If anyone went outside at all today you will know it was damn hot so our adventure had a lot of pit stops and every single one of them was better than the actual festival.First we stopped over at Washington Square Park to play and rest, there were more than the usual crowd in the park, I think there was a memory service being held for someone who has passed but with the little one I did not want to disturb anyone and so I could not get close enough to really hear what was going on. As we left the park we noticed what someone has done with the old pay phone box on the Royal side, it does not specify what the money is for but there are flowers and other decoration inside a custom made shadow box and a request for change. If I had any change on me i would have given to Chance to put in the box. We didn’t get much farther before it was pit stop time again as we passed Cafe Rose Nicaud I was informed that we needed a cookie from the coffee shop so in we went and cookie we did procure. After we filled up on cookie off we set for the push to the actual festival crossing Esplanade and crossing Decatur over to the French Market and into the action or more realistically the crowd of tourists in fleur-de-leis T-shirts and too short, impossibly plaid shorts fanning themselves with cardboard fans shaped like (Creole?) tomatos, talking loud and occationally doing what they could to insult the local people.

I was told (though under their breath) in so many words more than once that because I wasn’t carrying my son he would get kidnapped. Well, I am happy to say there were not a million people around, I was walking two feet behind him at all times, it’s none of your damn business and as far as i could tell the worst people around at that time were their sorry asses. I’m sorry but the next time a swarovski crystal embellished grandma wants to give me parenting tips, I say bring it on but, Do It To My Face!

Where was i? Oh yeah it was hot really, really hot and the booths for the festival were all out in the sun so we took ourselves through the festivities at a pretty quick pace, landing ourselves at the fountain near Decatur and Ursuline where we rested another few minutes in the shade, I could have sat a little longer but a two year old never really rests no matter how hot and tired they are so off we went again. This time we followed Decatur back till we hit Angeli’s a tasty restaurant with highchairs (even though we didn’t need one this time) where we went in for a drink and a bite to eat. The place was nearly empty which I though strange for all the people that were out and about but I guess we were a little early for the dinner rush. The little guy amazingly sat in a regular chair the whole time amusing himself by making faces in one of the mirrors that decorate the dinning area.
We made one more stop at Washington Square Park, much shorter this time, before heading on home. Just a block from the house someone stopped us and told me that “something smells dead back there” as he gestured over his shoulder in the direction we were going. Nothing came of it since I did not smell or see anything that smelled/looked dead all the way home but it did add to the adventure of the day.

Can I just say? Most hilarious JazzFest photo I’ve seen so far. In fact, it’s hilarious with or without jazz. [via my friend Jeremy]

If you want to see Truckstop Honeymoon but missed them last night, no problem, they are playing tonight at d.b.a. and Thursday night at The Circle Bar.

This week, I got sent a preview of “Inside New Orleans High,” a National Geographic Channel documentary that premieres on the channel this Sunday.

[The program] chronicles the stories of students at Walter L. Cohen High School in New Orleans. The majority of the Cohen students are Katrina refugees, bused from other areas because no other schools could take them. And, as in many American teenagers’ lives, school is only part of the story. More money is spent on security than books, and violent gangs often dominate the school. With inner-city unemployment and infant mortality rates higher than those of some developing countries, in many households, drug and alcohol abuse are the norm.

I must admit that, having been inundated with stories of hurricane woe for the six weeks I’ve been here, I am suffering greatly from Katrina fatigue. I was not looking forward to watching this program. But, here’s the thing: the program is not about Katrina. It’s about the everyday struggle of three teens to make a better world for themselves. It’s about how many Americans living in inner-city America are living in the third world. It’s about how the America Dream is not accessible to every one of us. It’s reality and not some Joe-the-Plumber dream world that the politicians and the media are trying to sell you.

This program wasn’t some big bitch-fest about how the system sucks and the city sucks and the government sucks. It highlighted the near-impossible struggle that some American teens have to better themselves. The educators in the program were portrayed in a very favorable light. They were not willing to give up on these kids, despite their lives being threatened, despite the kids giving up on themselves, despite the violence that plagued the school on a daily basis.

With the election looming, I’m thinking a lot about the American Dream. I’m thinking that maybe a couple of Senators should take a year off and teach in one of these inner city schools. I’m thinking if they did that, then maybe they would start thinking that the 10 billion dollars a month we spend in Iraq to make those people free might be better spent making our own people free.

Stepping off the soap box now.

“Inside New Orleans High” premiers on National Geographic Channel Sunday, October 26 at 10PM ET/PT

Today I stopped in the Uptown Mart at Upperline and Prytania and found a box of Kinder Eggs for sale on the counter! I started stuttering in disbelief, knowing they are not available in the U.S.

The staff behind the counter began their nervous disclaimer, “We only sell these to kids if they are with an adult.” I think they thought I was the candy cops. I let them know that I was truly excited and picked a couple up to show Nick and Josh. Once assured I wasn’t going to call the kinder-cops, the guys behind the counter said that they have a few loyal people who come in and order 30 at a time from them. I think they ran about $1.30 each.

If you know anything at all about these magical confections you’ll share my excitement. Kinder Eggs are illegal in the United States because they contain these wonderfully engineered intricate toys unassembled in tiny pieces inside a delicious chocolate egg which is made by Ferrero, many women will recognize them as the makers of the completely legal, Nutella. The candy and toys are of the highest quality.

Rich, over at La Crepe Nanou, turned me onto these little gems years ago and I have been bringing handfuls of them back whenever I travel in Europe ever since. The toys are so well engineered that they aren’t that hard to put together although they look intimidating at first. Once, together, they are very sophisticated and whimsical toys that have become quite collectible.

Dear Parents of New Orleans, please don’t ruin our good fun by letting your kid shove the tail of some adorable animal up his/her nose. Thanks! They are something to do ensemble! That means together in French. Also known as quality time. They’ll think you’re the coolest . . . for 10 minutes at least.

Kinder Eggs containing toys are not suitable for children under the age of three due to the small parts which may be ingested or inhaled. They are sold all over the world excluding the United States, where the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits embedding “non-nutritive items” in confections. Additionally, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall on the eggs in 1997. Kinder Egg-like confections are available, but only in a plastic? form filled with small candies and/or stickers. There are some stores in the United States that sell genuine Kinder Eggs, often in conjunction with other imported British or other European sweets, although their importation is technically illegal due to the 1938 law and 1997 recall.[1]

It is a great privilege to learn the intimate concerns of children. The last week’s discussion with the Causey kids has centered around the way our body betrays us in the heat of summer in New Orleans. These kids have enough to worry about; being locked out of the house and no one being home when personal issue flare up, like puffy eyes; passing the LEAP on the second go-’round and, lately, the issue is not smellin’ ‘musty’, as they put it.

As adults, we are keen to the battle of combating the summer heat and staying comfortable and presentable in 89 degree heat. However, I have noticed the kids have been having some issues about feeling clean, this, along with their washer being broke at home, the discussion has been pushed my way.

One of the older boys, Mike, came by this week to explain that he was suddenly ’sponsored’ to go to an amusement park excursion in Dallas, TX with his church. In order to go, he was desperate to have clean clothes for his trip and begged me the let him use the washer and dryer, I graciously obliged. Always cognizant of the dignity issues surrounding such requests, “wash away!”, I said. No pleading necessary. I am more than willing to fold his clothes too, in order that they put on their best face and push their minimum level of presentability to a higher level.

In addition to this incident, I was making my grocery list this week. I put deoderant on the list and Josh piped up to me that he had some deoderant that he didn’t like and apparently someone made a comment that he smelled ‘musty’.

Today, I took him to Rouse’s to show him how to test smell all the deoderants in the aisle so he could get one that suited his personal needs. He got some Axe he liked. On a subtle level, I have noticed in doing their laundry that there exists a shortage of socks, which in summer can lead to naked feet in shoes, leading to more ‘musty’ issues. I brought it up and they said they need more socks really bad. We talked about the comfort of wearing socks in summer and I set them up with some socks I had set aside from my last package of socks. We sort of did a head-to-toe cleanliness inventory of needs too.

Today, this larger discussion coincided with a long bike ride Nick and I took today on the levee. I gave him a choice. Audubon Park . . .or . . . THE LEVEE. He insisted on THE LEVEE. My goal was to show him he was able to make it to the Huey P. Long Bridge which I told him is 14.5 Klicks (kilometers) which is 9 miles. I warned him that it was going to be really, really. Really HOT. He was scared of the dragonflies but got tough with it. When we finally made it to the Huey P. Bridge, we realized he was extra hot because he was wearing TWO T-shirts! So we undid one layer and he was much more confident that we really would be able to make the ride back after that! 

Nick loves to cook, and has a natural talent for it. However, he tends to eat more than he needs to because he’s often cooking/eating to entertain himself. Having been noticeably pudgy myself at 10 yrs-old, I am encouraging him to exercise at this early age. He complained about how hard it was but we made it there and back. We talked about the importance of hard workouts for good health. He got a lot of confidence for completing the circuit . . .at 12:30 in the afternoon in July in New Orleans, I told him this was really tough work and he should be proud of himself.

When we got back, both boys were concerned about how they ’smelled’ before going to the night church services at Victory for 5:45 pm. Nick didn’t have the key to his house today and no one was home to let him in. He really wanted to bathe and change clothes before church.

So I set them up with some socks and a clean t-shirts of mine. The one Nick settled on had a scooped neck. He just wanted a white t-shirt with a ‘crew neck’ and he said it was “outrageous” that he was wearing a scooped neck. And, it was. I should have some more crew necks around. But we have all decided in our open talks that cleanliness comes before fashion.

So Nick took a shower at my house, likely, his first shower ever, from what I could tell, because apparently, they only have a bathtub and he was fine with the clean shirt in the end. I had to tell him how to set up the water temperature in the shower and he enjoyed it.

After getting both boys dressed with some fresh T-shirts and socks and they both applied extra loads of their new deoderant so they could feel very good about themselves about going to their evening church service. It was a profoundly simple and successful day. It’s so easy to make a couple inner-city kids happy and confident about themselves and it was a very good lesson in being a personally approachable type of person.

I recall the awkward moments growing up at that age and the shyness about talking about such personal issues as wearing a bra in eighth grade. My mom was little scared to discuss this with me, since I was the oldest of five kids, so I totally forgive her. But I know it made it hard for me, so I was happy to take that personal experience and it helped me know just how to make these young boys feel confident about discussing their hygiene needs so they could really put their best foot forward.

Little do these kids realize, this topic is covered at length by adults who talk about endlessly about the battle of the sweat in summer as well! I have found that it’s simply a slightly broader discussion with kids compared to the same one between adults about how we battle of the sweat drips between our respective ta-tas, etc in summer.

We then drove around to the playground area where we played and were able to toss the rest of our bread to some ducks in the water who were much more respectful of our personal space. And when I say ‘we’ threw the bread I mean ‘me’ because though the baby seemed to like the birds he just ate his bread. Lesson learned; few birds – cool, lots of birds a la The Birds- not cool

First is J’Anita’s. This is a cute little place on a part of Magazine we had not been to many times because it is that little section on the downtown side just before Magazine turns two-way. Usually when I drive down Magazine I am headed in the downtown direction so I do not see much of the block where J’Anita’s is located but even if you have to go around the block to get to it the food and atmosphere is well worth the extra maneuvering. The family and I stopped in for some lunch not too long ago. We were greeted at the door, before we even stepped inside actually, with a warm hello and a promise of animal crackers for the little one. They have plenty of high chairs (thumbs up) and after settling ourselves at the table of our choosing a little plastic (they know kids) bowl full of animals crackers was presented for the baby to play with and munch on which he did with great gusto. We ordered a sandwich and Nachos with BBQ beef brisket on top. I had never tasted Nachos with brisket topping but they were very yummy. The brisket turned the Nachos from an appetizer into a meal. The staff was very friendly, playing peek-a-boo with the baby and generally giving the restaurant a very comfortable vibe. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner opening at 7am and closing up shop at 8pm 7 days per week. This is a great place to grab a bite anytime and with their kid friendly atmosphere they get two thumbs way up. Don’t let those new summer hours get you though, they are closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the season.

Another place a little farther down Magazine Street is Nacho Mama’s Mexican Grill. This is one of the few restaurants that my husband and I frequented pre-baby that we can still enjoy post-baby. They have a bar but no gaming machines so we are allowed inside and for allowing us a little piece of our pre-baby lives in this crazy world we live in now Nacho Mama’s makes the list. Ok it is not for that reason alone, they also have pretty good food. Their décor is an interesting array of Mexican inspired art done New Orleans style with the whole place being drenched in that adobe/terra cotta color scheme. I am a fan of their regular chicken burrito; their burritos are “California style” which I take to mean not covered in melted cheese. Now I like melted cheese as much as the next guy but what I like about Nacho Mama burritos is I don’t feel as if I am clogging an artery as I eat it (thumbs up for not actually clogging an artery at the table). The hard walls make it a noisy place at times when they have a full house but the baby does not seem to mind and high chairs make it an easy visit. There website boasts celebrity dinners so if the food and the high chairs aren’t enough to bring you in maybe the celebrity watching will.