dough); add in your simmering pot. Adjust thickness with stock. Add cream and heat to almost a boil. Add Crab and cook about 5 min. Add crab boil to taste.

Note: Use the other half of your green onions and the parsley for garnish

Makes 6-8 Servings

Bon Appetite!













































...kicking back in Louisiana, Marie

New Orleans! Part 1 (Before the FQ Festival)

Finally! I feel like we've been trying to get here for forever. We found a great place just two blocks from the French Quarter, so we were able to walk back and forth as needed, which is a good thing. First day, once settled in, map in hand, we hit the streets to see what we could see. I hadn't been here in over 20 years, Jack, never. First thing I noticed was the change in the music! 20-30 somethings took over and brought in rock and turned the loud speakers all the way up! Yikes!! How could they do that to Bourbon Street? Rock can be played in every club throughout the US; it should not take over the ONE STREET KNOWN FOR JAZZ!! We found some, but we had to really go looking. We had spent some time with one of the great gals in the Visitor's Center, and she gave us a list of where the Jazz was played - thank goodness!! Sad tho that we would need a map and a list in the one town that used to be ALL ABOUT JAZZ.

We no sooner got back to the rig, when the sky opened up and decided to pour! Lightening, thunder, the whole works! At about 3AM, we decided our shade awning wasn't going to make it, so we threw on some clothes and braved the storm and brought it back in. We were quite a sight, two old f--ts wrestling this big awning in the cold, pouring down rain with the wind whipping it and us in every direction! But, we got it in successfully!!

It was still raining all the next morning, but Jack had reservations for a private tour of the WWII Museum that he had been really looking forward to, and a little rain wasn't going to slow him down! I, on the other hand, chose to hunker down and catch up on some chores and writing. By the late afternoon, the rain was gone, Jack was back and we were able to meet up with dear friends from San Diego for our first night on the town! Dinner at Pat O'Brian's and jazz at Preservation Hall - it doesn't get any more "traditional" than that!!

Our "routine" quickly adjusted to staying up late listening to music then sleeping in the next morning. We'd eat "brunch" in the rig then head into the French Quarter for the rest of the day & night. We quickly found our way around town with several clubs & restaurants becoming our favorites. We found out that it was the week before the French Quarter Festival, a 4-day free music fest that fills the entire FQ area with stages and bands from around the world. Because of this, several musicians come into town early to visit with their friends. They sit in the audience, and sometimes jam with the bands. We ended up meeting a couple of them, and becoming friends with one of them, a tuba player, Keith, from Modesto Ca of all places! Keith brought a group of music students there years ago, made friends with some of the musicians, and comes back (without students) every year at this time to visit and jam with the bands. Great guy, friendly, funny and fun. We kept bumping into him at several clubs we'd visit, I guess because we liked the same kind of music! Another character was an Austrian who played clarinet, and man, could he play! He would sing too, and add scat then add a yodel to it, which was hilarious! We could count on seeing him at Fritzel's, a great European Jazz Pub on Bourbon.

We jammed so much into these two weeks that I'm going to break them down into separate subjects, otherwise, this would become the "great American novel" and I don't think we are ready for that one just yet! ;-)


















































...kicking back in Louisiana, Marie