[title type="h5"]Sunday, May 25, 2014.
Summer Begins De Facto.
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The first really hot day of the year falls short of ninety degrees, but it convinces me that the polar vortex may finally be fading. The inside of my car is an oven for the first time in 2014. That may be due to my parking in an indentation under some trees. But I have to give that up: the sap that dripped from the overhead pines cost $30 to remove a couple of weekends ago. And now there's a nest of good-size birds just above my PT Cruiser. They are letting me have it.
Mary Ann is getting the last bit of slave labor from The Boy, who is already somewhat less available for her assignments now that he has a car. He leaves town for home in Baltimore and then Pittsburgh this Tuesday. We will miss having him around.
In repayment for his labors, Mary Ann grilled hamburgers and fried onion rings. The Boy says that the rings are the best. They are, but we probably won't be able to find another strong back who will work for onion rings.
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[title type="h5"]Monday, May 26, 2014.
Memorial Day. Remembering Taxes.
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I think that if all of us did our tax returns on Memorial Day, we wouldn't feel as bent out of shape about paying up. I spent the better part of the evening finishing (at last!) my returns. And writing the usual large check. But what's that compared to the burden our soldiers have shouldered?
Fortunately, I have a lot of time to work on all that. The radio management gave me and my producers the day off. It doesn't matter. Not many people listen on this holiday, making the show very difficult on both the host and the listeners.
Dinner at Zea. It's Monday, so I went along with the soup of the day: red bean. I wish I hadn't. When it's good, it's good, but today it was heavy and goopy. Red beans are so cheap to make that I wonder why they feel the need to hang onto this old stuff.
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[title type="h5"]Tuesday, May 27, 2014.
In The Clutch. Cheese sandwich.
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I saw a movie once in which two people get into a booby-trapped car that races off as soon as they start it, and can't be stopped. The characters try standing on the brake and clutch pedals, pulling the gearshift but finding it stuck, and finally yanking the gas pedal out of the floor. All the while the car is heading for a cliff.
A guy behind me said, "Just turn off the engine, you idiots!" I remember that today when, after starting the car and throwing it into reverse, my PT Cruiser backs up faster than I expect. I push the clutch to the floor and pump it, but can't disengage the transmission. So I turn the key. The car stops dead. Of course it does!
This happened to me before, but not in a long time. When I tried to get started again, everything worked fine. But instead of heading for the radio station, I drive to KT Automotive in Mandeville, which has done much brilliant work on our cars.
The PT drove all right most of the way there, but after a couple of traffic lights, I could tell that the clutch was near death. I wind up having to put the car in neutral and drift to the side of the road. I couldn't get it quite out of the way. A guy rolled up, asked what was going on, and said he would manually push my car out of harm's way. I got out to help push, but he said, "I got it. Just steer." Indeed, he did have it. This, I think, is karma payback for the baked Alaska I bought those two strangers at Antoine's last Friday.
The AAA tow truck shows up quickly and hauls my flivver off to KT. Mary Ann comes out to carry me home. I am on the air from my home studio just a few minutes late.
But today is our Round Table day, with four good guests in the radio studio. But we had shows before in which I was not physically in the room. Aaron Vogel comes on behalf of his descriptively-named District Donut-Slider-Brew. (Well, the brew throws you off: it's coffee, not beer they refer to.) Jason Goodenough (what an interesting name for a chef!) is here from Carrollton Market, the successor to One Restaurant as of about six months ago.
And two guys from Le Foret: dining room manager Ryan O'Dwyer and Chef Brandon Felder. Brian brings a few bottles of wine, and the guests tell me that they have just about killed them. The show's conversation takes on a lilting quality as a result. That is desirable. I wish I am there.
Instead, I satisfy myself after the show with a baked cheese sandwich right after the show, and a salad of Mary Ann's making later. In between, I take a nice long walk in before returning to slaving over a hot computer.
I didn't know it yet, but this would be the last outdoor activities for a week.
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[title type="h5"]Wednesday, May 28, 2014.
Deluge. New Orleans Food & Spirits' Panneed Chicken.
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It starts raining while we are still abed. When I finally get up, I see on radar a huge, rotating weather system covering most of the state and extending deep into the Gulf of Mexico. By mid-morning, so much rain falls that our little country road is under flowing water so deep that the ditches on both sides cannot be discerned. For the 503th time, I am glad I have the capability of broadcasting from home.
As I watch the rain continue to fall, it becomes obvious that this storm is just another of nature's late arrivals in this strange weather year. Specifically, it's a brother of the infamous May 3 flood that, among other malefactions, brought about the death of T. Pittari's Restaurant in 1978. Remnants of that flood are still visible, mainly in the deep digging currently in progress on numerous Uptown arteries, as the Corps of Engineers rebuilds large parts of the drainage system.
The rain tapers off in late afternoon and the flooding recedes quickly. It has been dry for two weeks, and the ground sucks up a lot of the water.
[caption id="attachment_42485" align="alignnone" width="400"]
Chicken pannee at NOF&S.[/caption]
To dinner the three of us go. We choose New Orleans Food & Spirits in Covington for two reasons: a) this is the one and only night for its improbably delicious panneed chicken and angel hair pasta with both red and white sauces (one gets an insane portion and a salad for the giveaway price of $10); and 2) Mary Leigh needs to shut down her gallery-studio.
Eight months ago, ML rented a space in a shotgun double around the corner from NOF&S, and moved her ceramic-sculpting operations into it. She signed up for all the licenses, electricity, and other needs. Somehow she caught the attention of Covington City Hall, and they held an official ribbon cutting for her business, complete with councilmen and the mayor. We didn't tell them she would probably be there less than a year.
During the past week ML and The Boy (who left yesterday, indefinitely, for his parent's home in the Northeast) cleaned the place out and moved all the pottery and wheels back home. All there is left to do is remove her hand-painted signs. It's slightly bittersweet. But she will now be able to say that she had her own gallery for awhile.
The Covington location of New Orleans Food & Spirits hangs over into the west bank of the Bogue Falaya River, which is so high that Mary Ann wanted to see how it looked on the east bank. at at The Chimes. The answer: scary. The river would exceed flood stage in a few days.
It rained some more while we were eating. En route home, when we turn onto our road, we see that the water has risen again and is flowing across the road. I know exactly where the low point is, and it looks passable. But in the dark it's not easy to tell where the road ends and the ditches begin. Mary Ann is braver than I am (or less cautious), and she pushes her SUV through the overflow. We make it.
[title type="h5"]New Orleans Food & Spirits. Covington: 208 Lee Lane. 985-875-0432. [/title]
Written by Tom Fitzmorris June 06, 2014 12:01 in
