I'M TOO HOT

This is not only how Maria feels about me but also a reason why I am sitting, typing at 5:30 in the morning. I always joke about the weather here, how we yearn for warm summer days but when it arrives, the inner west coast wimp within immediately begins complaining about how unbearably hot it is. Well, step aside peoples- the king of the club speaks; I am too hot.

It's one thing to be on vacation, anywhere- you can just sit down, have an ice cream, or a cool, cool beverage, jump in the pool or stay in the a/c and watch cable tv, but those luxuries are not present here. Okay I might have had an ice cream or two last night... and a beverage. This is also why I will go to work early today and sit in the temperature controlled environment (as in, not too hot). Have to say, the weather at the ballpark yesterday evening was not cold or windy making for an unusual game- PacBell Park (sorry new sponsers) is known as a pitchers park but last night, with the still warm air, the ball was flying out of there- 7 home runs. It was home run derby. For the record, "we" won, 16-5.

Since you brought up the topic of Sno-Balls, I'd like to close my eyes a bit and dream of having one. A Sno-ball is similar to shaved ice but the ice, softer and with toppings of creamy offerings and fruit. A Hansen's Sno-Blitz, in New Orleans, refers to the machine that Ernest Hansen invented in 1933 which provides a softer, pillow-like quality of snow. From Gumbo Tales (Sara
Roahen) she writes:

"While Hansen's shaved ice is by leagues the softest I've eaten, even the lowest grade New Orleans sno-balls shame their counterparts elsewhere. To elucidate:
snow cone : sno-ball :: squeeze-bottle supermarket honey : Sardinian corberzzola
honey, harvested from the blossoms of the rare evergreen strawberry tree "

Ernest and Mary Hansen ran their store together for nearly 70 years, beginning their days and ending them side by side dedicated to maintaining a level of quality in their niche of a market that continues with their granddaughter, Ashley to this day. There is just one Hansen's, on a quiet corner of Tchoupitoulas Street. It is only open during the summer, and both the season and daily operating hours are never set in stone, but from May through September the chances of having a sno-blitz (blizzard) are pretty good.
This year when we made Hansen's our destination point. We were impressed at how Ashley rejected her first attempt at producing ice as an inferior effort, and went at it again until she was satisfied with the results. Never mind that she was working alone because help was not yet there, she had to get it right. "There are no shortcuts to quality", her grandparent's motto, Ashley pointed out to us. During the hell of Katrina, Ashley took apart the Sno-Blitz machine and hid all the parts so thieves would not steal it. I also appreciate the dedication it takes to do this for so many years. Also from Gumbo Tales:

"When I asked Ashley whether she'd ever considered a life besides the sno-ball stand, she said that one winter in Chicago had been enough to keep her in New Orleans, devoted to her grandparents and their business: "There are too many benefits, there are too many memories, there are too many smells and scents that I couldn't live without in that place. There are too many friends we've made, there are too many customers, there are too many kids growing up that I can't wait to see every day".
In many ways, I've been there.

Sno-Bliz Machine, Hansen's

Here is a photo from our first Sno-Ball experience, Baltimore, introduced to us by our friends Coco and Rex, 1992. If you take any meaning from the words behind us, you are truly not our friends. By the way, Rex hosts a great, great radio show on WFMU.org (New York) called
"Fools Paradise" WFMU has years of the show archived.