the city that lives to eat

“I believe that we are what we eat. In that case, I would like to introduce myself through food: I am the birthday cakes that my mother made for me and my siblings each year. These themed sheet cakes varied depending on our age and interests. There was The little Mermaid cake and a Goodnight, Moon! cake….Each one was sweet, soft, and coated in homemade icing that I still cannot seem to replicate. Through them, I learned that food can convey love.”

Shannon Cothran. “Editor’s Lagniappe” in Louisiana Cooking Magazine, published October 2007.

“Oh man, the food in New Orleans is great.” I kept hearing this phrase for the last couple of weeks before I left to go to New Orleans. I didn’t take it that serious till I personally ate the food of this city. The food here is different from the food everywhere else. After exploring the city for a couple of weeks and eating its food, I found that the food in this city makes me fall in love with the city, the same way Shannon Cothran learned that food too can convey love.

As a kid who grew up in the country of Yemen in the Middle East where everyone learns how to cook, I learned how to cook from both of my parents who are from two different backgrounds. And as a result, I learned how to cook two different culinary styles, one is Vietnamese and the other is Yemenis. Each of these countries has unique characteristics; starting from the techniques people use to cook, to the food people eat and the way it’s eaten. The people in Vietnam often use vegetables that they plant in the backyard of their houses in every day dishes. They make dishes that are garnished with limes and lemongrass, light and pungent fish sauces, or wrapped in delicate lettuce leaves with fresh, feathery herbs. Aside from what goes in the dishes, Vietnam custom calls for different protocol when eating, like never using ones personal fork or spoon in the main dish, but using only the spoon or serving device that was originally placed in that dish. On the other hand, the people in Yemen shop for all their ingredients. The mother wakes up in the morning and without delay starts grocery shopping for that day. The people there are particularly fond of hot and spicy foods. They tend to eat from one big serving dish. Traditionally they all make sure that they wash their hands before eating and then use their hands to eat as suppose to using silverware.

Like most kids, I enjoyed cooking when I first cooked my first meal by myself. Even after then, I never gave much thought about cooking and how it would impact my everyday life until I was own my own and out the house. The art of cooking became my desire and drove me to look for a job in a kitchen when I started searching for a part-time job in high school. Fortunately, I was able to get in the kitchen and became a chef assistant for a local Japanese restaurant in Charleston, West Virginia. This experience was the start of something new - from a kid cooking for himself to a chef assistant serving others - which I would like to share with you.

If you have ever been inside of a restaurant kitchen, then you know that there are many appliances, people running around like chickens with their heads cut, off yelling orders and demands, and the smell of delicious foods cooking along with the smell of an occasional dish cooked a little too long. This is the normal kitchen, but the kitchen at Fuji’s restaurant, across from the Town Center Mall, adds a whole new meaning to good home-style cooking with an oriental flavor. The kitchen not only smells good, but it is kept very shiny and neat by a bald-headed Japanese man who has a very loud voice, the boss.

When one first walks in through the small, dark door that the employers walk through, there are shelves that hold many colorful cans which contain a variety of Japanese spices such as green tea and ginseng. The cans come in a variety of sizes ranging from small five-ounce cans to huge, monstrous cans that hold vegetables. Next to these shelves is the freezer. It is very cold and has a layer of ice on the outside as well as the inside. Opening the cold, heavy metal door one would see a variety of sea-foods, like shiny-dead fish hanging and staring at you with cold, blank eyes. Continuing towards the front of the kitchen, one passes the ice machine that lets out a constant humm, much like that of a bumble-bee. Then the dishwasher with its shiny top and shelves that hold dirty dishes, still bearing crumbs from their last entrée. Then one passes the refrigerator. It too humms, but the sound is more like a smooth running car, rather than a bumble-bee. This is half-way through the kitchen and it is here that the smell of cooking rice, fish, shrimp, oysters, and seaweed hit the nostrils. Thousands of smells assault the senses, numbing the mind and stirring the taste-buds. Heat rises from the ovens and deep fryers while the fan swirls gently to cool off the sweltering building. Men are running back and forth, chopping off the heads of fishes, rolling sushi balls, and California rolls. These men all have dark skin to give the place an oriental feel. Wearing white aprons on top of blue clothing, each of them has a specific job, and all of them are yelling out orders as fast as they can. One of those men was me. I stood in the middle of the kitchen beside the fat, chubby chef named Masa. On my first day as a chef assistant in this restaurant, the first question the chef asked me was “Did you work in a kitchen before?” I answered “No, but I will do my best here because I love cooking.” He replied to me smiling “Great! I like that because it will be easier for me to teach you how to cook.” At first I didn’t know why he was happy when I told him that I have no experience in the kitchen. He later told me that since I will learn to work in the kitchen from him, I will do exactly what he will teach me.

After working in this kitchen for a couple of weeks, I noticed something very unique to be working in a restaurant kitchen. It has a rhythm as well as a pattern. After about half an hour every day preparing the kitchen for the night, it is when the waitress or the waiter walks in with a small piece of paper in his or her hands yelling out the order, that is when the night starts. The chef and I will immediately start cooking. Fish sizzle, and knives whack the table in a rhythm set to the pace of the crowd. Up front the boss man is making food in front of the people and yelling out orders to the workers in the back. The only person who gets in the way is the dish washer boy; who is carrying around trays of dishes. Although it is very busy and crowded back here in the kitchen, the chef and I always tried to prepare the dishes in matching time in order to keep all the orders for one table hot. This way we make sure that they will enjoy the food and will come back to eat at our restaurant. All of this activity stops at nine o’clock pm, then the dish washer boy goes about cleaning the dishes, running a worn out mop over the floor, and taking a feather duster to the Japanese lanterns. Extra food gets thrown in the trash cans and the extra fish gets put into the freezer with their mouths still slightly open to freeze for another night. We all take off our dirty aprons, ovens get turned off, the room begins to cool down and we all call out goodnight to one-another. The refrigerator and the ice machine still humm softly as the boss man checks everything to make sure it is clean. Then the small, dark door is shut until another day when the delightful food of the orient is once again delivered to shoppers from the Town Center Mall.

Personally, this experience allowed me to discover a unique interest that I will hold on to everywhere I go. Fortunately, I find myself in a city where food is almost a religion. It is the city of New Orleans. When I first came to the city of New Orleans, I was surprised. Maybe it was the fact that I arrived in the city when it was dark and could not see much. The neighborhood that I am living in was partially destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and therefore it looked frightening. At that moment, I knew that I was literally stepping into a totally different world different than what I was used to. It was like the first time I stepped into Newark International Airport in New York City feeling anxious and nervous about the surroundings. But this time, fear was surrounding me. My fist impression of this city was “Is there any thing that would draw me to love and stay here?” I had a hard time trying to decide whether would I stay in New Orleans or should I go back to Lexington. Although all these thoughts were going through my mind, I tried to fight them looking for the picture that was in my mind; which is a unique city. Therefore I started to explore and discover this unique city. I took a ride in my car through different neighborhoods learning my way around, and it still looks frightening. While walking down Bourbon Street where all the parties are, I felt that it wasn’t my environment. I then went to the most delicious restaurants in the city and tried their food. It was then I found the answer that kept me in this city; it was this city’s food.

“New Orleans is a town where food is almost a religion,” says John Rosenthal. Being here in this city and eating its food, I think he is very right. Yet I still want to know why, and therefore I ask myself the following three questions:

First Am I going to learn what do Cajun and Creole mean?

Before getting to New Orleans, when someone mentioned the words Cajun and Creole, I always thought that he or she was referring to a flavor, but after talking to the people here, I found out that they are more than that. So what do Cajun and Creole mean? What are the roots of those two words? And how does it relate to food? Looking for answers, I headed to the Williams Research Center on Chartres Street where I found the answers I was looking for.

I found out that the food in the city of New Orleans has a distinctive history that is based on two diverse cultures: the Cajun and the Creole. The Cajun culture goes back to the Acadians who were settled in Canada. And because of the tensions between the French and the British, the Acadians were ultimately forced out of Nova Scotia. Most of them were scattered throughout the English Colonies to Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia. They ultimately made their way to Louisiana and settled on the south part of it, according to a document known as the Aubry letter written in 1763,

“I saw the arrival of 60 Acadian families from Sainte Domingue but did not foresee the many to follow to make Louisiana the New Acadia. 300 are on the Mississippi. We do not speak of them in hundreds anymore, but in thousands. It is our duty not to abandon them.”

The Creole culture, on the other hand, goes back to the Europeans who left Europe seeking for new adventure in the New World. They are the first white settlers in Louisiana, and usually the second born sons of aristocrats. As indicated by Chef John D. Folse in his book The Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine,

“Today, Creole is defined as anyone born on Louisiana soil from the intermarriage of Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans who contributed significantly to the culture and cuisine of Louisiana.”

Both these cultures brought with them the art of cooking. They brought their food recipes, cooking techniques, and most importantly secret ingredients.

Second Am I going to be a restaurant critic?

The history of Cajun and Creole culinary styles added a new perspective to my interest in regards to food and cooking. Therefore, my next goal is to start eating at New Orleans style restaurants to analyze the different menus from different restaurants. What makes different restaurants have different tastes? What makes a dish in a particular restaurant famous? Who is behind this famous dish? I started going to several restaurant like K-Paul's Louisiana kitchen (a famous Cajun restaurant) and Antoine’s Restaurant (a famous Creole restaurant) trying to set an interview with their chefs. Unfortunately, I was unable to due to their busy schedules.

The only restaurant that I was able to get an interview from was Frady’s. It is a small store/restaurant that is located in my neighborhood just a few blocks away from the house. In my first few visits to this restaurant, I was lucky to get to know the owner, Kirk Frady. He is a good person with an open heart who welcomed me and treated me like a member of his family, even though he only knew me for a short period of time. Without delay I prepared a list of questions to ask Kirk. My first question for him was, “Why is New Orleans food delicious?” He answered, “Because it is a MELTING POT that contains different people and flavors.” One shopper in the store, Clayton Kerth, over heard us talking, who jumped in and said, “This is because our food is the BEST of the BEST of the BEST of the families recipe.” He continued with, “Those people might give you the recipe but not the secret ingredients. If you find it, it is like a treasure hunt.” After that, I focused on the food in the restaurant. I learned that Frady’s serves both Soul and Cajun foods, for example; red beans and rice (Soul), and jambalaya and po-boy (Cajun). I also found out that his famous dish is Bread Pudding which he learned from his father whom learned from his father. Suddenly, the store got packed with people, so I decided to stop the interview with Kirk, thank him for his time, and left.

I also get the chance to attend a lecture by Susan Lauderman at The Historic New Orleans Collection. Her lecture title was “Dollops of History in Every Bite: Two Culinary Heritage Projects to Preserve Creole Cookery in New Orleans”. In the lecture, she talked about the danger that we might face; loosing one of our treasures which is Creole Food. She addressed the factors that are leading us to loose this culinary treasure.

Some of these factors were:

• Our Creole restaurants are not able to reopen after Katrina
• Increase in the number of non-Creole restaurants
• The mother doesn’t pass to her kids the culinary of Creole cooking
• The schools are feeding the students fast food

Susan Lauderman’s mission is to keep our Creole heritage. She is trying to preserve this type of food in this city. Personally I think that we are not loosing this treasure, but rather blending together different culinary styles in New Orleans.

At the end of the lecture, I walked up to Susan and introduced myself to her. She seemed very happy that I attended her lecture. I was also recommended to get in touch with Louisiana Cookin’ editor, Shannon Cothran. Consequently, I emailed her in hopes to conduct an interview and was pleased to know that she is willing to see me. Shannon Cothran is the editor-in-chief of Louisiana Cookin’ magazine who has just recently moved to New Orleans. She gave me specific instructions to get to her office; which is on Cleveland Ave (one block off Canal Street). As soon as I got in the building, Shannon came from her office asking me if I was Alwan. She also asked me if I would mind for another person to join us. I gladly answered, “Not at all.” The person who was joining us was Romney Richard, the CEO and Executive Editor of Louisiana Cookin’ Magazine. After introducing myself, the first thing I asked was, “Why New Orleans food is famous?” Romney replied, “It is because our food is so singular, unique, and best in the world.” I curiously asked, “Then what are the secret ingredients?” Both told me that it is because of the Holy Trinity. It is a mix of green pepper, onion, and celery that is put into all food. I also learned that what makes New Orleans food special is the mix of all other cultures, as Shannon stated “The mix of all other cultures compliments our food.”

Finally Am I going to create the next signature plate?

As I mentioned earlier, I have been a chef assistant for two years. I did enjoy being a chef assistant. I also enjoyed cooking in the kitchen of this restaurant. At the mean time, I am enjoying the food here in New Orleans. Finding myself back in my kitchen, a question pops in my head: Am I going to be an architect, a chef or both? I think I am leaning more towards the word both!

As usual I went grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, I pretended to act like a chef or at least like a man who is taking care of a family. I prepared a list of what I will cook for that week, and that included a wide range of different flavors. I also considered the right nutrients, the right tastes, and the right ingredients that would make a healthy and more importantly - a delicious meal. As I was trying to pick some fresh lettuce, a woman who was working at the moment asked me “What are you trying to make?” I answered “I am trying to make a delicious Cajun dish.” She replied smiling, “Are you kidding me? You can not make delicious Cajun food if you shop from Wal-Mart. You have to go to a farmers market.” I then realized that one of the factors needed to make a New Orleans dish is the freshest food.

Completely caught off guard but excited, my professor asked me to cook in addition to my paper. Usually I prepare my own menus. This time I started by reading the cookbook that my professor handed to me. Its title is “Who’s Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make A Roux?” The title of the cookbook was really appealing and felt like I had read the book before. It has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion in its title. The introduction is: your background, the body is: your religion and social life, and the conclusion is: can you cook. The cookbook is filled with delicious dishes like: Duck, Oyster & Andouille Gumbo, Keith’s Smothered Quail, Wild Rice Torres, and more. Choosing a dish from the cookbook to prepare was a little hard considering I am a Muslim and also a student with a budget. As a Muslim I am not suppose to eat anything that contains pork, and as a student I have a certain limit to my budget. And therefore, I chose a dish that has no pork as well as cheap to prepare, which was Cajun Waldorf Salad. This time I decided to go grocery shopping from a farmer’s market. The food and the products here are organic and also fresh. I bought a couple of Granny Smith apple, some seedless raisins, some roasted pecans, and a bag of shredded lettuce. I got the other two ingredients - lemon juice and mayonnaise – from Wal-Mart. As soon as I got home, I started preparing the dish. It was really enjoyable: the smell of apple, the texture of raisins and pecans, and the color of the lettuce. All these senses came together to make a really tasty salad. Yet I didn’t find the taste of New Orleans in it. I think the writer called it Cajun because she tried to fit it into all the dishes in her cookbook. I remembered from my interview with Shannon and Romney that the soul of New Orleans food is embedded in the Holy Trinity. It is the secret ingredients to the food in this city. It adds a unique taste, flavor, and smell to all the food. Consequently, I added these ingredients to my salad which includes celery, peppers, and onion. The smell of the celery, the flavor of the peppers, and the taste of the onion added a delightful taste to my salad. In the end, even though the salad didn’t follow the correct original recipe, and tasted different I really enjoyed preparing the dish.

We have always thought, or at least myself, that “we eat to live.” But in the city of New Orleans, I found that the opposite is true. The people in this city consider food more that I expected. Most people that grew up here thought of food as a cultural treasure. It is a fortune they inherited from their mothers and grandmothers who pass down their seasoned iron skillets, along with recipes, to their children. Coming from a different background to the city of New Orleans, falling in love with the food in the city of New Orleans, and finding my self in a different kitchen in the city of New Orleans revealed one passion in me that I have never thought of: cooking. This city is giving me a new perspective everyday: Today food and Tomorrow…

Sources:

Folse, John D. 2004. The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine. Canada: Friesens Corporation.

Bienvenu, Marcelle. 2006. Who’s Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make A Roux? Louisiana: Acadian House Publishing.

Cothran, Shannon. 2007. Editor’s lagniappe. Louisiana Cookin’, October.

Rosenthal, John. 2007. Back in the Big Easy. NWA World Traveler, October.

Lauderman, Susan. 2007. Dollops of History in Every Bite: Two Culinary Heritage Projects to Preserve Creole Cookery in New Orleans. Lecture. October 10.

Frady, Kirk. 2007. Personal Interview. October 9.

Cothran, Shannon. 2007. Personal Interview. October 30.

did I learn cooking from my mom? or is it NOLA’s food teaching me how to cook?

COOKING!! This week assignment is to cook. I am so excited to know that my assignment is to cook. Usually I prepare my own manus. This time I start by reading the cookbook that my professor handed to me. Its title is “Who’s Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make A Roux?” The title of this cookbook is really appealing. I already feel that I read the book before. It has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion in its title. The introduction is: your background, the body is: your religion and social life, and the conclusion is: can you cook. When I start flipping through the book, I notice that the recipes are divided in response to the four seasons of the year. And since we are in the fall, I decide to cook a dish from the fall section. The fall here is different from the fall in Lexington. The trees do not change in color, the leaves do not fall on the ground, and the weather is not as cold. But yet I feel that we are in the fall season because it is a little cold now.

The cookbook is filled with delicious dishes like: Duck, Oyster & Andouille Gumbo, Keith’s Smothered Quail, Wild Rice Torres, and more. Choosing a dish from the cookbook to prepare is a little hard considering I am a Muslim and also a student with a budget. As a Muslim I am not suppose to eat anything that contains pork, and as a student I have a certain limit to my budget. And therefore, I chose a dish that has no pork as well as cheap to prepare.

The dish I chose to cook was the Cajun Waldorf Salad. This time I decided to go grocery shopping from a farmer’s market. The food and the products here are organic and also fresh. I bought a couple of Granny Smith apple, some seedless raisins, some roasted pecans, and a bag of shredded lettuce. I got the other two recipes - lemon juice and mayonnaise - from Wal-Mart. As soon as I got home, I start preparing the dish. It was really enjoyable: the smell of apple, the texture of raisins and pecans, and the color of the lettuce. All these senses came together to make a really tasty salad. Yet I didn’t find the taste of New Orleans Culinary in it. I think the writer called it Cajun because she tried to fit it to the rest of her dishes in her book.

After doing some research, I discover that the soul of New Orleans Culinary is embedded in the Holy Trinity. It is the secret ingredients to the food in this city. It adds a unique taste, flavor, and smell to all the food. Consequently, I add these ingredients to my salad which includes celery, peppers, and onion. The smell of the celery, the flavor of the peppers, and the taste of the onion added a delightful taste to my salad. It tasted different and also weird. After all, I really enjoy preparing this dish, even though the salad I made doesn’t follow the correct recipes. I learn to prepare food differently from shopping to making.

my own Cajun salad recipe:

1 granny smith apple, cored and chopped

1 cup of seedless raisins

½ cup of chopped and roasted pecans

1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice

mayonnaise, shredded lettuce

holy trinity to taste

epicurious.....part 2

As I am researching, reading, and eating New Orleans food, my interest about this topic becomes part of my ritual daily life. When I go grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, I pretend to act like a chef or at least like a man who is taking care of a family. I prepare a list of what I will cook for that week, and that includes a wide range of different flavors. I also consider the right nutrients, the right tastes, and the right ingredients that would make a healthy and more importantly - a delicious meal. I pick the freshest vegetables in the vegetable section as well as the freshest meats in the meat section. After the one hour shopping at Wal-Mart, the first thing I do when I go home is to decide what I am going to cook that day. I think cooking is a social act that every family should do or every group of people living together should do. Cooking involves talking, laughing, moving, making, etcetera. It is a social activity that gathers people together, and therefore I think it has a really big value that you wouldn’t think it has.

Next, as part of my seminar class and my interest in this topic, I decide to interview people in New Orleans who have a strong knowledge about the food in this city. Since I eat my lunch at Frady’s almost everyday, I was able to know Mr. Kirk Frady. I was also able to get to interview him regard my topic.

My first question for him was, “Why is NOLA food delicious?” He answers, “Because it is a MELTING POT that contains different people and different flavor.” One shopper in the store, Clayton Kerth, over heard us talking. He jumps in and says, “This is because our food is BEST of the BEST of the BEST of the family recipe.” He continues with, “Those people might give you the recipe but not the secret ingredients. If you found it, it is like a treasure hunt.”

After that, I focus on the food in this restaurant. I learn that Frady’s serve both Soul and Cajun food. For example: red beans and rice (Soul), and jambalaya and po-boy (Cajun). I also find out that his famous dish is Bread Pudding that he learned from his father who learned from his father. Suddenly, the store gets packed with people. And so I decide to stop the interview with Kirk and continue some other time.

The second part of my research is to go to a lecture by Susan Lauderman on “Dollops of History in Every Bite: Two Culinary Heritage Projects to Preserve Creole Cookery in New Orleans”. In this lecture, she talks about the danger that we might face; we might lose one of our treasures and that is Creole Food. She addresses the factors that lead us to loose this culinary treasure.

Some of these factors are:

• Our Creole restaurants are not able to reopen after Katrina
• Increase in the number of non-Creole restaurants
• The mother doesn’t pass to her kids the culinary of Creole cooking
• The schools are feeding the students fast food

Susan Lauderman’s mission is to keep our Creole heritage. She is trying to preserve this type of food in this city. She says, “There is French, Spanish, and African every where in the world, but none create a unique food as of New Orleans.”

After interviewing Mr. Frady and going to Ms. Lauderman’s lecture, I find out that I have never had this passion about food until now. This city is giving me a new perspective everyday that I can learn and collect: Today food and tomorrow …..

epicurious.....part 1

I have one reason to be in New Orleans; Kentucky New Orleans Architecture Studio. The education that I am getting from this program is exceptional as suppose to a normal studio that I could of take at the University of Kentucky. No wait, I have one more reason, it is the food of New Orleans. The food that I am eating here is delectable as suppose to the food that I use to eat in Lexington. “New Orleans is a town where food is almost a religion,” says John Rosenthal. Being here in this city and eating its food, I think he is very right. Yet I still want to know why, and therefore I ask myself the following three questions:

First Am I going to be a restaurant critic?

My main goal is to start eating at New Orleans style restaurants to analyze different menus from different restaurants. What makes different restaurants have different tastes? What makes a dish in a particular restaurant famous? Who is behind this famous dish? In the next couple of weeks, I will be visiting these restaurants to interview their chefs, cooks, and may be the people eating there.

Second Am I going to know what does Cajun mean?

Before getting to New Orleans, when someone mentions the word Cajun, I always thought that he or she refers to a flavor. But after talking to the people here, I find out that it is more than that. My next step is to find out what does Cajun mean? What are the roots of the word Cajun? And how does it relate to food?

Finally Am I going to create the next signature plate?

I have been a chef assistant at a Japanese restaurant in Charleston for two years. I did enjoy being a chef assistant. I also enjoyed cooking in the kitchen of this restaurant. At the mean time, I am enjoying the food here in New Orleans. Recalling the past and experimenting the present a question pops in my head: Am I going to be an architect or a chef or both? I think I am more leaning towards the word both. In fact, after dining at Baru Bistro & Tapas with my classmates, Bob and I created the next Chimichurri called the “centrino sauce”.

centino recipe:

4 ounces cilantro, chopped

3 clove garlic, minced

2 teaspoons black pepper

1 ½ teaspoon old bay

3 tablespoons fresh olive oil

some of new orleans funSSSS....

biking down royal st.

One of the most ironic features of the city of New Orleans, yet unique, is the mix of different cultures in a single cluster, neighborhood, or street. This feature gives me a sense of being in different societies by just riding my bike down one single route- Royal Street - that cuts from the Bywater area through Faubourg Marigny to the French Quarter. According to Greenbie, in his article Village Space: Fences and Neighborhoods, he states, “…my hypothesis is that the most clearly bounded areas will tend to attract people who actively seek homogeneity, who are already disposed toward small communities, such as ethnic groups, to the degree that their desire for cultural cohesion overrides other needs and objectives.” I find this theory is valid and embedded in my journey through Royal Street. Personally, it is the interaction with the people in these three neighborhoods that gives me the sense of being in different places.

I start my journey by packing a camera and a notebook, and riding my bike through Royal Street. Actually before I start my journey I ask my neighbor the street or boundaries that separate these three neighborhoods. I am told that the boundary of the Bywater area starts from Poland Avenue and ends at Press Street, and so I ride my bike to the corner of Royal Street and Poland Avenue. Riding from Poland Avenue to Piety Street, I notice that the buildings have the same external physical look. Some of them share the characters of being old and not well maintained. Others share the same building type like “shot-gun” houses. Furthermore, some share an extreme color on the outside walls, like blue, red, purple, etc. According to the Bywater Neighborhood Association most of the buildings are single story but are raised well above grade, and therefore I find that they share approximately the same height. I also find that the fences that surround the houses in this area are pretty high. Some houses place a pin-like trim on top and around their fences. As a result, I think that the people do not feel totally secure. Even though, it is a negative thing, I find it architecturally intriguing. It gives the fences a three dimensional depth and also it provides the fences with more texture.

I stop by Frady’s, a local market on Piety Street, to get a Po-Boy. While waiting for my food, I talk to a couple people who are also waiting for their food. And I figure out that the most fascinating thing I find about this neighborhood is its people. They are family to each other. They are family to strangers, like me. I base this statement on real experience with those people. For instance, when I walk in Frady’s the owner, Kark Frady, always asks me about my day. He also asks me what kind of food I like, so he would cook it for me. He says, “You are new here in New Orleans, and I want to make you feel home.” He makes me feel like I am member of this neighborhood or rather a member of a big family in this neighborhood. Once I finish eating my food, I head back to Royal Street. I notice a number of people walking their dog along me in the same direction. When I got to the corner of Royal and Piety Street, I see a park to my left. It is a dog park. People use this park as a social center to walk their dog, and also as a space to hold different events ranging from food to art to music.

Next, I continue riding my bike towards Faubourg Marigny. I was told that it starts from Press Street and ends on Esplanade. When I got closer to the rail road, the buildings on both my sides begin to recede. It seems like I am entering a new space, and yes indeed I just pass Press Street entering Faubourg Marigny. The buildings in this area are more likely the same in the Bywater. The different that I noticed is the height of the fence. It wasn’t as high, so I figure the people here feel more secure. Unlike the Bywater fences, people here decorate their fences with Mardi Grass beads. There are also more local businesses in this area, and so it seems more active and therefore nosier. There are more people walking on the side walks as well as more automobiles passing by the road.

Before crossing Elysian Fields Avenue, I see a ceramic art store to the left. The back yard of this store carries a set of beautiful ceramic works. It also has a number of wood ponds that contains elephant ears leaves and white lilies. The mixture of ceramic works and natural plants in this back yard brings a new setting to the area. It brightens up the area with natural plants. And when I cross Elysian Fields Avenue, I see another park called Washington Square. This time, I take a seat on the bench and rest my bike to my left. I look around the park; the paths are cleaner, and the grass is mowed. It seems that the government maintains this park more as supposed to Markey in the Bywater

After that, I go on towards Esplanade. As soon as I merge left on Royal Street, I see the towers at the end of the street. Again, I figure that I am entering the Vieux Carre or the French Quarter. The buildings in this area appear to be more significant because they are well decorated. The balconies are trimmed with an artwork of iron. Another noticeable feature in this area is the plantings on the balconies. It looks as if the people here are restricted to not plant on the street, and therefore they decide to plant on their balconies. The streets are packed with cars and trucks. In fact I have a difficult time maneuvering with my bike in the French Quarter. It is the most active zone within the three neighborhoods that I cross.

Riding furthermore into the French Quarter, I notice that this street is filled with art galleries. In fact I refer to these few blocks as the Art Blocks. It has a wide range of different art types: glass, ceramic, paint, etc. I also notice that the people in this area are of two types: the tourists visiting the city of New Orleans and the locals running their businesses. For that reason I feel that I am an outsider because everyone is trying to mind his or her own business and there is no sense of connectivity.

Despite the fact that people define boundaries by the physical look of the buildings, I find that it is just a minor part of it. In the words of Greenbie, “I will consider the formation of cultural groups as the human social expression of the universal tendency of things in nature to form clusters of like entities, which are thereby distinguishable from different entities.” In my view, the big part of defining a neighborhood is its people. It is the cluster of these different groups in one area that gives them unique characteristics of their own and defines their zone within the community.

wow! are we really under sea level?

The city of New Orleans is a suspended land hanging in the middle of a body of water. It is the levee system that surrounds the city protecting it from floating. It is a city that you will experience different bodies of water, from river to lake to canal. Lake Pontchartrain is to the north of the city, Mississippi River hugging the city from the south, and a number of canals branching from these two bodies of water. It sounds an unlikely place to live, but yet, I still want to be in this city.

For one of my seminar classes, we all went to the Mississippi River to get on Natchez River Boat. Upon boarding the boat, I suddenly felt something. I didn’t know what it was, but it was something that I had never experienced before. It might be the fact that this was my first time taking a boat tour. It might be the smell of the river. It might be the hot humid weather.

Sitting at the edge of the boat listening to the narration of the tour was really interesting. I learned a lot of facts that I didn’t know about landscape of the Mississippi River. I learned that the silts from the flooding of the river would compress under their own weight and sink. The next flood would rebuild the silts, creating a natural levee that protects the city. I also learned that both sides of the river are partially shaped by hurricanes. But for me, it is the people and the activities in this river shape it. It is not the land on both sides of the river creating the landscape, but the activities within the river create it.

Even though the Mississippi went through a number of disasters, I noticed that people still come back to this river. It is the people who have the potential to rebuild their city and their river because they depend on it so much as a part of their daily lives. The river is a means of receiving and shipping goods for the people of New Orleans and is represented in the products they use on a regular basis. They use the river as a site for their industrial factories ranging from warehouses to barges sitting at the edge of the river. The river is also a recreational site attracting the tourists and the locals alike. I noticed two extreme surfaces on each sides of the river, one is filled with high rises and the other is filled with horizontal housing. Connecting these two surfaces are boats and ferries that carry people, bikers, and cars back and forth.

During the tour I met a tourist on the boat. He was talking about his unique feeling about the city of New Orleans. He was fascinated by the food, the music, and the people here in New Orleans. He compared New Orleans to his home town Paris. He said: “I am from France and this is the French Quarter, yet I see they are very different.” The one comment that he made looking very shocked “Look at this city, are we really under sea level?” This statement made a strong impact in my own mind. I realized that the people of this city are not worried by the fact that they are living under sea level, but instead they are facing it and living it. The opportunities presented by the water surrounding New Orleans are more stimulating than the fear of it.