Notes From The Road

Thank you for bearing with me last week as I trekked from Los Angeles to New Orleans in a little Corolla with a very large orange cat.  I sure did see a lot of road and sky!  Palm Springs has the windmill game on lock.  Arizona surprised me with its dreaminess.  New Mexico has the biggest sky.  Texas made me lonesome for… something, I’m not sure what.  Louisiana was swampy and mysterious.  It’s strange, but even after a month of packing, driving across the country felt more like a road trip that a permanent move.  It’s funny how home became so connected with my little Venice bungalow.  I think it will take a lot of days to undo that.

Tron Cat fared remarkably well on the 30 hour road trip.  For as much of a beast as he is when I’m in the kitchen, he was surprisingly compliant and docile in his crate in the passenger seat of my car.  He only had a few freak-outs… but to be fair, I had a few mid-trip freak-outs myself.   It’s nothing a few cat treats and sour gummy candies can’t soothe.

On the road I filled my ears with The Moth Podcast (really beautiful, real storytelling),  NPR’s Fresh Air (I LOVE this recent episode with American Hustle’s David O. Russell), and 99% Invisible (I listened to every episode they made because it’s fascinating and obscure bits of pop culture).  Turns out I also know every single word to Fiona Apple’s “When The Pawn…”, so there’s that.

Out of the car and into the French Quarter in three days!  Just like that!

I’m slowly setting up shop here.  Unpacking is so much better than packing packing.

There’s a sunny spot for the bike.

There’s a tidy spot for all of the spices.

I’d love to show you more of my kitchen but I’m still trying to figure things out.  There’s not a ton of storage and I’m going to have to do some serious tetris to figure it out.  This apartment is beautiful, but it’s not one of those perfect places that has a kitchen spot for each and every item.  Do those perfect places exist or is it just a thing on Pinterest?  Imperfection has its charm.

So far the spice drawer is the only reasonable zone, and that may even be changed.  I promise to show more as I figure the space out.

I’ll probably just invite you over to make biscuits… so, let’s just do that.

Count on me to always find a way to make a cocktail even when the kitchen isn’t entirely unpacked.

Outside of the front gates are more street musicians, cocktails, and crawfish that I can currently comprehend.  This lady was singing as I walked up with bags of groceries.  I suppose this might be a new normal.  I’ll share all of it with you.  It feels like we have time, right?

What I’m really trying to figure out is how to make this kitchen feel like home.  Right now it feels like I’m baking in a stranger’s kitchen, but I’m sure that will change with time.

I wanted to make something that would fill my foreign kitchen with familiar smells.  Banana Bread!  So simple and comforting.  I’ll share the recipe with you tomorrow.

I feel like we’re in this together and I appreciate you!  Thank you for all of your kind words of encouragement and support!