Florastine, also known as MiMi, is an elderly woman living in Uptown New Orleans. Walking distance from St. Charles Ave. In fact, she lives close to Audubon Park. She doesn't do social media, & neither does she watch TV. So, she's not up to par with the news. She didn't believe it when her great-grandchildren told her about the coming winter storm. Her great-grandchildren felt relief because unfortunately, they lost their homes in the California Wildfires. They never experienced snow before. They just saw snow in pictures. Everyone was excited to see the snow.
Mimi's granddaughter, Inesia, took some of the food (which was originally planned for the Superbowl & Mardi Gras) & decided to throw a party. Nobody cared about the city officials warning everyone to stay home. During times like this, New Orleans folks do whatever the hell they want, without a CARE in the world!
"Is it here yet? Is it here yet?", asked Inesia's son, Beau (pronounced Bo).
Inesia's other son, Leon, said, "Wow, bro. You sound like you've been watching too much Simpsons cartoons or Ice Cube movies."
Beau said, "No I haven't. I didn't even know that such movies & cartoons existed."
Inesia yelled, "Boys, knock it off!"
They both said, "Ok, Ok, Ok, Ok, Ok!"
Inesia was cooking a HUGE pot of okra gumbo with beans, while sipping on some white hot chocolate. She planned to serve it over some jambalaya. She fearfully questioned to herself whether or not she was going overboard with her creativity, but it became a viral HIT on social media! For someone to combine spicy okra gumbo with seafood, red beans AND white beans together, & then serve it on top of chicken & sausage jambalaya. That's like 3 or 4 dishes COMBINED! People questioned whether or not she was bored, in order to come up with such a concoction. They thought she was "doing too much". She got backlash & was considered as " disrespectfully butchering the heritage" until her viewers tried the recipe for themselves. The house was smelling so good that even the nearby neighbors wanted to barge in & get a bowl.
While everything was cooking, the snow was coming down. Beau kept repeatedly going outside, & coming back in, while keeping the door wide open. Inesia's husband, Armand, kept yelling at the boy to keep the door closed.
Armand said, "Son. Keep the door closed, man! You keep letting the heat out."
Beau replied, "Sorry, Daddy. I'm just having too much fun."
Leon told Beau, "Listen to Daddy! Now is NOT the time to ruin everything & keep getting everybody in trouble, so stop being annoying!"
Mimi was laughing while doing her old-fashioned crocheting. She was crocheting baby hats. She crochets baby items, & Inesia sells them on multiple online platforms. They get good business with it, too. Yes. 89 years strong, & she still crochets baby items.
After the gumbo, bean & jambalaya fusion was ready, Armand said, "Ooh, bae. Some Leidenheimer bread would go so good with that."
The boys said, "Ooh! Some nice, hot garlic bread!"
Inesia was trying to be EXTRA fancy by making some natural blue spirulina "punch" with a mixture of blue spirulina powder, fresh cold pressed fruit juices, & also some sea moss gel & chia seeds. Talking about some passion fruit, mango, guava & kiwi juices, along with some coconut water. She had a Vodka-spiked version for adults. Her best friend & favorite neighbor, Hillary, showed up with a crockpot of Rotel dip. She gave people a choice to dip with Fritos or saltines. & she brought some other friends & family to Mrs. Florastine's house, as well. Hillary's mother, Beth Ann, made some cream cheese peanut butter cupcake brownies a la mode with butterscotch syrup, praline pieces & French vanilla ice cream. Doing too much?
The party was like a birthday party, a Super Bowl party without the games on the TV, & a Mardi Gras celebration, all rolled up in 1. So much Super Bowl & Mardi Gras food. People REFUSED to stay locked up in the house all day, with such a once-in-a-lifetime "historic" event. The snow started falling & piling up. Armand does DJ'ing for a living, so "DJ Army" put on the music, taking requests. Fast music, slow music, from local to worldwide. Snowball play fights, snow angels, snowmen, slip 'N slide, dancing... you name it. Kids ran around, spinning with their arms wide open, heads tilted back & tongue sticking out, trying to taste the snow. The snow just kept coming down. The music got even louder. People's imaginations were WILD, with their snow decorating creativities.
In fact, there was a snow decorating contest & a snowman hunt. People were taking snowball syrup & decorating the snow with Mardi Gras colors. One person had some activated charcoal & pineapple syrup to make black & gold syrup, representing the New Orleans Saints. There were some people making Super Bowl themed king cakes. Instead of a baby being hidden, there were miniature toy snowmen. One kid made a snowman with plum eyes, a carrot nose, a banana mouth & a parsley beard & moustache. She won the contest. She was a 4th grader, named Zoe. Everyone kept active for 2 reasons. To burn physical energy from all that good food, & also to try to warm up.
This was a "DAY TO REMEMBER!" Everyone was so sad for the snow storm to come to an end. There will never be another! Everyone in the neighborhood went to bed, reminiscing about what transpired that day. Events kept replaying in everyone's mind as they drifted off to sleep. Visualizations of the snow. Everyone was blinded by so much snow. A week later, all the buses & streetcars were decorated with pictures of the "Sneaux Party". They stayed decorated until after Mardi Gras 2025 was over.
THE END