Sunday, February 14. Goodbye To Spirit. Welcome To Mardi Gras. Valentine Dinner At Nuvolari's. Up around seven, I showered and set about packing. That done, I went up for one more breakfast of those great crab cake eggs Benedict again. When I came back, my bill for incidentals was in my door: a shade over a grand, more than I liked but about what I expected. Add to that the thousand dollars' worth of stuff purloined from my by the mugger in Belize, and this became a very expensive trip. Probably the last cruise in the Caribbean for me for a long time. Indeed, the way the cruise lines discount individual fares these days at the expense of groups, I think we may be coming to the end of Eat Club cruising, after eight fun years. I can't imagine we'll keep doing three or so a year the way we have been.
Both in boarding and exiting a cruise ship, the earlier you move, the longer you wait in lines. I remained in my stateroom writing until almost ten o'clock, when they made last call. (I'd tipped the room stewards pretty well, so they were leaving me alone.) I rolled off with all my luggage (that also saves a lot of time), through customs, and down to the pick-up zone. Mary Ann by that time had made several passes through, getting into an argument with the traffic cops each time. Nor was it easy to get out of the downtown area, what with the first shift of Mardi Gras parades clogging the arteries. She was bent out of shape.
To take her mind off all that vexation, I let loose my conversation-stopper. "Guess what? I got mugged in Belize!" If these were a novel instead of the truth, I'd have her say in response to the part of the tale where the mugger tried to pull my pants down, "What? If I had been there, I'd tell him he was wasting his time with that!"
It's Valentine's Day. Mary Ann requires that it be observed. We talked about having brunch. But it would have been a nightmare getting to the usual places today, so we just headed home.
Mary Leigh was not waiting for us there, but in the middle of a deliciously long, fun weekend hanging with friends at the parades. She is in the middle of one of the three epochs of life when one loves Mardi Gras. (The other two are when you're a little kid, and when you have your own little kids.)
Our daughter's menu limitations out of the way, we went for an early Valentine dinner to Nuvolari's. They tucked us into an intimate corner, where manager Wally Simmons says that many proposals (and probably even more propositions) have been made.
Our dinner was less romantic, but delicious enough. For the first course, we ordered all three of their soups. The best was the turtle, followed by the roasted garlic and the crab and corn. The latter was made in the old country style, with no cream and not a lot of crabmeat.
Mary Ann asked whether the salmon were wild-caught. Fishmonger Harlon Pearce told her that farm-raised salmon doesn't have the omega-threes she's interested in. This diet of hers is really getting out of control. I was surprised to learn that Nuvolari's salmon--at least that day--was indeed wild-caught Atlantic fish.
On my side was a great dish created from classic Creole flavors by Chef Thomas Smith. Redfish, green beans, dirty rice, and crabmeat. A great combination, ending a very good dinner. I'm glad we went early, because the restaurant was packed by the time we finished. But that's Valentine's Day.
And now, back to work. Even if not very hard. It's Carnival time!
Nuvolari’s. Mandeville: 246 Girod St. 985-626-5619. Contemporary Creole.
