Couch Surfing

Two Sundays ago, I learned of the phenomenon called couch surfing.  My cousin's cousin is bike riding across Europe and sleeping on couches.  Its all very fascinating to me because I don't think that after a long bike ride, I would want to sleep on someone else's couch.  But, I admire his adventurous nature, and it is these types of differences in people which makes the world all the more interesting. 

Check out the couch surfing website; there is a whole community devoted to housing people on their couches as they travel.  You don't just get anyone; there is a vetting process.  The concept is cool because most seasoned travelers like to take the road less traveled and experience what locals do in their community. 

And, follow Mark on his blog as he travels thru Europe one bike and one couch at a time.  His mother said that navigating is the most frustrating part.  Could you imagine biking down a road for miles and miles to then somehow (and not sure how) realize you've been traveling down the wrong road for an extended period of time?  No, thank you.  Bravo Mark, for your patience and your sense of adventure!

my little nola list

an old colleague asked me for some suggestions related to restaurants and things to do in New Orleans...while not comprehensive in the slightest, I thought I would share it with the blog world...feel free to comment and build upon this list.

Do you want Uptown (pretty old houses and quaint bars)?

Do you want French Quarter (touristy yet fun)?
Do you want the Warehouse District (clubs)?
Do you want the Marigny (a different genre of live music in every bar)?

Breakfast/Brunch
Elizabeth's (Marigny) - hole in the wall with yummy praline bacon and a bottle of cheap champagne
Stanley's (French Quarter) - yummy food by renowned chef yet cheaper version of his fine cuisine on Jackson Square
Camellia Grill (Uptown or French Quarter) - diner food, uptown is original
Surrey's (Lower Garden District and Uptown) - doesn't serve alcohol but you can bring your own. delicious breakfast.
Coulis (Upper Garden District)
Cafe du Monde (French Quarter) - Beignets

Lunch
Red Fish Grill (French Quarter) - fun and cool oyster bar for raw oysters or order the yummy bbq oysters off the menu
Port of Call (French Quarter) - the best hamburger and baked potato, top it off with a monsoon
Butcher (Central Business District) - sandwich shop of awesome restaurant Cochon, lots of yummy meats, sausages, and pimento cheese sandwiches to go with a local beer
Lilette (Lower Garden District) - Bistroish place to have a fun long lunch with wine and your girlfriends
St. James Cheese Company - yummy cheese selection and great sandwiches to sit out side and enjoy
Central Grocery (French Quarter) - Mufaletta
Parkway Bakery (Mid City) - Divine Po Boys
Sylvanian (French Quarter) - New Yorkish type restaurant with good hamburgers/sandwiches
Drago's (In the Hilton Downtown) - the original is out in metairie otherwise i'd send you there but this is the home of the woodfire grilled oysters doused in butter in parmesean cheese and butter and to die for!

Bars
Cooter Browns (Uptown) great bar to watch sports and drink lots and lots of different beers
Oak (Uptown) trendy wine bar
F&M's (Upton) dance on the pool table until the wee hours of the morning
Absinthe House (French Quarter) about the quaintest place to grab a beer on bourbon, most new orleanians go there after celebrating something
The Beach on Bourbon (French Quarter) fun place to dance and ride the whale
The Cats Meow (French Quarter) karaoke
Preservation Hall (French Quarter) jazz
Pat O's (French Quarter) great patio bar and piano bar
The Gold Mine (French Quarter) late night dancing and flaming dr. peppers!

Dinner
Galatoire's (French Quarter) - if you want one over the top fun dinner. Classic creole cuisine. Make sure to sit downstairs...they don't take reservations and the wait can be long and worth it because its the place to celebrate life and make a scene in the classiest of ways
Cochon (Central Business District) - really cool southern dishes mostly with meats but the best whole fish in town
Jacque-Imo's (Uptown)- so eccletic and fun. you have to walk thru the kitchen to get to the crazy back porch but EVERYONE loves a trip to Jacque Imo's. Right near the Maple Leaf and Oak Bar so you can grab a drink there if there is a wait.
Eat (French Quarter) - BYOB
Rock N Sake (Central Business District) - Salmon Zest roll and amazing other special sushi. Rock out to jams while throwing back sushi and sake bombs
Ralph's on the Park (Mid City) - Beautiful scenery and delicious cuisine
Crepe Nanou (Uptown) - Every locals favorite restaurant/french cuisine
Adolfo's (Marigny) - hole in the wall italian
Three Muses (Marigny) - tapas and live music

Dessert
Snowballs at Plum Street Snowballs or Hansen's (Uptown)
Sucre (Lower Garden District) - literally every type of dessert (and champagne!)
Creole Creamery (Uptown) - homemade ice creams in the most unique flavors

To Do
Swamp Tour
Shopping on Magazine Street - miles and miles of all sorts of shopping
Historic Homes in the French Quarter - Hermann Grima House and Beauregard Keyes Hosue
Carriage Ride around the French Quarter - oh the stories you will hear!
Katrina Exhibit at the Cabildo
Ogden Museum of Southern Art - great place to sip wine and look at awesome art on a Thursday evening with live music, or you can go any other night, too.
WWII Museum -- 4D Tom Hanks Movie
Streetcar Ride
Walk around Audubon Park
Take the Ferry across the Mississippi River to Algiers Point to look at pretty old house and grab a beer -- Ferry picks up on the skirts of downtown/French Quarter

Quarter Jam

Real Southern Football in Sewanee, Tennessee

Welcome to Sewanee's Stadium.

 

Tiger Land has no stadium dogs and no dome foam, school colors are limited, but school pride is strong.  Kids frolick at the fence for Katie Kodak to snap photos to place on display at the SPO.

Students seldom know the final score of the game because they tend to retreat across the street to the Theta Kappa Phi House to enjoy adult libations while chanting softly, "Down with the heathens, up with the church, Yea Sewanee's Right!"

This is Southern football at its finest.

In a game marked as a thriller, the final score: Sewanee Tigers 16, Rhodes Lynx 20.  See article here. 

Sir Dudley Digges

Sir Dudley Digges in Residence on Audubon Street

My dad's name is Dudley Digges Morgan, III.  Dudley Digges isn't just one of those names you find in a name book or happen upon when walking down the street (like the name Taylor).  This name is rooted deeply in my family history, and it dates back to a British Member of Parliament in the 1600's and later a "Virginia Adventurer," an investor who ventured his capital in the Virginia Company of London, Sir Dudley Digges.  My dad is a true lover of history and genealogy, two interests he has passed along to me.  Thus, Sir Dudley Digges and his manor home, Chilham Castle, have been a large part of dinner table conversations for most of my life.  Needless to say, when the Morgan family decided to make a pilgrimage to the United Kingdom, a trip to Chilham Caste was indeed included on the itinerary, even if it only was to peer through the gates of the Castle through the town square. 

Well, I should have known better, but for months, my mother was scheming behind my father's back trying to find a way to get him inside the castle. My mom is great at surprises, and somehow, on a whim and a prayer, she always manages to pull them off. And, this task of getting her family in to the castle, she seemed to meet with much ease.

So you may ask, how did we get in to the castle that is privately owned by a lovely British family?  This is a side story indeed worth telling, due in large part that it is another example of my dad's deep love for history and our ancestral roots.  My mother serves on the board of the Stratford Hall, home of the Lees of Virginia and the birthplace of Robert E. Lee (a.k.a the place where Alexander and Ashby fell in love!).  She assumed this position as a result of my grandmother Rosalind "RaRa" Morgan who served on the board over 50 years ago, and a friendship my mother made with Kathy Hendricks, while her son Nat and I attended college together at Sewanee.   

Stratford Hall is located on the Northern Neck of Virginia, and its Board of Directors represents the the fifty United States and the United Kingdom (we must not forget our roots when preserving our history!).  The United Kingdom representative, Liz Vyvyan, is actively involved in historic preservation in both the States and the United Kingdom, and therefore my mother asked her if, by chance, she knew the owners of Chilham Castle.  It just so happened that she did.  Indeed, a small world it is, thanks to Mrs. Vyvyan!  So, while my father was emailing chilhamcastleinfo@gmail.com begging for the right to enter beyond the gates, my mother exchanged a few emails with the Lady of the Manor, and we were in.  In, not just beyond the gates, but in for lunch and a tour with the Wheeler family, the current owners of the Castle. 

Getting to the Castle was the only kink in my mother's plan.  We stayed a bit too far from the Castle the night before, and we got lost on the British highways.  You could have cut the tension in the car with a knife.  My mother was furious, plain furious, that we were running late to Chilham, and my dad thought she was just mad for the umpteenth time about him not getting the GPS in the car.  Little did he know...

Driving in to Chilham Square

When we finally arrived in the town of Chilham, my mother told my father to drive on up to the gates of the Castle that she, herself, was going to find a way to get us inside.  She told my dad to ring the door bell to which he replied, "Lynn, I am not ringing the doorbell."  I was ready to get out of that car, so I marched right up to the buzzer, rang the bell, and exclaimed it was the Morgan family.  The gates magically opened, and my father's jaw dropped. 

And the Gates to the Castle opened for DDM, III

Tessa Wheeler, the Lady of the Manor, greeted us outside of her home.  We were terribly late, so she ushered us in to the drawing room to meet her weekend guests that were anxiously awaiting to meet the Manor's ancestral guests.  It is customary in the Wheeler household to invite a cross-section of guests to the Manor home each weekend.  The current owner, Stuart Wheeler, remarked that when he was young he was invited to a weekend estate with a diverse array of people, each with a different story to tell, that it made a lasting impression on him and he hoped to be able to recreate it for his friends one day. 

After a few Pimms and story exchanges with the guests (one of which will likely compete in the 2012 Olympics in London), we were invited in to the stately dining room.  Tessa Wheeler had a beautiful old book where she recorded her seating arrangements for each meal, and after reviewing the assignments, she directed us to our chair for the dinner.  The perimeter of the dining room had a stunning banner of the family crests of each inhabitant of Chilham Castle.  We dined on lamb and vegetables, red and white wines, consumed a cheese course, dessert and port, and then we retreated to the drawing room for coffee and liquor.  I could have crawled in to bed, but we had yet to tour the house. 

My words will not do justice to the beauty of the gardens and the castle, so I hope you enjoy the pictures below of the Morgan Family at the ancestral Chilham Castle.  It is my hope that readers, like my father, will comment on my rendition and provide a bit more detail to important parts of the story and this history that I am missing.  I will say this though, many people dismiss their family history or do not give it the attention it deserve (or make fun of their father for being too in to it), but it is truly fascinating to visit a place where you're family once lived and prospered.  In a country as young as America that is rapidly growing and expanding, it is important to pause and reflect on the past and preserve it for future generations.  The Wheeler's are great stewards of the property and the history of the Digges family, and to them, the Morgan family is grateful for their interest and their hospitality. 

Above the threshold to the Castle, the inscription reads, "The Lord is My House of Defence and My Castle".

And beneath is engraved, "Sir Dudley Digges A.D. 1616 and Lady Mary Kempe"

Click on photos to view

Above the Threshold

The Approach

The Man in front of his Castle

The Morgan Family at Chilham Castle

The gardens

The back door

The Two Digges

Dad and Tessa

The Morgan family with the Lady of the Manor, Tessa Wheeler

The entrance to Chilham Castle

Dudley Digges compares his portrait (pictured at top of blog) to the one owned by the Wheeler's.

Sir Dudley Digges at home in Chilham

For more photos from our visit, please click here. 

Happy Birthday to the Best Mom in the World!!

My mom may not see this tribute to her on her birthday, since reading my blog remains on her to do list. Around the house, there are tablets with lists of things my mom needs to do, and I kid you not "Read MTM's blog" is written prominently in the middle of the tablet and circled a few times. (I tried to get Alma to snap a photo of this wonder, but my mother recently cleaned the entire house and threw away her to do lists even though she hadn't completed all of the tasks).

So, Mom, if you are in cyberspace reading this post to you:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Everyone thinks their mom is the greatest, but I really do. You are a terrific planner who plans wonderful celebrations. You bend over backward to get things accomplished. You give 110% to everything because you want everything to be perfect.

I even love the looks you give me when I need to sit up straight, take smaller bites, do not approve of my outfit, need to join in the conversation. While the looks are annoying at the start, I know you are trying to make me a better person. I appreciate your pushing me to always go the extra mile.

Tonight we will celebrate with champagne, cake and presents at the house, and then we will attend a family party at the de Laureals house. Mom technically already celebrated her birthday on our trip to London at our stay at Lords of the Manor, the most divine small luxury hotels of the world. What is cool about this place is Mom and Dad came here on their 5th wedding anniversary, and Mimi and Grandad followed soon thereafter to experience the wonder of which Mom and Dad raved.

While at Lords of the Manor, we celebrated with tea, crumpets and champagne on the lawn. We then retreated to our rooms to freshen up, and then we had a 5 course meal in their 2 Michelin Star restaurant. Chef Alma remarked that she was on, "Cloud Nine," and that was enough to please my mom forever. My mom does not like things, she likes moments and experiences, and I know this dinner was a favorite for her.

Mom, Happy Birthday. Enjoy your day. You deserve it. I love being a Margaret with you, and thank you for teaching me everything I know. I aspire to be as great as you are. XOXO

The 35 GBP Cab Ride

Mom, Ash and I got a late start on Wednesday morning after our big Tuesday night out. Mom had big plans for tourist attractions, Ash and I intended to get out of them. So, in an attempt to not feel like such failures at touring London, we hailed a cab and made the driver drive us around Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guards. Ash and Mom hopped out of the cab to get close, while I held the cab, but the police officers made us drive on and it was kind of a freaky chase to get mom and Ash back in the cab before we were all potentially separated from one another for the rest of the day. After they got back in the cab, the cab driver chased the horses around the Palace, and we got a legit close up view.

Then, it was back to the Angel area where we went to the Antique markets in Camden Park. We spent a good three hours there, much longer than we should have, but we got some good loot. P.S. In Camden Park, we found the equivalent to the British Pinkberry, but not nearly as cool, not to worry!

We then left the area lugging a huge bag full of antique silver through several tube stops to end up at Cafe Pasta (so unlike the Morgans) in Covent Gardens.

After a wonderful lunch of portabello mushrooms with cheese and pesto, antipasti platter, pizza, pasta and salad, the Morgan's headed to what is now their new favorite store, Orla Kiley. My new favorite store is Liberty of London. Such a cool department store. Normally, I think trinkets in a department store are rubbish, but I swear I wanted every single thing in the store.

Orla Kiely

Liberty of London

Sistas Night Out in Angel

Ashley was so excited to get to London to see her two besties, Parker and Phil (a.k.a. Blood or Youngberg). They were in contact over facebook, email and phone to pick a meeting spot for Monday night. The destination was Angelic Pub at the Angel tube stop. While the pub was absolutely precious and the company superb, we later found out Angel isn't necessarily the most desirable area of London, especially for your first night in town. It did not matter when you are surrounded by good friends. Ashley had a little incident, and she and Parker went on an hour detour to find what she needed -- and this wonderful place too.

That left me and Blood to discuss life for an hour or so. Parker and Blood are going to be rich and famous one day. I can't wait to say, "Remember when..."

The Plane Ride Over the Pond and Jet Lag on Day 1

On Sunday morning July 18, we departed MSY for London. While everyone was excited about our big adventure, my sister could not contain her excitement for spending eight days straight with me. Our special time together, more commonly referred to as "simple lovin", began on the eight hour flight over to Gatwick.

Lynn S's plane ride hors d'oeuvres. A true savior since Delta served chicken and grits of terrible quality. If only the Concorde was still around.... On the plane ride over, I read from my late grandmother Mimi's journal where she rode the Concorde with my great-grandmother Maw-Maw and my godmother, Deborah, more commonly known as Woo. They served caviar, shrimp and pate for starters, smoked salmon and Alaskan King Crab for second course, filet with mushrooms, string beans, potatoes and salad for third course, cheese and crackers for fourth course and strawberries and whipped cream for fifth course. Wine, champagne and liquor accompaniments with each. Little did I know reading her journal was foreshadowing every meal we had in London.

Sistas

Alma getting annoyed with me getting in her space.

MTM asleep, photo compliments of the agitated sister.

We arrived at Victoria Station from Gatwick at 8:45 AM. So many people! I guess it was rush hour, but I forget how many people populate this world. If you are a people watcher like many of my friends are, this would have been your heaven. Outfits and situations galore. We got in a cab from Victoria Station, and we headed to the Sloane Club. Our home in Chelsea for the next four nights. If you ask my sister about the Sloane Club, she'll tell you that she has never ever slept in a more comfortable bed.

In an attempt to ward off our jet lag, we hopped on the Big Bus Tour. I highly recommend the tour. You can see all the sights in 3 hours, which clears up time for roaming around and shopping. Here is a sample of our sights, at least the ones I saw before I started head bobbing.

The Tower of London


Heads were once placed on these dykes

Oldest building in London

These dragons guard the city of London

Parliament

Big Ben

Trafalgar Square

Her Majesty's Theatre

A picture of the SATC billboard is a must

After a the bus tour, we ended up at the Woseley for a delicious lunch. I had the duck confit, dad had the steak tartare, mom had cheese souffle and Ashley had the most delicious chicken salad with peas and edamame. The waiter told her she was American for ordering the chicken salad. Well duh. But, this chicken salad was nothing like I have ever tasted in America, and it also reaffirmed my love affair with peas.

With a couple of glasses of wine in us and a lot of jet lag, we headed back to the hotel for a nap. Mom and Dad's room was not ready, so the four of us passed out for a nice long nap on top of one King sized bed. Now that is a picture I wish I had.