NOLA

With 192 vacation hours and a fantastic boss, I decided to take the opportunity to visit a good friend of mine before she completes her MPH at Tulane University this May. I've always wanted to visit New Orleans and see why so many people are infatuated with it. By the end of my trip I found the city absolutely interesting and a lot of fun, although I wouldn't want to live there for any extended period of time. Here's a list of the stuff we crammed into my 4 day vacation:
- Walked around the French Quarter and Jackson Square
- Went to Cafe du Monde twice. The chicory coffee in NOLA is just outstanding and doesn't taste very acidic at all. Of course I was tweeking from half a cup of decaf cafe au lait...
- Spent 3 days trying to find this particular palm reader but both of her shops were always closed. I got desperate on the last day and was willing to settle for any crazy sitting in Jackson Square, but alas no one was reading palms on Monday morning. I'm taking that as a sign.
- Ate the most delicious veal sandwich in the world at a dime a dozen steakhouse-type restaurant. It was only 10 bucks which blows my mind. The meat was so amazingly rich I could only eat half of the sandwich. I've never tasted meat so remarkable in flavor and texture. And the au ju on the side had the most delightful consistency. I'm all about texture with my food and this dish delivered. It is up there in my top three meals ever consumed in my lifetime thus far.
- Walked the park across from Tulane's main campus. The city is ridiculously dog friendly and all the animals are really well behaved. A lot of the shops have resident dogs, and the shop owners keep bowls of water just outside their doors for customers' dogs to have a drink. Dogs are brought to pubs and coffee shops. I wish we lived in a place like that.
- Got Starbucks one morning then walked Magazine Street to visit the furniture stores and various shops. Neophobia was a fantastic store with so many great pieces that I think The Boyfriend would have died and gone to heaven if he'd have seen it. They had a Design Within Reach that I was able to go to, and I'm in LOVE with their couches. I really liked all the styles they had and they were so comfortable on my butt! When we finally cave and shell out for a nice couch, I'm giving strong consideration to dumping more than we can afford on a nice couch from DWR.

- Hit the crawdaddy festival on Tulane's campus. I played dumb and they managed to think I was a Tulane student who forgot her student ID. It got me in to eat free crawdaddies in a heap with corn on the cob and a couple of roasted potatoes. This was my first crawdaddy eating experience and I was pleasantly surprised at how flavorful that little bit of tail meat is. It was totally worth the work to get to the tail meat. And no, I did not eat the brains. That was a little too much for me.
- Walked a street fair which served bacon and cheddar crepes that I coveted from afar. And they had a neato version of fish tacos.
- Visited a great little gelato store who's name I can't remember. The girl behind the counter was super duper sweet. Kathy (my buddy) mentioned that the store was going to be featured on one of Rachel Ray's shows, so I asked the girl behind the counter if she was nice. Hilariously, she replied no, absolutely not. RR stayed in her car the entire time she was off camera and didn't want to have anything to do with the staff working there. The dude that owns the joint made a special EVOO gelato for her, but she refused to eat it. I think that's just plan rude- the least she could have done was try it just to be polite. But we also heard that Alton Brown had been to the store as well and was really nice and funny. This information confirms all my suspicions and makes me like Alton Brown even more.
- My Mom footed the bill so we could eat at N.O.L.A., one of Emeril Lagasse's restaurants. I loved the atmosphere of the restaurant and there were so many waiters! The food was really tasty. I had some red fish with roasted potatoes, green beans and crimini mushrooms (I was a little limited on the menu b/c of my "garlic allergy", but they were very accommodating). Kathy ate pecan crusted scallops that were loaded with garlic and she totally cleaned her plate! We split a side of brie macaroni and cheese that was super tasty, but lacked a certain something that I ironically feel was the joy of garlic flavor. Our dessert was a chicory coffee creme brulee that rocked my socks off. The coffee was again outstanding as well.
- From N.O.L.A. we rushed to our haunted french quarter tour. Our guide Bill was really funny and I thought it was cool how he told us both the creepy stories and the facts about each of our destinations. Kathy and I had so much fun that we purchased the book afterwards, which features a photo of our tour guide.
- We hit up the Dragon's Den in the Quarter for a cabaret show that was pretty cool. All the girls looked like pin up girls, and the show was a lot of fun. After another bar, we walked through Bourbon Street just so I could see it. Locals don't go there- with good reason. Its like Vegas on crack and smells like a combo of beer, vomit, and horse shit. There are so many people completely wasted all over the place and above you on the balcony throwing things. I'd hate to be there during Mardi Gras!

- Kathy's fabulous roommate joined us on many of our excursions, including our visit to the aquarium. Many a fish face photos were taken, and water creatures petted. I love aquariums! We also got to see the staff feed the sharks, rays, and turtles in the giant tank- it was both gross and impressive.
- On my last day we walked Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 and took photos. We were surprised at how many children died in the early 1800's. Walking the cemetery was an interesting experience that left us thoughtful and quiet when we were finished.
- Kathy tried to drive me through the 9th Ward before leaving, but we got incomplete directions and had to turn around so I didn't miss my flight. We did get to see a number of the houses with spray painted X's on them. They were symbols painted by the rescuers after Hurricane Katrina. Around the X's were numbers and letters that told information, like how many dead people or pets had been found. Many people in the city have not washed the X's off as a sort of memoriam for what happened. It might seem like a morbid touristy thing to want to drive through the 9th Ward, but I thought it was important to see the whole city. Its hard to believe that New Orleans is only back to half of the population it had before the Katrina hit.
- Ate my first PoBoy sandwich with fried shrimp. A PoBoy consists of some sort of meat or fish, lettuce, tomato, and mayo on French Bread. That's it. The sandwiches are tasty which is mildly frustrating because they are so damned simple! When The Boyfriend gets back from his conference I think I'm going to make them at home.

I know we did more stuff, but I can't remember all of it because we just zipped through the weekend having so much fun! I now have the travel bug and can't wait to go somewhere else for another adventure. My sights are set on San Francisco with Annielicious, but we'll see if I hit somewhere else with The Boyfriend first for a mini vacay.