Wine, Cheese-its, and NOLA on my own

The conference was over today about 1:30. Stephanie is gone, my new buddies from Community are not feelin it and I am on my own!  Sort of feels like Paris!  

I took off my nylon slip and wore a cool linen dress and sandals, hair up, ready to wander, experience and maybe paint!  Off I went east on Chartres St.

There is music and entertainment everywhere!

  Finally I hit Jackson square, be still my nascent artists heart!  I had flashbacks to Montmatre,

there is art circling the iron gates to the square.  I oogled, went into a linen shop I knew from times gone by (and became a bit excited).   Wandered, oogled, regarded,  and generally pleasured in the art. 

 But is was well past lunch and I had a date with Cafe Du Monde,  a requisite even though I did not really need that sort of lunch.  Ever participate in holding spots, I stood there in the heat and five women walked up and joined the two in front of me,

REALLY? But it was good, all of it,

  the beignet and the cafe au lait, the atmosphere and just being there. 

 Coming out of Cafe Du Monde I became enamored with vulvar art, yes you read it right.  Parts and pieces there artistically, for the world to see. Spelled out so people can really understand, not have myths and old wives tales to go on! I loved it.  It made me think of my friend Cara.  So We chatted, I shared that I am a SANE, and she said that several people had stopped by.  

She said she often gets run off for indecencies, REALLY, I really do fail to understand why we are so embarrassed and ashamed of these wonderful bodies our creator has made.  We chatted for a while and I really enjoy her efforts to demystify anatomy.  We all have it after all. 

 So I wandered into Jackson square, sat down next a fellow who was having a afternoon siesta,, alcohol or heat induces, I was not sure, but he was harmless.  AND I painted the  Bacillica Cathedral of St Louis King of France. 

 In spite of a woman trying to run everyone out of the park for a wedding, I just ignored her.   I figured if she got real serious I could leave, but I got my painting done except for the pen work.  It was pleasant, hot, but nice to paint, I can’t wait until or trip to Quarrante! Walking home i again enjoyed the atmosphere, the music, (I found Joes stuff!), the heat, the vibe.  There was a blue dog wanna be,

an official parade complete with brass music,

stores with French names and a store full of VERY expensive Limoges boxes.

 

So it is now 5 PM, I am cooler, sipping wine and munching on cheese-its form the plane.  Considering my options for dinner, Coud do Brennans again, Could do Coterie again, or could try something new, that could require a taxi ride.  Hmmmm problems, problems.  La Vie C’est bon!

I went back to Brennans, and I was treated like a Princess (Ya know, Princess Caroline?) My meal was wonderful

and tonight I had the same starter

and dessert

but tonight the short ribs accompanied with Brussels sprouts Rémoulade. I now officially like Brussels sprouts! 

 The wine I had with my meal was liquid velvet ( a Malbec-Cab blend) and got even better when I found out that they had comped my wine just because I had come back!  

I am now replete, satisfied, happy.  Thank you Brennans!

Je Suis Déçu

Sometimes a bucket list item, might have been better off staying just that.  

Sessions today were good, the keynote a courageous woman out to make a difference in the lives of women.  Lunch was a salad, chicken and risotto, not bad, not great, so pretty leave-able at half eaten.  But I needed to save some room and calories for Galatoires later!  I had some downtime to try to paint the view outside of my window, not a master piece!  But it will be a memory evocative of the real thing.  

Dinner tonight was a much anticipated meal at Galatoires.  

The entire experience was a mix of corpulence and disinterest.  I ordered Fois Gras for a table taste, it was good, seared nicely and accompanied with a relish that complimented it well.  For the rest of the meal we ordered off the Restaurant Week menu.  I had a corn and shrimp bisque, I apparently did not read well TO my surprise, it was cold.  

Followed by chicken.

  (I had committed to a Sancerre), and followed by a piece of cake which reminded me of Sara Lee with a melting scoop of vanilla ice cream, it might have been rescued by the little mess of crunchies they added, but it was not.

  My companions had the Boeuf Burgingion and one of them sent it back, and a second one said it looked like pressed meat.  I could feel Julia rolling in her grave as i regarded their plates.   The service was  impartial and disinterested, the whole experience felt like the establishment was going through the motions, like a starlet past her prime.   Folks must like it, there were two groups of brides-to-be and buddies partying.

 After we walked a bit, but Bourbon Street is a mass of people.  Drinking,drumming, preforming, anything to get money and or attention.  This missy literally mooned the crowd

as the fellows were playing  their version or music.  

We stoped to listed to Steam Boat Willie again for a bit, it was hot muggy and a relief to be back in the AC at the hotel!

Sometimes humans just never learn

This morning began with a Chapter Officer breakfast and discussion about the state of forensic nursing in our State came up.  There was some discussion about folks who can’t play nice in the sand box together, and then a reference to todays Keynote.  Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, and a half a cooked tomatoes (ick), fruit, bread, OJ, and coffee.  It was mostly good and it was free!  AND I got to  east in a fairly civilized manner.  Sessions were informative and stimulating and soon was that aforementioned Keynote and lunch .  She is a nurse and her topic was Lateral Violence, AKA nurses eating their young.  It was a great session, and lunch was a Cesar salad, pasta with short rib, and broth, it didn’t look like much but it was flavorful and i managed to choke it all down!  ;)   Afternoon sessions were informative, giving credence to our practice of Alternative light use, and then was our chapter meeting.  It was well attended, but I did notice that 2 people left right about the time we walked in.  It was a hopeful meeting and 5 of us went to dinner after.  We went to Brennans and that was an experience!

Their restaurant week menu was:  a gift from the chef of a spoon full of shrimp, with pepper and some yummy seasoning, (for me at léast)  tortellini in a lemongrass broth,

it was amazing.  It was followed by basically shrimp,

mushrooms and grits, and dessert was a Lemon Posset.  It was a experience and while it was not a first choice, it was pretty stinkin good!  

What a birthday cake this was!

The walk home was not quite long enough, but meetings start early in the morning. 

 Who didn’t learn?  Well adults bullying on social media.  What a pity even some adults in this anti voilence work can’t help bullying others.  

Makin’ Up

NOLA has officially made up for last nights culinary disaster. But it was off to a rocky start.  Americans seem to things that if we do the thing, we did it well.  Breakfast, for me, does not consist of juggling a cup of coffee, a breakfast burrito, croissant and OJ in the middle of a bustling hall. So I felt crabby. Then come to find out I could have drug it into the keynote session room and dined at a table like a civilized person.  The keynote, Gail Stern

is funny, raw and true.  I had heard her before, but she was even better second time around, what she has to say is powerful and sadly true, that jokes diminish the ugliness of what people say.  That allowing humor to cover up the rape culture in which we live, just perpetuates it.  The other sessions were good and the lunch meeting was a smart move on the boards part, there were more people there this year at the business meeting.  We had salad, fixings for ham or turkey sandwiches, chips ( my dirty little secret is that I like ham sandwiches with potato chips on them).  and cute little key lime pies, and strawberry short cake shots.  Delish, but our table alone left enough food for a family of 4 for lunch or dinner.  When I asked the wait staff about the disposition of the food, hoping that they got to take it home, they told me that they had to throw it out.  I am finding that the conference industry is not very earth friendly.    

Dinner tonight was at the suggestion of one of our lunch companions, Coterie,

just around the corner, on the NOLA Restaurant Week list, and delish!  I had, at the suggestion of an old friend who knows I DO NOT like oysters very welll, à trio of chargrilled Oysters, each was amazing,

and Stephanie had Boudin Balls,

we mixed it up and shared.  My main was shrimp and grits,

which I coud not finish and dessert was bread pudding.  I MUST humbly admit, mine is better!  

We walked down to Jackson Square and back down Bourbon St.,

Stopping in to listen to a little Louis Armstrong and have a glass of wine for me and a margarita for Stephanie.  The music was nice, I got all warm and fuzzy when he sang La Vie en Rose!