Japan Fest 2008

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Japan Fest, the largest annual celebration of Japanese culture in the Gulf South, returns to the New Orleans Museum of Art on Sunday, October 19, from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for a full day of traditional music, folk dancing and martial arts demonstrations, plus food, games, crafts and more spread throughout the Museum and the surrounding City Park grounds.

The crowd-pleasing Kaminari Taiko of Houston return with their massive drumming demonstration as headliners of this year's Japan Fest. Other highlights include numerous demonstrations of traditional Japanese arts, the Japan Club's annual tea ceremony demonstration and a raffle with prizes including round-trip airline tickets to Japan, courtesy of Continental Airlines.Here's the full list of participating organizations:Aikido of New Orleans (martial arts)Asian Gourmet Market (Japanese market)City Park Catering (Japanese food)Crane's Nest Go Club ("Go," strategic board game lessons)Greater New Orleans Bonsai Society (Bonsai demonstration)Greater New Orleans Suzuki Forum (classical and folk music) Ikebana International, New Orleans chapter 97 (floral arrangements)Japan Club (tea ceremony)Japanese Weekend School of New Orleans (crafts and origami ornaments)JET Alumni Association (yukata for children and adults, with photos)Kaminari Taiko of Houston (drumming performance)Kozakura Japanese Dance School USA (folk dancing)Louisiana State Museum/Lafcadio Hearn Center (information table)Maino Kai International (Japanese classical dancing)Neil Melancon/Gentle Wind Dojo (Iaido sword demonstration)New Orleans Haiku Society (information table)New Orleans Kendo Club (martial arts)New Orleans Zen Temple (Zazen lessons and information)Ninja Restaurant (Japanese food tent)Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art (Raku pottery demo)Sennin Productions (anime films)SGI-USA New Orleans Taiko Group (Taiko drumming)Shindoryu Aikijutsu Association of Southern Louisiana University (martial arts)S. Peter Horkowitz (Kyudo-Japanese archery)Wako-Kai Dancers (classical dancing)Japan Fest is organized by the Consulate General of Japan in New Orleans, the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Japan Club of New Orleans.

Carousel Piano Bar

Immortalized in the writings of Ernest Hemingway among others, the revolving Carousel Piano Bar is a part of New Orleans history. The Carousel Bar has a vivid circus motif, and the customers are just as colorful. The Carousel Bar is the center of a carousel and the stools revolve around the bar itself so drinking there is a delight.

So, I was told about the famous Hotel Monteleone's Carousel Bar by a friend at work. Hard to imagine what a carousel inside a bar could be like, but we went to check it out last Saturday. All the seats were full and we waited and waited for at least one seat to become free, but were unsuccessful. I'm defiantly heading back though. The 25 seats take 15 minutes to make one full rotation around the bar and you can even get a bit un-easy sitting there for too long!

Fun Facts

Numerous authors, including William Faulkner, Eudora Welty and Truman Capote were frequent visitors and the hotel has often appeared as a setting in American fiction, prompting the Friends of Libraries USA to designate the Monteleone a Literary Landmark.

Since 1949, some of its riders most creative ideas, inspirations and business deals have been shaken and stirred to fruition here, not to mention some of the best spirits. The Goody and The Vieux Carre cocktail were first concocted at the Carousel Bar. This carousel is the only one in New Orleans that you have to be 21 to ride!

Visitors

Grace and her friend Sarah came to New Orleans for a visit. They were here for about a week and saw A LOT! We had a traditional Sunday Jazz Brunch at a local favorite: The Court of Two Sisters

Sunday Jazz Brunch...

is a sumptuous display of hot and cold dishes. Because CoTS uses only the freshest ingredients, the buffet's selections change according to season and time of day. In the morning, a typical selection of hot dishes includes made-to-order omelets, Eggs Benedict, sausage and bacon, grits and grillades, and shrimp or veggie pasta with a creamy Alfredo sauce. The afternoon's sampling includes Creole jambalaya, turtle soup,

Duck a l'Orange, and Shrimp Etouffee. The cold buffet is a creative sampling of boiled shrimp (and crawfish when in season) with your choice of traditional cocktail or Creole remoulade sauces, seafood and pasta salads, ceviche, marinated artichokes, pâtés, cheeses and a variety of fresh fruit. Also included are delicious desserts: pecan pie, chocolate mousse, homemade French vanilla ice cream, Bananas Foster and CoTS's famous bread pudding with whiskey sauce. While enjoying brunch, relax and sing along with CoTS's strolling Jazz Trio.

Sarah saw her FIRST crawfish, but couldn't stand to have it anywhere near her plate after touching it. Yet, she LOVED Gumbo!

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Beads... Bourbon Street... and having a blast! Other than that...the girls saw a southern art museum, rode on a swamp, visited a local plantation, ate some yummy creole/Cajun food, walked the French Quarter, rode the street cars, took lots of pics which I can't wait to see, drank famous drinks (like a Hurricane and Hand Grenade), and basically hit all the New Orleans HOT SPOTS! Fun times all around!

More Pics: Click Here!

Blogging Returns!

Wow, sorry for the hiatus. I've been kind of busy these last couple of months and with a annoying virus attacking my computer, I've been out of the usual blogging routine. But, I'm back now. So, yayy!

Matt & Dawn's Wedding - Sept. 27th

Dawn's Bachlorette Wknd - Sept. 6th-8th

Good times, 'nuff said.

Hurricane Gustav - Evacuations & Returns