Thu, 06 Jul 2006 05:00:00
We’re still in Dallas and I still have a vile summer cold. The one good thing is that I’ve been sleeping a lot over the last few days. I’ve had a bad case of insomnia for the past 10 months; I can’t imagine why…
Anyway whilst I slumbered Dr. A got a lesson in baklava baking from my cousin Tina. I do most of the cooking in our house but Dr. A bakes. I’m inclined to improvise so my style of cooking is incompatible with baking. Dr. A is fussy about baklava ever since eating my mother’s variation on the family recipe. She quite correctly finds most baklava way too sweet but the version made by my mother and aunts is just right. We have my mother’s recipe but it’s big enough to feed the Albanian army and I for one have no desire to feed them. They always tramp mud through the house and smell like sheep shit. I draw the line at the smell…
Where was I? Oh yeah baklava. Dr. A was convinced that it was a failed experiment because it was a bit messy but filo is hard to work with. (I recall hearing my late mother grumble every time she worked with filo; it was almost the only time she ever swore.) Me I thought that it was yummy. Of course my taste buds are somewhat off. My mouth feels as if the aforementioned Albanian army marched across my tongue in full winter gear…
There was some disturbing news from home yesterday. There was a shooting on the 500 block of Valence which is just 2 blocks from Adrastos World HQ. The minute I heard about it I knew that it happened at the house where 3 teenage crack dealers can usually be found. I was right. Once again this was a hit: the shooter stood on the sidewalk and talked on his cell phone for 10 minutes before opening fire. It seems as if some bystanders got hit but that’s a trademark of NOLA gang violence: they don’t care if civilians get hurt. This is the first shooting in our area in many years. I hope that it’s just a fluke but when it comes to gun toting morons I take nothing for granted. My buddy Herb was featured in the Picayune article and summed the situation up very well:
“Herb Sayas who lives on Laurel Street around the corner from the shooting said the neighborhood is usually very quiet with few disturbances much less violent crime. Because such incidents are rare he said he did not fear for the area despite the resurgence of crime in other parts of the city.
“People have a right to sit on their porch and play cards on a holiday weekend ” Sayas said shaking his head as a light drizzle rinsed the gray scene. “
As the friendly neighborhood association spider-man I expected a deluge of hysterical emails but most of my peeps seem to agree with Herb. And since I feel like warmed over shit I’m glad that people have opted to be calm instead of shrill. Panicking never helped anyone and I’m way too groggy to panic. But not apparently too groggy to post. Blogging is as addictive as heroin but not as dangerous; at least I hope not.
Adrastos 