Small community Big city stuff.

Having spent most my adult life in a small town there are a few comforting things I liked about it . There was a sense of being part of a community that had a welcoming feeling. Back in AK the folks at the local store, bank, etc all knew by my first name. Being the working musician I was there was always someone (several actually) who I would run into asking where my next gig was. My wife Allison used to get tired of going anywhere with me because of this. Someone would come up start a conversation with me asking what was up then when they would walk away she would ask who that was and I'd "I don't know, a fan I guess". It was that sense of belonging that I liked. I lived in Los Angeles for most of the 80's. Moving there to attend the Guitar Institute of Technology. I lived there from 83-91. It was the hardest most difficult time in my life. It was also the most maturing. But I never once had a sense of community there. I was at peace in knowing that was where God wanted me to be at the time, but it was never "home". New Orleans is a community of ruffly 300,00 souls. a mid size city by some standards. Allison and I are odd in this aspect. Most people when they move to a new place will go check out museums, restaurants, churches, local bars. We go check out the grocery stores. In our adventures we have stumbled onto some totally cool things. Driving to a market the other day we came across a little craft fair that was going on. As we were seeking out a farmers market we found this totally cool fish market quite by accident. This is a place the local fisherman literally bring their catch fresh from the sea that day! we noticed a lot of Latinos shopping there(a good sign) there was also a little shop on site that provided hard to find meats. Things like frog legs, turtle meat, rabbit. We found out we could get a suckling pig from them at a really good price Having lived in Seattle for 6 months during the mid 90's you could go to Pikes Market and find any fresh gourmet item from fresh sea food to farmer market locally grown produce, artisan cheeses, salami's and breads all under one roof. Here you have to hunt. Which makes shopping a big adventure. We love the care a small shop will put into their products. Plus every time we turn around there is something cool happening right under our noses. Well today on our menu will be chicken cordon blue with a fennel,celery root salad in a balsamic vinaigrette and steamed sweet corn on the side....Steve