Birthday Brunch

Erin, Connor, Jay, and I all have August birthdays and I decided it would be fun to do brunch at Commander's this year.  (Jay has to share it vicariously).  The 21st (Erin's) fell on a Sunday, so we celebrated "one for all and all for one".  Unfortunately that didn't hold true for the price.  We were seated in the Garden Room, which I love and Connor was introduced to fine dining.  Everytime he popped out of his seat to take a picture, the waiter would hurry over and refold his napkin. He ordered his own meal off the big menu although Jerry did try and encourage him to get a child's menu. 

Everyone had three choices, the appetizer, the entree and the dessert.  Erin ordered the cajun eggs benedict which looked really good, I ordered the gumbo, Connor got the fruit that you see in the picture, and Jerry ordered a salad.  The three adults ordered shrimp and grits for the entree, and Connor ordered the wahoo of which he ate every bite.

I really love Commander's, and it was a special treat to go for our birthdays. The food, the music (jazz brunch) and the overall ambience made it a perfect way to celebrate birthdays. 
On the way home, Connor took a picture of Emeril's - maybe that is where we will go next year!

Aunt Nezi Remembers

We've been planning this day for awhile now, but with everyone's busy schedules it kept getting postponed.  I have been meeting with friends once a month (or so) for almost a year now and we have been writing down our memories for our children and grandchildren.  It's really been fun and without this planned activity, most of us would never have completed the amount of stories that we have accumulated.  Usually we wait until the night before our meeting to jot down our thoughts. 

Several years ago, Etchie must have had somewhat the same idea as she interviewed mother's oldest sister, Aunt Belle, and then Dad began recording some of his memories also.  After reading these two accounts, I thought it would be interesting to see what Aunt Nezi remembered also, and I intend to add all of these to my entries.  I know some people go in for tracing their roots way back and that is a good thing, but I like the idea of having personal stories. 
So we finally picked up Aunt Nezi and bribed her with a boat ride and lunch at a restaurant and brought her to Etchie's in Slidell.  She was hesitant at first, insisting that she didn't really remember that much, but once we started talking the memories started flowing.  We recorded everything, so now it my job to listen to the tape and type it all up, and add it to dad's.
We had a great time (we always do when she is around), and as promised were rewarded with a ride in Etchie and Bill's replica of the African Queen (ha).  Yes, it was hot, but we all had a great time, and thank you Bill for being our pilot and putting up with all of the yada, yada, yada.