I woke up way to early this morning … 3:30 am to go to the airport for my 6:00 am flight to New Orleans via Denver. I called my favorite SF cabbie, the ‘Disco Taxi’ last night to request a 4:15 pick up. At 4:17 this morning he hadn’t arrived. He’s usually 10 – 15 minutes early, so I got a little bit worried and called him. Good thing I did because I woke him up out of a dead sleep. So no disco taxi for me today. Sadly, I had to wake Deb up and plead for a lift to the airport. Happily she got right up and brought me down to SFO. Thanks Deb … you’re my s-hero!
Making my connection in Denver, seeing New Orleans on the sign at the gate I started to get really excited. There were lots of Saints jerseys and everyone is psyched about the great season the Saints are having. I see some new Saints paraphernalia in my near future.
We landed in the rain and it’s been raining ever since … and cold to boot.
I’m staying at my favorite house on Willow Street near Tulane University, home of my good friends Stone and Maya. Stone was kind enough to come pick me up from the airport. So great to see her! On the way home we stopped at Robert’s Grocery (pronounced Robears … like French). Right when you walk into the grocery store there were bins of hot, fresh cooked seafood …
Boiled shrimp
Crawfish
Oysters already shucked but then rubber banded together for easy eating at home.
Once Maya came home from work at the City of New Orleans Archives at the downtown Public Library, we visited for a while then went out for a low key dinner at Liuzza’s near Mid City.
Their menu is typical of the Italian Cajun melange that you find in a lot of the cuisine here.
Stone and I split a delicious cup of chicken, shrimp and sausage gumbo for an appetizer.
Maya had fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade.
Stone had fried shrimp with a side of jambalaya.
I had an unbelievable dish called Eggplant St. John (named after the nearby Bayou St. John I assume). It had fried eggplant served over angel hair pasta topped with an artichoke cream sauce and shrimp. Can I just say DELISH! I think this was indicated as one of the healthy low-fat options … psych! It really was stupendous.
Rainy or not, I’m so glad to be in New Orleans. I’m looking forward to spending time with friends I grew up with, some of my clients and just enjoying the city … rain or shine!
