Site Meter

Cup4Cup Week: The Bread

FOOTBALL! FOOTBALL! FOOTBALL!

Sorry, had to get that out of my system. Even though the taint of the Saints’ scandal lingers and I’m still smarting from the BCS championship game last January, I can’t help but be excited for the start of the season. We Saints/Tigers fans are an optimistic lot. The booze helps.

Of course, you’ll need good food for the games this weekend, and you could do so much worse than a muffuletta, the Sicilian-by-way-of-New-Orleans sandwich invented by Salvatore Lupo at Central Grocery. It shares a meat-and-cheese situation with the Italian sub, but goes above and beyond in two important ways — the bread (a soft, round Italian loaf that’s light but substantial enough to take on the filling) and olive salad (with pickled vegetables and heavy on the garlic). Since I have no hope of ordering the sandwich in north Jersey or of getting a gluten-free muffuletta loaf at the bakery, I made my own.

And, well, I have to say the bread was not great. Looked nice, though:

I really don’t […]

It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day…

Apologies to my neighbors for the noise pollution, but I’ve waited 40 years for this.

I think we’ll all be sleeping in tomorrow.

Bless you, Boys!!!

Three years and counting…

wedbwafter

MWAH!

Let the bon temps rouler

090223_tableau

I finally realized a couple of years ago exactly what makes northeastern winters so difficult to bear. The weather plays a large part, of course, but mostly it’s the lack of anything to look forward to between the holidays and spring (or the start of baseball season, if you’re so inclined). It’s just one long, dark slog through gray skies, snow, and wind chills in the single digits. Harumph.

Contrast that to the time and energy spent on balls and parades during carnival season in Louisiana. Beginning on Twelfth Night (January 6th) and going straight through to Mardi Gras day, even if you’re not into the whole parade thing, at the very least you can get a king cake at a local bakery. But most people catch a parade here and there in the weeks leading up to the big day, even if they don’t go all out and make the trek to New Orleans.

I’ve only been back to one Mardi Gras since I moved away from the area, but I’ve made it my annual tradition to have a little taste of home as Endymion and

Two years ago…

corrected2.jpg

New Orleans!

“Home of pirates, drunks and whores / New Orleans! / Tacky, overpriced souvenir stores / If you want to go to hell, you should take a trip to the Sodom and Gomorrah on the Mississipp’!”

ship_statue.jpg

But it has its good points, too.

Family togetherness is a beautiful thing, but when Gil and I spend more than four days with my folks, we like to take an evening to ourselves in New Orleans. We’d planned to try Cochon for dinner, but I noticed Bayona was across the street from our hotel, so I made a late reservation as soon as we checked in. It has a reputation as one of the best restaurants in the city, and deservedly so, I’m ecstatic to report.

When we arrived in the city, it was nearing lunchtime, so we figured on getting a quick bite at the Asian-Cajun restaurant in the Quarter, but it had closed sometime in the past year. When we found Crescent City Brewhouse closed for the holidays I made an executive decision to steer us across Jackson Square for lunch at Muriel’s, a lush, lovely, contemporary Creole restaurant; it was much more […]

365 Days

Happy anniversary, my sweet.