I can taste it.

I started off my day on the streetcar headed to the French Quarter for FOC’s monthly tour guide meeting at the Cabildo.  On my way, I received an email from the founder & president of Tastebud Tours, he asked if I could meet for lunch sometime this week.  Well, I’ve got a full week, mostly with tours & of course, some other nola schmoozing events.  I wrote him & said I’d be available for lunch today after FOC’s meeting.  So, before I’d even reached the quarter, I had a business lunch scheduled. 

Each month at FOC’s tour guide meetings, we have a presentation from a local expert (professor, curator, author, etc.) on a particular subject.  Today, Christine Wiltz, author of “The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld”, spoke to our group.  Instead of retellings stories from her book, she focused on the writing of the book…& she had some wild, crazy & uniquely New Orleans stories of how she collected her research on the life of the city’s last Madam, Norma Wallace.  The husband of the only prostitute she could find from Madam Norma’s brothel told her wild stories while he sat incarcerated at Angola prison.  At one point, he threatened her life, if she even considered telling anyone about other things he’d done & not been convicted for.  She met the right-hand man to several New Orleans mayors in his home during the height of carnival costume crafts…choking on purple, green & gold glitter while listening to his fascinating tales.  It goes without saying, we all enjoyed the lecture, & I learned a lot.  I have to admit, I’d never even heard of Madam Norma…clearly, I need to do more in depth research on Storyville. 

After the meeting, I made my way to The Old Coffeepot for lunch with Lynn Jaynes, the president of Tastebud Tours.  I was all set to order red beans & rice, seeing as it’s Monday, but I then I noticed that the menu said breakfast is served until 2:30pm…well, I can’t pass up breakfast in the afternoon (or super late night, for that matter).  So, I went with Eggs Creole, lots of bell peppers, onion, cayenne pepper, a pile of New Orleans style hash-browns & a big ole biscuit…mmm, that hit the spot.  While enjoying my breakfast for lunch, we chatted about how the first official tour, “Taste of New Orleans Du jour”, had gone over the weekend (the local tour guide that created the tour, also a volunteer FOC tour guide, guided the tour this weekend).  Evidently, it was a great success & we already have another tour scheduled for this coming weekend.  We’re starting off slow since there’s only one tour guide officially hired in nola at the moment.  I told them that I was definitely in & excited to become part of the Tastebud Tours nola family…so, I’ll be tagging along on a few tours in the next couple weeks & getting on the schedule come December!!  This company is terrific, it already has a great rep in Chicago (where it’s based) & the president gives back to the community whenever possible (food shelters, educational organizations & health related causes).  Given all goes well, Tastebud Tours will be eventually be offering a New Orleans desserts tour, too.  

Since food is one of my favorite things to talk about (& partake of) in New Orleans, I’m thrilled about guiding these tours.  I got to taste all the food at each stop during the tour test run, fortunately, I won’t be eating while guiding the tours…I’d gain 50 pounds in the blink of an eye!  Needless to say, my lunch meeting was a great success, & at one of the stops on the Tastebud tour, so very apropos.  If you find yourself wandering the quarter beginning in December & you see a curly haired chick w/a teal shirt on & a large paddle donning the Tastebud Tours logo, that’ll undoubtedly be me, so wave hello.