It was Pretty Easy

I am back from my vacation and I am already up to my armpits in work. It was worth it, though. This trip may take several postings.

As my wife and I flew into NO last Thursday, we were treated to an electrical storm brewing in the Gulf. It is quite a sight, especially when it takes places far away from the flight path. We landed and were immediately whisked away to a local dive for late night po'boys.

Our hosts are academics at Tulane: he is working hard to become an associate professor and she is working on her dissertation and teaching an undergraduate class in art history. The conversation began as soon as we piled into the car and did not stop until they dumped us off at the airport yesterday.

That electrical storm blew in late Thursday night, bringing a lot of rain with it. A lot of rain. It lulled us to sleep and we awoke on Friday to the sound of the Jazz Fest's cancellation. You could hear the cries of the damned souls as the news spread over town. Apparently, the last time this happened was in the late eighties, when a tornado came through town.

I did not despair. Jazz Fest lasts all weekend, after all. I knew it would start again on Saturday. And this reprieve allowed us to spend a day exploring the city and focusing on the food. This we did with a vengeance.

We ate fried chicken and red beans and rice for lunch at Dunbar's. The place is another dive where overweight people serve other overweight people all of the fried food they can eat. It was awesome!

We drove around town and got glimpses of the central business district and the garden district (we drove by Anne Rice's house - which is for sale, if you have 3.75 million). Then we waited for two and one half hours for dinner at Jacque-Imos. Which was bloody well worth it. Blackened redfish, blackened tuna and paneed duck, with mashed potatoes, red beans and rice, cole slaw, corn, cornbread and fried calamari. I am not sure what everyone else had to eat.

Then there was Jazz Fest. But more on that later.