Feel so Broke Up

7/29/08

I want to go home.

I've been waking up way too early, but having nightmares that make sleep ugly. The rich food has my gal bladder aching. The heat and humidity are oppressive—like your lungs are going to clutch up at any moment and make you drown.

I had the WORST dining experience in a very long time last night. I was recommended by a colleague to a place called Oliver’s, famous for its creole cooking. For reasons I couldn’t detect (they weren’t that busy for a Saturday night), the service was extremely slow. It took them forever to get me my champagne, to take my order, and to bring the gumbo sampler appetizer. The gumbo was okay, especially the variety with the Soupe du Poisson base. Then it took forever for them to clear the empty plate and to bring my salad, an unappetizing lump of romaine with a dump of spicy blue cheese sauce on top of it. By this time I had read two entire chapters of my book waiting to be served. I had just gotten out my credit card to say, “here, forget my entrée,” when the entrée arrived. It was supposed to be a shrimp and crawfish étouffée. It looked like something poured out of a can, and if there was crawfish in it, I couldn’t detect it. The rice it was served on was chewy and gluey. By this time I was so tired and disappointed that I couldn’t wait for my server any longer, and I just plopped $50 on the table to pay for it all and walked out. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses. The ONLY joy to end the evening were some fireworks, set off on the river, which I could see from my window.

My morning today is all business meetings. Then I have to take a shuttle three hours before my plane takes off, and apparently the shuttles are in hot demand due to a football gig that’s also going on here. My plane leaves N.O. at 5:15 and gets into Cleveland Hopkins at 10:30 PM. Ain’t traveling grand.