Shard Shop NOLA

The Christmas before last, Dana discovered a fun new artistic outlet, similar to the painting craze that came along a number of years ago, and a group of us has been trying to find a time to go ever since. We finally found a night when all 5 of us were free, so Diana booked spots for us to go on January 18. Oh, and Lynn also joined in the fun as a surprise for me.

We grabbed a quick dinner at Rum House first and then walked across the street to the Shard Shop. Instead of paint, broken pieces of glass and ceramics are used to create works of art on canvases. There are trays and bowls and vases full of all kinds of shards all around the shop. Some are polished and smooth, and some are rough and sharp. There’s everything from tumbled colored rocks to old beer and champagne bottles to old dishes and mugs. So incredibly cool.

You pay for a particular canvas size, but you can make whatever you want. There are books of examples for inspiration and finished pieces hanging up all around the shop. And if you decide you want to swap something out for another shape or size or color, you can do so. You’re not really tied to anything since you’re just placing the shards onto your canvas. That makes the process infinitely more laidback and relaxing than painting. If you make a mistake or don’t like something you did, no worries! Fix it however you want to.

 

Dana, Heidi, and Lynn all decided to make magnolias. Diana made a fleur-de-lis, Terah made a streetcar, and I did the state of Louisiana. They were all so unique and came out looking awesome.

We left our works of art at the shop and walked over to the Bulldog for a few more drinks before heading home. Our pieces were ready to be picked up a couple days later. The Shard Shop employees pour a thick, clear resin over the canvases to set and seal the glass in place. Here’s my finished product!

This was such a fun night. I would definitely do it again, although it was pretty expensive. But worth it for the experience. And now I have a one-of-a-kind piece or art to display!

Chef’s Table Take Three!

Way back at the end of 2017, Dana and I decided we wanted to go to the Chef’s Table at Commander’s Palace with our husbands to celebrate our birthdays, which are just over two weeks apart in the fall. Long story short, they couldn’t accommodate us on a Friday night until January 2019. We took the reservation and waited patiently for our night to come. And let me tell you, it was so worth the wait.

We hoped that Executive Chef Tory McPhail would be the one to take care of us, but we got his second-in-command, Chef Chris Lynch, instead. Chris was great. Kenny actually recognized him from a tv show; it turned out we had watched him on Food Network Star a few years ago. Too cool!

This was Kenny’s and my third time dining at the Chef’s Table, and we were lucky enough to get Argyle as our waiter once again. He is a font of knowledge about all kinds of culinary history; I would love to sit down with him and pick his brain. He is a fascinating guy and took great care of us for more than 4 solid hours.

Now onto the food. Nine courses (plus a palate cleanser), all paired with a different wine. I even broke my rule and ate veal. We especially loved the scallop and the pork belly. The only thing I didn’t care for was the boudin-stuffed quail, simply because I’m not a fan of boudin and there was a lot of it. But everything else was so delicious. All of the people who passed by our table that night looked mighty jealous!

After the dessert bomb, Dana and I decided we weren’t quite ready to leave yet. We sweet-talked Argyle into bringing us another small glass of our favorite wine of the night (the one we had with the scallop), and then we each ordered one last round. I just had to have more of the chai-bourbon crusta; it was SO good.

We finally left just after 11pm and felt a bit bad that we had stayed so long. But we had a wonderful time.

  

And we actually kept the party going: we stopped by Hot Tin on our way home and then hung out at Dana and Dave’s house until after 2am. I hadn’t been up that late in a long time; we weren’t even awake at that time on NYE!

Such an incredibly fun night!

Ten Things

1. Tickle monster with Daddy!

  

2. Testing out their Nerf guns, Luke’s first {pretend} shave, keeping warm in the morning before breakfast, and Nopsi being a good sport.

3. Cousins snuggling up in front of movies, both at Nola’s house and in the theater (seeing Wreck It Ralph 2), and my boys having a fun sleepover under a tent in Rory’s room.

 

4. Annual destroying of the Christmas tree. Bye, Mildred!

  

5. Mardi Gras season is officially here! I got my purple, green, and gold decorations out (including lights on the house for the first time), and we went to a kingcake party at Amy and Josh’s house on King’ Day. I hope they make it a tradition somehow because it was so fun.

 

 

6. Our next play at Rivertown (Greater Tuna) was on January 11, and I finally got my burger at Porch and Patio beforehand. It was good; the play was not.

7. Finally getting a chance to play with some of their new Christmas presents!

  

8. Homework time at Nola and Nopsi’s, meeting Mrs. Rosemary’s new puppy Sully, and learning how to play UNO with Daddy.

9. Eli’s birthday party at Laser Tag and Baskin Robbins. Riley, playing as Catwoman, got most accurate on one of their rounds!

10. Riley really wanted to see the super blood wolf moon on the evening of January 20, so we woke him and Rory up at 10:45pm and brought them outside to see it. Rory lasted for only a few minutes but Riley made it for a half hour. It was cool!