A Frolic of My Own

Jazz, Books, Food, and the Writing Life

Blogging from New Orleans, La

21 December 2006

I met Mario Batali recently at Emeril’s charity bash. He was perfectly nice. Very enthusiastic about New Orleans. Not being accustomed to chatting with celebrity chefs, I fumbled a bit and made my excuses once I got the quote that I needed for an article.

If I had only know that Mario, like me, is a fan of Golden Age Spanish theater, then we would have had something to talk about.

Posted by Todd at 2:14 pm | No Comments

Last Sunday, when most of the city was watching the Saints lose, Andrea and I stopped by the Lower 9th Ward farmers market. At this point, it’s more a farm stand than a market. Just a few trucks loads of produce from Mississippi. We got turnips and several kinds of green. The hippy couple, who used to sell at the Crescent City Farmers Market, were there. They sold us eggs and salad greens.

After that, we drove over to St. Bernard Parish. I don’t think I had ever been there before. Sections of town look awful. A few neighborhoods have life and plenty of FEMA trailers.

I made a creamy soup with the turnips. The earthiness of the turnips was subtle. After a night in the frig, the turnip taste had disappeared.

Posted by Todd at 11:47 am | Comments (1)

13 December 2006

I could have sworn it was seven shots. Actually, I wasn’t sure it was gunfire at first–not until the police cars swarmed our block.

A man robbed a bank down the street. He escaped on bike, and an off-duty police officer tracked him down. According to this article in the Times-Picayune, the policeman fired one initial shot. Then he scuffled with the robber and shot him in the knee during the fight.

Maybe I heard an echo. Maybe the news report was wrong. I don’t know.

So much reporting is based on interviews. If the newsmen at the scene had asked me, I would have said five to seven shots were fired. Would that have been reported?

It’s never good to have gunfire around your neighborhood, but the police got one guy off the street this time.

Posted by Todd at 7:15 pm | No Comments