Lunch with a Princess

Greta "Princess of Positive" Perry of Kiss My Gumbo and YatPundit

After going to Orleans Parish Juvenile Court to pay a two-year old traffic fine for my now-19 year old son (how does an attorney not send you trial notices for a year and a half??), I hung out downtown for the rest of the morning, because I had a lunch date with Greta from Kiss My Gumbo (and nola.com). She was chaperoning a field trip for her son's 6th grade class at House of Blues.

If I may digress for a moment, any of you who have elementary-school-aged kiddos should take a look at Greta's story about the field trip. I had no idea that HoB had that robust an education program. The cost was reasonable, and it sounds like the kids enjoyed the heck out of the morning. the other thing I really like about this sort of outing is that it put a busload of kids from the north shore into Da Quarters for a morning.

Anyway, back to lunch. Since the group was at HoB, I thought this would be a good opportunity to introduce Greta to Napoleon House. It was a lovely day, and fortunately we were able to sit outside on the courtyard. Like many buildings in the Vieux Carre, Napoleon House is built around a central courtyard. I haven't dined outside at NH in years, mainly because the courtyard was their smoking section for a long time. I'm no rabid anti-smoker, but I also don't like being in smoking sections. The smoke and tobacco smell is just too concentrated to properly enjoy a meal.

I ordered my usual, half a muff. Greta had a tuna sandwich that had olives on it. It looked yummy, and has inspired me to do something soon at home with grilled tuna and olive salad. Washing down a muffuletta with an Abita Amber on a gorgeous spring day while chatting up a hottie. I thank goddess for living a charmed life!

Our lunchtime chat focused on two cities, New Orleans and Boston. Sticking to the old Southern rule of not discussing politics, sex, or religion in polite company is often a good idea when someone as liberal as I am is getting to know a conservative blogger. When it comes to politics, there's not much upon which m'lady Princess and I agree. Sex was pretty much off the list of discussion topics, given that her son was in attendance, but we did talk a bit of religion, since both of us were born in metro Boston.

But our New Orleans chatting was a good reality-check for me. I believe in and work for social justice daily, but I refuse to wake up and go to bed angry.