Pontchartrain Pete

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 I opted for some pistachios and a couple of shots of Ouzo. OPA! indeed.

I dove in right away with the food, joining CS in an initial dose of calamari. Add some lemonade, and another shot of Ouzo, and then I went for the souvlaki, which is a shish kebab of grilled marinated pork tenderloin, which they sold in a combo with some Greek sausage, also on a stick. The souvlaki was definitely the tastier of the two, and I should have gotten the hint that some of the people were requesting two souvlaki's instead of one souvlaki and one sausage in their order.

Nola's awesome purchase of many pastries rocked; the almond covered crescents and baklava hit the spot for dessert.

Getting there early was the key. Around 7or 8 the lines at the food booths were staggeringly long. There were also some booths with jewelry and art for sale. If you wanted, you could even climb Mt. Olympus (or Mt. Olympus, Jr.). We passed.

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 one page on the site. So I sent that link to Nola. "The crowns! The crowns!--did you see some of the crowns on those girls—there as big as their dresses!" she says. "You've got to blog about them."

So here we are.

Now, people who live in Louisiana know that once spring and summer roll around the area is crawling with festivals celebrating even the most obscure aspects of local culture. Fall is usually when the various parish (counties to you “others”) fairs are held. This makes sense because most of the parish fairs also serve as local agricultural showcases; fall is harvest time, etc.

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 up my camera and switched it on, hoping the plane would circle back around.

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 not, however, be discussing any issues relating to pregnancy, childbirth or spousal strife.

One continuing theme is going to be "the things that are ours." Although not fully developed, the idea is that there are certain things that are unique New Orleans things, and it just happens that these things are also the things that draw "the others" to town.

I'll try to more fully develop this topic in later posts, let's go to a really big "thing that is ours," this year's French Quarter Festival.