Memorial Day Weekend. Crawfish Saturday.

Memorial Day Weekend???

Started with a bang.  BOIL time!!

There is NOTHING better than a boil, great company, and plenty o' booze.  I actually find myself feeling bad for those who think a "party" consists of high-end cupcakes, some sort of fizzy drinks (non-alcoholic, of course), and worrying about how everything looks.  How does one do it??  To me, that would be the second circle of hell - I'd rather deal with crazy drunks rather than the Joneses.  True story.

Let's start off with Friday night.

So.  Went to Perino's last night (I had such a hard-on for some properly fried oysters).  We sat in the bar area (which also has electronic gaming machines - so no one under the age of 18 was allowed - SCORE!!) and ordered our deviously delicious seafood.

I had a basket of sweet fried oysters and curly fries.  Husby had the fried shrimp (which are JUMBO) and he drank a couple of Abitas.  Needless to say, I drove home.  ;0))  Perino's is THE place to eat fresh Louisiana seafood.  It's not fancy (not by any means), but the beer is frosty and cold, the menu is simple, and the food comes to you hot and fresh.  One of our very good friends introduced us to this very local restaurant, and I won't eat oysters anywhere else.  The decor is awesomely tacky, though...

^^  An alligator sucking down a beer??  WINNING!!

^^  Cheezy mural outside Perino's...  the crab isn't really looking boiled.

But the gator has a beer and is wearing "over-hauls".  <3

After dinner, we stopped at Barnes and Noble (again) on the way home - I had just found out that the new Joe Hill book was out (I've given up waiting for the trade paperback/regular paperback versions - I'm rough on my books and I love to have them forever), so I picked that up and found a book which was a collection of short stories/novellas by some of the best horror writers in the genre.  So, I started reading that today (Sunday - as I'm a bit behind).  :0))

So... on Saturday, the neighbors were having a crawfish boil.  Oh, yes.  I picked up a Bananas Foster Cake (banana cake with rum custard - if I were religious??  I would've had an epiphany!!) and some Mike's Hard Cherry Lemonade from Rouses Market (which is one of my favorite local stores here in NOLA)... and bestowed my friends with the gifts.  I also drank some Abita beer, white wine, and a lovely mixed (girly) cocktail.  Delish!!

 ^^  It was 10* cooler under the overpass.  I was glad to get some shade!!

^^  Looking down a side-street on the way to my house...  I love how I can see the city (even when it is beyond the levees AND across the Mighty Mississippi)...  shots like this make me appreciate living in New Orleans.  The difference between a "big city" and a "little neighborhood" are obvious, but not unreachable.  This city is FANTASTIC.

^^  Live crawfish.  Waiting to be boiled.  And, yes.  That is a boat paddle in the upper right-hand corner of the picture.  Certainly necessary for getting every last live crawfish into the boiling pot.

^^  It takes 30 minutes to boil the crawfish, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, garlic, and corn (along with cayenne and other Cajun spices) on a 80,000 BTU gas burner.  Sounds like the space shuttle taking off, it's so loud.  And when everything is done, it's spread out on a large table and everyone eats what they want - it's a communal experience.  We were really lucky - we had some out-of-country visitors (a married couple from Brittany, France - and an Irish woman on a short stay from Dublin).  It was very cool to teach them how to eat the crawfish and they really enjoyed the whole experience.  

^^  After dinner, L. (who works for the New Orleans Saints), took out her ring that she received when the Saints won the Superbowl.  It's from Tiffany's - and it is HUGE.  Weighs over 2 ounces with all the  gold, diamonds, and onyx... and it is heavy.  

^^  Here I am, wearing the ring (to give you some perspective, my solitaire is 1.2 carats - and the Superbowl ring makes it look minuscule)... I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever worn a piece of jewelry that is so very expensive...  

^^  View from the front porch after the boil.  Everyone is keeping their lights off, because right now - the termites are swarming.  Yes, you *did* read that correctly.  However, it was a really balmy night and the wind coming off the Mississippi River was lovely.  So, we braved the swarms.  ;0))

I didn't get home until well after midnight and managed to sleep until 8:00 AM.  Woke up, showered, dressed, popped some Tylenol, and headed to another friend's house because I was on doggy-sitting duty for her four pups.  Hung out there for about an hour and a half, ran the dogs until they were tired, watered and fed them, and headed home.  Where I promptly fell asleep on the couch while reading one of my new books (no, the book wasn't boring or badly written - I was just wickedly tired).  I managed to snap some pictures of the pup-dogs, though...  they were so happy to see me and so very cute!!

 ^^  Petey (the ugliest-pug-in-the-world) is wrestling with Clementine... the hairiest dog in the house.

^^  Petey's profile.  He has a massive under bite and the worst breath.  ;0))

I didn't get pictures of Sophie and Bootsy... as Sophie had jammed herself under an end table and Bootsy moves TOO fast for me to get a decent picture of her.  Maybe I'll be able to get a photo in the morning (when I head over to the Grotto to water, feed, and wee everyone).  

Speaking of tomorrow, I don't think we're planning on doing much.  I borrowed the Lord of the Rings trilogy from my friend, K. - so I'm thinking it's going to be a pretty laid-back day.  I'm thinking that we'll probably do some upscale bar-food (spicy buffalo wings, home-made pizza with a ton of roasted veggies, and some jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, and broiled) and we'll probably graze for most of the day.  Besides, it's supposed to be hot and humid here again, and I think it'll just be in our best interest to take it easy.

Because... come Tuesday, I'll be back at the gym for my 3+ miles on the treadmill and then off to the pool afterwards to hopefully start a tan of sorts and swim some laps.  I love, love, love to swim!!  

I hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing, fun, happy, awesome weekend... because we most certainly did (and are technically still working on it).

x0x0

Joyeux Anniversaire...

Our Choggie turns ten today!!!  As a special treat, she'll be getting 10 mini-meatballs (dog-friendly, of course) and I'll be taking her on an extra-long walk today.  She loves to prance around the neighborhood (we refer to it as bog-trotting, actually) and since it is trash day, she'll get all the exciting sniffs of bin trash!!  ;0))

^^ Our beloved Chai-Dog ("Choggie")

I'm trying to find some pictures of when she was little, but I think they're still on my wickedly old Dell laptop (2003 model Inspiron - and believe me, that fucker has run (slowly) for over ten years now) and I'm too lazy right now to even try and FIND where my old computer is at (probably in the husby's "man-cave" with his record player and old-ass stereo and his two VCRs) - so finding it without him here would be a feat in and of itself.

For those of you wondering what breed Chai-Dog is, she is an AKC registered Chesapeake Bay Retriever.  Of course, she's spoiled to the nth degree, so the only thing she actually "retrieves" would be treats, bones, food, toys, hugs, belly-rubs, and pets. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHOGGIE!!  

x0x0

Happy VD!!

We really don't do the Valentine's Day thingie here.  Usually, husby will pick me up something "cheeze-tastic" (heart-shaped box o' chocolates with a funny little stuffed toy) and a card.  And we don't typically go out (we don't want to fight the crowds) and we're just not romantically wired.  Our first VD together consisted of steak, shrimp, and lots of Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill (at his apartment).  Ooh-la-la!!  And husby picked the meal and cooked it.  This feast was presented on a card table that would shake like crazy every single time either one of us sawed off a piece of steak.

But it was magical.  And we laughed and got silly and listened to our favorite music and had great sex.

Okay.  So the sex thing was probably TMI.  Apologies.

And did I mention that I'm severely allergic to most flowers??  So the husby gets a pass on those, too.  :0))

I hope that all of you have a very fantastic VD - whether it's a hot night on the town, dinner at a fancy restaurant, pizza, wings and a movie, or eating Chinese delivery naked in bed...  make it YOURS.  And be sure to enjoy.

x0x0

Mardi Gras Parade!! And Random Commentary!!! (Part II)

To continue on with the Krewe of Nomtoc Parade (and because my first blog is so picture and link heavy), I'm adding additional pictures and comments on a brandy-new post.  :0))

So...  here are the additional pictures:

^^  Last year's Royal Nomtoc Couple....

^^  On their funky-old-style NOLA float.

^^  I thought this was a sea monster - apparently it's not. 

It's a Griffin.

They were giving out stuffed toys.  Husby snagged two and gave them to the little kids next to us.

We are SUCH child-haters!!!  ;0))

^^  This iPhone 4S picture does NOT do this float justice!!  It was gorgeous.  

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it was one of my favorites...

^^  Old Fire Truck presented by the Harvey Fire Department.  

^^  One of THE brightest floats...  they were handing out stuffed animals...

To include cats and big, fuzzy snakes.  The happiness is evident in all the spring colors.  :0))

^^  Up close and personal!!!

^^  American Eagle float - ahh-maze-ingly done.  It was a beautiful piece of work.

^^  From up close...

^^  Beautiful Horse Brigade...

^^  She was the leading horse...  I've never one dressed in Hawt Pink.  

And I don't understand why they didn't use blinders.  So many people tried to touch them.

Enough for my parade experiences today...  tomorrow is the crawfish boil and I can't fucking wait!!!  This has been a great experience, and I hope that many of my friends can join me next year for this!!!

x0x0

Merry-Happy!!

Or is it "Happy-Merry"??  Either way, I hope that all my loved ones and friends have a lovely holiday evening and a fantastic December 25th (regardless of what you may or may not believe).  Our kind neighbours, S. and L. (the same most excellent people who took us to the New Orleans Saints game), invited us over for wine, drinks, and dinner tonight.  The husby opted out (he's really not one for socializing - and he had a new computer game) but I had a wonderful dinner and fun time.  

Of course, I'm really fucking weird like that - I enjoy meeting new people and eating delicious food (did I mention that S. worked as a sommelier for some of Emeril Lagasse's restaurants in the French Quarter?  And he has learned some cooking techniques from some world-renowned chefs??)...  so this was an opportunity I decided to not pass up.  Champagne with some highly-herbed goat's milk cheese, an awesome prosciutto, and a soft cow's milk cheese with a bit of a bite to it - looked like Brie, but on steroids (in a good way).  It was delectable.  For dinner, we had standing rib roast, garlic-y delicious mashed, and brussel sprouts sauteed in bacon and finished with freshly ground pepper and salt.  

Oh... and the fireworks have started (apparently, this will go on until New Year's Eve).  Unfortunately, our fickle Bow-Wow thinks it's thunder and she (all 95 pounds or so) is crammed under my desk, making funny "ro-ro-ro" noises and small growls every now and again.  ;0))

I thought I'd add some pictures of Christmas (or Holidays) here on the Point:

 ^^ Looking down my street to the lights on Canal Street and the French Quarter

 ^^ Decorated Double across the street from me...

^^ My neighbour's house - where the dinner party and drinks were... 

^^ The gorgeous standing rib roast that S. cooked.  Perfection!!

Be safe.  Be happy.  Be nice.  

x0x0