Banksy

When Cori was in town a few weeks back we went around scoping out Banksy's work. There are only three pieces still in tact as many were created and subsequently destroyed post Katrina. 

All three are protected by plexiglass though vandals often attempt to deface that cover as well. 

Two of the three pieces poke fun at the "Gray Ghost" who notoriously goes around town covering graffiti with gray paint. Banksy chose to gray wash parts of his art before someone else could. 

A couple of months back a man tried to cut around the "Umbrella Girl" in an effort to detach it from the wall and sell it (?). Crazy people… just let others enjoy the work!

Wedding Season

Everybody seems to be getting married these days. I mean, duh, people get married every day, but there are noticeable spikes in nuptial exchanges during certain months/seasons. Right now I believe the NOLA wedding season is wrapping up as it is becoming too hot to do much of anything.

This past weekend I worked a wedding reception with the catering company out at the Stella Plantation. The couple had a super cute theme/decor going on with corn hole boards, horse shoe pits, and a photo booth area for their guests to enjoy. They devoured their southern family style dinner then moved on to lots of tasty sweet treats before finishing the night up with fries and sliders!

The dessert spread looked so elegant on the antique furniture surrounded by candles and flowers.

Close up of the desserts. They had multiple cakes in various flavors and styles topped with fun figurines including a pair of sheep, a cat & dog duo, and a wooden painted Batman and bride.

 The tent and dance floor

 Row of flowers & butterscotch pudding jars

Two of the cakes along with mini pecan pies. 

Everything was so nice. Very Pinterest. Not too over the top, but seemed like they tried to be very true to themselves. They ended the festivities with an awesome fireworks show! 

Funny story: I was in the kitchen tent when the explosions began and a few ladies on the wait staff were bringing trays back in. The noise obviously startled them and one lady mumbled "Dear Lord, they can't be doing that! I'm from the hood! I thought someone done been shot!" Bless her heart!

The 11 hours working (including drive time) flew by as they typically do. The only complaint would be the heat (there is no escaping it really) while the sun was still up and the bugs when the sun went down. Being out in the middle of nowhere and near the river I suppose the critters were to be expected. Driving back to NOLA we, Sara and I, went through a few patches of fog…that is something I have not seen in a looooong time. It was nice getting out of the city for a bit and seeing some "country" areas :)

Big Gateaux Numero Three

The third annual Big Gateaux Show took place once again last Friday. The burlesque-show-meets-cake-competition was held at the Royal Sonesta in the French Quarter and included four chefs competing for a $5000 grand prize!

Check out these crazy tall pieces of culinary creativity! The top left was the winner. "Let them eat cake!" Those "feathers" coming out the of the crown on top were made from gelatin! 

During the show the contestants were blindfolded with feather masks then instructed to pipe icing onto cakes with verbal help from their sous chefs. The first one to complete the assigned task was named the winner!

Sucre folks after the fun was over. Each year the kitchen people help serve the desserts, this year it was cupcakes, to the guests. 

NOLA Brewery

As a sort of cross-promotion between Sucre and NOLA Brewing Company, a handful of the management team went on a brewery tour which translated into trying lots of free beer and seeing co-workers outside of their normal environment. Sucre has a Stout chocolate out right now for Father's Day that features NOLA's Irish Channel Stout. It is paired with a bourbon chocolate to create a delightfully tasty, boozy collection!

Swamp Grape Escape + Bourbon & Stout Collection

 

  Louis Armstrong mural 

Stuff & Things

Hodge podge post:

The heat is setting in and soon enough the Big Easy will be unbearably humid and hot. But until then I have been taking advantage of dress weather and trying desperately to avoid becoming mosquito meals.

The other week I finally took the 8 bags of clothes that had been collecting dust in my room for months to the Goodwill. Finally. Man, I was such a procrastinator about that. Of course when I dropped off the bags of unwanted items I had to go in and look around. I came out with this pretty number that is ideal for the heat and conveniently has pockets, perfect for stashing necessities while eliminating the need for a purse! 

Lunch salad: current obsession = Whole Food's marinated artichoke hearts and beets!

This soap smells so damn good! Kind of sweet, but not like you're washing your hands in syrup. Who knew rhubarb would make for a pleasant soap scent? Apparently Mrs. Meyer's!

Summer Berry Verrine by Sucre = yum! 

Last week Sara, Zack and I went to The Sammich, a newish place on Oak Street. Zack and I did splitzies with the Duck Confit with Brie and foie gras mayo and the Fried Lobster with spicy mango cream sammiches. Holy moly they were tasty! Sara had the Fried Oyster sammich and we all split an order of Duck Fat Fries, Brussels Sprouts, and Fried Chicken Livers. Soooo much food but it was all really yummy. I will definitely be heading back that way soon!

And that concludes my random post about things happening in my corner of the universe.

Make It Right

On Saturday Brad Pitt hosted his Make It Right Foundation's Gala at the Sugar Mill in the CBD. I worked with the catering company for the $1,000 a plate event. Before the guests started arriving I was able to take a gander at the dinner area that was construction site themed. I read that all of the decor and table settings were made from materials that will be used to build houses for the foundation. So the center pieces were displays of nails, the tables were made of either plywood or counter tops and saw horses and marked with a numbered hard hat. Check out an article and some pictures here. 

After 7+ hours on my feet prepping, plating, and cleaning we were released to leave. The help, as it were, is not permitted inside the main event (this is a fancy gala and we are all wearing aprons covered in food) nor allowed to take pictures or request autographs, so there was no opportunity to sneak a peek of the festivities or guests. However, as I was saying goodbye and heading out for the night I walked right passed Bruno Mars waiting for his cue to go in and perform. He sure is an itty bitty fella! 

Cousins

The other week I had the pleasure of entertaining a relative I have not laid eyes on in roughly twenty years. My second cousin, Zach, was in town for job training for a few days, so we met up for a quick tour and dinner. Our meeting sparked a conversation regarding exactly how we are related and what we are to each other. This cousin business can be tricky stuff if you aren't careful. After consulting Wikipedia, it has been concluded that Zach and I are second cousins. That seems simple enough, but then I was wondering what his dad is to me (his dad and my mom are first cousins). According to this very helpful chart Zach's dad and I are first cousins once removed. It all makes sense if you study the flow of things; not sure why I never really knew this before?!

Any way, I took Zach on a little driving tour of uptown, going up St. Charles Ave. to see all of the old, big houses and the street car then down Magazine St. to see all of the restaurants and shops before making our way to the Bywater for some international street food cuisine at Booty's. I believe this was my first time trying octopus--not too bad, though it was covered in a spicy Korean fermented chili sauce which I certainly could have done without! It was fun to catch up and hear about a side of the family that I do not see often. Showing newbies around town is always fun too and helps to remind me about all of the awesome things New Orleans has to offer :)

Jazz Fest #45

2014 Jazz Fest was a success indeed! Cori and I headed over last Friday afternoon. We procured chairs, suntan lotion, and floppy hats prior to heading in to see Alabama Shakes do their thing. Before their set a duo known as Johnnyswim performed. I have read about them in Garden & Gun; they put on a great show! I have since purchased their album of "folk, soul, blues, and pop" songs and am learning all of the lyrics! (They are going to be in Virginia in mid-May if anyone up that way wants to check them out!)

Boudin Balls | Flags and Blimp

Johnnyswim | Jazz Fest map

We returned on Saturday for a full day of festing with Evan, Billy, Zack, Sara, and her dad! The big name that day was Bruce Springsteen but before his 3 hour set (which featured a few songs with John Fogerty of CCR!) we had the pleasure of enjoying Allen Toussaint (who brought Jimmy Buffett on stage for a number!) and the Wetland Allstars.

With multiple re-applications of sun screen we were able to avoid turning into lobsters! The parking gods were also on our side all weekend which is HUGE considering there are tens of thousands of people in attendance! And a fun tip for future days at Jazz Fest: if you wait until the end of the day when everyone is leaving they sell crawfish bread as BOGO to get rid of their stock. 2 heavenly orders of crawfish bread for $7  = awesome!!

Tripped

The other day I was vacuuming my room and the back hallway. I had the vacuum plugged into a outlet in my room where I also had the fan twirling, numerous lamps on, and my electronics sucking power. I was half way down the hall when I tripped the breaker for my room. To my knowledge this has not happened in my nearly four years of living in this house. Evan and Christian were out so I started searching for the circuit box. I checked the laundry room, every closet I could find, behind picture frames (hey, you never know!), but I could not locate the darn thing. I shot Evan a text, figuring he would know since he has resided here fore 6+ years. When I did not get a response from him I inquired with Brie and Christian then knocked on the door to the people upstairs. Unfortunately they too did not know where the breaker box was located but assured me it was not in their part of the house. I sat back down and tried to think if I had missed looking somewhere that would make sense when Evan texted me: "behind the tv outside the house". Okay, yeah, I would not have thought to look OUTSIDE. Sure enough, on the outside of the house on the side street there were two large metal boxes. One for us and one for the upstairs apartment. I could see where one switch wasn't like the others but when I pushed it over it would sling back to the opposite position. I gave my brother a ring to find out what I needed to do and was told I had to switch it fully off then back to the on position. Ta Da! I ran back in the house and the lights were on and the fan spinning. I left a note for the people upstairs letting them know where to find the circuit box should they ever trip something! 

Game of Thrones

Well, it was only a matter of time before I found another show to binge watch and become obsessed with! Game of Thrones is the lucky winner currently and boy is this one a complicated watch! According to Wikipedia GoT can be described as a "fantasy drama" based on George R. R. Martin's series of novels. 

Here is what I have deduced:

There are 5,793 main characters (the accuracy of that number is not founded, but I promise it is close!) living in seven different kingdoms, speaking both English with an accent as well as a foreign language known as Dothraki. 

There are incestuous relationships, slavery, bastards, hostages, nobles, savages, "white walkers", a lot of whores, dragons, Wargs, "wildlings", giants, homosexuality, warlocks, lords, cripples, psychopaths, dwarfs, cross-dressing, a eunuch, ghost-like-spirits and more!

There are families who are allies, families who despise and seek to destroy each other, and families who pretend to get along for selfish advances. 

The amount of fantasy has increased as the show has continued. I feel like they work their way into the supernatural aspects. "White Walkers" (zombies) are in the first scene of the premiere episode, however, they do not come back around until the second season. Dragons are talked about a fair amount in the first season, but their presence becomes more frequent in later episodes. Warlocks appear for a bit but I haven't seen them in a while, so perhaps they are done? 

When I watched for the first time I was VERY tempted to scour the internet for information and clarification, but in doing so I knew that I would inevitably come across spoilers, so I chugged ahead watching in a state of confusion. It does not help that a few characters have been portrayed by numerous actors, some of which look nothing like each other! 

I am now caught up and have since been looking at family trees, episode summaries, and explanations for certain scenes as well as re-watching the series. Watching for the second time helps me catch things I missed the first go-round... and apparently I missed a lot! I do like a show that causes me to pay attention and think though-this is definitely NOT mindless television. 

There are still two more books to be written, and season 5 & 6 have been confirmed, so it looks like I will get to continue scratching my head and enjoying Game of Thrones for years to come!