Diary 1|8|2015: Real Winter. Coffee Rani.

[title type="h5"] Thursday, January 8, 2015. Real Winter, New Orleans Style. Coffee Rani.[/title] I hear traffic reports during my radio show that say the Causeway is shut down in both directions, for different reasons. I'm glad I decided to stay at home today. It's a nasty day, with New Orleans weather at its most miserable: almost cold enough to freeze the droplets of rain that come down. It stops just as the radio show ends, and I manage to take three laps of my walk around the ranch. I think it's this more than my diet that has brought my weight down. To stay in that spirit, Mary Ann and I have dinner at Coffee Rani in Covington. This has always been a good place for salads and sandwiches, with a more inventive menu than most such places. We must have caught the place in a shift change. It too an unusually long time to place the order (at the counter, something they ought to change) and have it prepared. We both get soups, and Mary Ann picks the winner: a creamy shrimp soup with mirlitons and a fascinating spice blend. I ask for the black bean soup, and for some reason it takes three attempts to get it served at a temperature above that of my skin. Later I learn that the young woman waiting on us was in her first day at Coffee Rani. Of all customers for her to have to deal with! [caption id="attachment_46219" align="alignnone" width="480"] Chicken pesto pasta at Coffee Rani.[/caption] I follow this with a pasta dish with a creamy red sauce and grilled thick with a big flake of pesto sauce cooked to crispy. A little peculiar, but good enough. [title type="h5"]Coffee Rani. Covington: 226 Lee Lane. 985-893-6158. [/title]