Remoulade & Ramos: A Love Story to New Orleans
Celebrate a city of culture and diversity with a rich history and deep faith. In 2018, New Orleans celebrates its tricentennial year. Liguorian’s award-winning fiction piece Remoulade and Ramos is a tale told by Louisiana native, Byron Miller, CSsR that skillfully weaves a young man’s rite of passage in with the saga of twins who were fed by a pelican in their youth and grew up to found America’s eternal city of New Orleans.
Relayed with a sense of warmth, humor and imagery, the story of Remoulade and Ramos is now available as a keepsake pamphlet to commemorate NOLA’s anniversary. Here’s a sampling of how Miller envelops the flavor of the city.
“Meet me under the cathedral clock by five.” That was what my grandfather instructed me to do, except that now it was a quarter to six. “Gramps, I’m on New Orleans time,” I said defensively as I ambled in his direction. “You refuse to be rushed,” he mumbled. “Like a Ramos gin fizz.”
He seemed more eager, though, than impatient. We walked in the shadow of the towering Saint Louis Cathedral to a bench in Jackson Square, where a shady magnolia tree had dropped a pile of curled, antique white petals. Across from us stood a fifteen-ton equestrian statue of General Andrew Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans. Chiseled on its granite pedestal were the words: The Union must and shall be preserved.
“I am proud of you, my boy,” Gramps lauded. “Your grandmother is smiling down upon you, too. Your graduation last week brought a lot of happiness to our family. And it brought back memories of when I got a diploma like yours and then immediately enlisted in the service…”…“You know what a rite de passage is?” Gramps asked. I nodded confidently to give the impression that I did. “I didn’t think so. Neither did I.” He added, “I want to accompany you on one now, like my grandfather did when I graduated high school. And—you guessed it—his grandfather did the same with him when he graduated.” As we began walking, he placed his hand on my shoulder. “Have you ever heard of Romulus and Remus?” I nodded confidently to give the impression that I had. “I didn’t think so. Neither did I.”
A message from the author: “New Orleans is a city of distinct culture and cuisine, legendary hospitality and music, alluring architecture and old-world charm. In a city that inspires so many—from authors to artists, from musicians to magicians—let its 300-year history inspire you in a profound way!”
—Byron Miller, CSsR