Friday, May 4, 2007

New Orleans and Lake Charles, Louisia: biofuels in the swamp

We arrived in New Orleans on a sticky hot Saturday afternoon, and found our way to our host's (M.L.) house near the New Orleans fairgrounds. After a shower and change into cleaner clothes, we headed out to see what we could find in the aftermath of the Jazz festival.

We wandered through neighborhoods filled with people enjoying the evening air. Everyone we passed wished us a good evening. Even though we set off in the completely opposite direction than that we first intended, we never felt as inextricably lost as we really were because everyone seemed happy to help us along as we wandered their neighborhood.

After some walking, we stumbled on a brass band (Rebirth) playing in a park full of people. We spoke with Deanne, a Jazz Fest worker dancing to the music. She told us some history of the Rebirth band, and some good ideas for food and entertainment.

When Rebirth finished up their set, we wandered off and found another street party, with another live brass band. As we stood in the corner watching the festivities, one of the party's hosts, Steve, came up and explained that it was his 30th birthday, and that we (two complete strangers) were free to enjoy the beer and food. Really? "Yeah, this is New Orleans - go get a beer."

When the party began to wind down, we slipped away home feeling very happy with our trip so far, and slept very well.

The next morning, we decided to start our day off right: coffee with chicory and beignets. We then wandered around the French quarter till we tired of tourist junk, and headed towards a more local neighborhood for some excellent gumbo, pork ribs, and jambalaya cooked by real creole chefs.

That evening, we again walked around until we found a band playing on the streets - this time a blues band from London.

The next morning, we said a sad goodbye to NOLA (we're definitely coming back), and headed west towards Lake Charles and our friends M.C. & D.C.

At this point, we were slightly desperate for vegetable oil - we had acquired 15 gallons of used veggie oil, but all of it was too hydrogenated and full of particles to filter (we burned through 5 paint strainers trying to rough filter 3 gallons - we typically use one or two strainers for 5 gallons if the oil is very very dirty). We had enough vegoil on hand to make it to Lake Charles, but not much more.

When we arrived, hoping we could scrounge together 10 gallons of veg oil - enough to make it into Houston, where we could buy biodiesel and/or clean waste veg oil, but we were beginning to think that a tank of petroleum diesel was an inevitable event.

Here's how my phone calls asking restaurants about waste veggie oil usually go:
"Hi, my name is Sacha, and I'd like to know if I can take some of your used vegetable oil - we have a car that runs on vegetable oil - if you have any laying around, can we come by and take some?"
"Umm, you want what now? You're gonna have to talk to the boss."
Here's what happened when I called a certain crawfish restaurant in Lake Charles:
"Hi, my name is Sacha, and I'd like to know if I can take some of your used vegetable oil - we have a car that runs on vegetable oil - if you have any laying around, can we come by and take some?"
"Sure, come on by: it's triple-filtered - we use it in our delivery trucks, you can have as much as you like. Is peanut oil okay for you?"
"Uhh."
"Oh, and you'll have to come by in the next 10 to 15 minutes - the fella who can show you how to use the pump is about to go home for the evening."
"Uhh."

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