#centralgrocery

For lunch we walk to Central Grocery to try their famous muffuletta sandwich.  I get half a sandwich, but a quarter would have sufficed because these sandwiches are huge with generous layers of cold cuts and cheese topped with olive salad.  Very tasty but also very filling.  I eat half and save the remainder for tomorrow’s lunch.  The Central Grocery is fun to visit, even if you don’t buy a sandwich there.  It reminded me of small-town grocery stores I used to frequent in my youth, with wood slat floors and the comforting scents of fresh bread and stored food stuffs.

After lunch we browse the French Market where I buy a hammock that reminds me of one I bought years ago during my honeymoon in Mexico.  Then it’s back to the hotel for a lazy afternoon.  During our walk back I see a man dressed head to toe in bright orange feathers and another wearing a huge papier-mâché headdress.  What fun it is to walk through a place where anything goes and you have no idea what you might encounter next.

We have decided that tonight is the night we will seek out a jazz show. Madeleine does the research and finds a place we can walk to. It’s a longish walk on N. Peters Street.  We plan to to arrive at about five because we want an early night.   The first place we stop, Three Muses, is running late and can’t seat us for who knows how long, so when we hear music coming from another spot down the street we head there.  It’s happy hour at the 30-90 Degree Club (longitude and latitude of NOLA) so we order boiled shrimp and drinks and settle in to listen to some great music.

Eventually we head back toward the hotel, planning to grab some supper on the way.  We end up at a touristy restaurant that is nothing special. Our seats are on a balcony over the street which is fun for a while.  There’s a street performer across the street who is singing karaoke very badly but with great verve.  Then I notice that our balcony is canted downward at a scary angle, and I start worrying that it might give way during our meal.   I allow this to bother me far too much while ordering and eating a ho-hum dish of crab etouffee. Our last stop is at Curio (a nice little café and bar close to our hotel – this is my third visit) for a last glass of wine before heading back to the hotel.