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First and foremost, let me just say, Mew Dat!

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This blog is about all things French Quarter, cocktails...and sometimes not!

 

Told to you from the point of view of a cocktail obsessed cat.

 

It is inspired by my passions for New Orleans history and cocktail culture.

 

But it was while reading outside one of my favorite French Quarter cocktail bars, however, that I stumbled upon a quote that attracted Stray Cat NOLA to me. I was researching my 1920's/Prohibition themed cocktail tour, the Sin & Gin Prohibition Cocktail Crawl.

 

I turned the page and he pounced. It was as if he had been waiting for the moment. He leapt upon the table and, with his cat's ass in my face, he pointed the quote out with his tail while simultaneously--and rudely--dipping his tongue, uninvited, into my Sazerac.(1)

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And I haven't wanted to shake the bewitching, arrogant punk since.

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The quote, itself, was written by Tulane anthropologist Oliver La Farge, a contemporary of Nobel laureate author William Faulkner. It is La Farge's description of the 1920's French Quarter where-in Faulkner lived and wrote his first novel, Soldiers' Pay, in 1925:

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There's a lot more going on with your cat than you know.

 

For instance, to approximate Stray Cat NOLA's world view and how felines communicate, I use certain grammar and sentence structure unconventionally.

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Italics may be used for emphasis!, or for the Title of A Book, but also to indicate any thoughts Stray Cat NOLA may be thinking, including entreaty of the feline god, Bast, through purrayer.

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A direct quote is expressed with "quotation marks", while anything that is conventionally set in parenthesis is contained by --dashes--.

 

Human dialogue is enclosed in (parenthesis).

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And when Stray Cat NOLA or other cats speak there are no grammatical indicators at all.

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This is because cats communicate among themselves in many ways, but prefer to do so silently.

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Also, cat's purpose is their pleasure. And all things great and tiny, including us, exist to serve that pleasure. Thus, all things great and tiny serve cats. They are asides or (parenthetical) to cat's lives.

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Not that felines don't give us our due or deference.

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But isn't this why all things great and tiny exist to begin with?

 

So expect many ridiculous situations and groan-worthy feline puns. Just 'cuz. And history. My purr-view. But, most importantly, savvy information that will help you enjoy New Orleans.

 

'Cause this cat makes his living as a tour guide on these very same French Quarter streets of Oliver La Farge and William Faulkner, undimmed by time.

 

And this blog will cover everything from the practical, such as where do I prowl the best cocktails, brunch, dinner, music, dive bars, small plates, happy hours in the French Quarter to, well...sometimes straying therefrom.

 

Because we all know that curiosity killed the cat.

 

But satisfaction kept this Stray Cat NOLA...coming back.

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NOLA! 'Cause I'm Cat Like Dat.

 

Ye Olde Stray Cat NOLA, His Bad Self & Brian Huff, Stray Cat NOLA's Humble, Knows-His-Place Scribe 

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Question For Ya:

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Feel like you're enjoying a purrrfectly well made cocktail or, uh, perhaps sniffing catnip while reading Stray Cat NOLA's Cocktail Adventures blog?

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Then subscribe to Stray Cat NOLA's blog here and you will not miss any advice from your favorite cocktail-loving feline as he shares with you his continuing adventures and beloved drinking destinations in the Big Easy.

 

 

 

ENDNOTES

 

1. Sazerac. The official cocktail of the city of New Orleans. Created in the French Quarter in the mid 1800's, it is ratified as our official cocktail by Senate Bill Number 6 in 2008. The ingredients are rye whiskey, Herbsaint, Peychaud's bitters, sugar and a twist of lemon.

 

2. Reed, JS. (2012). Dixie Bohemia: A French Quarter Circle in the 1920's (p.16). Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. Kindle Edition.

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"The hot nights stirred you until you had a cat’s longing to prowl, down streets turned utterly silent, past speakeasies, by doors that gave out snatches of music, and the blocks where the whispers and eyes of the whores behind the shutters made a false promise of romance. Anything could happen in a town where the signs on the trolleys along Canal Street showed that one line ran to Desire and one to Elysian Fields."(2)

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But this is not only an ordinary blog about where-to-go and what-to-do in New Orleans, albeit from the mouth of a feline cocktail maven.

 

Which it is.

 

It also shares with you Stray Cat NOLA's adventures.

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So if you want to cut to the chase and get your blog advice, simply click on New Orleans Cocktail Blog.

 

If you want to read all about The Continuing Adventures of Stray Cat NOLA, click on Stray Cat NOLA Adventures, which can also, PS, introduce the current, related, blog advice.

 

If you want to fall down this rabbit hole completely, read the endnotes after each entry. They define and flesh out New Orleans culture and cocktail culture, yes, but also cat culture.