PEACHFRONT SPEAKS

halloween 2009

2009-11-03 - 9:59 a.m.

photos © 2009 by elaine radford

hint of cathedral from the lovely plaza at buena vista

Peachfront's Note: Check out my October 2009 "Bird of Prey" trek: To start with Part 1, please click right here. If you missed any previous installments, well, here's Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and the thrilling conclusion, Part 6. Or check out my bird trip list with over 50 new life species.

As far as I can tell, the world managed to rotate without me for a change while I was out of town. Nothing much in the news, except the Evil Mayor rather suddenly pled guilty, so maybe we can hope that there will be a lower likelihood of civilians having their houses burned down if they object to public corruption. Not that he pled guilty to that but I will forever have my suspicions, I'm afraid. Oh, and the Saints have continued their undefeated winning streak, which is so anomalous that you almost wonder if they have finally discovered the practice of voodoo.

At least two people have already asked me how I liked Colombia. Colombia, Bolivia, hey, it's all about the marching powder, I guess.

It will be awhile before Halloween again falls on a Friday or a Saturday, so I decided to go out, although I had no time to do anything except wear black and the witch's hat from last year and call it a costume. I didn't want to eat another over-priced rip-off meal in the French Quarter, so I suggested that we eat somewhere around D's house. I guess I imagined some inexpensive neighborhood place. Instead, we ended up at Ralph's on the Park. So I guess we ended up spending the same amount of money, but the food was w-a-y better.

The oysters Rockefeller appetizer was a little weird. It came out of the shell. For the entree I had the Maple Leaf Farms Duck Breast with foie gras, a hint of black current, and spaghetti squash. Also mushrooms on the side. It was all terrific, but I was a little surprised at just how terrific the spaghetti squash was. Yum.

I also had an Apple Martini, but just one, so that's pretty heart healthy, right?

It was four of us, IMOM, M, DH, and me. The guys had some kind of mango flan for dessert, and I tasted IMOM's. Super-excellent also.

Afterward, we strolled around the French Quarter and inspected the costumes. Last year, there were zillions of Catwomen and this year we saw zero Catwomen. I guess the fad has passed, or else all the Catwomen got sick of seeing themselves coming and going. Quite a number of Little Red Riding Hoods, though. An even larger number of swine flu related costumes. I doubt we'll see any of those costumes back again next year. Lots of fake blood and vampires.

One dude wore white briefs and called it a costume. I don't even want to ask. DH assures me that the guy was also wearing little Victoria's Secret angel wings in back, so maybe he was the Victoria's Secret angel from when...2004? He might need a wonder-bra and a boob job to carry that off. To me, his costume was just "skinny dude in his underwear." But, hey, it ain't about me. I'm sure he'll find his target audience.

On the home front, I'm overwhelmed with satsumas this year. I've started to freeze some small glass bottles of juice and satsuma peel, so that I can have my pork ala orange all year round. I'm also eating satsumas by the ton. DH was out of town yesterday, so here's what I ate:

Breakfast: Three chopped satsumas sprinkled with flax seed, with a sauce made of freshly squeezed satsuma juice and a touch of honey. Coffee with whole milk.

Lunch: Stir-fried chicken livers over rice made with my homemade soup stock. (When I save up enough chicken livers, I always eat them when DH is out of town, since he doesn't appreciate them, the heathen!) A couple of fresh satsumas for dessert.

Dinner: Crockpot beef ala orange (the oranges were, you guessed it, satsumas) over more of my rice made with homemade soup stock.

Bedtime beverage: Some hot carob milk with a touch of honey. Hey, no satsuma! But, don't worry, they were back again on the menu this morning at breakfast.

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