the season of the king cake.

It’s not Carnival season without consuming at least one king cake per week in the Big Easy.  However, these rings of dough have changed quite a bit over the years.  The king cakes of my childhood were much simpler.  Much less like a big cinnamon roll & more just a slightly sweet & rather dry bread sprinkled with sugar & maraschino cherries strategically placed on the surface of the king cake every few inches.  One thing that hasn’t changed is the plastic baby hidden somewhere inside the king cake (representing the baby Jesus, yes, we are indeed a Catholic city).  As a kid, half the joy of eating a king cake is the possibility of finding the baby in your slice of cake!  And, if you selected a slice with a maraschino cherry, you had a good chance of discovering the baby hiding just below the cherry, naturally all the kids wanted the cherry slices. 

As an adult, getting the baby in your piece of king cake doesn’t have the same excitement as it did when I was child.  The tradition is that if you get the baby, you bring the next king cake.  Once Carnival season begins, you have king cakes at every gathering, dinners with friends or family, office meetings, what have you.  My friends brought king cakes to their respective offices to share with their co-workers during the first week of Carnival season.  At one office, the baby was left behind in the king cake box.  At the other office, the baby disappeared completely.  My friends have no idea which co-workers got the babies, but whoever they are, they’ve committed serious Carnival fouls by not declaring that they found the babies & bringing in the next king cake.  I don’t know what these people are thinking, actually, I don’t believe they are thinking or they’re just completely clueless.  Those sort of people don’t even deserve to eat king cake!!

Moving on from Carnival fouls, we must also recognize the potential perils that the king cake baby poses.  The baby isn’t nearly as easy to find in a king cake these days, it could be anywhere.  Unless the baker chooses not to put the baby inside because many are concerned about the choking hazard.  So, instead, they put the baby on top & allow the consumer to insert the baby into the king cake from underneath so it is not revealed before eating.  If the baby is inside the king cake, the packaging includes a large warning of the plastic baby doll & potential dangers of choking on the little plastic baby.  Moral of the story: if you hit something hard as you bite into your slice of king cake, do NOT swallow.

the Butcher's "Elvis"

Now that we’ve thoroughly covered the little plastic baby that completes the king cake consuming experience, let’s discuss what sort of king cake to eat…there are SO many options these days.  I was never a huge fan of those old dry king cakes of my past.  What we now consider a “traditional” is a cinnamon filled, braided king cake covered with icing & sugar.  The sugar is always dyed the three colors of Carnival: purple, green & gold.  Building from the traditional, you can add fillings…apple, lemon, blueberry, cherry, cream cheese, cream cheese & fruit…you get the idea.  These “filled" king cakes are more like a deliciously naughty breakfast treat.  I recommend pairing it with a glass of milk or bubbly, depending on how festive you’re feeling. 

All of these filled king cakes are still considered pretty safe, bakers & pastry chefs have gotten much more adventurous with their king cakes in the past few years.  I read an article on nola.com highlighting some of the most inventive new king cakes around town.   I tried the “Elvis” at Cochon’s Butcher, I have to admit, it was rather disappointing.  I give the “Elvis” an A for concept & a C- for execution.  I haven’t had Domenica’s new invention, which includes a gold leaf topping, but I hear very good things.  I have a list of different king cakes to try before the end of Carnival season & I better get serious because it’s a short season this year. 

the baby crowns from my Randazzo's king cake

All of that said, locals, especially New Orleans natives still have their old favorites that we will remain loyal to til the very end.  Manny Randazzo’s king cake is considered one of the best.  Haydel’s is also in the top 5.  Back in the days of McKenzie’s, all locals picked up their king cakes there, I still miss that place, their glazed donuts, chocolate turtles, & petit-fours.  I’m getting a little farklempt just thinking about McKenzie’s, still a major loss to the city’s sweet tooth.  When I worked at UNO out by the Lakefront, I used to stop at a great neighborhood bakery named, Adrian’s.  Everything at Adrian’s was delicious!  Sadly, we lost that Adrian’s with Hurricane Katrina, but one of the bakers from Adrian’s opened her own place, Sweet Savors, not far from the old Adrian’s.  I’m not often near the Lake, but a king cake from Sweet Savors is definitely worth the trip.  BTW, Adrian’s does have another location in New Orleans, so you can still get their king cakes, too.  GoNOLA.com has an article discussing some of locals’ favorite king cakes, several of which, I’ve mentioned above.  For those unfortunate souls that don’t live in New Orleans & won’t be visiting during Carnival season, many of our most popular bakers (including Randazzo’s & Haydel’s) ship fresh king cakes all over the country, you can simply order online.

The big question…to fill or not fill your king cake?  Are you a king cake traditionalist?  And, who makes your favorite king cake in town??

resurrection

talking Turtle Soup at Desire Oyster Bar on the Culinary History Tour

Somehow I’ve let six whole months pass without one blog post, talk about a blog slacker.  I just went back & read my last blog post, which feels like a lifetime ago.  I did get quite busy after beginning the culinary history tours & the summer heat did wear me out.  Still, no excuse, if I had enough energy to screw around on Facebook, which I did, I should have been blogging.  Of course, blogging takes a lot more effort than posting silly crap on Facebook.  That said, as always, I have continued to keep up with documenting everything, including images of every great plate of food I’ve been served…& then posted them on Facebook. 

just after a SOC tour in Lafayette Cemetery no.1

Anyway, let’s dig in…what have I been up to, you may ask?!  Besides the New Orleans Culinary History tours, my Save our Cemeteries tours of Lafayette Cemetery no.1 (my personal favorite historic cemetery in the city), viewing the latest season of HBO’s Treme at Buffa’s followed by live music, watching some very disappointing Saints games, eating a lot, hitting some art markets, a bit of traveling, Thanksgiving at the Fairgrounds, fireworks in the fog on New Years Eve…AND, a fractured ankle. 

Hanukkah blue cast

Yep, that’s right, the walking tour guide managed to get herself injured just before tourism picked up for the Fall.  Parking is outrageous in the Quarter, so when I have my culinary tours, I take the streetcar downtown, an advantage to living less than a block off St. Charles Ave.  There’s a bunch of construction further downriver on the streetcar line right now, so the RTA has passengers get off of the streetcar at Louisiana Ave. & board a bus, which travels down St. Charles Ave. & takes us to Canal St.  As a native, I certainly know how to cross the neutral ground without tripping over the streetcar tracks.  However, while walking over a patch of grass, my foot fell right into a small hidden hole & my ankle just collapsed on me.  I nearly fell on my face, fortunately, I caught myself, but the damage was done.  My ankle started throbbing immediately.  Thing is, I had a group of 19 guests to meet in an hour for the culinary tour, so I decided to suck it up & hop on the bus.  I put my ice cold water bottle on my ankle, popped an extra pain killer (I carry everything in my bag of tricks).  I then walked in pain for about 5 hours total, between the walk from the streetcar, the three hour tour & walk back to the streetcar (well, the bus).  I can’t say that was the wisest choice, but I couldn’t imagine canceling the tour last minute.  Once I got home, I put my foot up, iced it & stayed off of it as much as possible over the next week.  Miraculously, my ankle seemed to improve, so I got back on the streets & was fine for about two weeks, then one evening, after catching up on a few episodes of HBO’s Treme on DVD, I stood up from the couch & my ankle once again gave out on me.  My immediate reaction was what you’d expect, “FUCK!”  I made an appointment with a doctor the next day.  This injury actually took place over the summer, but it took two months for the doctors to properly diagnose it.  At first, the doctors told me that I had a mild ankle sprain, I was told to continue walking on it, wear a super tight stretch ankle brace, but elevate & ice, as well.  After a month with no improvement, my podiatrist put me in a stabilizing boot…super fashionable & extremely comfortable to walk in.  After that, I was on the bench as far as my tours were concerned, no way I could hobble around & keep up with my guests.  The terrain inside a historic cemetery is treacherous enough on two good feet, not a place for a semi-cripple to be wandering around.  So, I spent another month still walking, well, hobbling, around in that ridiculous boot.  Still no improvement.  In fact, the pain was worse, but the doctor remained perplexed.  Finally, how about a MRI, the doctor suggested…what a brilliant idea!  I show up in the podiatrist’s office to review the results of the MRI, & my doctor tells me that radiology doesn’t see anything other than some inflammation.  That seemed impossible, so the doctor took a closer look…low & behold, she finds a hairline fracture in my ankle just under the big white glow of all that inflammation.  The fracture looked like the goddamn winding Mississippi River.  And, I ain’t no doctor, but I can’t imagine walking on this fracture for two months helped, can you??  Once it was established that I had a fracture rather than a sprain, my podiatrist looked at me & said, “you’re not gonna like this, but…you need a cast”.  Fantastic, just what I wanted for Hanukkah…I got the cast just a few days before the festival of lights began.  So, I chose a blue cast in honor of Hanukkah & left Ochsner with a nice shiny set of crutches…NO walking on the foot for a month.  I’d never had a cast before, so this was a real treat.  This meant, of course, still no tours, but also that I rang in the New Year while still in a cast…which looked great with my cocktail dress. I purchased a super large pair of dark black tights & just stretched them right over the cast, way glamorous.  What a look!  Finally, the cast was removed a few days later, hallelujah!!  I’ve been back on two feet for nearly two weeks & I’m headed in for my check-up with the doctor in two days.  The first few days out of my cast were surreal…my foot felt like it weighed several tons & buzzed like crazy, as if it’d been asleep for a month.  I cannot tell you how fantastic that first stand-up shower without having to bag my damn leg was, I felt as if I’d been baptized!  I’m slowly relearning how to walk without crutches, but I’m still not back to guiding tours.  In fact, I’m worried about being in good enough shape for Mardi Gras (February 12^th)…not something that I can miss!!  Although, I have to admit, I’m not too disappointed that I don’t have to guide any tours between Mardi Gras & the Super Bowl, can we say CLUSTER FUCK!

As Carnival season has begun & we’ve all started gorging ourselves on our favorite king cakes, I’ve also started work on my Mardi Gras costume.  Another group theme with some friends, this year we’ll be a glamorous walking Crawfish Boil, sparkling from head to toe with glitter…I’ll be the bag of Zatarain’s Crab Boil.  I cannot reveal any other details beyond that at this point, but stay tuned, the costumes are coming together quite nicely.  My dining room has once again become costume crafts central, with a big plastic table cloth on the dining room table, hot glue gun plugged in, piles of felt, & every color of glitter in the rainbow!  Of course, it would be sacrilege for us to masquerade as a crawfish boil without having one, so after strolling the streets of the Bywater, Marigny, & Quarter, we’ll be heading back to our home base, my friends’ home in the Bywater, & hosting a big crawfish boil of our own in their backyard.  Needless to say, I’m very much looking forward to Fat Tuesday & even a few parades before then.

In the meantime, I’m walking a little, resting a little (sometimes a lot), crafting up a storm, & maybe even writing a few more blogs…although, I may not have much to say, so we’ll see. 

contentment.

As of today, I’ve got 2 New Orleans Culinary History Tasting Tours under my belt.  Although I realize I shouldn’t jump ahead of myself, I’m feeling pretty confident.  When I was training & just tagging along w/other tour guides, I have to admit, I’d get a little pooped in the 3^rd hour of the tour.  That’s not the case when I’m guiding the tour.  As with all my other tours, I’m invigorated during the tours & on a high for at least another hour afterwards, the exhaustion doesn’t hit until later (especially if it’s been a tour in the heat of a New Orleans summer).  I guess that’s what happens when you’re doing something you actually enjoy.  After nearly 10 years working at UNO library, enjoying my work is something that I’m still getting used to.  I love this tour, seriously, it’s fantastic & a must when in nola, even if you live here, take your out of town guests next time you’re hosting.  You get great food & excellent behind the scenes sneak peeks in amazing old restaurants. 

For those of you that have been following my blog since the beginning, you know that I’ve come a long way in the past year & a half.  After 2 car accidents, lots of physical therapy, losing my job at UNO (& the benefits package, including health insurance along with it), I didn’t think I had anything left in me.  I was low, really low & it took a while to work up the motivation to pursue something new & something unknown.  Fortunately, I finally worked up the courage, took the tour guide training course with Friends of the Cabildo, & well, the rest is history. 

Every tour, I make new connections with people from around the country & even around the world.  What a difference from staying cooped up in the offices behind the scenes at an academic library.  For those who know me well, this is quite an achievement for me given the fact that I’m sometimes a self-proclaimed misanthrope.  I normally don’t like strangers & won’t talk to them…I mean, I’ll make friendly conversation waiting in line or with a cashier, but otherwise, if some stranger tries to talk to me, especially at a bar, I will have none of it!  When strangers are my tour guests, I’m happy to chat with them & bond.  I guess I don’t question their motives as much.  I don’t just trust strangers, people have to earn my trust, so I don’t generally open up with those that I don’t know, at least casually.  However, on my tours, I’m an open book…stories of my childhood in nola, surviving Katrina, nights out on the town.  So, my tours actually give back to me in many ways.

I’m also getting a lot of great reviews online from my tour guests.  I have to say, I can never get enough validation.  As someone that grew up with pretty low self esteem (a chubby girl with big curly hair), getting all this great feedback gives me quite a boost.  The most common comments that I get are my high energy, passion, knowledge, & the connection that I make with my tour groups.  That all makes sense to me, because I knew that’s what I’m good at before I began guiding tours; along with my love for my hometown, it’s why I decided to become a tour guide. 

So, I guess I’ve finally chosen the right path…

when one comes to New Orleans, one drinks.

As a native New Orleanian, I started drinking alcohol relatively young.  At 12 years old, I enjoyed my first drink, well multiple drinks, at the end of summer JCC camp staff party (w/my mother’s blessing b/c I was under the supervision of my boss & not driving).  Of course, back then, it was just wine coolers & jello shots.  By high school, I’d moved onto the party punch, ya know that fruit punch in an ice chest with a good dose of Everclear & inevitably some grass & dirt.  It was disgustingly sweet & could knock you on your ass.  But, back then, I was NOT a beer drinker, so the party punch was my only option at keggers.  Although I found that punch too sweet, I do have to admit that I liked rather sweet cocktails in my early drinking days, my favorites were White Russians, Fuzzy Navels & Melonballs.  During my college years, my taste for alcohol had matured.  I finally gave beer a try, Abita of course & a lot of fancy foreign beers.  However, when I do drink beers these days, my favorite is the Champagne of beers, Miller High Life, simply light & refreshing.  Now, I’m a proud wino, although, I do enjoy a cocktail, too (gin is my liquor of choice & I can never resist a very dirty gin martini).  For years now, my Cheers (the place where everyone knows my name & they’re always glad I came) has been the Delachaise on St. Charles Ave., my favorite watering hole in town & a great wine bar. 

Anyway, I could go on & on about my drinking history & current passion for alcohol, but let’s move on to the topic at had.  Last week, on Memorial Day, I guided my first drinks tour for a friend & a group of her girlfriends visiting from out of town.  Since this was a private tour, I created it on my own & gave my tour guests a few options for different bar & cocktail stops in the French Quarter.  Even with my voice going midway through, I have to say, the tour was a great success! 

We began at the Napoleon House, for a Pimm’s Cup.  Although the Pimm’s Cup is an English cocktail, it’s become very popular in New Orleans over the years.  When locals are in the mood for this refreshing cocktail, they go to the place that’s famous for it, the Napoleon House.  The space was built in the late 18^th century & was the home of Mayor Girod.  Despite what those damn buggie drivers in the Quarter will tell you, Napoleon NEVER lived there.  When Napoleon had been exiled to St. Helena, some New Orleanians, including the mayor & the pirate Jean Lafitte, hatched a plan to rescue Napoleon & bring him to New Orleans.  The Mayor added another level to his home which was intended as Napoleon’s New Orleans residence.  Hence the name, Napoleon House.  It’s a great old historical building with a beautiful little courtyard.  After passing our tour guide license exam last year, me & my tour guide friends went there for celebratory Pimm’s Cups.  So, I think that the Napoleon House was the perfect place to begin my personal drinks tour.

After finishing off that slice of cucumber, my favorite part of the Pimm’s Cup, we walked deep into the quarter to our 2^nd stop, Jean Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar for a Hurricane, a strong cocktail, but a classic New Orleans drink.  Although the Hurricane was created at Pat O’Brien’s, they now use a mix to make the drink, whereas Lafitte’s still uses fresh fruit juices, so all locals will tell you that Lafitte’s is the better Hurricane (even without the signature glass, resembling a hurricane lamp & inspiring the name of the cocktail).   Lafitte’s is one of the oldest buildings in the city & said to be the oldest operating bar in the country (but who knows if that stat is accurate).  I warned my tour guests that the drink has an extra shot of clear rum on top of the fruit juice.  When you drink the Hurricane with a straw, that final shot of rum really sneaks up on you, & if you’re not already buzzed, you will be after the last sip.  My suggestion was to stir up the drink with that straw so that the rum blends more with the fruit juice, not that the cocktail won’t still get you thoroughly sauced. 

Thanks to the fact that New Orleans has no open container law, we took those Hurricanes to go & started our walk back upriver to a bit classier establishment.  We made our way to Antoine’s Hermes Bar, one of my French Quarter favorites.  It has a separate entrance from the restaurant & you don’t have to be all gussied up to go in there.  Now, I don’t have any particular favorite cocktail at the Hermes Bar, I simply suggested a few options, such as the Sidecar.  However, it was happy hour, so we all went for the $4 glasses of bubbly.  I was planning on getting the gals a snack at this point since they’d just sucked back those Hurricanes & the bar has a nice little tasting menu from the restaurant.  Sadly, as it was Memorial Day, the kitchen was closed.  While at Antoine’s, I did take the opportunity to tell the group about New Orleans carnival krewe traditions since the restaurant has dining rooms named for the 4 oldest carnival krewes in town.  There’s plenty of photos & old paraphernalia in each dining room (I’ve had the good fortune of seeing each one during the New Orleans Culinary History Tours), but there are also displays in the bar.  Carnival traditions are an intriguing subject to out-of-towners, there’s nothing like them anywhere else. 

We all enjoyed our bubbly & were ready to take on the next drink.  So, on to the Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone for Ramoz Gin Fizzes.  This bar literally revolves!!  One of the gals in my group asked me how long it took for the bar to complete one revolution, I didn’t know…so, I timed it.  Turns out it takes just 10 minutes for the Carousel Bar to make one complete revolution, there’s a bit of trivia that I’m sure you’re glad you can now tuck away into the recesses of your brain.  When sitting at the bar, you hardly notice that it’s moving, unless you look behind you & see your surroundings changing, which made me a bit dizzy.  As I tried to shake of the dizzy spell, it was time for my Ramoz Gin Fizz…a cocktail that I’d never had the pleasure of trying before! Wow, it’s like dessert in a glass, frothy, a bit sweet, & rather filling.  I enjoyed it immensely, as did the rest of my tour group.  Fortunately, the Carousel Bar also supplies endless bowls of complementary snack mix, we scarfed down at least 6 bowls easily!  While sipping our Gin Fizzes, I told the group that this bar had once been a regular watering whole for some of America’s great literary figures, Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, Truman Capote, & even Hemingway frequented the Carousel Bar.  They all lived just blocks away in the French Quarter, so they often gathered there for drinks, & I would imagine, rather interesting conversations. 

After our carousel ride, I had one more bar planned to finish off the tour, another favorite of mine in the Quarter.  We made our way to Arnaud’s French 75 Bar for, what else but French 75’s, of course.  It’s another restaurant bar that has a separate bar entrance & very classy décor.  We walked all the way there & found the lights off & the doors locked…c’est domage!!  I was so disappointed, not only had I planned to have a cocktail, I was going to insist that we enjoy the scrumptious soufflé potatoes with béarnaise sauce.  I was so embarrassed that I’d brought the group all the way over there only to find it closed. 

Even though my final bar stop at French 75 was a failure, we had already spent 4 whole hours wandering the quarter & partaking of tasty libations.  After all that schlepping & drinking, it was time for me to say good-bye.  The girls had a reservation at Bayona for dinner an hour later (incidentally, one in my personal top 5 nola restaurants list), so I recommended that they kill the time with a visit to the Sazerac Bar at the Roosevelt Hotel for the famous Sazerac cocktail.  If you don’t like licorice, you won’t care for this cocktail which always has either Herbsaint or Absinthe.  But, it was the very first cocktail, so if you’re feeling adventurous & you’ve never had one before, the Sazerac Bar is the right place to give one a try.

The next day I heard that they did make it to the Sazerac Bar to have their signature cocktail & then had an amazing meal at Bayona.  What a perfect way to end a Memorial Day weekend in the Crescent City. 

Perhaps I shouldn’t have revealed all the brilliant secrets of my drinks tour, but if you’ve been following my blog, you know that I can’t resist sharing every little detail when I tell a story.  I now have a great drinks tour in my repertoire, which is an essential one to have ready as a tour guide in the Big Easy.  Now, I need to focus on preparations for my first solo New Orleans Culinary History Tour in just a week.  I’m both excited & nervous, just as I have been for the first of each of my other tours.  Once I get a few under my belt, I’m sure that I’ll be cruising right along. 

Stay tuned…

no voice. no tours.

After my stepsister’s wedding 2 weeks ago, my voice was fading fast.  I figure it was a combination of a lot of talking during all of the wedding festivities & competing with the loud band during the wedding reception (the speakers were conveniently positioned just above my end of the family dining table).  Along with my voice loss came one of those razor blade sort of sore throats.  I immediately began the usual home remedies, gargling with warm salt water (trying not to gag with every gargle), plenty of hot tea with honey, OJ, Airborne, the works!  I managed to regain my voice after taking advantage of a tour-free day mid-week.  However, I jumped back into the game the next day & the sore throat came right back, along with a progressively raspier voice.  After 2 weeks of this ongoing misery, I finally got an appointment at the doctor’s office, the diagnosis: LARYNGITIS.  The treatment: an immediate steroid injection to combat some of the inflammation in my throat & instructions from the doctor to “rest my voice” for at least the next 10 days.

Needless to say, losing one’s voice is certainly an inconvenience to anyone.  However, it quickly dawned on me that not having a voice was going to make it very difficult to guide a tour.  I had to line up subs for the rest of my tours this week & lock myself up in my house, so that I could avoid speaking all together.  As my sister put it in a text to me earlier today after finding out that I have laryngitis, “that’s no good for business”.  Of course, you never realize how valuable some things are until you have to go without them.  Anyone that knows me, knows that I’m a talker, to put it kindly, so it’s hard enough to keep my mouth shut as it is.  But, being a tour guide requires you to be a talker.  Yes, I use visuals & I also talk with my hands, but the words are the most important tool when guiding a tour. 

As I hunker down at home, relying on texts & email to maintain some connection with the outside world, I’ve been thinking about what measures I can take next time in order to avoid loosing my voice again any time soon.  I always make sure to drink plenty of water during my tours & I also carry ricola (my personal cough drop of choice).  Clearly, that’s not enough.  Again, those that know me, would say that I have no problem projecting.  Not only am I a talker, but a loud (& many times, fast) talker.  However, perhaps I need to learn some better techniques on how to project without straining my vocal chords.  Any suggestions you might have are welcomed.   

In other news, the last tour that I guided before my voice completely gave out on me was a drinks tour this past Monday for a group of girls (a friend & 5 of her girlfriends visiting from out of town).  The tour was a great success.  I’ll give a detailed report, with bar & cocktail highlights in my next blog post. 

For now, a bit of prep work for my first solo New Orleans Culinary History Tasting Tour coming up next Saturday & perhaps a movie on Netflix instant view.  Just a QUIET weekend at home.

behind the scenes

As I walked the streets of the French Quarter today, bringing up the rear of this afternoon’s New Orleans Culinary History Tour (Tasting Tour), I was chatting w/a lovely couple from Toronto enjoying their first visit to nola.  They were thrilled about all the amazing sneak peeks we get behind the scenes inside some of the city’s oldest culinary establishments, I told them that I was just as giddy the first time I tagged-along on the tour & saw these places.  Growing up here, all these years, these hidden gems were hiding right under my nose, or well, behind closed doors.  Who knew about the nearly 15 additional private dining rooms upstairs at Arnaud’s or the Escargot room at Antoine’s?!  What’s more, I still get excited the 5^th time, you always notice something different & pick up some new factoid from another tour guide (I was doing another tag-along today, as I’m still in-training for these culinary tours).  I noticed that I’m often taking more pictures than the tour guests are, even though I’ve been there before…seriously, I’m like a kid in a candy store, I can’t get enough. 

I explained to the couple that what is so fantastic (in my opinion) about being a tour guide is that it allows you to be a tourist in your own town…enjoying all the things that I love about this place, the reasons that I choose to live here, but hardly ever get to do or see while swept up in the usual day to day grind of a 9-5 job & all the other tedious crap that easily gets in the way.  Often, when you live in an amazing city like New Orleans, you take for granted all that it has to offer or you put it on the back burner…”I’ll do that another weekend when I have more time or when I’m not so tired.”…”we’ll check out that exhibit next time friends come in town”…”we have to try that new restaurant that everyone is raving about, let’s put it on our list.”  This is what I found myself saying instead of actually taking advantage of the fact that I have great FOOD, amazing MUSIC, gorgeous old ARCHITECTURE, & some of the friendliest PEOPLE you’ll ever find (just to name a few components that make up this wonderful town) all at my fingertips!! 

As for New Orleans Culinary History Tours, they are definitely living up to their reputation.  I’ll just put it this way, if you like to eat & you’re at all interested in history, you’re a fool if you don’t take this tour the next time you visit New Orleans!!  Ok, yes, I know I’ll be working for them, so I’m biased, but lemme tell you, I wouldn’t be working for them if I didn’t believe in them & love the tours myself.  After 10 years wasting away doing database maintenance at UNO Library, I am not just gonna take whatever tour comes across my path…I’m being picky this time.  One of the few things I’ve finally learned by my early 30’s, it’s ain’t worth doing if you’re not passionate about it.  Of course, I fully recognize how elitist this sounds b/c I have the luxury of choosing, so it’s always hard for me to say these things.  But, if you’re gonna go ahead & bite the bullet, as I have (after 2 fucking car accidents, loosing the job I’d always bragged was so secure, & a complete emotional breakdown), you might as well do it right.  The Tasting Tour takes you into some of the oldest restaurants in the city, samples some of our most famous dishes, & teaches you about New Orleans’ rich history, & how intertwined our food is with our culture & just how integral our unique cuisine is to our way of life.  I’d say that’s a pretty damn good way to spend an afternoon.

BTW, before tagging along on the culinary tour this afternoon, I started off my day w/FOC’s monthly tour guide meeting.  After catching up on our usual business, our speaker, Lawrence Powell told us about how Hurricane Katrina influenced his new book, The Accidental City. Improvising New Orleans.  I chose to study art history in college not only for my love of art, but because of my fascination with the story behind the art.  That’s what Lawrence Powell gave us this morning, & now I’m even more excited to start reading my autographed copy of his book! 

Then, of course, a gal’s gotta eat, right?  So, I grabbed a quick lunch with 2 of my best tour guide friends at Stanley in Jackson Square.  I had an Eggs Benedict Poor Boy, of course, I took a picture of the plate before devouring it, it’s served open face & you must eat it with a fork & knife, there’s just no other way of getting around it.  It was lovely & scrumptious.  And, the portion was just begin enough to satisfy without making me feel ill, so I had just enough room to fit in 2 scoops of Brocato’s pistachio gelato (my absolute fave, nothing better) at Antoine’s Annex before the culinary tour.  Come on, how could I resist?!  First of all, Antoine’s Annex is like my home away from home when in the quarter, it’s a great little coffee shop, & it is literally around the corner from the start of the culinary tour…I had to find some way to kill the time, right?!  Mind you, I did not eat on the culinary tour, the food is just for the guests…well, ok, there was an extra brisket at Tujague’s & one can’t let these delicacies go to waste, that is some serious horseradish in that sauce, phew, cleans out the sinuses, but it’s damn good! 

So, after another day of continuing ed for tour guides courtesy of FOC, a great lunch w/my tour guide gals & wandering in & out of old restaurants in the quarter, sampling some of their most famous & traditional dishes w/a group of 17 tourists, I’m reminded, yet again, not just how happy I am, but relieved & thankful that I chose this new path.  Mel Brooks infamously said, “it’s good to be the king”.  Well, as cliché as it might sound, I say, it’s good to be a tour guide. 

to be a licensed tour guide in the city of New Orleans

Although I’m always raving about all of the advantages I get from having my tour guide license, it certainly ain’t easy to get that license or even renew it!  Initially, we go through a process with a written test on nola history, then a drug test, & a FBI background check…plus a lot of fees for these tests & the application.  Yeah, go figure, we’re under City Hall’s taxi cab bureau, so we have to comply with the same regulations that taxi cab drivers do to get their licenses.  Seems a bit extreme, but it’s not like we have any say.  Don’t get me wrong, I completely agree with the nola history testing portion, we shouldn’t have a bunch of tour guides roaming the streets just spewing nonsense at our tourists.  However, the $50 FBI fingerprinting background check (which has to be done at the New Orleans Aviation Board office at the airport) is where I draw the damn line! 

My first time around, I took a preparatory course with the Friends of the Cabildo who helped me go through the process and procure my license.  All those that took the FOC class were able to take the city test with FOC & then FOC forwarded the results to the city.  FOC also gave us all the information on how to go about the licensure process.  We all expected it to be a pain in the ass given we’d have to deal with City Hall, but most of us made it through the ordeal with tour guide licenses around our necks at the end!

Our tour guide licenses expire on our birthday, so we have to begin the renewal process at least a few weeks before then.  The renewal process in previous years used to be a simple $10 fee & a minor background check with our local NOPD.  However, this year, a new dude in the Taxi Cab Bureau has reinterpreted the procedures & we’re now required to go through the exact same hoops that we did upon getting our license the first time.  This is total bull shit, if you ask me…just a way to put some more money in the city’s pockets.  Again, I wouldn’t protest if upon renewal, we were required to take another test on nola history, culture, etc. to make sure we’re keeping up with the info, but another drug test & FBI background check, come on, you’ve got to be kidding me!!  Many tour guides are protesting the new requirements & refuse to renew their licenses.  I respect their decision, but I’m just not a rule breaker, so I’ve gone through the process & finally got my new license this afternoon…hallelujah, praise the lord!!  So, I’ve proven to the city that I’m not a druggie nor wanted by the FBI, & after I paid everyone w/the required money orders (which is just another hassle itself), they finally agreed to take my picture & print out a new license.  Just like any photo for a driver’s license, I look a bit like a drugged out felon, but at least I’m legally licensed to guide tours once again. 

So, this is just my little rant of the day.  No fabulous outings, exhibits, or meals, just a long afternoon at City Hall.  But, I guess it’s worth it since the other 364 days of the year, I get to reap the benefits of being a tour guide in the Big Easy.

from cemetery to culinary

So, there are big things happening on my tour guide agenda these days!  

I’ve officially started guiding tours for Save our Cemeteries in Lafayette Cemetery no.1 (every 1^st Wednesday of the month & every Tuesday at 10:30am, except the 3^rd Tuesday of the month).  I’m having a ball, I love this cemetery, it’s like visiting a park…lined with oak & magnolia trees, rows & rows of above ground tombs, & burials of some pretty significant historical figures.  This cemetery is the 1^st & oldest of the city owned & maintained cemeteries in New Orleans, established in 1833.  The tour for SOC is a little over an hour, which is my only problem…I have a really hard time editing out fun facts & skipping certain tombs that I really want to show my tour guests.  So, I’ve got the material down, I’m just working on trimming down my tour time.  Of course, if tour guests want to stick around for a few extra tid-bits, I’m always happy to!  I’ll be guiding this tour tomorrow morning…come on out and join me! 

On to my new explorations in the world of culinary tours, I’m joining the New Orleans Culinary History Tours team.  I’m thrilled, I love tours, I love history & I love food, so what can be bad about this equation, right?!  I’m beginning my “tag-alongs” tomorrow with other guides to learn the tour before I begin guiding the tours myself.  The French Quarter Tasting tour is offered daily & lasts 3 hours, with some fabulous stops, including Antoine’s & Tujague’s (the 2 oldest restaurants in the city).  NO Culinary History Tours also offers a New Orleans’ Classic Drinks tour, which I’ll probably guide, as well, once I’ve got some more experience under my belt with this company.  The owners are a great married couple & native New Orleanians.  I’ll let y’all know once I’m officially on the schedule & guiding culinary tours on my own. 

Spring is an amazing time in the Crescent City…too many festivals to choose from, amazing weather (perfect for city tours), & flowers blooming.  Sadly, somehow I managed to miss both the French Quarter Fest & the Ponchatoula Strawberry Fest, so I HAVE to make up for it with Jazz Fest!  I’m currently reviewing the schedule for musical acts, conferring with friends to see what days they’re planning on going…there’s a science to mapping out your jazz fest experience.  No question, I’ll make it at least one day each weekend.  Now, if I could only figure out a way to score free tickets (they ain’t cheap)…shouldn’t being a tour guide get me some sort of discount?!?!

balancing blog & life

Well, there’s simply no excuse for disappearing from the blogosphere for this long!  All I can say is that my absence has been due to a combination of many great tour opportunities & life just getting in the damn way!! 

That said, let’s just jump right back in!  Ya know how I’m always saying that being a tour guide opens up doors to amazing opportunities & great experiences in New Orleans & beyond, hence the title of my blog, “my NOLA tour guide license is my KEY to the city”?  Well, I have another example for you…I went on a great plantation field trip w/a bunch of fellow New Orleans tour guides yesterday to St. John the Baptist Parish & St. James Parish (if you haven’t already figured it out, Catholicism played & still plays a major role in New Orleans & LA culture), they’re both just over an hour outside of the city.  BTW, for those not familiar with nola or Louisiana lingo, a “parish” is the equivalent to a county anywhere else in the States, this Catholic spin on “county” just stuck with us.  Anyway, we all hopped on a chartered coach in the Esplanade Mall parking lot bright & early & headed for plantation country along River Road. 

Our first stop was at Whitney Plantation in St. John the Baptist Parish, which is not yet open to the public for visits, so this was a special speak peek arranged for us tour guides (see, us tour guides, we got the hook-up!).  The plantation is on a massive property & the home itself is still being renovated, but we did get to sit in the old slave church & check out the blacksmith shop.  This should be a great tourist destination once all the renovations are complete & it’s opened to the public. 

Next on the agenda, a true Louisiana lunch…tour guides gotta eat, too, right?!  The B & C Cajun Restaurant on River Rd. in Vacherie, LA was ready & waiting for us…w/fried catfish, white beans & rice, french bread, live Cajun music on a fiddle & bread pudding for dessert!  We were happy campers, to say the least. 

With full tummies, we made our way to our final destination in St. James Parish, Bocage Plantation, which is just downriver from some other very popular Louisiana plantations, Oak Alley, Laura, & Houmas House (all of which, I’ve visited & highly recommend checking out if you’re in the region).  This was my first time at Bocage & I was sold as soon as I walked in the door!  The home itself is magnificent…ya know, if you like grand old mansions w/17 foot ceilings on the second floor, spiral staircases, period furniture, ornate chandeliers, a large front veranda complete w/rocking chairs!  We were greeted by an old lady in full character, she shared her story of survival as a slave, setting the scene & taking us back to a time most like to pretend never even occurred.  After she shared her story, a very well versed & surprisingly young tour guide (originally from Atlanta, GA) gave us some information about the home itself & allowed us to wander about, even telling us to make ourselves comfortable, sit on the furniture, take pictures, have a ball!  Bocage is an active B&B, one that I’d love to spend a weekend in…they serve wine & hors d'oeuvres at sunset & a full made-to-order breakfast in the morning!   I have to admit, me & several girlfriends were very sad to leave…in fact, we were pretty close to telling the group to go on without us & stay the night…I mean, come on, the wine & hors d’oeuvres were just about to be served!!

But, back on the bus we went & made our way home to the Crescent City.  I was exhausted from the excursion, but very happy & thankful that I was able to go…I actually felt like I was a kid again, on a school field trip.  Even though we’re all tour guides, we were able to sit back & relax for the day, not worry about watching the time, keeping track of guests, covering all the important talking points, etc…I absolutely believe that outside of giving a tour, tour guides are most happy being tourists in their own town. 

After that long day, I couldn’t even believe that I had the rest of the week still ahead of me (especially w/taxes due & this self-proclaimed procrastinator leaving them until the last minute, but I did e-file them w/several hours to spare)!  We had really crummy weather today, but I still had a French Quarter tour scheduled for Friends of the Cabildo & we give tours “rain or shine” – ugh!  I had 13 guests ready & willing to brave the elements with me, so we hit the streets, splashing as we jumped from puddle to puddle.  For those who know me, you know that I always come prepared with all the proper gear, I was sporting a long rainproof trench coat, a rain hat, rain boots & toting a lime green umbrella…so, I was as ready as I could be for 2 hours in the pouring rain & brisk wind coming off the river.  However, I was not only frustrated that we had to contend with this nasty weather, but very disappointed that I had to modify my tour route to avoid the worst of the storm, which meant hiding under the many balconies & galleries that line the sidewalks in the quarter.  Although the guests don’t know what they missed from my usual tour, I’m always still disappointed that I can’t share it all with them…we didn’t even make it to the window in the back of Café du Monde to watch the beignets being made!!  Nevertheless, all of my guests stuck it out until the bitter end, some soaked to the bone, but enjoying themselves & they even told me that they thought I did a great job despite the weather.  That was nice to hear, especially given that I was still thoroughly drenched, even with all of that ridiculous rain gear. 

So, after my lovely plantation trip yesterday & my damp French Quarter tour today, I suddenly had the urge to sit down & finally get back to my blog!!  Obviously, there’s much more to catch up on & much more ahead, but this tour guide needs a hot shower, a cup of tea, & a good night’s sleep, so I’m signing off for now. 

Next time, I’ll share my new adventures guiding tours for another non-profit group, Save our Cemeteries…I’m now doing tours in Lafayette Cemetery no.1 (in the Lower Garden District) every Tuesday of the month (except the 3^rd Tuesday, when I do my FOC French Quarter tour).  I’m loving this cemetery & this tour, I really hope to add more cemetery tours to my repertoire in the near future.  More about SOC & my cemetery tours soon…& by “soon”, I don't mean in 4 months, more like 2-4 days, this time!!

Bonne Nuit from the Crescent City. 

Fall comes to nola & so do the tourists!

What a week of tours, tours & more tours!  Although I live Uptown, I definitely spent more of my time this week in the French Quarter.  Met some great people from all over the country & beyond.  Ya know, when I decided to become a tour guide, that decision was primarily based on my love for nola, history, architecture, art, food, music & sharing that passion with others.  My goal is always to give my tour guests the nola local’s perspective, because that’s what I want when I travel somewhere else.  However, I never really gave much thought to another wonderful perk of guiding tours, which is meeting so many people from so many places.  I’ve already had the pleasure of making friends from Canada, Australia, Italy, Germany, England, Brazil, & all over the States!  And, thanks to my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/nola.leah, I’ve been able to keep up with many of them long after their visits to nola have ended.  I’ve learned so much from them & made great connections for my future travels, which ain’t a bad perk, indeed.  Now, before each tour, instead of worrying about how many guests I’ll have in my group & what the weather’s like, I can’t wait to find out where all my guests are from. 

Fortunately, we’ve also had some amazing weather for my tours this week…other than Tuesday when it poured for 10 minutes, then cleared up, then poured again, & so on.  The rest of the week, it was crystal blue skies, sunny, breezy, & less humid (thank the Lord!).  I guided 3 tours in the French Quarter, 2 for the Friends of the Cabildo & 1 private tour w/a fantastic German couple.  The Kassners from Hamburg, were referred to me by their son, whom I’d met over the summer while we were both on a tour of Houmas House (which is a wonderful tour, BTW)…now that’s a small world, huh?!  I’m completely smitten with the Kassners & already consider them my extended family in Hamburg…can’t wait to visit! 

I also tagged along on the second official nola Tastebud tour yesterday afternoon, so that I can begin learning the ropes, before taking on Tastebud tours myself in December.  When we have our roast beef po’boys from Johnny’s, weather permitting (which is was), we picnic in Jackson Square.  Not only did the group get to enjoy their po’boys in the square, but they were also lucky enough to catch a wedding second line leaving St. Louis Cathedral (the oldest cathedral in North America).  The tour was a great success, we’ve already gotten 2 terrific reviews on TripAdvisor after the first tour last week!  Looking forward to reading the reviews from this week’s tour.

Now, I must run, hopping on the streetcar in about an hour to meet a friend of my sister’s & her boyfriend in Jackson Square to give them an afternoon tour of the French Quarter.  I’ve heard about my sister’s friend & old co-worker for years, so I feel as if I know her, but I’ve never met her.  My sister had emailed me weeks ago, just asking for some nola suggestions to pass on to her friend.  Of course, I took over from there!  And, we’ll be enjoying a cocktail together somewhere in the quarter after the tour…but, where shall we go?  Napoleon House for a Pimm’s Cup, French 75 at Arnaud’s restaurant for their signature cocktail, the Sazerac bar at the Roosevelt Hotel, Hermes bar at Antoine’s, or Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse at the Royal Sonesta Hotel for a little jazz to accompany our cocktails…choices, choices!  

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.

hit on by Henry Butler.

Needless to say, I had a great time at Friends of the Cabildo’s Hidden Treasures: Music Edition w/a performance by Henry Butler last Wednesday night.  What a night, especially for the middle of the week.  Started out with happy hour cocktails at the Spotted Cat courtesy of FOC, as thanks for the volunteer tour guides’ efforts during Tauck’s Ken Burns Jazz Experience.  FOC’s Special Projects Manager, Jason Strada, (a really great guy who is making terrific strides for FOC & treats the volunteer tour guides wonderfully) handed out Tauck’s thank you gifts. 

I have to admit, I expected some lame swag with Tauck’s logo on it, but to my surprise, we got a lot more than that!  The bag included the Best of Ken Burns Jazz CD (a partner to his jazz documentary which inspired Tauck’s Jazz event in nola), signed by Ken Burns, himself.  We also each got a copy of Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans DVD signed by the filmmaker, Lolis Eric Elie.  We’d all watched this DVD while preparing for the jazz tours.  I was seriously impressed & very pleased with these gifts!  Of course, there was also a pair of cheesy black & gold jazz themed Mardi Gras beads & a box of mints with Tauck’s logo, for good measure…but that’s just a little lagniappe, obviously, the CD & DVD were the main event.

After happy hour, we all walked down Frenchman St. to the Old U.S. Mint for FOC’s Hidden Treasures event.  There was more free wine & beer, plus food…much needed after starting off the evening with several drinks on an empty stomach.  Once we’d all stuffed ourselves & gotten a few refills, it was time for Henry Butler in the Mint’s brand spanking new performance space (it’s fantastic).  Henry Butler plays a mean piano, he had us all tapping our feet…us tour guides appreciated the performance even more after acquiring so much knowledge of nola jazz for those tours, & that appreciation was acknowledged by many proud nods & smirks at each other during the performance. 

Fortunately, like any proper nola event, the bar was back open after the performance, so we could drink & schmooze a bit more.  That’s when I had the opportunity to meet the great Henry Butler.  I heard him ask if there was anymore wine available (BTW, in case you’re not aware, Henry Butler is blind).  The bar was just being closed up as Henry asked for some wine, so I asked him what he’d like & then got FOC’s official volunteer tour guide/bartender to pour Mr. Butler a large cup of white wine.  I guess he took a liking to me after that…but it was the least I could do, the man had just put on a great performance, & this is New Orleans for god’s sake…guests must be served drinks (even if they don’t perform first)!  So, we chatted it up for a bit, we even discussed the fact that I’m a non-practicing Jew that identifies with Woody Allen, my love for nola, his take on NYC (where he currently resides)…I quickly realized that he was hitting on me, I’m pretty dense most of the time, but he wasn’t too subtle.  When I say this man is like the nola version of Ray Charles, I’m not at all kidding!  The situation was even more odd & amusing b/c FOC’s assistant director had been Mr. Butler’s right-hand lady while he was visiting, she was even holding his walking stick for him.  So, she was right by his side while he was putting the moves on me. We exchanged quite a few glances & raised eyebrows, occasionally holding back a giggle.  I made a comment about it on Facebook & she later noted that he “LOVED” me & would “treat you right if you ever come up to NYC”.  Hey, what can I say, it ain’t a bad connection to make, right?  

Gala Gal

I had a great time at the Preservation Hall at 50: Celebrating Jazz & Old U.S. Mint Jazz Venue Debut Gala last Friday night.  I was on my feet for the first 2 hours, greeting & directing guests for the “Patron Party”…aka the schmoozing event for the city’s extra elite.  Believe me, it wasn’t easy keeping a smile on my face while greeting all of these guests, but at least I didn’t have to rub elbows with them at the party.  It’s amazing how much you disappear into the crowd when wearing staff/volunteer black & whites.  Fortunately, I put in my time & then got more than compensated with plenty of food from numerous restaurants around town, excellent jazz music from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band & Rebirth Brass Band.  That said, I don’t know if I’ll volunteer for LMF again, I wasn’t too impressed with how they organized their volunteers or the event…wait, let me rephrase that…I wasn’t too impressed with how they did NOT organize their volunteers or the event.  Behind the scenes, it was a total cluster fuck, there’s simply no other way to put it.  Everyone was running in circles, 4 volunteers would be given the same job & then they’d be looking for volunteers to do something else & didn’t have anyone available.  They gave us absolutely no direction; even before the event, the volunteers had to call & find out what was expected of us (dress code, arrival time, assignment, etc.), when we arrived, they still didn’t know what they wanted each of us to do. Thank god I had 2 of my other tour guide gals to roll my eyes at when things got really messy.  We decided that we need to run our own events company, because we can certainly do a better job than that!  I overheard a few of the staff members talking early on about how they ran out of serving spoons & they had to run around to neighborhood restaurants to borrow more!  All of the food, plus the Rebirth performance, were outside.  However, it was freezing outside (relatively speaking, 50 degrees is COLD to New Orleanians) & there were a total of 5 outdoor space heaters that could barely stay lit because of the wind off the river.  Thus, the coat check room at the door was useless.  Everyone was freezing & the chafing dishes weren’t able to keep the food warm…at least Café Dumonde had hot café au’lait in an insulated canister & an amusing Café Dumonde server flirting with all the ladies to help warm them up! Nonetheless, the event was a success, for the most part…primarily because the Preservation Hall at 50 exhibit is fantastic & everyone loved the live music performances.   And, the gala marks an exciting renaissance for the Mint.

I’ll be back at the Old U.S. Mint this Wednesday evening for another event, but this one is organized by Friends of the Cabildo, Hidden Treasures: Music Edition; FOC’s special events coordinator arranged for free tickets for all of the volunteer FOC tour guides that guided tours during Tauck’s Ken Burns Jazz Experience…what a way to show his appreciation!  He’s even invited us to a happy hour before the event at the Spotted Cat, drinks on FOC & he’ll be handing out Tauck’s thank you gifts…I’m very curious to see what those will be.  So, Wednesday should be a great night; more free food, drink, music, & history, but I don’t have to put in any work to partake in it this time! 

No tours on the schedule this week, but that gives me time to work on my other tours.  Gotta start prepping for all the culinary tours that I’ll soon be taking on.  Plus, there’s the Jewish history tour.  I’m starting from scratch on that one, gotta do a lot of research & reading first.  The difficult part will be routing, most of the historically significant Jewish sites in the city are spread out all over the place, but I’ll work it out.  Then, we’ll see if anyone actually signs up for it, I hope all my efforts won’t be for nothing.  But, I’m willing to take the risk, I think it could be a really interesting tour, I’m curious about learning more about nola’s Jewish history myself, & it’s cool to think I’ll be creating the first tour of it’s kind in the city!  In the meantime, if anyone out there has ideas/suggestions for the Jewish tour, I’d gladly take them…