Monday, August 27, 2012.
Pre-Emergency Repair. Pre-Storm Beans At Camellia Cafe. Chimes Burger.
I decided yesterday that today I would climb up my trusty ladder--the one I've neglected for two years--and fix a large section of loose soffit over the carport. If the wind gets to blowing as hard as forecast, this may tear loose completely.
Mary Ann, whose dad and three brothers were all handymen, believes me to be incompetent for such jobs. (Not that I blame her. I am kind of a wimp.) She tried to talk me out of this project. But I've given it a lot of thought and was ready. Less than an hour later, it was done. MA asked that if it were so easy, why did I wait a year to make this repair? Answer: the lingering psychological damage I did to myself by breaking my ankle eighteen months ago. This will be the best thing that comes out of Isaac for me. I'm now thinking of renovating the bathroom myself.
Lunch at the Camellia Café, which was busier than I've ever seen it. The waitress was happy to point out a new addition to the Camellia Cafe's breakfast menu: the red bean omelette I have been eating here for a few months. I wonder if they include the ham and pepperjack cheese.
Speaking of red beans. . . that was on my mind. They were especially good today, perhaps because being on a steam table in a buffet line actually improves red beans. Also out there were some grilled slices of hot sausage--something new. Mary Ann made her usual attack on the fried chicken. Good bread pudding for dessert. Ten bucks a person. This place ought to be packed all the time, but that stretch of Highway 59 is a bit industrial and out of the way, unless you're coming to Abita Springs for some reason.
I went on the air as usual with a "Food and. . ." show. I figured people would want to talk storm as much as food, or food from a storm perspective. But, as has always been the case, almost all the calls were about cooking or eating.
The Marys wanted to go out to eat. Mary Leigh, who has the strongest vote, wanted The Chimes. The fact that MA and I were there just two days ago made no difference, because she hadn't been. Mary Ann is already to chime. So there we were.
My mistake in this was mentioning that I had a mild hunger for a hamburger. (The subject came up on the show, specifically about Royal Castle, a chain of the 1940s-1080s around New Orleans.) "Don't you want a hamburger?" Mary Ann asked me. If she put it that way, then I guess I'd better.
It was my first Chimes Burger. It is not an automatic menu entry, but made with high standards. Hand-made ground beef patties. A kind of sourdough bun. The one I ordered came with jalapeno peppers and pepper jack cheese. (The standard would include bacon, but I don't think bacon and burgers go together.) It was very good. So were the fries--as good as frozen fries get. I tried to fob them off on the salad-eating Marys, but they didn't take enough, so I had to dip into my willpower and ignore two-thirds of the pile.
We were visited on the deck by an orange tabby cat. The waitress says that the whole staff likes the cat, but of course you can't have a cat wandering around a dining area, even if it's outside. The management has been trying to get rid of the kitty, who was adopted twice by a staffer. Unfortunately, the adopter lives nearby, and the cat just comes back to the restaurant and the generous handouts he gets from customers.
If this were Europe, nobody would think twice about the cat's presence.
A great performance tonight by Bob Breck, whose whereabouts on our TV lineup I finally found. He is showing symptoms that I have been accused of displaying: he knows too much, and tries to say it all. But his weathercasts are dramatic and full of information that weather geeks like me appreciate. I'm glad he's still in gear.
Camellia Cafe. Abita Springs: 69455 LA 59. 985-809-6313.
It's over three years since a day was missed in the Dining Diary. To browse through all of the entries since 2008, go here.
