What I learned in New Orleans

There’s a significant difference between high ground and low ground: one floods, the other doesn’t. Every house has a brand new refrigerator. 2009 has been the windiest ever in the city. Wildlife, except for pigeons, mega-roaches and winged, swarming termites, are rare.  (I did see one small heron and some turtles though.) Traditionally, storms have been a method of redevelopment; damaged buildings are not repaired, demolished instead to remove residents. If potholes are big enough, folks dump their trash in it, and sometimes-- old refrigerators.  Like the 40^th annual Jazz & Heritage Fest, Bonnie Raitt and Neil Young have stood the test of time.  Per a Sunday morning music lesson with Dr. John, there are killer weird things that happen in New Orleans that happen nowhere else. That’s for sure. 

Gulf shrimp, oysters and crawfish taste better when they haven’t been transported thousands of miles. How to make eggs sardou by chef Lee Richardson of Ashley's at the Capital Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas: béchamel sauce, artichokes and quick sautéed spinach.  The key to a good crawfish boil is the seasoning: extras can include whole cloves of garlic, potatoes, mushrooms, asparagus and corn.  How to eat a crawfish: twist off head, pinch off tail fins, squeeze tail, nip and twist the meat out of the shell. Abita makes several types of brews including a seasonal strawberry beer and the Turbo Dog—all go down mighty quick. Sazeracs have never gone out of style in New Orleans and can be counted on at cocktail hour. Even at high noon, cemeteries here, with their whitened above ground tombs, are eerie and trippy.   As my friend writer Patty Friedmann says, visit soon, because New Orleans doesn’t promise to be there.