Pink Fortunes, Decadent Balls and a Vent

Just a warning, this is going to be a long post. Grab a drink and a snack and settle in. Don't worry, nothing mushy about Valentine’s Day. This is a Share post (about the weekend) and ends with Restaurant Vent.



We had a simple Valentine's Day. Both Greg and I set up cards and gifts (ranging from flowers to cologne) on the countertop the night before, thinking we'd surprise the other person in the morning - both of us having the same idea. At midnight, I placed Greg's gifts on the kitchen counter, after I knew he was asleep. Greg did the same for my gift at 3am (of all places at the kitchen counter) after he knew I was asleep. Phooey, I wanted to surprise him and he said, "You did, just at 3am!" Later that morning we went to Cafe Latte Da for breakfast. I didn't have a lot of time with Greg, because soon after we had to set up the office for the beading meeting.


The beading meeting went well; it was a new technique to learn; I'm always happy when that happens. Roda catches on VERY fast. She's going to have a beading addiction. I can see it already. After the class, Greg and I had plans for supper. I didn't eat anything for lunch, because of the meeting and I didn't realize Greg had forgone lunch as well, so we were both starving. That ended up being a good thing, because it meant we were at the restaurant, Zea's, when it opened. The food was fantastic and the service was great. By the time we left, the lines had formed and reached outside! Perfect timing for us to leave. We chilled out the rest of the night and relaxed.

I have to backtrack for a moment ~ Friday night was a treat to see Kristen. I still had Christmas gifts for her to unwrap. Greg cooked smoked pork with a wine sauce that was absolutely divine! She opened her gifts and we left to visit with her mom, do some shopping and share a desert, a general celebration of 30 years of friendship. Greg was doing some shopping of his own at that time too ~ going to a home in New Orleans from an ad on Craig's List for a guitar.


He liked the guitar and bought it, then went to the Guitar Center in Metairie for tuning. Not only did the guy tune it, he cleaned it up, polished it, made it shine and then said, "You got a great deal. This guitar could sell for 250 easily." It looked brand new and Greg only paid a small fraction of that amount. It was sold by a college kid who needed money for rent. The student gave his income to another friend that needed rent money worse than he did, but now he had to sell his guitar to pay his rent, which made me a little sad. (Though the student also added that he wanted to get an electric guitar for his band... so he would have eventually sold it.) I’ll have to video Greg playing the guitar ~ he said he’ll serenade me. Awww… I’d love for us to learn a song together, where I can play the piano and he plays the guitar.

Kim came over Sunday morning. She was roped into making soaps for the Women's Council at her daughter's school. They host a tea for about 100 people and this year is Tea of Love. Their colors are pink and black, fine china, etc. Sounds like a lot of fun and Kim invited me to come; it's in April. In the meantime, we're going to be making 250 fortune cookie soaps! ~ PINK ~ fortune cookie soaps. We tried various types of soap, to see which would work the best. Glycerin is the easiest to handle and form into the shape, but it's clear, thus shows all the mistakes. Oatmeal looked "real" but couldn't be pink and it was thick, which caused cracks. Shea Butter was the winner with a solid appearance and smooth texture. The next couple of months I'll be helping to make soaps. Kim's "payback" as she coined it for all the help with the wedding. She's a character.

Greg didn't stick around for the pink soap making, though he did think it was interesting. He went to visit with his parents and later bought some banana pepper plants. They look so cute, but I'm worried we'll still get a frost. We need to build up the garden in the back and plant them. He was sweet and bought enough to share with R&R and my parents. Always thinking of others....

I thought Sunday I would have more time with Greg, but as it turned out, Mom called me to say the jewelry show was in town and Zay (not her real name for reasons you'll read in a moment) was coming with us.

Want to hear a secret that doesn't seem so secret anymore? Zay belongs to MOM's Ball. M.O.M.s Ball ~ has become the Bacchanalia du jour of the Underground Mardi Gras. Zay shared some interesting tales of the Ball, first off, it is Members Only, though can have roughly 100 people attending. Guests can only be invited by members who have attended a minimum of 5 years. It's all hush-hush, though information has leaked into the general public. To be honest, I never heard about it before.

Zay said it's a costume ball, escaping the ordinary and stepping into the decadent imagination. After she described it to me, well, let's just say the movie, "Eyes Wide Shut" came to mind, though not the sex scenes. How can I describe this? Hmm. People don't have sex at the ball, but they dress the part? Nobody is allowed to wear "street cloths." It's elaborate gowns and outfits, but very sexy stuff. She described this: "Imagine a bar maid wearing thongs and her partner at the party is dressed as a butler, in thongs and they are carrying a tray of condoms and tossing them out like its Mardi Gras throws. It's fun!"

I guess you can have good clean fun in a very naughty way, at least that's the impression I came away with from the conversation and descriptions. Though Greg opened my eyes (or shut them wide?) a little more when he told me that he knew of the M.O.Ms Ball. (Which stands for The Krewe of Mystic Orphans and Misfits). He said that a lot of "swinger couples" go there. I asked Greg how he knew about this type of ball and he said..... (oh the irony)...

"I went to a school in New Orleans where students went to become priests. It was an expensive school and plenty of the parents sent their boys there for the education, not with the intent of becoming of priests. You have to understand that it was a small school; my graduating class only had 32 seniors. The boys talked and it was mentioned how a parent here and there were members of the MOMs Ball, an event they look forward to once a year, very elite, very private. I'm surprised a member told you about it. It's a time where they can let their hair hang out and not follow the typical rules of society." (A Catholic school student in an elite, small group of kids meant for priesthood gets interesting education, eh?)

After doing some research about the group, come to find out ~ the "Underground Man" who started this ball based it ~ against ~ the stuffy, elite balls of the wealthy. The typical elite balls consisted of the parents staying in the room and the girls would choose a dance partner. The guys were dressed in sports coats and ties and were lined up one side of the room. It sounds like the Underground Man was a rebel of sorts and decided to have a King Cake party of his own with "mock parents" and a party with only one rule ~ you had to come in costume.

The name of the Ball originates from a group of the Underground Man's friends. The friends went to a bar on Christmas night and delivered Turkey to the patrons. They laughed about it and said anyone who was at a bar and not with family and friends on Christmas night had to be "either an orphan or a misfit" ~ hence the MOM name.

Zay stated everyone had to wear a costume (and it seems that a good many of them include masks ~ Greg said plenty of wealthy, well-to-do, high ranking people - think judges, etc, attended and didn't want to be recognized). Zay mentioned how one time the party was video recorded. The recording team consisted of two people and the two people were told they had to come in costume. The two people figured just wearing silly hats and their regular cloths ~ that the silly hats would be enough. But when they came to the door, they were denied entrance, "No street cloths." They had to strip down to their underwear and wear the silly hats and THEN they could record it (which they did).

Interestingly enough, the MOM Krewe was created by a rebel against the stuffy atmosphere of typical Balls (which, yes, they are very stuffy. I went to one when I was in college). And now, the MOM Krewe is infamous elite and membership only access (it's more difficult to get invitations to the MOM ball than the Rex Ball!), which is becoming the very thing that it (MOM) sought to satirize. However, the decadent "anything goes" still exists amongst the mystic misfits. It was all very interesting to learn and to realize how naive I am to the things going on in the underground. It's so very New Orleans ~ Le Bon Temps Roule! ("Let the Good Times Roll")

Should I mention the MOM Krewe to Roda? She will be going to her first Mardi Gras parade this Saturday with Rob. They invited Rowena (Roda's sister) and Chris to come too (neither have been to a parade). All of this said, I should add ~ plenty of areas, such as Metairie have "Family Gras" - where the fun is absolutely "clean" and the crowds are geared towards children and families.

After the jewelry show, then the six of us (my parents, R&R, me and Greg) went to Copeland's. I looked around and made the comment, "It's busy tonight." Mom's omen of "That's not good, it means the service and food will be bad" came to see the truth, unfortunately.

If someone would ask me where is a good local spot for supper to get a good New Orleans flavor, "Copelands" is the first name to leave my lips. I don't know if I'd be so quick to offer that suggestion again, though in all fairness for as many times as my family have frequented the restaurant, this experience was more of an oddity. But it was a whopper of one!

First, for a party of 6 people, we were seated relatively quickly, that was the best part of the night, being seated promptly. My father ordered two appetizer plates of Spinach and Artichoke (a favorite dish). The waiter took our orders and we waited.

And waited.

And waited. Waited some more and Roda noticed, "The people at the other table (another large group) have been served their appetizers a while ago." At this point, Mom said loudly, "I think our waiter forgot about us! Lester, that's our waiter over there, call him over." But the waiter wouldn't turn our way. He made a bee-line to the kitchen and came out a few minutes later stating, "I'm going to bring out one tray of the appetizer and the other one will follow shortly. They are still cooking the bow tie pasta." Ok, that seemed reasonable and at least we knew what was going on.

Waited some more and the first tray was brought out to us. The Spinach was barely warm and the pasta was cooked, but cold! Tell me that this pasta was JUST cooked - my eye! The second tray was brought out a few minutes later. Both the spinach and pasta were hot ~ which tells me that the waiter did indeed forget to bring out the tray when the first one was ready.

At this point, I got out of my chair to move it over to the left. Greg had already moved his to the right. The reason we moved further away had nothing to do with us being in an argument. I was disappointed that I couldn't sit closer to my husband, but didn't want to my chair to be hit any more times! The table arrangement made no sense, putting a large party table in the middle of a high traffic area. Even with moving my chair out of the way, the edge kept getting hit! And I'm not talking about the guests. People coming there to eat were careful not to run into another person's chair - it was the darn waiter staff! They were running around and bumping into us repeatedly without offering an apology.

It got so bad that me, a person who rarely complains (ask Greg, he has often become upset with me for not telling a waiter if the food isn't right, etc) ~ yes, me ~ said (very loudly), "THE NEXT PERSON WHO RUNS INTO MY CHAIR, I'M GOING TO STICK MY FOOT OUT SO THEY CAN TRIP OVER IT!" Mom busted out in the fits of laughter. At least I was able to break the tension with humor, but I was serious as well. And what do you know - the waiters CAN hear, because after that point, they did not bump into me. I wish I made the comment early on, ~ maybe ~ then I would have been saved for the majority of the meal bump free. And it wasn't just my chair, but Greg's as well. He complained when I did and said, "They don't even offer an apology, which makes it worse."

The meal, sadly... where do I start? After the appetizers, we waited and waited and waited and waited for a very long time to find out about our main course. Again, once Mom announced that they forgot about us, the waiter appeared and apologized and asked, "Who ordered the Redfish?" I replied that I did and he said, "I'm sorry, but we don't have any Redfish. We have Mahi Mahi and Catfish, which do you want? I'll bring out everyone's dinner and bring yours in later, but we will NOT charge you for your meal. What other fish do you want?"



I wanted to tell him that I don't like those other fish types, but picked Mahi Mahi, because I felt pressured to do so and was livid that I was not told earlier that they had no more redfish! This should have been brought to our attention immediately. The waiter turned to go into the kitchen and he probably heard this: Mom asking what just happened and me replying, "In other words, they are going to bring out everyone else's meal and not mine. I should just tell him to box mine to go."

But the waiter didn't even do what he said he was going to do. He made everyone wait until my fish was done. COLD and done. Ugh. Dad and Rob ordered steak, that was hot, because it comes out on a hot sizzle plate. All of the mushroom orders (there were three) were cold instead of hot. Everything and I mean - everything - on my plate was cold, the mushrooms, the steamed broccoli and the fish. I think they prepared some of the food, didn't realize about the fish, then got the fish order and did the steaks last as a quick reheat. Mom and Dad put their mushrooms on the steak plate to heat them up. They asked me how my fish was, but I didn't want to complain anymore, I was irritated too much to talk. Ever get to that point?

It didn't end there ~ the waiter dropped a plate of raw oysters on the table and said, "Because of the error on our part, this is a complimentary dish for your table." I wanted to hum the tray at him! Did he even both to ask if anyone was HIGHLY ALLERGIC TO SHELLFISH? If the waiter HAD asked or offered before just plopping it on the table, then I would have told him, "No, please don't bring that out, because my Husband has an allergy to shellfish. And oh, yeah, if that isn't enough, there's only one person at the table who eats raw oysters." Well, two now, because Rob convinced Roda to try it and she enjoyed them.

And the bill? Dad gave the waiter two gift certificates and his credit card to pay for the meal. The bill had my cold fish on it, so they had to redo the charges, because remember - it was supposed to be taken off the bill and also he didn't put the gift certificates towards the bill. When the waiter came back with the renewed bill, he said, "Only one gift certificate had a balance available." Which Dad doesn't believe, because when it has no balance left, the restaurant doesn't give the gift card back to the customer, so we think the management or waiter pocketed the money.

While the bill fiasco was on going, the bus boy came by to pick up the plates and he grabbed the oyster tray too fast; the ice and oyster juice splatter over the table and on my arm. I was mad and worried - bad combination. I froze, asked Greg if the oyster juice got on him, thinking we were heading for an ER visit, but he said he was OK. The waiter still had the tray splashing around and was trying to reach for another tray to take off the table. Dad said, "You should just take the tray you have and go." The waiter ignored the request and kept reaching, then Mom and I both said, "GO NOW." Good grief, I was seeing those oyster shells ready to fly off or was it my blood pressure.

Never have I known Dad to not leave a tip, no matter the service. This time though, feeling as though one of his gift certificates was taken and not applied to his charge, (basically - theft!) he didn't leave a tip. I thought about writing to the manager and the district manager. Instead, I figured blogging about it would be a more effective way to handle this. It's a good way to vent and ~ Word of mouth is the most powerful tool when it comes to companies and customer support.

I won't be returning to Copeland's in Elmwood on Clearview. It was officially my worst restaurant experience. I am a former loyal customer, now looking at many other fine restaurants in the area that are worthier.