The economy sucks, so I got another job

That is to say, I got an additional job.

Waiting tables.

I don't doubt that we are headed for a Lost Decade just like Japan's. Another recession, no growth, massive unemployment. The shenanigans with the debt ceiling have only solidified my opinion that the government will never pull its head out of its collective ass long enough to shore up education, infrastructure, and healthcare, which means we will slowly fall farther and farther behind the rest of the world and they will blame it on terrorism, or gay marriage, or abortion, or possibly a combination of all three, rather than just, you know, not being dumb-asses.

So, given that, I'm really really nervous.

Not about our two jobs, per se. Just that we're still carrying so much debt, and that if God forbid something should happen to one of our jobs, we're not yet at the point where we could live on one income. So I want to make that debt go away as quickly as possible.

So I got a part-time job waiting tables, at a wine bar/upscale pizza joint just down the street from my day job. I don't mind waiting tables again, as all the money I make doing it will be purely extra money. All that will go straight to debt repayment, along with all the other money we're throwing at debt repayment. It's not like we need it to eat or anything. And I don't mind working my ass off for a year or two, if it means that then I won't have to work at all.

I'll report back, once I start. My feet and back are a lot older than they were the last time I did this, and I shudder to think of next year's tax bill, but the thought of paying off a bunch of stuff in short order makes me very, very happy.

Update

So, since we returned from vacation:

My stepson has arrived for a month of summer visitation. I've laid in a supply of hot dogs and juice. He's grown several inches since the last time I saw him (and, thankfully, all the extra weight he was carrying has now translated into height), gotten a deep California summer tan, and--most exciting of all--has actually deigned to try new foodstuffs. In my presence.

Not a lot, mind you. But he tried homemade bread, cinnamon bread, zucchini cake (I was shocked, normally he wouldn't touch anything with visible green flecks) and chunky tomato sauce. He's also eating salad and carrot sticks. It's so great to watch him eating, and actually enjoying eating. It's a long cry from the days when he would literally go 24 hours without eating.

Speaking of Stepson, we opened a 529 for him. I feel so grown-up and responsible and stuff.

My sister-in-law and her family visited. It was great to see them again, and great to see my stepson playing with his cousins. The house was loud, and messy, for several days, but who cares. We ate, we drank, we wore deep grooves in the lawn with a Slip-n-Slide. Good times.

Speaking of family, my parents are coming to visit this weekend. They'll be able to spend some quality time with Stepson while he's here.

I'm getting some more pre-cancerous bits cut out of me. Wear sunscreen, people.
I've declared war on all rodents. I discovered, just as the tomato harvest was coming in, that squirrels and chipmunks were devastating the harvest. They were stealing and eating as many green tomatoes as they could carry. So far I estimate I've lost at least 25 big beefsteak tomatoes and who knows how many cherry tomatoes, and that's just counting the tomato carcasses I could find. I'll post a longer, more detailed garden update, but here are the salient points:

1. Squirrels and chipmunks will eat all your tomatoes.
2. Repellents, mothballs, cayenne sprays, and individually Ziploc-ing all the tomatoes will not stop the slaughter.
3. The only thing that works is to kill them.
4. Rat traps and Death Buckets work best for this.
5. Death Buckets = fill a 5-gallon bucket about halfway with water. Float about an inch of black sunflower seeds on top. (They float.) Place a board running up the side of the bucket to the top. The chipmunks (and mice, apparently) will run up the plank, see the sunflower seeds, think it's a solid base, and jump in. Then they drown.
6. So far I've nabbed 10 chipmunks, 2 squirrels, and 4 mice. The tomato carnage has dropped precipitously (though it still continues).
7. Don't worry, I brought all the rat traps inside when children arrived. I've been relying solely on the Death Buckets since then.

My cat killed a snake. My blind cat. Killed a garter snake. He was so proud of himself.

New Orleans, Part II

Phew! I think that covered all the restaurants we hit in NOLA. :-)

Though I'm an old pro in Gulfport/New Orleans (I think this was my fourth time there), it was my husband's first. His verdict: steamy (in the humid way) but fun. The swamp tour was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. The steamboat tour, however, was exactly as touristy and boring as I thought it would be.

The highlight of the trip, of course, was seeing my family and my now-one-year-old niece. Next year we'll have to work in an equivalent amount of time with my in-laws.

New Orleans: Cochon

And last but not least, Cochon.

This was our first meal in New Orleans and my husband's favorite. Cochon and I go way back, I've eaten there every time I've ever been in the city. (It was my second favorite meal of this trip, next to Patois, but Cochon will always be my favorite NOLA restaurant in general.)

The best way to eat there is to split a bunch of the lovely appetizers. Here's what we shared:

fried rabbit livers with toast and pepper jelly
fried alligator
fried boudin balls
pork cheeks with spoon bread
rabbit and dumplings
peach pie

Seriously, doesn't that all sound divine? It was, too.

One of the things I like most about Cochon (other than their devotion to all things pork) is that they have whisky and moonshine tastings. That's right, moonshine. As in that stuff that normally comes out of a Mason jar and tastes like paint thinner. I grew up in Virginia and I guess naturally assumed that all moonshine was illegal, since it was there--but it turns out moonshine, at least in Louisiana, is perfectly legal and in fact comes in a) flavors and b) actual bottles (not just Mason jars).

So I got a moonshine tasting, featuring--what else?--Virginia moonshine. Specifically, Virginia Lightning from Culpeper, VA, which ironically enough cannot be bought or sold in Virginia. I also had a cocktail with cucumber vodka, strawberry moonshine, and Barritts. My husband, having lived in Culpeper for a time and still being scarred from that experience, opted for the whisky tasting and proclaimed the George Dickel #12 the best.

Random notes: we both split a cocktail called the Swinekiller, with Hendricks gin, rhubarb bitters, and limeade. Our favorite cocktail of the trip.

Also, Cochon has opened a deli just around the corner called Cochon Butcher, featuring a meat counter and sandwiches. We got sandwiches to go on our way out of town and they were, of course, really good. (Their pickles are surprisingly tasty, as well.)

New Orleans: Coquette

We didn't actually have a meal at Coquette, but I'll make sure we do next time. We stopped in as we were walking through the Garden District, as a thunderstorm was threatening to blow in. We spent a lovely couple of hours lingering at the bar, sampling their wine list and artisanal cocktails and enjoying a lovely cheese platter and plate of beignets. What better way is there to pass a rainy afternoon?

New Orleans: Patois

Patois, I think, was my favorite meal of the trip.

Here's what we ate (in order of photos):

sweetbreads
grilled octopus
charcuterie plate
rabbit
quail
Creole cream cheese semifreddo

Along with a bottle of Emeritus pinot noir and a martini made with pickle juice.

Isn't that just, like, the most awesome menu ever?

Seriously, I love menus like that. The food was great, needless to say, but I really appreciate when a restaurant is willing and able to feature the more esoteric ingredients like sweetbreads and octopus. It means they're not afraid to tackle the weird stuff, and more importantly, that their clientele isn't afraid of it, either. (A restaurant wouldn't list octopus if no one ever ordered it.) And a clientele that isn't afraid to order octopus, is a clientele that is probably cultured, well-educated, and hip to good wines. Which means a) a great restaurant, but also b) a fun neighborhood to go out in and c) interesting people to talk to at the bar.

The inside was pleasantly casual, with two stories and a wood floor, our waiter was so accommodating it was almost funny, and the courses were perfectly timed. My only quibble is that we were whisked away immediately to our table, so that we didn't get a chance to linger at the bar. I do love lingering at the bar and chatting up the bartender, to see what he/she knows about their craft. (I tried that at Cure, only to be offered a drink already on the menu and then ignored. Great drinks there, but not the chattiest bartenders--which I wouldn't have minded, if we hadn't been the only ones there.) But that's a minor point.

Verdict: Go. Then go again.

New Orleans: Brennan's

Brennan's is one of the old French Quarter stalwarts, still serving turtle soup and bananas foster after all these years. We stopped in for their traditional breakfast, which was a) expensive, b) nothing but tourists, and c) really delicious.

I started with a baked apple in cream (top photo), accompanied by a "Creole" Bloody Mary with pickled green beans. Note: it's hard to find a really good Bloody Mary. I've had too many Bloody Marys that were merely vodka with tomato juice and maybe some Worchestershire--not spicy, not complexly layered with flavors, definitely not tasty. Brennan's is one of the very few Bloody Marys I've had that were up to my own standards. It was spicy, complex, and I wouldn't have changed a thing about it (except maybe the price).

(Speaking of prices, they had the balls to charge us $4.95 each for coffee and hot tea. Now, I can understand charging for the Bloody Mary. But really, shouldn't coffee come free with the meal, especially if it's three courses for $45 a person? I mean, come on.)

Then I had the Eggs Sardou, which is poached eggs in artichoke husks on a bed of spinach with hollandaise sauce. The eggs were divine, but that broiled tomato in the middle? Was a hard, tasteless, barely pink supermarket tomato. In Louisiana in the middle of the summer, and they can't get a better tomato than that?

Dessert was--what else?--bananas foster, flamed tableside.

Verdict: generally excellent. Too obvious they're catering to tourists with the breakfast, what with the high prices and charging for coffee and crappy tomatoes and all. Next time, I'll get breakfast at a diner--it probably won't be quite as delicious, but coffee won't be $4.95, either, and who needs breakfast to be a gourmet meal?