N e w O r l e a n s

I'm hoping to get to some random update posts this summer. 
I'm going to start with my trip to New Orleans this spring. 

One of my besties had been planning to celebrate 

her 30th birthday in New Orleans for probably all of her 20's. 

Joe and I flew over and joined her and some other friends 

in a cool old Victorian house in the French Quarter. 

This is a city I will definitely visit again. 

I loved the feel of it, the cool old buildings, and the amazing food. 
Unfortunately I was too lazy to carry my real camera around so the quality isn't great, 
but below are some photos and descriptions of the trip's highlights... 

We arrived in town on the birthday girl's actual birthday, 

so we took her to Commander's Palace for dinner. 

I think the highlight of this meal was the whiskey sauce they served 

with the (amazing) bread pudding. Brad was even putting it in his coffee! 

We spent the rest of that first evening sipping drinks and getting acquainted 

with the house, including it's varied collection of creepy Mardi Gras masks. 

The next day we rented a car with three others and drove out for 

an airboat swamp tour. I wasn't super excited about 

the idea of an airboat, but my mind was changed once we got going. 

Above you can see our rugged tour guide feeding marshmallows to alligators. 

He was very knowledgeable and had the bite scars to prove it. 

We learned a lot about the gators and the area, 

plus the speed of the airboat helped keep us cool. 

Cruising through narrow canals under trees draped in Spanish moss 

with the sunlight filtering through made this feel like a magical place. 

After a nap we walked to dinner through the French Quarter 

and stopped to watch a wedding parade. 

We went to Domenica at the Roosevelt Hotel for pizza 

and the to-die-for roasted cauliflower with salted whipped goat cheese spread. 

I had read about it on Joy the Baker's blog along with many of the other 

restaurants we visited on this trip. Check out her recommendations here. 

Later that night we walked a block or two over to Frenchman street. 

We started with a Bob Marley cover band and ended at The Spotted Cat 

swinging to music by the New Orleans Cotton Mouth Kings. 

The Spotted Cat was my favorite place we went for live music 

and I will definitely go back on my next visit. 

We had lunch at Peche the next day and enjoyed some seafood. 

Later that night we took a cab over to the Garden District 

and I had one of the best meals of my life at Atchafalaya. 

These were polenta and goat cheese "scallops" which were 

preceded by the best mussels and gnocchi. 

I could not stop talking about this meal for the rest of the night. 

There are so many more restaurants that I want to try next time,

but I will not visit the city again without revisiting this one.

Later that night was the Bourbon Street adventure. 

I had my first and last Hurricane. 

That is about all you need to know about that night. 

On our last full day we rented a huge van 

and drove across Lake Pontchartrain to Mandeville. 

Brad's family friends have an amazing house by the lake 

and Kelly and Brad threw a big crawfish boil to celebrate her birthday. 

This was an amazing experience and we had a cozy feast while it poured outside. 

We had time before our flight on the last day to visit the World War II museum 
and have one last delicious lunch at Cochon. 
Above is the lemon meringue pie...yum. 

Not pictured: 
Hungover breakfast at Luke
Beignets at Cafe du Monde (and the Disneyland-esque line that took an hour) 
The house we stayed in (which you can check out here)