I have been tagged by Ivy Brown. I am supposed to open the book I am currently reading and turn to page 123. Then find the 5th sentence and post the next 3 sentences.

As usual, this meme doesn’t blow my skirt up. So to compromise, I will instead give my top ten list of favorite books. And because “NOLA” is part of my site’s name, I will limit it to books about, authors from, or books set in New Orleans. Here goes:

1. “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole. This is the quintessential NOLA read. If you did not read, or were not assigned to read, this book in college, go buy it now. No, really, I’ll wait… Got it? Good. I picked this up just the other day to re-read (for about the third time). It just gets better each read. I am all of 10 pages in and have laughed aloud numerous times. Toole was masterful at describing New Orleans and its denizens.
2. “In the Land of Cocktails” by Ti Adelaie Martin and Lally Brennan. This is a new book that I have now had time to enjoy. You can read more about this book here. The only caveat is that this book will definitely leave you thirsty.
3. “Lives of the Saints” by Nancy Lemann. This is a great little find. I read it years ago and still remember Lemann’s description of Claude, who broke the narrator’s heart “into a million pieces on the floor.” Lemann made me seek out several other “Voices of the South” authors. None disappointed.
4. “Gumbo Ya-Ya: A Collection of Louisiana Folk Tales.” This is new to my library, but I am enjoying the stories it holds. At this stage in its life (it was originally published in 1945), this book is a must-have reference for anyone serious about Louisiana culture. Plus, it’s got cool hexes and charms you can use to cure what ails ya!
5. “Frenchmen, Desire, Good Children: And Other Streets of New Orleans.” Another oldie but goodie. This one gives the history behind the (often-changing) NOLA street names. Like Canal Street was supposed to be an actual canal. Or Berlin Street was changed to General Pershing during World War I because it was “too German.”
6. “The Lost German Slave Girl: The Extraordinary True Story of the Slave Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans.” This is truly an amazing read. From the historical aspect of the history of slavery in the South to the immigration of Germans to New Orleans. A true courtroom drama that would not be believed as fiction.
7. “French Quarter Fiction: The Newest Stories of America’s Oldest Bohemia.” This is a collection of writers writing in and about the French Quarter. Most are current authors, but some are newly discovered or newly published works of great writers. I generally do not like short stories; I tend to like long stories I can really get absorbed in. But because these are all set in the Quarter, they sort of read like one work–as though you are going from room to room, courtyard to courtyard, to hear stories told. A great summer read.
8. “A Streetcar Named Desire. ” I know this is a play, but really, what list of NOLA works would be complete without Tennessee Williams’ classic? And there’s good reason this is a classic. It’s haunting and alive and lusty and depraved, just like NOLA.
9. “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin. This was written in 1899 and was scandalous. It deals with issues of race and sexuality and a woman finding herself and the tragedy that ensued. Because it was 1899. And Louisiana.
10. “Managing Ignatius: The Lunacy of Lucky Dogs and Life in New Orleans.” I admit that I haven’t yet read this one. It is top on my “to read” list. It was recently discussed on the Twitter tube and it has been one that I want to read. It is written by a man who spent 20 years managing the famous “Lucky Dog company, whose vendors sell wienies out of the seven-foot-long hot dog-shaped carts that can be found on almost any street corner in New Orleans’ French Quarter.”

So get reading! What’s your favorite NOLA book? Or even non-NOLA book? I am always looking for a good book to read!

I attended a national conference today that is going on here in NOLA (yay!). At day end, a small group of us headed to Cafe Adelaide for drinks. Walking in, it was impressive to see this ice block slowly melting in the center of the bar:

Having done research, I went with the Cocktail Chicks’ recommendation and ordered The Adelaide Swizzle:

It’s pink. And strong. And totally yummy. The Cocktail Chicks tell in their book that it contains amber rum, lime juice, Peychaud’s bitters, Simple Syrup, club soda and a secret ingredient. I did not expect it to be pink. This kept the men in our group from ordering it (their loss!). I have no idea what that secret ingredient is. Pink lemonade? I don’t know and I don’t care. Even if I knew the ingredient, I know it would not taste as good made at home as made in a bar that has a melting block of ice.

After two Adelaide Swizzles, we headed to dinner at Luke. The first order of business was getting drink orders in. I started on water. One of the women near me order a Sazerac. I have only had one Sazerac ever, and it was at The Fairmont Hotel (pre-Katrina–it is currently being renovated to become The Plaza) at their Sazerac Bar (fitting, eh?). I remember this drink being very strong and bitter. But lately I have been wanting to give this “granddaddy of cocktails” another try.

The Sazerac was created by Antoine Peychaud (the same Peychaud whose bitters were in my Adelaide Swizzle) here in New Orleans. He was a pharmacist and served his concoction as a cure for stomachaches. Peychaud’s Sazerac contained absinthe; absinthe became illegal in the U.S. in 1912. He served his drink in eggcups, called “coquetiers” in French. New Orleanians struggled with that French word and called it “cock-tay.” And thus was born the cocktail. How cool is that story?

Well, when that Sazerac was ordered, I was tempted. But, thought I, get it someplace known for it. The waiter began to discuss the Sazerac, explaining what was in it. He explained what Herbsaint was—an anise flavored liquor—that is used in place of absinthe. But then the waiter mentioned something I had not known: absinthe is legal again in America. Wha-wha-wha-what?? How do I not know these things? Pete tells me the answer is because I don’t listen as he told me this just days prior.

Anyway, the waiter proceeded to say that he had no idea how long it’d be legal in the U.S. (I had this sense that it could have been in the process of being banned before we finished dinner so I’d better not hesitate) and that it contains some chemical that is also found in pesticide. And I could have a real Sazerac with absinthe for $13. Of course, you know I ordered one:

It was very strong. And very smooth. And much better than the one I had years prior.

We all enjoyed our delicious dishes. Then I walked the group to House of Blues (thanks for the recommendation, Stacey) and headed home exhausted. I woke up today with a sore throat. I am sure it had nothing to do with the absinthe. Mostly.

I attended a little cocktail party affair tonight in the CBD for a conference that starts tomorrow. I was the only person in attendance from New Orleans. Tomorrow night, the conference has dinner arranged at several restaurants. Tonight, folks were on their own. Some of the attendees wanted raw oysters. So I volunteered to be NOLA’s goodwill ambassador and took them to Acme Oyster House. Except Acme was closed for a private party for the Zurich Classic.

No matter. I walked the group across the street to Felix’s. After waiting, I am not kidding, 30 minutes for drinks (I was ready to walk out at the 10 minute point but the group wanted to stay), I was dumbfounded to hear that they were out of oysters. None raw, fried, or etouffeed. Seriously, I was embarrassed. And we were now hungry. So we ordered some seafood and enjoyed the company. When dessert was offered, I opted to skip to go elsewhere. As we were walking out the door, imagine my absolute irritation at seeing the folks behind the counter shucking oysters. Oh, I was pissed.

So, after the most mediocre meal you could possibly have in this city, we mosied. We ended up at Brennan’s. But we were too late for dessert. Oh, did I want to hit the Pelican Club nearby and drink. But the good people I was with weren’t drinkers. I did insist that they walk through the Carousel Bar at the Monteleone Hotel. They wanted to go to Harrah’s. I obliged and took them there. And there we had dessert at the only place we could get it short of paying the full buffet price–Starbucks.

This was an unmitigated disaster. Acme closed? Felix’s with shitty service and no oysters? Brennan’s too late for bananas foster? Starbucks for dessert?

The company could not have been more agreeable or appreciative. There is a silver lining, however. The restaurants the conference has reservations for tomorrow night are Cafe Adelaide, Luke, Mr. B’s Bistro, Nola, Herbsaint, and Cafe Giovanni. I signed up for Luke. My little group decided we’d go to the Swizzle Stick Bar at Cafe Adelaide for drinks before dinner. Let’s hope I can make up tomorrow for tonight.

I suppose it could have been worse. At least I didn’t end up having the folks eat here:

First, some background. For those who are not in the know, Blog Net News (BNN) is a site that aggregates blogs by category and by major cities. My blog is listed under Blog Net News–New Orleans. The owner of this site is Dave Mastio. The local editor is Greta Perry.

Now, BNN has been getting spit upon lately by some bloggers. And this made me scratch my head because my experience with BNN has been a very positive one. So I read the rants and have found enough inaccuracies that I decided to write this post if for no other reason than to defend why I have BNN-NO listed in my blogroll.

Let’s look at something I really like: Facts. I am going to take these slowly and in number order so when you bash me later you can easily list which parts you disagree with.

1. There seems to be much loathing for Dave Mastio and much discrediting of him because, they say, he is a Bushie. He did write for the Bush administration, but not for Bush. In fact, he was the former speechwriter for the United States Trade Representative and he worked on the Australia FTA and the Central America FTA. If you can name who the US Trade Rep is (or what the FTAs do, even) without googling it, then you may have a beef. Otherwise, calling him a Bushie without reviewing the content of those speeches is nothing more than propaganda. And it is all irrelevant because BNN lists all blogs, regardless of a blog’s political bias. And, incidentally, more bloggers are liberal than conservative and I’d suspect the blogs on BNN are likewise. Moving on.

2. It is alleged that BNN does not link back to your blog. This is, bluntly, FALSE. It does link back. If you click on the title of your post, it redirects to your site. If you click on the name of your blog, it brings you to another BNN page that shows blurbs of your blog’s most current posts. Click on one and it takes you to your blog.

3. Some say BNN posts bloggers’ entire posts. Again, this is FALSE. Unless your post is really, really short. BNN posts blurbs.

4. It is argued that BNN keeps traffic from your site. I suppose the argument is that why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? In this case, the reason is to read the entire post. I can only speak to my blog, but my stats clearly show traffic coming FROM BNN. And I also know that I use BNN to GO to others’ blogs. It in no way keeps me from visiting another’s blog.

5. BNN makes ad dollars and doesn’t pay the blogs listed. This is TRUE. And this is just like all the other aggregators out there. The remuneration to the bloggers is exposure. The idea is you get more traffic. And hopefully that traffic will click on your ads. I am not the least bit bothered that BNN has ads.

6. It is argued that blogs listed on BNN are being damaged by reduced ad dollars on the actual blogs. I suppose the argument is that due to reduced traffic to your own site (No. 4) and that BNN has its own ads (No. 5), that your blog is making less in ads. Since I don’t believe traffic is reduced (and believe it may actually be increased) nor am I bothered by No. 5, I simply do not believe that blogs listed on BNN are being financially hampered is an accurate conclusion that can be reached.

7. BNN will not remove a blogger not wanting to participate. Again, FALSE. To my knowledge, everyone who has been asked to be removed has been removed in a reasonably short period of time. Of course, when you are pissed off, 24+ hours does not seem “reasonably short.” But it is.

8. Then there’s the pesky “he’s violating my copyright” argument. This is the pet-peeviest of all because it offends the lawyer in me. Let me state a few premises to begin: (a) blogs are on the internet; (b) the internet is by definition a public place; (c) if you have an RSS feed, you are allowing anyone the access to do what BNN is doing–scraping your feeds; (d) prior permission is not need by law, nor is it a violation of your copyright to not get it, to scrape your feeds (if it was, folks would need your prior permission to get your RSS feed, and I would assume for those bloggers that have that bright orange button on their blogs, that this permission is implied); (e) I am an attorney but not an Intellectual Property attorney.

I did more than I suspect many bloggers bashing BNN have done: I talked to an IP attorney about BNN, and I even had her look at the BNN-NO site. She did not do a full review of the legal issue, but her cursory review suggests that there are no violations occurring; that it falls under the fair use exception and buttressed further by a court-created exception relating to items of news. Bottom line, unless you have actually talked to an IP lawyer and have been explained this extremely murky area of sophisticated law, don’t spout the law. If you are an IP attorney, or you play one on TV, please feel free to clarify this point for us.

When you boil it all down, what seems to really be pissing people off is that BNN did not first ask people to be listed. He violated blog etiquette. And folks are really not feeling the love from BNN. If you are really worried about having your feeds scraped (sounds nasty, doesn’t it?), then look into removing the feed button, or adding a request that you be contacted before your feed is linked. It’s not too hard.

And let me close with saying that it was because of BNN-NO that I found many, many NOLA bloggers that I had not known existed, bloggers I have since met in person and really am the better for knowing. Was that worth the value of ad dollars attributed to my blurbs listed on BNN? Without a doubt.

First, some blog bling. During the throws of Mardi Gras (heh, I made a funny), Tara R. from If Mom Says OK bestowed this award on my blog:

and just the other day, MomBabe over at The Bingham Diaries gave me this award:

I am not good at acceptance speeches. So I’ll quote Sally Field accepting her Oscar, “You like me; you really like me!!” And I really like that you like me! Thank you both so much!

Now for something completely different.

While riding the streetcar last week, I noticed there was a bit of trash on the floor. The distinct bright yellow caught my eye. Upon closer look of the Hubig’s pie wrapper, I noticed a St. Joseph’s altar lucky bean next to it:

In New Orleans, even our trash is interesting!

I have recently found myself a bit addicted to Twitter. And I am now following many other New Orleanians. There is something even more intriguing about following the (mostly) silly details of a person’s day when that person is in your city–eating where you eat, enjoying (or not) the same weather, lamenting the same local political problems. It’s been very satisfying.

Yesterday, my sister came to visit Sun and me. We didn’t have any plans mapped out, and it was too cold to do the zoo and I was in no mood to run errands at the mall. So I twittered, “What to do today that is kid-friendly. Nothing with animals or malls. Suggestions?” And within minutes, YatPundit responded to me to “ride the streetcar,” and I knew immediately it was the perfect thing to do.

I decided to ride the Canal Street line since I’d never ridden that one and we’d be in the new red cars. YatPundit soon concurred with my idea to ride the Canal Street line, advising, “if you do it, do canal. start at cemeteries, end up at the old mint or vice versa,” but cautioning once we were settled on the green car (much to my confusion) that “the red streetcars aren’t running yet. all but one got flooded and are still being rebuilt.”

Armed with my camera and my Treo (and the baby and all her stuff), my sister and I were off. We approached the streetcar named “Cemeteries” (it says Special at the top but that is because the green cars are used for the St. Charles line–the piece of paper taped to the window gave it’s accurate name) and got its pic:

The point where the streetcar leaves from (Canal Street at City Park Avenue) has not less than six cemeteries. Here’s a shot of one of them:

Further along in Mid-City, Sacred Heart Church:

Then the neoned Walgreens downtown:

While stopped at a light, my sister noticed something odd on the side of a lamppost:

I got home and did a quick search on The Google to learn that the base of the majestic lampposts are decorated, and each of the four sides are different. This picture is of the first side; the second side has a castle and lion rampant, and states “Spanish Domination 1769-1803”; the third has the motto Deo Vindice (“With God as Our Defender”), “Confederate Domination 1861-1865.” And the last side has the American eagle and states, “American Domination 1803-1861, 1865 to Date.” I love the little things like this that NOLA offers for the observant.

At the foot of Canal Street, the car turns left and goes along the river in the French Quarter to the Old Mint Building. We saw the Mississippi River Bridge, the St. Louis Cathedral, the French Market, and the former Jax Brewery building:

Then we were at the end of the line. We paid another $1.25 each (young children ride for free; correct change is required). And we returned from whence we came.

It wasn’t all roses. We also saw various states of repair (including no repair at all) of homes and companies impacted by Katrina. We saw vacant lots where building stood before Katrina. We saw a tent city of homeless people under the interstate. We saw the cheesy t-shirt and tennis shoe shops peppering the downtown Canal Street.

And that is New Orleans. The beautiful intermingled with the ugly; the rich with the poor; the old with the new; the dead with the living. This ride was the most fun I’ve had in a really long time. I am ready to ride again.

New Orleans is a very Catholic city. Here’s a little tale to show you just how Catholic it is.

CS isn’t much on religious formalities. So when he went to Liuzza’s in Mid-City a few years ago on a Friday during Lent and ordered a hamburger, it wasn’t a big deal to him. It was apparently a big deal to the restaurant. When he said, “I’ll have a burger,” a collective hush of the crowd ensued. The waitress responded, “No; we won’t serve a hamburger to you today.” “Okaay,” CS responded, “Then I’ll have a shrimp po boy.” With CS’s soul protected and undefiled, the diners and wait staff breathed a sigh of relief and resumed normal activities.

Belle, SoMo and I are going to Liuzza’s tomorrow. It’s okay to order a hamburger since it will be Thursday. But I am thinking I will play it safe and order shrimp remoulade. Oh, and a beer served in a frosty fish bowl glass.

Even as gas prices climb, we New Orleanians know what’s really important:

For a more interesting uniquely New Orleans story, click here to read Pete’s post about King Gambrinus reigning atop Falstaff Brewery.

I have three things that warrant honorable mention.

First, a shout-out to Christy to thank her for my lovely gift of hand-made stitch holders (click here for Christy’s pic):

They are beautiful (and in the colors of Mardi Gras!) and are the inspiration I needed to dive into my next knitting project. Thanks, again, Christy.

Second, I ate at a new taco joint this weekend and it blew me away. Hands down the best taco I have had in years and definitely the best I currently know of in the city. It’s called Taco San Miguel and is located in Fat City (in Metairie). How good are these tacos? After eating some Friday night, I returned Saturday to eat more. Yeah, they are that good. I think I’ll go again this week. Still don’t believe me? Read here for another’s high opinion. The place is small, and you order at the counter. They don’t yet have a liquor license. And the good folks who run it don’t speak really good English. But none of that matters because this place is about the food. ¡Y es el más delicioso!

Third, a moment a silence as the living will for my laptop is being perused by the legal department. I tripped over the cord yesterday and it crashed to the floor. I got concerned when I clicked to turn it on and nothing happened; no noise, no lights. Nada. So the good Captain Sarcastic got his tools out and did what he could. Towards the end, it looked like this:

and this:

But he DID get it to vroom back to life. Sort of. It has been put back together (all but a corner that had already been super-glued back together once before) but it is officially on life support. It works only if plugged in; it will not take a charge. I do think CS performed a miracle. But the miracle was to turn my laptop into a desktop. Which is better than nothing, granted. But it sucks because Sun likes to pull the cord out of it. Now if she does, it dies. And it currently smells like Cheerios. I asked CS if he used it as a table for Sun today and he giggled and responded, “What else is it good for?” It’s plug will be pulled just as soon as the newer, younger, sexier model arrives at my door. It has been a good and loyal friend and deserves a better demise than I will give it. Alas.

This year’s St. Patrick’s parade in Metairie was every bit just like previous years. I consumed copious amounts of fried chicken and beer. We caught all manner of vegetables (cabbage, potatoes, carrots, bell peppers, onions, garlic). Here’s Sun napping in her stroller with all the food-catches after the parade:

I saw the Jefferson City Buzzards:

and I caught goofy throws–here’s my favorite, a funky cat-in-the-hat-esque hat, on my nephew:

But this year the highlights for me came before the parade. Katie, Pete, CS, my sister and I walked a bit of the route. Here are the best of what we saw:

A man dressed in full St. Paddy’s gear (please note his boobie beads):

A trash can converted beer tap (clearly man-made):

A macaw on the parade route:

And a scooter powered ice chest (with a cute little dog standing on top):

Is it illegal to drive this thing after you’ve consumed all it contains?

Yes; it was an absolute success. The weather was pleasant (I got a bit sunburned); the company was excellent (except when my uncle made a lewd comment in front of, but not towards, Katie who he met for the first time today. Katie, turns out my uncle’s running a fever; please accept my apology for him.); oh, and the parade was nice, too. Now off to get some aspirin…