A New Englander Moves to New Orleans, Chapter Ten: Everyday Adventures

[earlgreytea68]

In no particular order:

• There is this lovely wine bar near my house. I live within easy walking distance of a couple of really nice bars. This is how New Orleans is, right? Coffee shops are a hunt for me, but bars are EVERYWHERE. These bars are good quality, classy bars, and I enjoy them. There was a wedding going on at the closest bar (yeah, it's that kind of bar) so I walked a bit farther to the wine bar. The weather was gorgeous: sunny and low 80s. It was dusk when I went to the wine bar, so the sun was shifting downward in the sky, filtering through the live oaks overhanging the little outdoor area of the place. I was alone in the outdoor area. Because everyone else was inside. I don't understand why. I mean, it is right next to a gas station, so it's not the most atmospheric outdoor area, but still, it was such a lovely day. Anyway, I sat at a table and had a glass of champagne and read a novel and it was all super-lovely. I paid my bill and started to walk home. I stood at an intersection and looked left and then right to check for cars, and, seeing none, stepped out into the street...and a bee stung my index finger. Seriously. I never even saw this bee, he must have headed straight toward me. Maybe he was a suicidal bee. I knew as soon as I felt the pinch on my finger that it had to have been a beesting, because nothing else made sense. I lifted up my finger, and yup, there was the stinger hanging out of it. I pulled out the stinger, and then I walked home cradling my index finger, while it throbbed and swelled up and turned white. Luckily, I'm not allergic to bees and I happened to have baking soda in my house, and I made a paste and coated my finger with it when I got home, and it's all fine now. Still. That was an interesting walk home.


• People talk to themselves a lot here. Long conversations with themselves. This happens a lot in stores, when the people next to me will give me a running commentary on their thoughts on the items for sale in front of them. I am worried I will also develop this habit of just talking to myself in public, and seeing no problem with that. I was at the streetcar stop waiting for the streetcar to come, and there was another woman at the stop with me, and she was talking, and I assumed she was talking to me, and I said, "I'm sorry?" and she said, "Oh, no, I'm not talking to you, I'm just talking to myself about the streetcar." And then she went back to doing that.


• I've been going to the farmers' market. It's one of the few places you can get white cheddar cheese down here. (I think orange cheddar cheese is just...weird. I don't care for orange cheese as a rule.) I also like the fresh produce: the tomatoes and the scallions especially. I bought some Arkansas Black apples there last week to make a pie, and I actually really enjoyed them (I have a hard time with the apples down here, none of them are familiar to me, but these were good). There is a woman there who sells tasty hummus, and another woman who sells yummy scones. There is also a LOT of okra at the farmers' market. I have no idea what one does with okra. I also stay away from the alligator meat. And the seafood. I'm sure the seafood is fine, but I am so particular about seafood, I'm always wary that it might not have been properly refrigerated the whole time, and I feel like it can spoil in an instant in the heat down here. I am, however, intrigued by the sugarcane. I might try something with the sugarcane eventually.


• I went to see a play. The theater was in a shopping mall. It had the most comfortable seats I've ever experienced at a theater. Like literal armchairs that had just been arranged around a stage. I guess these are the advantages to a theater being in a shopping mall.


• I had to buy my mother a birthday gift. She had requested a Pandora charm, so I went to a jewelry store. There, a fellow customer engaged me in conversation while I was perusing the charms. And just kept talking to me. I tried to make very few responses, and to keep turning back to the charms, but he was undeterred and just kept talking. By the end, I knew everything about his life: He had been a teacher there in New Orleans but had eventually retired to Florida, but his daughter was a senior at Tulane so he was in town visiting, and he had been drafted to go to Vietnam but he challenged the draft and took it through the court system, and he had a very good friend who was the lead attorney for asbestos class action litigation. Sometimes he was just telling me things that were not true. Like, when he asked me which judge I'd clerked for, and I told him, and then he said, "Oh, yeah, his sister was a union lawyer, I knew her very well, she was great." Yeah, my judge is an only child. Eventually, he gave me the names of all the lawyers he knew in town by scrawling them on the back of his credit card receipt. When he finally finally FINALLY left the store, the store clerk was like, "Do you need this information? Because I actually need that receipt, it has his signature on it." I was like, "Yeah, I know," and handed it over to her. She was like, "He was fun, though!" Yeah, that's not the word I would have used. He was harmless, I suppose, and nice enough, but he was exhausting to me. By the time he left, I couldn't wait to get out of the store. I picked a charm blindly at that point.


• I am being besieged by ants. I blame the construction going on in the apartment above me (which started at 8:07 this morning. I feel like they could have waited until at least 8:30 on a Saturday morning). There is NO FOOD out in my house. I am so terrified of bugs, everything is refrigerated or in the microwave. And now I have ants. I don't know what they're doing here. I killed several in bed with me this morning. I never, ever, ever eat in bed, so it's not like there's any possibility of there being crumbs there. Why are they there? I have ant traps, I would appreciate it if they would start to work. Ants are better than roaches, so I am not complaining overly much, if God is listening, I'd much rather have the ants, it's okay. But is it too much to ask not to have any bugs in one's house? (Answer: Yes, apparently.)

Comments

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what one does with okra.

Mmm ... dust it with some flour and fry it. I haven't had fried okra in years!

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Ah, good to know! My mother didn't really fry when I was growing up, so I'm not used to it, but I'll have to look into how to do it!

[irishlullaby.livejournal.com]

The two best uses of okra are:
1. bread it and fry it then eat it
2. chop it up and use it in a gumbo


Alligator tail fried up properly is BEST EVER... it takes like a mix between fish and chicken... light like fish but with a chickenesque flavour.

Sugarcane is good for chewing on and/or sucking on... though I have been told you can boil it and make a nice sugar-water out of it to mix with tea.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Fried has been a common suggestion. Gumbo, though, huh? Hmm...

Interesting re: alligator. I wouldn't have thought it would be light. It seems like it should be tough to me,I don't know why.

Oooh, a sugar-water! That sounds like a good idea!

[irishlullaby.livejournal.com]

Oh trust me, I've had tough "gator tail" before--so make sure you get your first taste from someone that knows what they are doing and doesn't over-cook it.


Oh, and definitely get one of the locals to cook you up an authentic gumbo... It's the best.

[apurplepatch.livejournal.com]

Yeah, unfortunately if ants are disturbed and looking for a new home they get EVERYWHERE. It should settle down soon which is no comfort for having ants in your bed and all over the place, but if they're not getting fed they will move along.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Blargh. So. Gross.

Knock on wood, I haven't seen an ant in a couple of days, so maybe they've finally given up? Or the traps have started working...

[crimedoc1.livejournal.com]

I have NO CLUE what okra is good for (and must confess to being quite happy to remain ignorant on that topic - grin). Was thinking of you the other day. My mom-in-law and her neighbor came over. Neighbor usually drives and generally stops at DD on the way for an iced coffee (sorry - not tea!). But she wasn't up to driving and so my husband drove up to Boca, picked them up and brought them over. He didn't think about the coffee so when they arrived, I took her back out to our nearby DD so she could have her "fix". While waiting for them to fix her coffee, I ended up telling her (and the clerk) all about your trials and tribulations with the horrific and inexcusable lack of DD iced tea in NOLA. The clerk looked completely baffled; I'm not certain if it was that he didn't know that DD sold iced tea, or that he had no clue where New Orleans was. He also gave us HOT coffee and seemed confused at the idea that anyone might want it ICED! *sigh*

BTW, I keep meaning to ask - which univ are you working at? My husband went to Tulane and is very curious! Also, do attorneys ever attend criminology conferences? (hint... hint....) :-)

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Hahahahaha! I love your description of your encounter with the DD clerk! I'll have you know that I went out to the DD again today to buy Munchkins for class today, and I once again inquired about the iced tea. Nope, they don't carry it. I said they should talk to corporate about that, because DD iced tea is awesome and I would buy it. The clerk was like, "Yeah, okay, whatever."

[bouncy-castle79.livejournal.com]

For the ants, get this bad boy here: http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/intice-thiquid-ant-bait-oz-p-411.html

It seems pricey, but it absolutely works. We didn't have ants in the house, but Joey was offended by the way they were hanging out on our patio, which I found a little ridiculous. Anyway, he set this poison up on pieces of cardboard and the ants were gone in about 18 hours. Word of warning: Set up the poison, then leave the house. I know how you feel about swarms of ants, and this sweet, sweet poison will cause them to congregate.

Also, I sympathize on the crazy person encounters. I feel like that used to happen to me all the time! I never engage them, because I'm not a big fan of awkward small talk. I certainly don't encourage them once they get started, because I'm not the sort of person that finds rambling conversations with complete strangers to be delightful. Whyyy does it happen? We may never know.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I'll have to keep that in reserve. I haven't seen an ant yet today, so I'm hoping that the ant traps FINALLY worked. Also, I sprayed some Raid around in an ongoing effort to shorten my life.

I try not to engage or encourage them, but they don't seem to be dissuaded by being ignored, they just barrel onward. I suppose if they were perceptive, they wouldn't be starting conversations with people in the first place.

[kitsune17.livejournal.com]

I completely agree about orange cheese. It's just...wrong.

I used to get ants every summer in my old apartment. We'd take a spray bottle with white vinegar and spray the kitchen, around doors, windows, entry points, really. Worked well, and only had to do it a couple of times a month.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Haaaaaaaate orange cheese. It's weird, they have the same brand cheddar here that I buy at home, they just buy the orange version! I don't get it!

Spray bottle with white vinegar. Excellent. I shall make a note of it.

[azriona.livejournal.com]

Fry it, or wait until I don't have a toddler hanging off my arm so I can type up a good Indian recipe I have for okra. (Dot, not feather.)

Baking soda relieves bee stings? Is this true of all stings/bites or just bees?

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

I've heard a lot of frying recommendations. An Indian recipe might be interesting!

I'm not sure. When I was stung by a bee as a girl, my grandmother made a paste with baking soda and water. I remembered that, so I did it the other week when I was stung, and I found it really did make a huge difference: alleviated the pain and brought the swelling down. Not sure if it works on all stings/bites, but I suppose it can't hurt and is worth a try!

"Dry" Okra

[azriona.livejournal.com]

(from Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey)

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh okra
8 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 large onion, peeled & coarsely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tsp ground amchoor or lemon juice*
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Instructions:

1. Wipe the okra pods with wet towels and pat dry. Cut off the conical top and the very tip of each okra pod and then cut the pods, crosswise, into 1/2" segments

2. Heat the oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the cumin seeds and let sizzle for about 10 seconds. Add the onion and okra and fry, stirring gently occasionally, for ten minutes.

3. Once the onion has begun to brown, turn heat down to medium and fry for another 5 minutes.

4. Add the remaining spices and cook for another 5 minutes. Serve.




* I have never been able to locate amchoor, have no idea what it is, and find that lemon juice works just fine.

Re: "Dry" Okra

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Ooh, excellent recipe! I'm going to add it to my repertoire. :-)

Re: "Dry" Okra

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[lorelaisquared.livejournal.com]

The wine bar sounds lovely! What a nice thing to do on your weekend.

Talking to yourself in long conversations is weird. I talk to myself sometimes, but it's just like one word here or there, not entire monologues.

The Farmer's market sounds really great. I don't know how I would live without white cheddar. Anything else is just not real cheese. I think it's a good call on the sea food. I'm always weary of meat and seafood that could have been questionably refrigerated at any point. I feel like this keeps me alive.

The play in the mall sounds very cool. Was the play any good?

The ants need to go away! Did you get the traps that kill the queen? That's what you need. If you get rid of the queen then the rest will die too.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

I do really love that wine bar. I wish it wasn't right next to the sketchy gas station, though!

I catch myself talking to myself every so often, and I try to stop it. I don't want to end up like these people!

I love the farmers' market, but yeah, I'm very picky on what I buy there.

The play was good! I was pleasantly surprised!

I'm not sure, I admit I just got the traps that were at the grocery store. I haven't yet seen an ant today, so I'm hopeful that maybe we're making progress.

[maniacalshen.livejournal.com]

You don't have pets, do you? I've heard great things about boric acid traps for ants. If you had pets or toddlers, I'd suggest sticking to the covered traps you can get in the store, but you don't!

Basically, get bits of paper or cardboard or whatever's convenient for you, put a boric acid/jelly mix or something like this (http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/165368/sweet-sugary-boric-acid-ant-bait) on them, and place them around your apartment. Boric acid is a slow-acting insecticide, so the ants take the yummy bits of food back to the nest and share it before they all start dying.

And I'm sorry you seem to have a crazy person magnet. Maybe one day, you'll be able to use that power for awesome.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

I do not have pets! So maybe I'll try the boric acid thing!

Hmm. I bet eventually I turn into the crazy person bothering everyone else! :-)