So I got up eaarly, around 7:30 AM and got on the road to New Orleans. I realized the time zone changes, but I was already up so I headed out to the road. A big shout out to Curt and Lauren who were as hospitable as
hospitable can be.
The drive was scenic and pretty to start with; in the mountains of Georgia. Atlanta looked lovely. I decided to pull off and try the "Raw Life" cafe in Montgomery, Alabama. It was in a small house in an obviously formerly residential neighborhood. When I walked in, nobody seemed to be around, but the place was
mostly tidy. There didn't appear to be a ton of options, so I surveyed what looked best and settled on the broccoli salad. It was chopped broccoli, peppers and onions in what tasted like garlic tahini dressing. It was tastier than I had anticipated it being and I ate it pretty fast.
Montgomery was just about the halfway point to NOLA. I continued on the journey, snacking on the rest of my kale chips, an apple, my last banana and my cherry tomatoes.
I arrived at the Mudlark about 2 hours early, so headed across town to what was supposed to be a NOLA juice bar/raw place, but was a hair salon. Grrr Happy Cow. I ended up going to the mediterranean place across the street called "Mona's" where I paid $5 for a salad that would probably fit in my hand. I even put my hand down for comparison. For the record, no, it wasn't a bowl.
The Mudlark is a pretty amazing building. It started as a green grocer in the 1800s and then added a frycook element. It has a sort of Pinhook meets theatre vibe. It is also decorated with very groovy handmade paper mache puppets, created and built by the building's owner Pandora Gastelum and her creative partner Amanda Stone. I attached a picture of my favorite-- naturally a horse, but there were tons of them hanging up in the room where I stayed. Some, namely the fruit bats, were a little creepier than others.
The show was pretty good but sparsely attended. I played with a band called Vio/Mire from RI/ME that had two cellos. The guy's voice was reminiscent of Conor Oberst's, and his lyrics also recalled Bright Eye's heavy handed metaphor. I have some video of a couple of songs. The singer/songwriter, Brendan, also had an AMAZING old school organ that was like, 36x30x12 and opened up in the back and used what seemed like accordion guts to make sounds.
Day 21: Tuesday
I had sort of fitful sleep in New Orleans, but woke up early to drive around some. Pandora, my gracious hostess, sent me to a juice bar called Satsuma that was actually operational, but was sadly out of cucumber. I ordered a "green drink" which was supposed to be Cucumber, Apple, Fennel, Kale, Lemon and Celery. I traded Carrot in for the cucumber, and it was good. I had been developing a starving headache, I think, and this quelled it some.
I drove around the french quarter and up the Esplanade then decided to skip the museums and just head to San Antonio. Louisiana was quickly gone and into Texas I rolled.
Texas is gorgeous. I mean, as a horsey person, even in the gatory/oily parts (btw, I totally should've gone to the "hold a baby gator" farm. oh, americana), the sheer vastness of the fields begs to be reconciled. You can just imagine galloping them. You can not imagine how long they go on the way they do. It's like the desert, with trees and grass.
Anyway, around 2:30 I rolled up into Houston, who, according to Happy Cow, has 3 raw restaurants! I drove to the first, The Vegan Cafe, whose entry on HC promised Raw options and delicious ones at that. First off, I waited around until about 3 (because the app doesn't have hours on it) and then the very nice lady told me that she just didn't get enough business for raw and stopped making it. So I punched in the next place, only a mile away! Pat Greer's Kitchen. Well, it was in a house. And the door was closed. So I drove on. Turns out, Pat Greer's open kitchen closes at 3. Boo. Finally, I just got frustrated and went to a My Fit Foods and bought Pat Greer's pre-packaged meals. I got a veggie burger meal and an "asian fusion" meal which was really a salad with some spices added. They were both alright. The burgers were a little heavy for me. Once I added cherry tomatoes to the salad, it was totally alright. I also snacked through the day on a Pur citrus bar, a fiber raw organic bar, some kumquats and an apple.
Finally, I arrived in San Antonio at around 6pm, to my friends Doug (former drummer of tEH vODAK and current drummer of the Baby Moons) and Amy's house that they recently purchased. It is SO CUTE. My first act after friendly hellos and whatnot was to get my dirty self into a shower. They ate dinner and I inhaled the rest of my salad from Pat Greer's, then we headed out to a bar called The Mix to meet up with my friend Lauel, from the band Mrs. Howl. We had a few drinks, then came home and are trying to crash out by 12:30. Hooray friends in San Antonio!
No comments:
Post a Comment