Exploring New Orleans: Part I of III

It won't take long for visitors to hear the familiar sounds of New Orleans as they amble
around the French Quarter on any given day or night

Photo: Chronica Domus

My husband and I have just returned from a very enjoyable visit to New Orleans, a city in the midst of celebrating its tercentennial anniversary.  As you can well imagine, a place as historically rich and culturally diverse  as New Orleans rightfully has plenty to celebrate.  It is a city I have longed to visit but somehow didn't until last week.  With a reputation for good food, interesting architecture, and a laid-back attitude, I was more than eager to discover the delights of the Big Easy.

After checking into a supremely comfortable room at the Windsor Court Hotel on a hot and humid afternoon, a refreshing drink was in order.  A Ramos Gin Fizz, one of the city's most famous cocktails, was just the ticket.  Luckily for us the famed Sazerac Bar was just a short walk away.  I could not think of a better place to cool down, unwind, and enjoy a slice of old-world New Orleans.

The Paul Ninas murals and white jacketed bartenders lend an air of yesteryear to
The Sazerac Bar's elegant ambiance

Photo: Chronica Domus

Suitably refreshed and ready to explore, we sauntered towards the French Quarter, an experience I shall not soon forget.  Looking around at our surroundings, we momentarily felt a sense of déjà vu.  Had we stumbled into a back street in Lyon France, or perhaps Spain, or even the West Indies?  The French Quarter is all of these places thanks to the architectural influences of its early settlers.  

The area around Bienville Place on Decatur Street reminded me of Europe

Photo: Chronica Domus

Place des Vosges in Paris or Jackson Square in New Orleans?

Photo: Chronica Domus

The French Quarter is famous for the many intricately fashioned iron balconies, or
galleries, found on many of its buildings
Photo: Chronica Domus

New Orleans is surrounded by water.  The steamboats that once navigated the mighty Mississippi river played an important part in why the area established itself as a world port.  Today, one can still spot a steamboat or two paddling down the river; here's The Natchez underway taking passengers on a night cruise.

Photo: Chronica Domus

The city's outlying bayous and wetlands offer a fascinating glimpse at the natural landscape surrounding New Orleans.  Built, in the main, at sea level, the city is keenly aware of the devastating consequences of floodwaters.  Pumps and levees work overtime to keep the area dry.

A whimsical drainpipe New Orleans style!

Photo: Chronica Domus

An excursion into nearby Cajun country and a tour of the swamps is a must for any curious visitor, especially so if one wishes to see the local wildlife up close and personal.

Into the swamp we go perched upon a small airboat expertly steered by
Captain Randy, a man who has spent his entire life around the bayou
Photo: Chronica Domus

Spanish moss-covered Taxodium distichum, or Bald Cypress trees, grow in brackish
swamp water and are only able to survive because of their ...

... protruding roots which allow for an exchange of gases at the "knees" which keep the trees alive
Photo: Chronica Domus 

Proud Cajun Captain Randy tells us that he left school at the age of twelve to work on his
family's bayou; exceedingly knowledgeable in matters relating to the fragile ecosystem,
swamp management, and the local fauna and flora (just ask him about the Nutria invasion
and the rapidly disappearing bayou), Captain Randy made our visit to the swamp not only educational but jolly good fun too (he is an excellent storyteller!)
Photo: Chronica Domus

Yes, it's true, alligators really do live in the swampy environs of New Orleans and
Captain Randy knows exactly where to find them
Photo: Chronica Domus

Back in the city, the best way to get around is either on foot or by boarding one of the handsome streetcars that have been rolling by every few minutes for the past one-hundred and fifty years.  We rode the streetcars twice during our stay in New Orleans; once up to City Park to tour a historic house that I'll be posting about next, and the other to the Garden District to view the many antebellum houses the area is famous for and the cemetery.

All aboard the city's famous streetcars
Photo: Chronica Domus

Because the water table is high in New Orleans, the deceased are interred in above-ground tombs

to avoid any unpleasant consequences of flooding

Photo: Chronica Domus

Quercus virginiana, or Southern live oak trees, are as  stately as the houses that line 

the streets of the Garden District

Photo: Chronica Domus

This incredible cast iron cornstalk fence can be seen

at Colonel Short's Villa in the Garden District

Photo: Chronica Domus

Of course, I should not fail to mention some of the local food that citizens and visitors alike enjoy in New Orleans.  The cuisines of the Creole and Cajun traditions dominate the restaurant scene.  As we happened to be in New Orleans on Friday, there was only one place to lunch:

Galatoires on Bourbon Street looks rather civilized from the outside until, that is,  ...
Photo: Chronica Domus

... one steps into the rowdy dining room during the madness that is Friday lunch
Photo: Chronica Domus

Lunching at Galatoires on Friday is a beloved local tradition.  The boisterous conviviality of the diners sitting cheek by jowl makes for a very entertaining but noisy environment.   Admittedly, it was all a tad too much for us out-of-towners so we happily ate our lunch in the upstairs dining room alongside other less spirited locals.

And, because we both have a sweet tooth, and the beignets were outstanding, we visited Café du Monde more times than I care to admit during our time in New Orleans.  There's good reason this place has been in business for the past century and a half.

Café au lait is the perfect accompaniment to delicious beignets

Photo: Chronica Domus

I shall miss beautiful New Orleans and its vibrant culture and friendly people.  With so much to offer, the Crescent City is well worth a repeat visit.  I look forward to that day not only with pleasure but with a little pep in my step (yes, I can still hear the sound of all those jazz bands playing in my head). 

In the next installment of this three part series, I look forward to showing you around a historic house situated along the banks of Bayou St. John.


Nota bene: I am neither paid nor do I receive recompense in exchange for applauding products or services within my blog.  I do so because I enjoy them.  If you are a kindred spirit, you too enjoy recommending nice things to fellow good eggs.

Late Summer's Tomato Haul

Photo: Chronica Domus

It's late summer and the tomatoes in my garden have been superb this year.  Funny thing is, I've practically ignored the poor things believing I had picked the last plump and tasty fruit weeks ago.  It turns out, I have been wonderfully mistaken.

Surely, this must be the final clump of tomatoes of the growing season, right?
Photo: Chronica Domus

Not counting on benign neglect to be such a growth booster, my family and I have been hauling in the (we think) last flush of tomatoes for the past two weeks.  They just keep coming and coming.  I stopped watering the plants weeks ago which has only served to sweeten the bounty would you believe.  Perhaps that is what the pros call 'dry farming'.  Whatever it is that is going on, this gentlewoman gardener is just glad for it.

These large egg-shaped fruits are Japanese Black Trifele tomatoes, 

picked when their shoulders turn green

Photo: Chronica Domus

Do you remember last year's tomato post and the White Current heirloom tomatoes I grew?
Well, here they are again, all volunteers!
Photo: Chronica Domus

As you can well imagine, the kitchen has been abuzz with activity centered around our ongoing tomato harvest.

Tomato sauce made with a mixture of the Japanese Black Trifeles and the White Current tomatoes
Photo: Chronica Domus



Romano beans purchased at the farmers' market cooked in ...yes, you guessed it
(I used French heirloom tomatoes St. Pierre which did not yield as much fruit
as the Japanese variety I grew this year)
Here's the recipe from the New York Times
Photo: Chronica Domus

And what would summer be without setting aside some tomatoes for everyone's favorite salad?
Photo: Chronica Domus

A classic Caprese salad made with homegrown heirloom Black Cherry
and White Current tomatoes, both varieties were, happily, harvested from volunteer plants this year
Photo: Chronica Domus

Aside from all the cooking, one of the greatest pleasures of having such a bountiful garden is sharing our crop with good neighbor friends.  I hear reports that my friend Jeannette's young daughter is an avid consumer of tomatoes and she rates the White Currents as particularly sweet.  Sweet for the sweet, isn't that what they say?

Do you have a favorite variety of tomato you look forward to eating during the summer months?  How about any good recipes or ideas on how to use my excessive bounty?  I'd be very pleased to hear about them if so.

The Ivory & Sterling Mystery Thingamajig Revealed

Did you correctly guess the purpose of the ivory and sterling thingamajig?

Photo: Chronica Domus

I have had such fun reading through the slew of comments received in response to the ivory and sterling thingamajig.  In fact, it has been one of the most popular mystery items in the entire series, inspiring many of you to come out of the woodwork in an attempt to solve this confounding little implement's intended purpose.  Without further ado, let's get to the answer.

The two most popular guesses were that it was either one of these ...

A marrow spoon or scoop

Source

or one of these ...

A Stilton scoop

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followed in hot pursuit by one of these ...

A cheese corer

(this one is an English nineteenth century oak, brass, and steel corer belonging to my husband)

Photo: Chronica Domus

I had a sneaking suspicion that these would be the top guesses, all plausible to be certain but, surprisingly, all incorrect.  

Now, I'll be honest and admit to you that I purchased the mystery thingamajig because I too thought it was a scoop to aid in the delivery of Stilton to one's plate. I have been on the hunt for such a scoop for some time but those I've come across have been rather large and unwieldy, and better suited for use with larger truckles.  

Plunged into a truckle of crumbly Stilton cheese the shovel-shaped scoop does an admirable job of delivering cheese to plate with minimal fuss and mess

Photo: Chronica Domus

Which is why when I first set eyes upon the mystery thingamajig, I knew it was going home with me.  At just shy of six inches, it was perfect for a smaller truckle. It could also, I supposed, be used to scoop out potted Stilton.  As a bonus, the sterling shank was fashioned into an unusual hemispherical scoop rather than the typical shovel shape.  

The description on the dealer's tag read "English sterling Stilton scoop with bone handle" but my teenage daughter saw things differently

Photo: Chronica Domus

My observant and inquisitive teenage daughter took one look at my newly acquired prize and deemed it an apple corer.  "An apple corer?" I repeated, "surely not".  I was left somewhat slack-jawed by the suggestion but, suddenly, the shape of the scoop made perfect sense.  Sure enough, a quick gander on the Internet confirmed her suspicions.  Who'da thunk it?!  

Here's one made by Thomas Hyde I of London, circa 1770 ...

Source

... and another, a Georgian ivory and sterling apple corer, circa 1816

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I marvel at the fact that I am now the proud owner of an apple corer for the first time in my life.  And, its an elegant one at that.  I had no idea such utilitarian kitchen objects could be elevated to the sublime.  

My thingamajig apple corer was made in London by silversmith Henry Holland Sr. in 1853

Photo: Chronica Domus

It does a masterly job of removing the core from the last of the winter farmers' market apples

Photo: Chronica Domus

Photo: Chronica Domus

What a satisfyingly elegant way of performing a basic kitchen task

Photo: Chronica Domus

As it turns out, my apple corer is far from being deemed one of the more elegant examples available for sale during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  Those were made entirely of sterling silver, like the one pictured below:

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Some apple corers were even designed to be portable and used during travel or for picnicking.  The corer can be unscrewed from its handle and stored within it when not in use.

A Georgian sterling silver traveling apple corer, London circa 1803

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If you are interested in learning more about these little-known utensils, I highly recommend you read Dorothea Burstyn's informative article found here.

Thank you all for participating in what I hope has been a fun and enlightening guessing game.  I believe my daughter won this round and has earned her ranking, having been the only participant to have correctly solved the mystery of the ivory and sterling thingamajig.  She was also the inspiration for this post, of course.

Source: Pinterest

Do please join me in giving her a well-deserved round of appl(e)ause.

The Porcelain Mystery Object Revealed

This diminutive drummer boy has a very specific purpose - can you guess what it is?

Photo: Chronica Domus

Well, I must say you are a clever bunch!  Thank you all for playing along in the latest mystery object game.  I can now reveal that the little drummer boy is indeed a vintage French féve.

For those of you that haven't a clue what in the world I'm rattling on about, a féve is a good luck charm or trinket that is baked into a celebratory cake called a Kings Cake, or to use its French name, a Galette de Rois.

Galette de Rois

Source

Kings Cake is traditionally served on Epiphany, January 6, to commemorate the day the Magi Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar bestowed gifts upon the infant Jesus.  In fact, a figure of a baby is often used as a féve in a Galette de Rois.  In New Orleans, Kings Cakes make an appearance in local bakeries anywhere from January 6 right up until Mardi Gras, which happens to fall on February 13 this year.  It is said that he who finds the féve is crowned king for the day and reaps all the benefits of the good luck that comes along with the charm.

Other countries have their own traditions centered around finding lucky trinkets in sweet treats.  Take the British, for example, and the long-held tradition of baking a silver six-penny piece into Christmas puddings.

Ah, there it is, the prized silver sixpence!

Source

Greece and some of the other Balkan countries bake coins into Vasilopita, a cake served at midnight on New Year's Day.  Vasilopita is named in honor of Basil of Caesarea and his famous coin and jewelry cake, baked and distributed to local families.  Here's a link to that story.

No Vasilopita is complete without the addition of a Drachma Euro

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The féve I selected to feature in my mystery object post is one of six that have somehow found their way to me.  I believe they were made during the first half of the twentieth century, or possibly earlier judging by their lovely muted colors and traditional forms.  Modern féves tend to be garishly decorated in lurid colors, and many are fashioned after popular cartoon characters.

Apologies to Minion fans but these little googly-eyed féves would be enough to
put me off my cake!

Source

Let me introduce you to my enchanting drummer boy's Lilliputian companions.

This lantern-carrying féve resembles a fisherman from a bygone era ...

Photo: Chronica Domus

... and these peasant women must surely be his shore-side companions

Photo: Chronica Domus

Here's the ship's captain and his young deckhand

Photo: Chronica Domus

How could one fail to be delighted at finding any of these charming fellows peeking from within a slice of cake?

Half a dozen years of good luck

Photo: Chronica Domus

Perhaps you too have had the good fortune of discovering a similar charm in a cake or a pudding.  Do please tell me about it, or of any other similar holiday tradition revolving around the unearthing of such lucky trinkets.

Thank you once again for being such good sports.  I look forward to sharing another mystery object with you in the not-too-distant future.