Mardi Gras 2010

I invited a few of my NWC friends over to celebrate Mardi Gras on Fat Tuesday. It was a small affair since I couldn't fit that many in my apartment, but with the help of MWR, I was at least able to rent some tables and chairs to seat everyone. This is the main table that I set up in the living room, with a second table set in the spare room off the living room. One can see the King Cake I ordered from a bakery in New Orleans centered. It was yummy!



Unfortunately, I didn't get to take many pictures, but this is a pre-party pic of Jimmy (one of my lobsta' night regulars) wearing his boa. I have another one of him wearing a gold, plastic crown but he may not want that published. . . .he also brought crawfish ettouffe', a creamy, spicy dish with crawfish tails.

This is the only pic I took of the chow I cooked, but don't my red beans and rice look wonderful? The secret is definitely in letting them cook for a few hours with a ham bone. They turned out well, but by the end of the evening the rice had soaked up all the liquid so the leftovers were not salvagable. Lesson learned: serve the beans separate from the rice! (Yes, those are my boots and the apron I made in Home Ec in high school). I was also able to make my squash medley because I found some merlitons at the commissary.

This is a pic of myself and my friend Kris. She is a civilian but is a fellow student. That's really all I can say about her because of the agency she works for. . . . and yes, I ordered my shirt just for the event :).




Last but not least, the cat pic. Morgaine insisted that she be allowed to wear some beads. . . .

So, the party was a success and everyone had a good time. I will be sitting down in about five minutes to enjoy some leftover mexican cornbread and creole black-eyed peas :).

My evening was spent trying to watch some documentaries and a made-for-TV movie starring Elizabeth Montgomery back in the 70s. I say "trying" because I could never get the DVDs to play. . . .I think it was because of some paranormal activity that interfered with the electronics. Around 10pm I go upstairs to read a little before falling asleep. Nothing unusual happens and around midnight I finally turn out the lights. I slept with my door open, but I had earlier moved the doorstop away to change and forgot to replace it. After I had drifted off, I am awakened by the door shutting. . . .I think it no big deal, get out of bed to open it, and noticed a drastic drop in the room's temperature. I go back to sleep but am awakened by the feel of icy, cold fingers on my cheek. I am paralyzed with fear and frozen to the bone by the sub-zero temperature in the room. This was not caused by the draft from the howling winds. . . .as I lie there with chills running up my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck standing straight up, I hear a voice in the darkness asking, "why, Lizzie, why. . . .?" It is a man's voice--the voice of Mr. Borden. . . .
Okay, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic. But, I really couldn't get the DVDs to work and I was awakened around midnight with the chills and an "odd" feeling, but I think it really was the wind creeping in through the cracks. My house in Newport is similar, you can feel the cold creeping in through the windows. Overall, it was a boring, quiet night. However, the manager/owner did have some interesting paranormal stories to tell. . . .who, by the way, believes Lizzie did, in fact, commit the murders.

After breakfast I ventured to the cemetary where the whole family is buried--to include Mr. Borden, his first wife, his second wife, Lizzie, her sister Emma, and other extended family members. I'm inclined to believe that she did it, but I don't know enough about the case to say why or what her true motivations were. (without being swayed by the movie that implies she was mentally unstable). Although a violent murder, we have to be careful about imposing our modern sensibilities on a different era. An axe may simply have been the best tool she had available--it does not necessarily imply she was a deranged psychopath.

Here, I am sitting on the couch where Mr. Borden was murdered. The owner told me that people do not like to sit on it, so, of course, I had to. This picture was taken the morning after, but you'll see in the video below that I sat on it the first chance I got once I was left alone.

Unfortunately, this picture does not do the house justice, but this is the house Lizzie and her sister moved into after she was acquitted. What I didn't know was that her father was wealthy, worth about $8 million dollars in today's currency. The house is now privately owned and painted white, but at the time it was a "painted lady", a Victorian house painted in blue and beige. It was simply huge. Lizzie and her sister Emma lived in it after the trial for a few years but Emma eventually moved out. However, this is the home that Lizzie died in when she was in her 60s. I just find it odd that she never left Fall River, though she was shunned the rest of her life. Enjoy the video. . .unfortunately, I have a second video, but it's too large to upload. I'll try to figure something out. . . .

A Night at Lizzie Borden's

It's a cold, windy, dark New England night. It is a night with a full moon and the temperature is 17 degrees. There's a howling, north-westerly wind blowing that shakes the window panes of the Lizzie Borden house. The house is chilly, since the wind seems to come through every crack . . .or is it chilly for other reasons?

When I first made my reservations, the manager was surprised there would only be one in my party, which rattled me somewhat. Then I received a call today from the manager to inform me I would have the house to myself, that there would be no other guests. She asked if I would be okay with that. . .

I checked in around 4:30pm and commenced my tour immediately. I will relate the facts of the case in a subsequent posting but, for now, I'm intrigued. I will be sitting down shortly to watch some documentaries and a movie made in the 70s in the parlor, by myself. I wish I had some pics to post but do not at this time as my new camera is upstairs charging. I'll get some in the daylight in the morning but for tonight. . . .perhaps I can catch some plasma or orbs in the darkened house. . . .The manager informed me that if I encounter anything tonight, it will be the ghost of Mr. or Mrs. Borden and not Lizzie. That's good--I have no desire to encounter the ghost of an axe-murderer!

More to follow. . .

Lobsta' Night

Last Monday night, I had a couple of friends over to break-in the new lobster pot I purchased. We bought our lobsters on the pier, about two blocks down from my apartment. It was, obviously, a new experience for me, never having to encounter an animal in its living state before cooking it (I understand that some would think that seafood does not count). Although, I vaguely remember chicks, that grew into chickens, that ended up on our table fried (does my memory serve me correctly?) Anyway, I think the first two pics speak for themselves. . .

As you can see, they turned out well. . . .truth be told, they were delicious!

Also on the menu was crab salad stuffed roasted red sweet peppers (pimentos). I got that recipe out of the tapas book my mom bought me at Borders when I was home over the summer (see mom, I actually used it!) We definitely plan to do this again after the holidays. . . .

Polo

What you see in this video is me getting one good hit in then having to transition to the defense when I missed the second opportunity to hit (I'm in yellow if you can't tell. . .)

This video also shows me getting a couple of good hits, but the reason I didn't take the one at the end is because I thought I had committed a foul by crossing in front of the white horse. But, it turned out I had the right of way and could have taken the shot.

Morgaine's New Toy: Part 2

Morgaine's New Toy: Part 1