October 2005 – Page 2 – Deep Fried Kudzu

October 9, 2005

Randy Newman Concert & Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar

Av and I had tickets to the Randy Newman concert last night in Birmingham at the Alys Stephens Center. We decided to have a nice supper beforehand so we made reservations at Fleming’s, at the Summit. Even though it’s a chain, Fleming’s is supposed to be *really* nice, so we decided to give it a try. Supper really was very, very good.

We started with the ‘smoked Norweigan salmon bruschetta’. The nova was served on toast crisps with a dill cream cheese underneath and diced sun-dried tomatoes on top.

We decided to pass on having salad, so the next course was our entrees. Av had the New York Strip and I had the Beef Flemington, which is a fillet wrapped in pastry. Both of these were excellent……..for wine, I had a glass of the Penfolds South Australia Kalimna Bin 28, 2002 shiraz. Av had a glass of Girardin pinot noir (I think also 2002) – and these, too were wonderful. Our side orders were shoestring potatoes (which they served in a big paper cone) and asparagus hollandaise.

Dessert was a chocolate lava cake and a chocolate/walnut/caramel pie. We both had a little of each, and they were *also* amazingly good.

Everything we had was wonderful. The service was great, and we still had plenty of time to make it to the concert.
—
This was the first time either of us had seen Randy Newman in concert. We had tickets to go, but Av was a little surprised that I was so happy about having the tickets. Although I think most people remember him for the songs he sang in the ’70s, he’s really done *so* much more – songs for movies like Parenthood, Toy Story 1&2, A Bug’s Life, Babe, Pleasantville, Meet the Parents, Monsters, Inc., and Seabiscuit (that’s not even all of them!). He also did the intro music for the show ‘Monk’.

Last night he played lots of songs I’d never even heard before, he did some sing-alongs, and he did some of the songs we all expected, like “I Love L.A.”, “Short People”, “Louisiana”, and “Birmingham”. It was really, really nice. I noticed just now that he’s doing a concert in NYC called “Bringing Back the Music” with the NY Philharmonic to benefit the Louisiana Philharmonic (his mother’s family is from Louisiana, and he still has cousins there). Nice!

October 9, 2005January 6, 2020

Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie, LA

Av and I left the city for a few hours and wanted to do something relaxing, so we drove out to the Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie. The home, with a row of 300 year old oaks leading to it, is famous – it’s been featured in lots of books and movies.

Admission was $10 per person, and tours of the house are given every thirty minutes. Usually Av and I like to just explore things on our own, but since the house is only open with guided tours, that was just fine – and our tour guide, Jane – was really great.

The pic above is from the back of the house. In the center is a sugar kettle that they use now as a water garden (lots of people make them into koi ponds, too). Also behind the house is the Oak Alley restaurant and gift shop. Among all the things the gift shop was selling were saplings from oak trees on the plantation – they were $15.

Also behind the home are their B and B cottages which are between $115-$165/night.

The oaks at Oak Alley are thought to be about 300 years old, planted by an early settler.

Usually, pictures aren’t allowed to be taken inside the house, but our tour guide explained that business has been very slow after the hurricanes and that they were allowing, for a time, for guests to come and take pictures. This is the sitting room.

The pictures above and below are of the dining room. This room has a shoo-fly installed over the table. It’s run by pulley, and as it swings back and forth, it keeps the flies away, and creates a bit of a breeze.

Bedroom, Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie LA

Chandelier, Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie LA

On this bed is a wooden rolling pin. The rolling pin is used to smooth out the mattress (in winter, people would stuff their mattresses with cotton or feathers, and in summer with Spanish moss). They also slept with mosquito nets around the bed.

Bed with Mosquito Netting, Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie LA

This daybed is in the same bedroom. People used daybeds for afternoon naps so that they wouldn’t have to smooth out the bed mattress again.

October 7, 2005January 6, 2020

Le Pavillon Hotel (stay 2 post-Katrina), New Orleans LA

We stayed at Le Pav less than a month before the hurricane (that visit here); here’s our trip a month *after* the hurricane:

Room: There *are* hotels open in New Orleans – they’re filled with government people. We were able to get a room at Le Pav for a couple of nights. I’m embarrassed to say what we paid for this room, but I can tell you that it was significant (what can you do?). This room, like the one we stayed in last time, was really small, and the bathroom this time was even smaller than our previous stay.

Lobby: The lobby is still as beautiful as ever. The hotel is filled with firefighters from Yonkers and EPA people and all kinds of government contractors. When Av was waiting for an elevator, a firefighter stopped him and half-jokingly asked if he was in the right place – he couldn’t believe that they had been put up in such a nice hotel.

Service: I’m just going to type in this letter that everyone receives at check-in:

September 26, 2005
Dear Hotel Guest,
We would first like to thank you for staying with us in our time of rebuilding the great city of New Orleans. During this rebuilding process some hotel services are not available and others, although available, are limited. As our guest, we would like to make you aware of these changes.

Due to the displacement of our staff, we are unable to provide daily housekeeping service. Once weekly service will be available. If you need anything such as towels, shampoo, soap, etc. please call extension 4250 and we will gladly bring it to you.
The water hotel is being treated with a chlorine solution but city officials have not yet declared it safe for drinking or brushing your teeth (my note: actually there were warnings that it wasn’t even, at the time, safe to get on your skin….so we brushed our teeth and bathed using bottled water.). We have bottled water available downstairs in the lobby near the elevator for your use, free of charge.
Late night front desk and telephone operator personnel will not be available between the hours of 11:00pm and 7:00am. Upon check in you will be provided with a direct phone number to your room which bypasses the operator station. Please give this number to anyone who may call you during these late hours. If you should need assistance, please speak to our security team located in the main lobby.
Breakfast and dinner will be available a la carte in the Gallery Lounge (and then it lists the hours). (My note: supper was a buffet on all disposable plates and cups. It was $25 per person.)
The Gallery Lounge will be open from 4:00pm to 11:00pm.
Room service is not available. If you need special assistance, dial 4250.
The rooftop pool, hot tub and fitness center is open from 5:00am to 1:00am.
Parking is located across the street. It is currently self-park, free of charge (my note: it stayed at capacity most of the day and night).
The cable television is not currently working (my note: we were only able to get one local channel on antenna).
Guest laundry and dry cleaning service is not available at this time.
Bell service is not available, however if you need to use a cart, one will be provided for you. If further assistance is needed, please let us know.
Our famous PB and J hour is ongoing between 10:00 and 11:00pm.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact the front desk at extension 4250.

Sincerely,
Ed Morin
Managing Director

Food: We did have supper there one night, the only option was a buffet, and it was $25/pp.

Extra: The PB and J was nice.

Our experience is this: Le Pav wasn’t our favorite hotel before the hurricane, and although we appreciate that there was room for us, the fact that we paid a multiple of the rate we did last time didn’t exactly endear us to it. The Ritz is great (we stay there a few times each year), the Monteleone is nice, the W is cool, and Queen and Crescent isn’t expensive (those four are our fav hotels in New Orleans). Many more hotels are opening in December, and that should bring prices down.

October 7, 2005

Back to New Orleans

Av and I made it back to New Orleans. Crossing over the causeway into Metairie was no problem, but there were checkpoints to get any further into the city. Av had his credentials so we had no trouble.

The first place we went to was Lakeview. I don’t know how to describe it…..it was dirty, dusty, there was an incredible putrid stink in certain places…..we got out of the car at one point and it was like we were the only two people left on the planet. All of the houses had water marks. 5′, 8′, 10′. The spray-painted signs showed if there were any bodies found. Thankfully, most of them showed a zero, but I saw one or two that had big numbers like nine. I told Av I thought that someone must have filled out the ‘x’ wrong. I don’t know. There were other signs, like someone had spraypainted a zero in the bottom quadrant of the ‘x’ but next to it put ‘one person still alive’. There was another that said “cat rescued 9/24”. There were also cars that had been spraypainted to show that they had been checked, and thankfully every one I saw had a zero on it. These are things you never expect to see, ever. Things you never even know to consider.

The French Quarter is much, much better. I’ll post pics of our hotel in a day or two, but we stayed at Le Pavillon along with tons and tons of EPA and other governmental people. The water wasn’t safe to drink or to get on your skin, so we bathed and brushed our teeth with bottled water. All the food was served on disposable plates. Not many places were open. FEMA, Red Cross, National Guard, government people were *everywhere*. We brought a couple of cans of gasoline with us on this trip, but we didn’t need them. We thought that there might not be gasoline available in New Orleans, but there were some stations open in Metairie and there was one off Lee Circle that was open and the attendant told Av that they had never even lost their power the whole time….

The Garden District did okay too. There was some flooding, but nothing like Lakeview.

BTW, the Superdome roof looks like junk. The outside of it has mostly been cleaned up – I remember very vividly seeing the pictures on television of stuff just being *everywhere*. The neutral ground on Canal is mostly cleaned up, and people are using it for parking (it’s not like the streetcar is going to be a problem). You can park anywhere and you won’t get booted – the police are being really nice about letting people park wherever, which is good because a lot of the parking decks aren’t open.

In Metairie, there was flooding and residents there have been back for a few days. We saw lots and lots of carpet and furniture thrown out, and refrigerators with duct tape around them. After that many days without electricity, nobody wants to open their refrigerator. Seriously.

I know I have lots more to say, but it’s really a little much to think about right now.

For now, I have a lot of pictures uploaded to my Flickr set from this trip.

October 6, 2005January 6, 2020

Hampton Inn North, Jackson MS

We’ve stayed at this particular Hampton before, but it’s been a while. Hotel availability in Jackson is still not very easy to come by since the hurricane(s):

Room: This Hampton Inn (North) in Jackson was just below average for the typical Hampton we stay at. The bed was a little uncomfortable – a little hard and spring-y. There wasn’t much on the walls, and one of the walls had a little gash in it like the wallpaper had been ripped into.

Lobby: Usual Hampton lobby area.

Service: Front desk was nice when we were checking in, but when we were checking out there was no one at the desk for a few minutes and when the person did come to the front (there were other people waiting too) she wasn’t exactly cheery.

Food: We did get a little snack from the breakfast area on our way out, but the biscuits were so cold that we only took one bite.

Extra: It’s Jackson, post-Katrina. One takes what one can get.

Our experience is this: We would consider staying here again, only if the one downtown (close to the coliseum) was sold out or the Marriott was offering rooms at $150+ again like they were this particular day.

One more thing (not hotel-related) – Que Sera Sera: The hotel is not far from downtown, so Av and I discussed whether to try Que Sera Sera (on State St) *or* Keifer’s (on Congress) for supper. It was a Sunday night, so a lot of places were closed, but we had wanted to try both of them anyway. We settled on Que Sera Sera and ate outside, which was nice. I had their ‘award-winning’ pasta, but it was really pretty sad. Av’s pick was better – he got one of the appetizers as his main dish. Overall, we were glad we had gotten to eat al fresco….but we wouldn’t go back.

October 3, 2005January 6, 2020

Old Courthouse Museum, Vicksburg MS

We’ve been meaning to visit the Old Courthouse Museum in Vicksburg for so long, and we finally got to it last week. *All* the pics I made at the museum can be found here at my Flickr set.

There is one picture among all the others that I must show — regarding the **famous** minie ball pregnancy – this minie ball passed through a soldier and into a fertile young lady…you know the rest. The sign says:

During the battle of Raymond, Miss., in 1863, a minie ball reportedly passed through the reproductive organs of a young lady who was standing on the porch of her nearby home. The story was written 11 years later by Dr. LeGrand G. Capers of Vicksburg for the American Medical Weekly. Capers claimed that he treated the wounds, that the girl became pregnant from the fertile minie ball, that he delivered the baby, introduced the girl to the soldier, that the two were married and had two more children by the normal method! (We don’t ask you to believe the story, just enjoy it!)

October 2, 2005January 6, 2020

Margaret’s Grocery, 2005 Pics, Vicksburg MS

The last time Av and I took pics of Margaret’s Grocery outside Vicksburg was in 2001 (my previous post for that can be found here). I had heard that Reverend H.D. Dennis (who married Margaret and promised to build her something incredible) had painted more of the buildings in pink blocks… Here are new pics from just a few days ago:

The brown sign in the middle, toward the top, says “the home of the double headed eagle”. The large pink sign says, “the true gospel is preached here”.

One of these signs says: Matt. 16-18. The rock church on the rock. Read it. And Study It.

The big red sign says: The house of prayer for all people to worship. Read your Bible and study your Bible. Jews and Gentiles.

The set with all the pics we took of Margaret’s Grocery can be found here on my Flickr set.