Today I ate at Uglesich's.  My review will be posted in a couple of days... I'm too full to write any more.  Mmmmmm.

Last Thursday morning a package arrived on our front porch.  Inside were six live lobsters, shipped directly from Maine. Of course the package was expected; it was a birthday gift for my room-mate Scooter from his Dad up in Maine.  Since the lobsters were a treat for those of us living in south Louisiana, Scooter decided to make it an event, so four of us feasted on lobster Thursday evening, Maine style.

 

When I arrived home that afternoon I was shocked to be confronted with a table already set and food already prepared.  Scooter spent the day with his girlfriend Stacie preparing German potato salad and cole slaw as well as playing with the Lobsters.  They had gone to see the movie Troy the night before, so in true spirit, they gave names to each of the Lobsters.  I guess that's what you do when you have extra time on your hands.

 

I have to say, they gave a new meaning to "mis in place."  The potato salad and cole slaw were already chilling in the fridge, the pots were already filled with water and the table was already set.  The only task left was to toss the lobsters into a steam bath that would rival even the most pretentious of Magazine street day spas.  Even the smallest details were attended to.  A six pack of Blue Moon beer was waiting in the beer fridge and a artfully arranged bowl of lemon wedges decorated the table along with slices resting on the edges of the tall pilsner glasses. 

 

Around 7 o'clock, the last of our foursome arrived.  Tyson, a longtime friend of Scooter's, showed up, wine in hand, ready to drink beer and help us consume the feast. Scooter got to work and steamed the lobster to perfection.  We sat down and had our lobster feast, complete with corn on the cob, potato salad, cole slaw and a bowl of melted garlic butter for dipping.  It was my first experience having such a feast, and quite an enjoyable one.  Not too bad for a Thursday night uptown.... didn't even have to go to Maine for fresh lobster.

In the past week I have eaten crawfish twice, once in Lafayette and once in New Orleans.  Both experiences were enjoyable, but one far surpassed the other.  The difference?  The way the crawfish were seasoned.  I'm not sure who it was who first decided to season some water, boil it and throw in a bunch of crawfish, or where he or she was from, but I'd be interested to know the method they used.  There are two distict methods that are used in each of the areas. 

 

In New Orleans, the water is boiled, then seasoned before the crawfish are tossed in to their instant death.  After the crawfish are mostly cooked, the heat is turned off and the little guys are left to soak up as much spicy goodness as their little carcasses can hold (hungry yet?).

 

In Cajun Country however, people tend to boil the crawfish in near tasteless water.  When the crawfish are almost finished cooking, they are removed from the water, tossed in a large ice chest and sprinkled with seasoning.  From those "in the know" over there (yea, Lafayette), the most important part is the way the ice chest is shaken so that all of the crawfish get seasoned.  The result?  Crawfish that are coated with steam infused ganulated seasoning. 

 

Their rationale is that the seasoning gets on your hands and lips and in turn seasons each bite.  Seems pretty absurd to me.  I figure a crawfish should be seasoned from the inside.  After reading this, you can probably guess which variety of crawfish I prefer - definitely New Orleans.  I like mine good and juicy with well seasoned meat... how about you?

On Sunday I avoided the Mother's day "amateur dining day" by hosting the first annual "Motherless Mother's day brunch" at my house Uptown.  The event began because of our desire for Chef Tom and I to host a brunch, and turned into an event that will likely be repeated every year.

 

The brunch turned out to be a huge success.  There were about 15 people that showed up; four were parents and the rest were "Motherless" friends of mine who came to celebrate with the rest of the group.  Most of them were New Orleans immigrants who didn't have the opportunity to unite with their own mothers and were happy to join us for a celebratory feast.  Chef Tom and I planned and hosted the event.  We designed the menu and began the prep work when Chef arrived at my house promptly at 8 a.m., cocktail in hand.  I was just finishing my last cup of coffee when we started.  I was probably only finished chopping onions before I succumbed to the urge to pour myself a tall ice cold vodka tonic (made with diet tonic, of course).

 

We got to work chopping, slicing, dicing and prepping and were finished most of the work by 10 a.m.  I kept the oven on low and we were able to pre-cook almost everything.  Chef Clay arrived a little later, box of fruit in hand and got to work on his masterpiece - a huge fruit tray that included honeydew, pineapple slices, grapes and strawberries, complete with decoration and a beautiful arrangement.  My parents arrived with a tray of shrimp remoulade, one of my Dad's specialties, and Tom's parents arrived a few minutes later.  It wasn't much longer before the house was full and the porch was filling.  Tom worked the grill while I was in the kitchen.  I made my New Orleans crab cakes (recipe coming soon) and a cheesy crawfish pasta; they both came out perfect.  Our full menu looked like this:

 

Crab Cakes, Crawfish Pasta, Grilled Round Steaks, Shrimp Remoulade, Fruit Salad, Scrambled Eggs, Breakfast Sausage, Smoked Sausage, Bacon, Grits and Roasted Potatoes.  For drinks, we had Abita Amber, Miller Lite, Bloody Marys, Mimosas, Champagne, Orange Juice and a lot of Vodka.

 

Not a bad effort for two single guys, if I do say so myself.

The weather this past Saturday was typical for New Orleans in May.  It was hot, humid and sunny and while bartending that day, I must've poured fifty glasses of lemonade.  One glass was for a new friend, Kevin R. Roberts, that came in for a short break from his photography to grab a drink or two.  What began as lemonade turned into a three hour discussion about food, drinks, business, writing and politics.  Apparently we have a lot in common, as through a discussion he revealed that he is a photographer and a food writer, and the author of a book called the Neighborhood Restaurant Guide. 

 

During our conversation in the early afternoon, a group of four walked in, one of the girls pushing the stroller.  Being typical men, of course we noticed them, as we did most of the other patrons of the day.  I made eye contact and exchanged smiles with one of the girls and noticed she had an exceptional smile.  But they were seated, and we didn't have the chance to talk to them.  A few minutes later, two of the girls walked from their table, mimosas in hand, up to the bar to smoke before their food arrived.  While both of the girls were very attractive, I was most drawn to the one on the right.  The girl on the left was wearing some obnoxiously large sunglasses that seemed to cover half of her face.  Talking to someone and not looking at their eyes gives me an awkward feeling, so I made a joke about wearing sunglasses inside.  She smiled as she removed the shades, revealing some of the most beautiful eyes I've ever gazed into.  I split my attention between the girls, attempting a conversation while hiding the fact that I was attracted to the friend on the right.  Sunglass girl was talking about how she wanted a Bentley, and dismissing it as wishful thinking on her part; I began inquiring about the girls.  Their answers to my questions seemed a little flighty to me.  I couldn't really make out where they were from or where they lived, but I chalked it up to the cocktails in hand.  Sunglass girl chain smoked about two or three cigarettes, while Kevin pulled out a quiz from the back of his book entitled "How to tell if you aren't from New Orleans."  It seemed to keep them entertained, even after their dining companion walked to the bar to inform them that their food was ready.  After several laughs and some smiles, the girls made their way back to the table.  The second they walked away, Kevin smiled and asked, "you know who that was, right?"  Thinking that she looked like someone that I have admired before, I responded with a weak "it looks like someone, but I don't know," to which he remarked, "it is!"  My heart began pounding and I was dumbfounded that such a beautiful girl sat two feet in front of me at my bar, drinking mimosas that I made for her.  A girl that I had admired from afar on many occasions.... it was... Kate Hudson.

I was able to score a couple of tickets to the New Orleans JazzFest last week from a customer who is also a friend of mine. Of course the weather was shaky for an outdoor festival.  In fact, it was very odd for a May afternoon in south Louisiana - windy, cool and overcast.  But I was determinied to use the tickets, along with a pass for the Miller Lite tent.  So despite the weather, I picked up a friend of mine and we went.

 

Since the tickets were free and the weather was nasty, my only priority was to spend a couple hours at the fest, eat as many different things I could and have a few beers (three of which were free - courtesy of Miller Lite).  With that in mind, I skipped breakfast to make sure I was good and hungry when I showed my face at the front gates of the New Orleans Fairgrounds around noon.

 

After making it through the two gates and a full body cavity search (ok, it wasn't THAT intrusive) from the overweight amateur security force, I made a bee-line to the food booths.  My first priority was a soft shell crab po-boy, something that I could get almost anytime at The Galley restaurant, but is usually reserved as one of my JazzFest favorites.  My friend S doesn't care a whole lot for the legs hanging out of the bread, so she opted for a catfish po-boy.  No problem, I got to try both, and I didn't have to share my crab with anyone.  After devouring my po-boy and enjoying every bite, I took a brisk walk to the other food section for my second favorite - the combo platter consisting of a crawfish sack, crawfish beignets and an oyster patty, made by Patton's Catering.  Unfortunately, I had to share that dish, but I savored every bite that I could steal without getting stabbed with a plastic fork.

 

Full for a few minutes, we grabbed a monster-sized iced tea and went to go watch Big Sam's Funky Nation at the Congo Square stage.  Big Sam is a fantastic trombone player and I bought his record after hearing him on WWOZ.  This was the first time I saw him live, and there were several times during the show that I had chills from hearing them play.  A fantastic show.

 

After the show it was time to visit the Miller Lite tent for some beer, my first three of the day.  Not a whole lot going on there, besides three free draft beers, but I'm not going to complain about free beer.  I was still full from our first binge, but sometimes we have to make sacrifices in life.  So after a little walking around, a few more beers and a visit to the Virgin music tent, it was time to eat again.  Our last items of the day were an order of fried green tomatoes and an order of crabmeat stuffed shrimp.  They were both good, but the tomatoes were coated with bread crumbs and I prefer mine a little lighter, coated with a seasoned flour.  The shrimp were tasty though, full of crabmeat.

 

Although I only had a few hours this year to enjoy JazzFest, it was a great time.  The free tickets helped a bit, but I really just needed a few hours to get away from work and relax.  My only regret... I wish I could've eaten more.

Last night Chef T was over with his girlfriend watching The Sopranos (our usual Sunday ritual) and the conversation turned to the brunch that they cooked earlier in the day.  Talking about the steaks and omlettes brought back my desire to have a brunch at my house.  Brunch is probably the one event that I haven't done at my house, but has been on the list for a while.  We started planning a date and realized that next weekend is Mother's day; the perfect time for a brunch!

 

Since you'd have to be insane to go out to eat on Mother's day, we figured it would work out nicely.  Especially since Chef's parents will be in town from Chicago and my parents are close.  I made the call to my parents to save the date and ten minutes later we were planning a menu.  Of course Chef will have the whole menu drafted by today, but I want to make sure I get my suggestions in.  I would like some eggs of some sort, crab cakes, steak (probably marinated skirt steaks), grits, breakfast potatoes, maybe some muffins, fruit, champagne and of course, Bloody Marys!  Have any suggestions for a good brunch menu?  Would love to hear from you - email me.