12/18 Open Thread: *International* Migrants Day
Yes folks, it is International Migrants Day, or, should you live in the US, it is National Ham Salad Day. A chacun son gout, as "they" say.
So I played hookey and didn't tend either of my open threads last week. We wuz off on a ramble indulging in a brief holiday that was too good to pass up, a chance to go indulge in some world famous joie de vivre. An inexpensive trip to N'awlins from the afternoon of the 8th thru the morning of the 12th. After all, it is supposed to be the season of cheer and all that, and what better place to get cheerful. It's the kind of place where the home team could lose to the 'Niners and throw one hell of a celebration all the same. My wife and I had ample time to wander around by ourselves on foot and were in a hotel near Congo Square, which we visited, along with the rest of Louis Armstrong Park, which contained statues of Buddy Bolden (who left no recordings), Satchmo, and Sidney Bechet.
Congo Square
Satchmo
Sidney Bechet
Across the street, at Rampart and Dumaine is the building that once housed J&M records, where folks like Dave Bartholomew, The Dukes of Dixieland, Roy Brown, Joe Turner, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Lloyd Price, Professor Longhair, Ray Charles and many others recorded some of their ouvre.
Fats Domino
Lloyd Price
Little Richard
We next wandered down to the Jazz Museum where they had an entire room devoted to Professor Longhair. Included therein were a lot of pictures of him with various members or some of his backing bands. One had this, unlabelled picture:
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that this is a young Mac Rebbenac before he got shot in the left hand, went to prison, switched to piano, joined the wrecking crew, and finally reached fame and fortune as Doctor John. I know that he was with Longhair for a while. Joe? Any help here?
At any rate, they have the contract that Professor Longhair signed agreeing to perform at a newly created club named after one of his songs. The club still stands and is a big attraction.
Backing on that performance from another NOLA group:
So. no surprises so far, but another room in the Jazz Museum was devoted to somebody who I never associated with New Orleans at all, another horn player named Louis who wrote "Sing, Sing, Sing", had Sam Butera on Sax and the epitome of cool, Keely Smith as co-vocalist -
So, if you get there, get a sazerac, the original formula with cognac, preferably at Commander's Palace, and some Pernod Absinthe at the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street, where they really do it right.
Title Image is Congo Square
It's an open thread, so have at it. The floor is yours
.
Comments
N.O. is a fun place...
Love the trolley, music, and vibe. What a rich mix of cultures heard in the music and tasted in the foods.
We enjoy the Maple Leaf and a little restaurant nearby.
https://www.mapleleafbar.com/calendarsdec19
It is a fun train ride from Anniston or B'ham to New Orleans and back.
Next visit we want to stay in the new hostel there...looks wonderful.
https://www.hiusa.org/hostels/louisiana/new-orleans/new-orleans
Might be a fun place for a C99 meet up?
Sounds like you had a great trip...long way from the left coast.
Have a good day all. We're off to an afternoon cookie cooking party. Going to make a mulled wine to take...(I use some orange juice rather than add honey). When we went to the Christmas markets in Germany this was the common drink.
Glühwein
Ingredients: Makes around 8 servings
• 1 bottle of red wine. Use an inexpensive full bodied fruity wine. You definitely do not want to use an expensive bottle and try to avoid one with oak aging. I think a Gallo Ruby Cabernet would be ideal. Or a red Zinfandel or Syrah - Shiraz.
• 2 - Cinnamon sticks – Cinnamon is very traditional. Break the sticks into pieces 1 – 2 inches each
• 16 Whole Cloves – again a traditional ingredient
• 1 Orange
• 2 Tablespoons runny honey
• 1 heaped teaspoon mixed ground Christmas cake spices – or equivalent amount of any of ground allspice, nutmeg, coriander mixed together
• Water – wineglass full (I skip the honey and use OJ here instead of H2O)
Method
1. Put water in large pan and place over medium heat.
2. Add cinnamon honey and spices.
3. While honey is dissolving cut the orange into quarter lengthways, then cut them in half so you have eight pieces. Push two of the cloves into the skin of each piece and add to the pan.
4. Pour in all the wine.
5. Bring the heat up. It should not boil so as when bubbles start rising turn the heat off.
6. As soon as it is cool enough to taste, test it for sweetness. If it is not sweet enough add honey to taste and stir to dissolve.
7. Let the pan stand for an hour or longer so the flavours develop.
8. Warm gently before serving and spoon out into a heatproof glass, leaving the oranges and cinnamon behind. Optionally garnish with slice of lemon or fresh stick of cinnamon.
(PS – heat all ingredients till syrupy then add wine)
I just strain mine to removes cinnamon etc.
Notes:
The wine has not been heated enough to evaporate all the alcohol, so be aware it is still an alcoholic drink.
The idea of pushing the cloves into the orange is so they are not loose in the drink. If you do not do this stage you should consider straining the drink so that people don’t get the surprise of a whole clove in their throats.
Variations:
As mentioned, there are many variations to the basic recipe of warmed wine with spices
Some people like to add brandy to give the Glühwein more body, but of course that adds dramatically to the alcohol. Another way of adding body is to pour in a glass or two of Port.
Enjoy!!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning Lookout. Your party sounds like fun and the
mulled wine sounds great. I've made variants of it all of my life, and also prefer orange juice. Like Sangria, you can be as inventive as you wish in making it because there are a near infinitude of "traditional" variants. I suspect that it evolved across whatever land it landed in based on whatever was available to the makers at the time.
Have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Glühwein
Great for sipping while strolling through the Christmas markets in Berlin and a wonderful way to keep warm! Another drink that's great for keeping warm is a little hot chocolate spiked with peppermint Schnapps. First time I had this delightful concoction was at a street fair one New Year's Eve at thr Bradenburg Gate. We were walking along the Unter den Linden and saw one of the largest blocks of ice carved into a bar outside the famous Adlon Hotel where they were serving drinks. The ice bar was so elaborately carved, I almost thought it was made out of glass at first.
Thank for the Glühwein recipe. Brought back a lot of lovely memories
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Good morning, el
Speaking to the heart this morning, great city, loved living there, care-free times and experiences. Tennessee haunts me still in a real way ...
Trays of afternoon oysters and crayfish, jazz in the air, Muffuletta sandwiches and poorboys, knocking around the park and zoo, lots of plays, fantastic thrift stores on Magazine, a productive time not forgotten.
Thanks for the memories and have a wonderful California day.
Good morning smiley. It is a great place and I could easily
spend some time there. It is one of those places like Paris or Madrid that are a pleasure to be in, to sit back and absorb the atmosphere and people watch, to roam and ramble and just generally dig on being. Raining big time today since early, early am, so it looks like indoor chores and stuff. No problem, I have plenty of those to do.
Have a great one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I couldn't do J&M records justice, here's another who recorded
there:
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
have those of you who played
in a band in their lives, ever played together in my imaginary band called "the 99 percent bluezers"? You would meet at Congo Square and let the good beats roll ...?
[video:https://youtu.be/DYB5vLzEHvI]
My laptop starts dancing already...
For you bluezers
https://www.euronews.com/live
Heh, wonderful vision, mimi, thanks for reading and for
your suggestion.
Have a great one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Eating your way through New Orleans
Can I imagine that's what you did while you were there? And more importantly, did you bring anything back for the rest of us?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
How 'bout drinking your way through NO?
Heh being from dry Utah my experience there was very fun. Starting with going into a 7-11 and getting a daiquiri as easily as getting a slurpy to visiting every bar in the French Quarter and then going to Hurricane Pat's... wowzer did I have a good time. The cops came to tell me that no it's not okay to wade in the water fountain. I went there for a conference and might have attended two classes. Buzzed them off to go to the football game instead. With a complete stranger. Oh yeah I had a great time there.
Apparently holocaust denial is not an issue anymore. Lots of people are denying the one in Gaza with absolutely no repercussions.
Whaddya mean it's not okay
To wade in a public fountain while you're drunk? Hahahahaha! Now there's a mental image that's gonna stick.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Being wine aficionados, we mostly just stuck to vino, and
only had a few special cocktails.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Heh, we did that in fits and stops. We did do the tasting menu
at Commander's Palace - 6 courses each paired with an appropriate wine, but the portions and pours weren't huge, merely exquisite. I did start off with a classic old school sazerac there, while the rest did their martinis and one cosmo. One lunch at Emeril's NOLA, I forget my dish and had a glass of a California cab. One meal at the School of Cooking, gumbo and all that, with some house beer which was pretty good. A couple of po boys here and there, usually with Cal zins. We tried not to go overboard because we were pretending that we wanted to stay healthy.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Strange encounter at the store yesterday
A male customer tugged at the hood of my sweatshirt while I was walking past him on the floor to get my attention and ended up tugging my hair. He wanted to know if we carried hemp milk. We do not I told him. Very upset at his breech of my personal space, I immediately went to the bridge to let the manager know what happened. While I was partly venting, and partly informing, I did not expect him to go up to the customer, tell the customer that what he did was inappropriate, ask him to leave the store, and to never come back. So, here's my shout out to the managers at my store for taking care of their employees, by making me feel very supported and protected.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier