Easter Sunday, 3|27, 28|2016
A Gloomy Holiday.
The meteorologists said that Easter would be a very stormy day, complete with flooding rainfalls and much lightning. Only two bright spots occurred: our little choir's singing a lot of good hymns at St. Jane's, and a good breakfast of poached eggs with crabmeat, hollandaise, and creamed spinach at the Fat Spoon. This makes twice consecutively that I found the hand-cut brabant tomatoes perfect at the Spoon.
While the storms wash through, I get to work on my taxes. Not a minute too soon. I will not have a lot of free time between now and April 18 (we get three extra days to file this year). The christening of our grandson Jackson in Los Angeles is a few days before the deadline, to boot.
I decide that I've had quite enough of compiling my expenses for the year (I haven't so much as touched the 1040 form yet) when it gets to be six in the evening. I take a nap--few activities calm me down like that--and head over to Zea for my standard tomato-basil soup, house salad, and Asian oysters. I have to get the word to the chef that he is frying the oysters much too hard.
Someone emailed a link to old Johnny Carson Tonight shows featuring Rodney Dangerfield. I was never a fan of his, but I have to admit that I laughed for about an hour as I went through several shows. Amazing how many cigarettes people routinely smoked in those days.
Watching that did wonders for my mood, a mix of fear (taxes), overwork (I have to write three more columns than usual this week), disarray (the house is a mess) and loneliness (Mary Ann will not be home for at least five more weeks, and she's been gone three weeks already).
When I go to Walgreens to get some binders for the tax stuff, I was disappointed to find that all the Peeps were already swept off the Easter shelves. And with nobody around the house to give me an Easter basket, how can I not be disappointed? I'm looking forward to Monday, when the rain will have ended (for a day) and I'll be able to take a walk.
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Monday, March 28, 2016.
Beans And Busters.
It's a lovely, sunny day, but that doesn't help the marshy grounds of the Cool Water Ranch. Large parts of my walking path are inaccessible. This is fine with the dogs, who love to go splashing through the shallow watercourses. But I wasn't expecting to find the cats Satsuma and Valencia at the southernmost extreme of the property, about two blocks from the house. I've seen how they do it--they appear to be able to fly over the five-foot-tall fence that keeps the dogs well confined.
I knock out a newsletter, then go to lunch at yet another restaurant I've not visited in years, mainly because Mary Ann doesn't like the decor. Today it's Buster's, a seafood house, oyster bar, and all-around New Orleans neighborhood hangout. When we first moved to the North Shore twenty-five years ago, this was the Covington branch of the Acme Oyster House. I was a regular customer. Then the Acme moved to Causeway Boulevard, and a succession of restaurants took over the old Covington space. One of them was Vic and Nat'ly's, based on the caricature of an old New Orleans joint created by Bunny Matthews. That lasted only a few years. It then evolved into Buster's, keeping most of the surroundings that the Acme had installed, including the neon signs and oyster bar.
[caption id="attachment_36471" align="alignnone" width="400"]
Grilled oysters at Buster's. [/caption]
I am in the mood for red beans and rice today (how predictable can I get?). The beans at Buster's are of the thick-matrix variety, served with almost a soup texture. I prefer discrete beans myself, but I couldn't complain about the flavor. I asked for hot sausage instead of smoked, and it was brought with no question. Two patties, at that.
I can't find myself in an oyster bar without having at least a half-dozen raw. The oysters are big and meaty, but the heavy rains have kept oysters everywhere I go from being optimally salty. Still, I enjoyed these well enough.
I have enough to eat at lunch not to hunger for dinner. And NPAS has no rehearsal tonight. I keep thinking about organizing an after-rehearsal gathering in the handsome bar of the Southern Hotel, a few blocks from where we rehearse. Mainly, I'd like to find a place to socialize on other evenings like this, and the company of other singers appeals to me.
Buster's Place. Covington: 519 E Boston. 985-809-3880.
Grilled oysters at Buster's. [/caption]
I am in the mood for red beans and rice today (how predictable can I get?). The beans at Buster's are of the thick-matrix variety, served with almost a soup texture. I prefer discrete beans myself, but I couldn't complain about the flavor. I asked for hot sausage instead of smoked, and it was brought with no question. Two patties, at that.
I can't find myself in an oyster bar without having at least a half-dozen raw. The oysters are big and meaty, but the heavy rains have kept oysters everywhere I go from being optimally salty. Still, I enjoyed these well enough.
I have enough to eat at lunch not to hunger for dinner. And NPAS has no rehearsal tonight. I keep thinking about organizing an after-rehearsal gathering in the handsome bar of the Southern Hotel, a few blocks from where we rehearse. Mainly, I'd like to find a place to socialize on other evenings like this, and the company of other singers appeals to me.
