Eyewitness to History on Happy America Day

I am proud to be an American this July 4th, 2007. Eating a late breakfast, I was treated to the 92nd annual Nathan’s International July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest broadcast live on ESPN. The announcers did their best to hype it up to Super Bowl status, and for good reason: the title has...

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Quarter Adventures, Part ???

Note: Well, official (late) blog congrats to Nola and CS on the early rising of Sun!!! Well, we finally made it to Mr. B’s in the Quarter last Thursday. After a hard day’s work helping Pete’s mom and dad, who have been painting at the sister’s still-hurricane-ravaged condo building out at the lake, we...

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Greek Fest

Basically a big ditto to Nola’s post on the Greek Fest. It was a good move to go on Friday in the evening. There was a nice breeze coming off the lake; it was very pleasant after sunset. The mini-food market inside was nifty. Nola bought some olives, CS a bottle of wine, and...

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A Little Slice of NOLA on the Northshore

A Little Slice of NOLA on the Northshore

I just came off of a tour of Northshore Sno-Ball (or Snowball) stands. We found one on Hwy. 59 in Abita Springs, which Pete-in-Exile passes daily on his way to work. Passes, but never stops. Too bad, because I’ve been missing out on wonderful slice of New Orleans that’s been plopped dead center onto...

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Fleur de Lis

The Fore!Kids Foundation is sponsoring a public art project in coordination with the Arts Council of New Orleans. Fiberglass fleur de lis were given to 40 artists to decorate, and they are displayed at various locations around the city until October, when they will be auctioned off and the proceeds distributed to various charities...

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Dinner—Or, Proof that New Orleanians will Spend Every Minute of Lunch Planning Their Dinner

Last night, we had dinner at Irene’s Cuisine. The original plan was dinner at Mr. B’s Bistro, which is one of my favorite places in the city. Mr. B’s just recently reopened. Although IT did not flood the French Quarter, many buildings suffered rain damage. Mr. B’s suffered doubly. Rain poured in the building,...

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The Wise Man of the Laundromat

Editors note: I’m going against a promise I made myself that I would not blog about ordinary details of everyday life. But after doing laundry this morning, I decided an ode the Wise Man of the Laundromat would be in order. Please excuse the drudgery. Pete-in-Exile is forced to frequent a little laundromat in...

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Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans?

Brad Pitt does, and he’s only had a home here for a few months. As reported on Nola.com (not to be confused with our honorable host Nolanotes.com), Brad Pitt “pines for his old New Orleans Home.” The thing he misses the most, he said, is bicycling through the streets of New Orleans at night....

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Friday’s Adventures: A Busy and Wet, Yet Unfruitful, Day with a Nice Interlude.

Last Friday saw another one of Pete’s excursions from the Northshore to the Big Easy. The occasion was meeting my sister and the plumber who is supposed to work on her condo out by the lake. Now, Thursday’s weather forecasts were all doom and gloom for Friday. Flash floods! Twisters! Hail the size of...

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Numbers Game

I just heard on the radio that Jazzfest was putting up higher than expected attendance figures. Also, the French Quarter Fest (here, here and here) had over 400,000 people attending! With over 200,000 on Sunday alone! I mean, we knew it was crowded on Sunday, but Jeez!

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Speaking of Black Bears and Their Queens…

Did you know that Louisiana is home to its own subspecies of American Black Bear, the Louisiana Black Bear? I ran across this headline on the Dead Pelican: “Mama bear, cubs pay surprise visit to Cottonport,” which linked to this article in the Alexandria Town Talk. Apparently, Ursus americanus luteolus is making a comeback....

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The Black Bear Queen Meets Miss Bunny

Nola couldn’t get enough of the Catfish Queens mentioned in passing in the prior post. I started poking around the old interweb. The same site where the Catfish Queens reside is the home of the Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals (LAFF). All of the queens of all of the festivals are featured on...

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Stuffed Crabs, Crab Cakes and The Google

Without anything really interesting to blog about, today will be a brief entry on the stuffed crab I had for dinner last night. Of course, as I was thinking, “this is going to be about a 3 sentence entry,” some ideas began to flow. I remember when we were kids and would drive to...

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The Vietnamese Markets

Nola’s non-stop noshing and her blogging thereof (mainly the dim sum entry) got me thinking. I haven’t been out to New Orleans East to shop at the Vietnamese markets in quite a while. On occasion, before the storm, I would trek out to the Vietnamese section of New Orleans East to visit the Vietnamese...

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Weekend Adventures & French Quarter Fest Part 3

Weekend Adventures & French Quarter Fest Part 3

In exile on the Northshore for 5 years now, I always enjoy having time to spend in the city. Having partners-in-crime always helps, and this past weekend it was none other than Nola, Captain Sarcastic and my sister, with guest appearances from Nola and CS’ menagerie, Lucy, Zella and Peanut. Saturday started in a...

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Into the 21st Century

Off-theme post here… Just a celebration of the new MP3 player I bought today. Having a long-standing affection for digital music, one would think that I’d have gotten one of these a long time ago. Wrong. I was hard-headed, stubborn and didn’t think anything was wrong with burning endless CD’s to bring my music...

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Part Two: French Quarter Fest ‘07

Part Two: French Quarter Fest ‘07

Moving on…still Friday the 13th at the French Quarter Fest… To Woldenberg Park, and another extended outlay of music stages and food booths. As I was looking around trying to plot a strategy, I heard a loud plane overhead, and looking above spotted an F15 flying fast and low over the riverfront. I picked...

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Part One: French Quarter Fest ‘07

Part One: French Quarter Fest ‘07

Hello everyone, Pontchartrain Pete here (just call me Pete, Pontchartain can be hard to spell and is too long to type). Today’s my first stint as guest blogger for Nola at nolanotes and for this and future posts I’ll keep with the “all things New Orleans” theme. Being single and male, your author will...

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