Coming Home

"In the United States there is New York, San Francisco and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland." Mark Twain

[elisa-munoz]

ch-ch-changes

So much has changed. Do I even want to keep this blog up? Do I ever, ever check Tumblr anymore? Do I have time to write here when planning dinner for 2 people nightly is nearly killing my soul?

These are not the changes, btw. The changes are these:

new job at the French Market Corporation. So great. So creative. So much more sleeping and less crying in my life.

engaged to this guy. Planning a June wedding. OMG, wedding planning. More on that later (maybe?).

I guess that covers it. Just 2 changes that literally changed nearly every single moment of my life. In amazing and wonderful ways, but changes nonetheless. I do change well, actually, but still. Changes.

[guardian]

Hair. Make-up. Clothes.

Tiffany Kirk, a 25-year old single mother living in Houston, Texas, is getting “date-ready”. The whole thing can take close to an hour, yet there is no gentleman caller to pick her up when she is done.

There is no dinner and movie on her agenda. It’s just a 12-hour bar shift.

The date-ready outfit is her nightly uniform of shorts and a tank top – not exactly a typical nine-to-five work outfit.

All the primping is done for the customers; they are her “dates” for the night. They come to the bar for the way she looks and talks, for the ambience as much as for the drinks. Kirk is in no position to argue their preferences – she needs them to keep coming. Tips from such men pay her rent and bills, after all. Her hourly pay of $2.13 is completely eaten up by taxes. Tips are the reason that Kirk and many other women like her put up with sexual harassment in their workplaces. 

[guardian]

Read more »

[elisa-munoz]

I was a bartender and cocktail waitress to pay my way through college, and then as a side gig for a few years after, and can attest to this as fact. The hotter you looked, the more money you made. We were encouraged to wear shorter shorts ("If your apron covers it, it looks like you are not wearing pants and that's perfect."), put on make-up and flirt like crazy. Also, don't get pissy when a dude tries to grab your ass or kiss you. 

I dressed in tight and short clothes and flirted my ass off to pay rent.  When people get righteous about women who make it stripping in college I always think "They were just more honest about it than we were."

The good part? My dad stopped hitting on young waitresses when he realized it was happening to me on a daily basis. 

Also, as an FYI, asking an older gentleman, "Don't you have a daughter about my age?" is a good way to make it stop asap and get a bigger tip. 

The more you know. 

[shopsmallblog-blog-blog]

Today, the new phase of my Kickstarter begins as I try to raise even more money ($3,000 more) to create a press tour and blog for the book. I’m calling it The Wagon Train, and the idea is that I’ll take Amtrak’s Crescent line all the way from New Orleans to New York, stopping in cities...

[elisa-munoz]

Go supper this amazing book and tour. As the provider of a bed (and pub crawls and amazing restaurant dinners) while Carrie was in New Orleans (I mean, if the train has to go somewhere, might as well be the best city on earth, right?), I know that this trip will be a huge success. So, go give a few bucks. Like maybe that $5 you spent on a coffee this morning...at a local coffee shop I hope. 

I have also read the book and can attest to how awesome it is. And how awesome Carrie is. 

[fritesandfries]

Dark 'n' Stormy Bundt Cake

I’ve never put so much damn butter in a cake but I do not regret it.

Please don’t think about the calories. This bundt cake is worth trying because it has ginger beer and rum — just like a Dark & Stormy cocktail.

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[elisa-munoz]

Well, I'll be making this in the coming weeks. Because we have loads of homemade ginger beer around and well, butter, and rum, and cake. Duh. 

[elisa-munoz]

Celebrating Saints season opener. Who Dat! #wefancy

[gattoninja]

[elisa-munoz]

Freddy Mercury is my favorite singer. As in, I will walk down the aisle to Somebody to Love, my favorite song. Whatever music you listen to, he probably influenced it. That, and he was completely fucking fabulous. I strongly believe that some people's fire are meant to burn out at their hottest. He would have been 68 today, but ill be thankful the world had him while we did.

[elisa-munoz]

Again, Jon Stewart nails it. NAILS IT. 

[elisa-munoz]

Book from @octaviabooks, flowers from the #valenceguerillagarden, sterling julep cup from thrift store. Excited to improve my flower arranging game.

[nprmusic]

The secret of the Essence Festival is that it gathers half a million people every year to celebrate the vibrant art and achievement of black women — and the men who love black women — on a scale that is woefully absent in other aspects of mainstream culture.

Jason King says it time for the mainstream media to pay attention to the Essence Festival in New Orleans.  (via nprmusic)

[elisa-munoz]

New Saturday tradition, a month in. Beers are better when you have been working outside since 6am, right? (at NOLA Brewing Tap Room)

[elisa-munoz]

An amazing line-up of growers, fishers, butchers, community leaders, and chef Alex Harrell for tonight's all local Slow Food dinner. Incredible food and really fun, engaging company! (at Carmo)

[nprmusic]

Old Crow Medicine Show plays loud, fast and loose, while remaining in complete control of every ramshackle moment.

Stream Remedy from NPR Music’s First Listen. 

[elisa-munoz]

Just what this stressful Monday called for.

[southernlarder-deactivated20170]

As a kid I was naked quite often. Regardless of the time of year. However, being naked was more likely to happen during the Summer months. These Summer weekend days of my youth were spent outside all day often till dinner.

My parents realized that this decree of staying out of the house till dinner came with some drawbacks with one of the most notable being that a neighbor might call, “Your daughter appears to have forgotten her clothing again. Don’t you think she’s a little old for that?” I did this until I was 10. It was the beginning of the end, these phone calls.

At the time there was a 50/50 chance that the clothes came off as soon as I rounded the corner but at some point during the day the clothes were coming off.

I knew I was on to something grand, I was smarter. There was no need to suffer humidity induced chaffing or ill fitting sweaty clothes, just go naked. It was that simple. I’d grab my bike + parade all around the neighborhood, barefoot with only underwear. Those were the Summer glory days.

So it is this time of year when the heat + humidity are especially oppressive that I imagine, that everyone is imagining themselves, naked. Giant folds of flesh walking down the streets + quietly tending to our Summer vegetable gardens, naked. It’s also this time of year that Summer vegetable gardens produce fruit at a the rate of sound + while the thought of canning tomato sauce is not exactly an appealing one however a fairly simple pie with a crust similar to that of cracker, thickly sliced tomatoes, bacon + a fair amount of feta cheese sounds like a good bit of temptation, that is too hard to resist.

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[elisa-munoz]

This will be rotation this summer. I love a good tomato tart!

[elisa-munoz]

Warn weather obsession: homemade sodas. This one used homemade ginger shrub, fresh soda water and simple syrup. Ok, ok, @pspo made this one.

[elisa-munoz]

Vanilla and lemon scented madeleines this morning. Trying to bake more these days, and this seemed like a good start.

[elisa-munoz]

Look how beautifully it matches my Nyx purse! For those not living in New Orleans, trying to explain how awesome this is is futile. #onlyinnola #mardigras2014

[elisa-munoz]

Boom! As it turns out, having a charming hottie boyfriend gets you all the good stuff at the ladies parades! Muses shoe acquired after 3 years of trying.