How Do You Spell "Relief?"

I'll bet that New Orleanians all over the country have their own versions, but for me, it's the rather lengthy "thank god that flippin' Industrial Canal floodwall held and damn they'd better improve it soon because this was only a Category Two and look how easily it was overtopped." Okay, that technically is not a spelling, but it's in the spirit of the effort, don't you think?

Now I'm reading about this "Tier One" reentry business. There are some excellent observations on this out-of-the-blue policy on Blog of New Orleans. My beefs with this are many, but here they are in a nutshell:

1. It's unconstitutional
2. We should have been informed about it in advance (if it existed in advance) and (we could've challenged it in court)
3. The rationale - that businesses need to "restock" - doesn't make any sense
4. This policy will discourage many people from leaving next time

Nothing much I can do about it from here except dwell on the costuming potential of the various tiers (Tier One Imports!) and I'm here at the beach till Thursday anyway. But I am fully supportive of those calling for an insurrection at the checkpoints.

On some lighter notes, we had a minor accidental self-ampution yesterday when a member of our crew removed part of her fingertip and nail while chiffonading basil. "It was a really sharp knife!" proclaimed our victim, who claims to have never inflicted such an injury in 30+ years of cookery. Other helpful housemates, already in Destin on a shopping spree, grabbed the latest in medical technology to help. And this is what they found: a finger condom.


We celebrated the apparent sparing of our beloved New Orleans last night by feasting on sweet, plump fresh blue crabs (masterfully prepared by Chef David),


and consuming vast quantities of the following:

3 oz brandy
3 oz orange Curacao
3 oz Triple Sec
fruit of your choice
1 bottle of champagne


Before yesterday, this concoction had no name, but now, it is The Cocktail of the Century.

Caveat imbibor.