Frenchman street is almost empty on this Saturday morning as I blog from the worn balcony of the Frenchman hotel but some public works guy has chosen to use some very noisy machinery 7:30 a,m. We saw a lot of NOLA yesterday starting with a tour of the Lower Ninth Ward. Seven years after Katrina, the area has far from recovered, which is shameful. lowernine.org is a nonprofit that is rebuilding houses, using volunteer labor including many people from other countries. Our tour was very low-key. A smart young woman originally from Wisconsin sat in the passenger seat of our rental car and guided us to the pertinent sites. Far better and more appropriate than crawling though the area in a tour bus. We gave her a donation that goes to the organization.
We stopped for coffee and a homemade pop tart at Satsuma, a cafe in the Bywater; had a fun lunch sitting at the counter at the Camellia Grill in Uptown (loved the jocular waiters In their white shirts and black bow ties serving up huge omelettes with fries smothered in chili and burgers with grilled onions. on to the Garden District to soak up the architecture and then a stroll down Magazine Street, popping in a few shops. We may have had our best dinner yet at Boucherie in Uptown, located In a tiny house. fantastic food and ambiance and service. Will return.
Lowernine.org., garden district, camellia grill, boucherie
Filed under Louisiana, New Orleans
Cafe des Amis – Cajun charmer
good thing I booked a table at cafe des Amis in breaux bridge last night because the place was packed…on a Wednesday night no less. The music and the food were a big draw. We had a front table right in front of a three piece Cajun band that played for almost two hours straight while diners danced expertly. Great scene in cozy old storefront cafe. The food was excellent …the best crabcakes ever and a very good shrimp étouffée. I shared a chocolate pecan pie slice with franc and a 29 year French Moroccan lawyer we met on our swamp tour. Fun night!
I was less impressed tonight by maurepas foods in Nola’s Bywater neighborhood. Interesting looking place in emerging arty area but food a bit precious and we ended up spending way too much for way too little food. I had to beg for some bread and the waiter produced four pieces of bread, each the size of a silver dollar. struck me as stingy.
much better was the jazz fund band nearby at Vaughn’s, a small club in the Bywater that rocked as people danced to the jubilant horns of Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers. fantastic energy and sound. this Detroit girl couldn’t get enough!
Filed under Louisiana, New Orleans
Leblanc swamp tour, Mcgees landing, lafayette la.
Norbert Leblanc did not disappoint. He turned out to be a wirey, youthful 77-year-old Cajun who knew the swampy Lake Martin inside and out. He could spot an alligator poking its head out of the water or two turtles on a log from several feet away. As we motored along in his small six seat swamp boat, weaving through a maze of elegant Cyprus and tupelo gum trees draped with spanish moss, he pointed out egrets, herons,cormorants, and hawks and regaled us with stories. We stopped inside a strand of trees so he could serve us some moonshine in small plastic cups and show us photos of his alligator conquests, including an 800 pound one he somehow managed to capture. He also pulled out a worn copy of national geographic to show us some photos of himself from a long ago story. There was one other passenger besides the three of us, a French Moroccan young woman from Paris who spoke English but also shared some French conversation with Norbert. We were out on the water for two hours and thoroughly enjoyed the beauty and peace.
Great value too… For $20 per person.
We landed at Mcgees landing for lunch, high atop a levee in nearby Henderson, overlooking a broad expanse of the Atchafalaya Swamp, a seemingly endless stretch of water and wetlands, a perfect perch for watching birds and the occasional boat.russ and I had our first crawfish .. We were underwhelmed. They were sort of tiny dry shrimp in a red peppery spice. Expensive too…about $18. But glad we tried and we enjoyed the backwoods feel of the place and chatting with the waitress.
We drove into Lafayette for a quick look around, finding the Blue Moon Saloon which we may return to for music tonight. But our little cottage by the lake beckoned so after picking up some butter toffee coated pecans and a satsuma (other local products we had to try)we happily returned lakeside.
Filed under Louisiana
Laura plantation, breaux bridge la., Cajun country cottages: Cajun country
I am sitting on the porch of a pretty little Cajun country cottage overlooking a small muddy brown-green lake bordered by dense trees. The frogs are chirping, the birds chirping, two bright green salamanders are climbing the mustard colored wood frame cottage. So much to report:
Laura Plantation, one of the first plantations on the river road heading out of Nola, turned out to be lovely and understated (compared to the grand Oak Alley Plantation nearby), a horizontal one story creole mansion with a wide porch set on a long swath of green lawn dotted with huge ancient oaks. surprisingly, this plantation was run by a series of women, all tough cookies from the sound of it. The tour was heavy on unvarnished history (notably the slavery discussion) which we appreciated.
B&C Seafoods was just east of the plantation so we had some local delicacies for lunch, most of it deep fried. boudin balls (deep fried balls of a creamy sort of sausage) a local delicacy, were tasty. I had the crab equivalent…a crab cake which came with hush puppies and fries. Francine was talked into having alligator burger. Not bad. Kinda dry.
Cajun country cottages, turned out to be a very good pick. And a nice change after our cramped quarters in Nola. It’s a two bedroom cottage with a big living room, eat in Kitchen and this lovely porch with a swinging bench overlooking the lake, (where I am now. ) we like it so much that we decided to eat in last night after picking up some locally made Cajun pasta sauce at the Heberts market in downtown breaux bridge. Nice and spicy!
Filed under Louisiana
Herbsaint in NOLA?..Yuki jazz, preservation hall
I was second guessing my choice of restaurant when we walked over to Herbsaint in the central biz district of Nola for dinner last night because that’s what tends to happen in a city like this with so many fantastic dining options. I even was second guessing the entree I choose seconds after selecting it because the menu was so enticing. All for naught. We had one of the best meals I can remember. The ambiance was low key, not too hip or snooty, the servers knowledgeable and confident about the offerings. I was looking for something relatively light, fearing that my stomach will not tolerate days of rich southern food. So I picked the entree of the day which was speckled trout served with risotto seasoned with satsumas and tempora fried scallions. It was wonderful. I wish I could cook fish that successfully. It had flavor and moisture, while my efforts tend to produce dull and dry. The server coaxed me into abandoning my eating light pledge at dessert time and he was right. The malted milk chocolate mousse with creme anglaise, which I shared with F. Was unlike any chocolate mousse I have had, it looked like a tiny black breast, with a creamy shell of dark chocolate and then light less sweet mouse and anglaise inside. Sublime.
On our walk backmto Frenchman street we stopped to talk to people inline at preservation hall and learned we can book fix on line, for $30, double the regular price but it guarantees you a seat. We stopped at a jazz bar on Frenchman street called Yuki that was not your classic jazz scene. Most of the musicians were Japanese, including a woman on drums and keyboard. An old black and white Japanese film was projected onto the bar’s brick wall while they played. Fun crowd including a young woman I met from Istanbul. I love hour people just sauntered in, had a seat or in the cae of one young black guy, borrowed a trumpet and started blowing, very well.
Filed under New Orleans
The French quarter by day and night
I see why people come to new Orleans in October. The weather is glorious and there is more of the same to come. As advertised, our hotel, the historic Frenchmen hotel is funky. The best feature is the courtyard where I am sitting now, beside a tiny pool (I forgot my suit) and hot tub bordered tightly by two-story wood frame buildings with balcony catwalks,painted pink with blue trim. Hard not to yell “steella” from the balcony. This is the best part about the hotel…plus the price $169 for our loft with doublebed and sofabed. The sofabed is the worst part…the mattress feels more like a web of wire springs. I put the cushions atop it, which helped. The location is good and not. Perfect for visiting the music clubs along Frenchman street but as I feared, pretty noisy. Even with ear plugs I could hear the faint sound of horns, but hey, it’s new Orleans. Some partiers even gathered around 3 a.m….on a Monday morning no less. You have to admire their energy and party hearty spirit.
Last night we did the obligatory walk down bourbon street which was particularly rowdy thanks to a saints game. We far prefer Royal and Chartes streets, with their elegant balconied buildings and antique shops and galleries. The city is a visual feast. We had coffee at a nearby bohemain coffee house that seemed to be a local favorite , Envie, after having the obligatory chicory coffee and beignets at cafe du monde last night. We wandered through the flea market, discovered the French farmers market was closed due to a water problem (lots of repairs going on here, mainly the roads. Not sure if it’s Katrina related.) we also visited st. Louis cemetery #1′ where Russ was excited to find the above ground tomb of a legendary chess master, paul Morphy. We tried to eat at Luizza’s by the tracks, but it was closed due to a power outrage so we had gumbo,and po-boys at another famous old neighborhood spot in mid city, Mandinas, which was very good with lots of character. There is a plaque about 12 feet from the ground showing how high the floodwaters of Katrina rose. Glad it survived. We took the canal streetcar bAck which was fun. It suddenly stopped midway and we had to transfer to a city bus due to track construction.
Filed under New Orleans, Uncategorized
Delights in Turkey
The Gate of Salutation (Bâb-üs Selâm), entrance to the Second courtyard of Topkapı Palace
A friend is visiting her son who is spending a college semester in Istanbul so it’s got me trying to remember my adventures there some 30 years ago. I traveled differently (don’t think she wants to stay at the youth hotel I stayed at) and it was a different time but many highlights remain the same, I’d guess:
The souk and shopping for Turkish carpets and spices while tea served in little cups dangling from a silver tray; Topkapi palace; The mosques; the antique book shops – and meeting a famous dervish who ran one and gave me as a gift page of the Koran which I promised I’d honor (and I have – it hangs framed high on the wall in my house in Des Moines); the boat ride up the Bosphorus to the Black Sea. Here are a few more cutting edge places from a recent NYT story:
Munferit – Turkish restaurant; Mangerie for breakfast; Anjelique (a nightclub); boutiques around Galata including Nicol and the Grand Bazaar.
Interior view of the Hagia Sophia, showing Islamic elements on the top of the main dome.
Filed under Turkey
Easiest way to buy a plane tix in Peru – IN Peru
My son quickly solved our flight dilemma – where we could not buy a ticket online with a credit card for a Star Peru flight from Lima to Cusco – by going to the Star Peru office in Lima and buying the ticket with his debit card. Of course this option isn’t available to those of us who aren’t in Lima but it was nice to know that he could actually get the dang thing. Meanwhile we’re contemplating getting a Visa card since we’re hearing that Visa is more widely used in Peru than Master Card. I don’t know why. For example, I cannot use my Master Card to buy tickets online to Machu Picchu. After finally figuring out how to use the government website I discovered during the third or fourth click that they only take Visa.
Buying tix to Machu Picchu?
My son has just returned from Machu Picchu and I’m figuring out how to get there! Along the way, I’m beginning to understand why people do package tours to places like Peru. I’m usually pretty good at arranging my own trips – flights, hotels, restaurants, trains, cars et.al. but Peru in general and Machu Picchu entrance tickets in particular have been a challenge. For Machu Picchu I figured out the train tickets (after sorting through three different rail services, each with several options of trains) and the hotel to stay in Aguas Calientes, the town nearest MP. But figuring out whether and how to buy the tickets online ahead of time has been tricky.
The official government website http://www.machupicchu.gob.pe appears at first to be useless – thanks to an off-putting advisory translated into barely understandable English that pops up on the first page that suggests you can’t buy tickets online. (There was a problem with fraudulent credit cards, apparently.) The key is to click past this first page to the next page which does offer more hope – even if it’s also hard to navigate. For navigation purposes, I used another website http://www.machupicchutickets.com which offers no less than 10 pages worth of instructions on how to buy the tickets.
From what I’ve read, buying tickets ahead is a good idea in general because the number of visitors allowed per day is 2500 (This was done in 2011 to protect the site.) One unanswered question is whether I need to buy tickets in advance if I’m going off-peak in November. Some people say I don’t. But I also don’t want to make the long trip there (which involves a train trip, bus trip, and overnight stay in a town I would otherwise not visit) and not get into see the glorious Machu Picchu (witness my son’s photos adorning this post.)
View of Machu Picchu from Huayna Picchu, showing the Hiram Bingham Highway used by tour buses to and from the town of Aguas Calientes
Filed under Peru
My friend’s new art gallery on NYC’s Lower East Side! William Holman Gallery
Gallery News
August 2012
William Holman Gallery has arrived on the Lower East Side of NYC! We are proud to represent a group of very talented and seasoned American and international artists including: Peter Bonner, Anthony Brownbill, John Cunningham, Michael Davis, Nicolette Jelen, Tom Judd, Massimo Lippi, Robert Seyffert, and, Sally Tittman. Additionally, we retain collections from the estates of Olin Dows, 20th century American artist and Carmel Snow, former editor of Harper’s Bazaar.
While we ready our new gallery space at 65 Ludlow Street, NYC, 10002 we invite you to browse our website at www.wholmangallery.comand become acquainted with our artists. To stay connected with our latest news, follow us on Twitter @WHolmanGallery! For contact information, please go to: www.holmangallery.tel\
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Deep Trees, 2011, Glass Engraving in Light Box, 12 x 12 x 4″
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Inaugural Exhibition:
Nine Artists
4 – 30 October, 2012
The gallery will initiate its first exhibition season with a group show devoted to the work of the nine artists who will make up our first season. Exhibiting artists are: Peter Bonner, Anthony Brownbill, John R. Cunningham, Michael J. Davis, Nicolette Jelen, , Tom Judd, Massimo Lippi, Robert Seyffert and Sally Tittmann.
For more information contact press@wholmangallery.com
Filed under New York City, THE ARTS
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