marrus's friend Karen, who we'd met at Yo Mama's during Wednesday's pub crawl. Karen had bought a round of beers moments after meeting us on Wednesday, and got all excited at the idea of hosting a party the next night. John, our host, even got back to town in time to join us. Well, Karen did an awesome job of throwing together good food on her patio, with grilled stuffed mushrooms (stuffed with garlic and local sausage), awesome BBQ chicken legs, crackers and hummus, and awesome spinach salad with chopped walnuts, gold raisins, and caesar dressing.
We got to meet Jay,
marrus's "muscular little blond man," and their friend Vanessa, and Bartlett joined us, as well. Marrus and Karen's houses are fantastic... like most of the houses around here, long and narrow... the "shotgun" architectural style. (You can walk in the front door, and shoot the guy makin' moves on your daughter as he tries to escape out the back door, six rooms away.) Marrus had said she was glad to have more room than in their old NYC apartment, where the studio and bed were so close that she couldn't paint in oils unless she wanted to have a headache for days. Karen's place has a massive brick fireplace and chimney dead center, right in the middle of the kitchen, and Marrus has talked about painting it to make it look less of an eyesore. (I personally like it this way, but I can see her point.)After Karen's, we went on to Vaughan's, where Kermit Ruffins was playing as on most Thursdays. It was good jazz, and reminded me of amazing Merl Saunders shows at Key West. I finally got to try the Dixie beer that we'd seen a few times. Not as much body as the Abita Amber that was everywhere we went, but a very tasty, crisp lager.
Vanessa was really nice, and dropped us all off on her way home to Metaire, so we didn't have to deal with a cab or the slow streetcars before getting home and collapsing.
