Travel Tuesday

NOLA
A few fun facts:
Louisiana is the largest producer of sugar cane in the US. Granulated sugar was invented on the property that is now the Audubon Zoo.

The trinity of Cajun cooking is: onions, celery, green pepper. The Holy Trinity is garlic with the rest.

Commander's Palace was thought to be in existence since 1880. It was recently discovered by historians that it was actually 1893.

We arrived in New Orleans on Thursday afternoon. We stayed at the Prince Conti Hotel in the French Quarter. The location was perfect for all of our activities. Bruce made all of the plans and reservations. Butch and I appreciated that since we know how much time it takes to plan a trip. He did a great job as it was a fabulous trip.

It was supposed to be rainy all weekend. As it turned out, but Friday afternoon, the rain was gone. The sun was out. It was hot and---as it usually is in NOLA--muggy and humid!

Friday evening, we went to Mr. B's Bistro for dinner. It's one of the Brennan family restaurants. They have my favorite bbq shrimp anywhere! I started with a crab and avocado salad. Everything was so delicious. We took the bread pudding back to the hotel. It was just so-so. I LOVE bread pudding, but even though I'll eat it with a hard sauce, I prefer a plain one.

 On Friday, we had a cooking class.

 From left back: David, Butch, Bruce, Hugh, Karolyn, Linda, me and Pam.

We sampled each dish. By the time we finished, we were definitely full! All of it was so good. We made plans to make the dinner at home. I have the shrimp and artichoke soup. I also plan to make it for the family.

There were 80 people there. I got aggravated a few times at how rude people are---talking instead of paying attention. There was a table of women next to us that seemed to be more interested in their phones. That's another thing---phones---don't get me started!

We did a little shopping after the class and picked up some of Joe's Stuff---cajun seasoning, along with a few gifts.

 Street people making a living---love that in Nawlens.

 On Friday night, we took the Canal Street street car to this great Italian restaurant.

 You know it's good if it's been in business since 1932.

I was really disappointed to see that I missed #1 under Thursday by one day!! I asked if they had leftovers. They didn't.

Butch and I shared the Italian salad. I'm sorry now that you cannot get a good idea of how HUGE this is. That is not a dinner plate, but a platter! Let's put it this way, we shared it with everybody. After serving 8 people, there was still some left! We shared a hot ham, turkey and cheese sandwich with fries. When they brought that out, the plate in front of Butch was a six inch sandwich. I thought, "that's perfect." Then they put another in front of me! They split it for us. I ended up giving half of mine to Pam as she wasn't crazy about what she ordered. I kid her that I'll never order what she does and she always seems to have a "miss." I can't even remember what she got, but my sandwich was definitely enough for the two of us. Butch had 2 manhattans and I had iced tea. Our bill was $43.00 before tip!!!

To add to the excitement, there was a table of 20 next to ours. It was a class reunion of sorts. One thing lead to another and they invited us to a party with them after at someone's house. We agreed. We fully intended to go until their food arrived as our bills arrived. We decided that we didn't want to wait an hour to go with them.

 I took this picture of Bruce so you could see the water line from Katrina compared to his height. The water was 12ft. in this area. The place is not fancy at all, but the food was good and incredibly cheap.

 The plan on Saturday morning was to go to Cafe du Monde for beignets. Butch and I had already decided that we would pass on that and geo-cache instead. I don't really like beignets (or funnel cakes or any other fried dough---except some donuts). You can't go to Cafe du Monde without coming out covered in powdered sugar---even if you aren't eating them!! Since everyone had already been to Cafe du Monde, we decided to try Linda's favorite place---Cafe Beignet. Butch and I shared a scone. We loved the live music at 8 a.m.!

 On the way, we passed this little baby on a grate. I felt kind of sorry for it, but not enough to rescue it.

 Burce made reservations for us girls to have high tea at the Windsor Court Hotel. That was a fun surprise!

 They started us with some sparkling wine.

I ordered an ancient tea (and paid extra for it). It looked more like coffee. The tree plants are 400 to 1000 years old. I thought it might be bitter, but it wasn't. It was delicious!

The tea treats were all so good. I didn't get a shot of the scones---my favorite. It was the first time I'd ever had a walnut scone. It was so good, I requested a second. I pretty much never eat the sweet treats---just give me extra scones. I love the clotted cream (or sometimes it's called Devonshire cream). It's like the richest butter you'll ever have!

After tea, we stopped in Harrah's to go to the Starbucks. No, I didn't get tea! I wanted a Louisiana mug for my collection. Linda decided to do a little gambling. She wasn't feeling it, so we went on to do a little shopping.

 We stopped by Jackson Square and browsed around before meeting the guys for a cocktail tour of the quarter.

 Our tour guide started us off with a hurricane before heading out. We walked around the quarter while "Dionne" (yes, an "o") told us about the history. We made several stops at some of the bars.

 The Napoleon House is now a bar.

Napoleon never actually was here. A group of loyalists prepared it for him as they planned to rescue him from where he was held captive. I thought he was banished to Elba Island, but our guide said St. Helen's. I wasn't about to argue.

 There are always fun sights to see while roaming the streets.

 We saw a wedding party in horse drawn wagons.

 This is my friend, who shall remain nameless, who thought NOLA was a chain of restaurants!

 I love mounted police.

After our cocktail tour, we went to KPaul's Kitchen (home of Paul Prudomme). I ordered eggplant stuffed with crawfish. It was really good. One thing that surprised me---we went to some really nice restaurants, but the prices were very reasonable. Not like most restaurants these days.

On Sunday morning, we went to Mass at Immaculate Conception. Loved that---30 minutes! I told my friends that I was going to picket for "more low masses!" Straight to the point and done! No music or long sermons. They didn't even take up the gifts after the collection!

During Mass, I realized that I had left my wedding ring in the bed sheets. I took it off to put lotion on and then forgot about it. I was afraid that it would get scooped up and lost. I tried calling the hotel, but it kept going straight to voicemail. Butch went back and got it for me. The rest of the group went on.

 As it turned out, we were sort of glad they did. That gave us time to wander through the Lafayette Cemetery.

We had brunch reservations at Commander's Palace. This is my favorite restaurant in the whole world---yes, I mean that!! In fact, New Orleans is my favorite food place in the whole wide world too! All the seafood is fresh and they give you tons at a reasonable price!!

The Jazz brunch at Commanders is $46.00. You start with a Bloody Mary, then choose a salad, entree and dessert. I got a salad with artichokes, fried oysters, a soft-boiled egg and hollandaise sauce. Honestly, that could have been my whole meal. This picture is my entree---a crawfish frittata. There was so much crawfish on it. I was really good, but I barely put a dent in it.

The dishes are so cute too! I ended with the banana bread soufflé. I was pretty full by then so only had a couple bites. All that for $46.00.

 Plus there's entertainment! A Mardi Gras parade! We were the "second line."

Then, "Ti" the daughter of Ella Brennan who started the restaurant nearly 50 years ago, stopped by to say hello. We had a great time. As you can tell by my hair, that it doesn't do well in humidity.

After brunch, we went to this awesome museum. After 2 and a half hours, we barely put a dent in it. We'll be going back for sure. I loved  the attention to detail. If they were telling about what was happening in the Pacific, you were in a jungle. In the Italian mountains, there were boulders and snow.

Afterwards, while Butch was geo-caching, I had a nice conversation with FDR!

That night we went to Galatoire's for dinner. Bruce made the reservations last September. You have to   do that if you want to get in!!

Butch had appetizers for dinner. I can't even remember what I ordered now. The food has all run together. But it was all fabulous.

The entire trip was a blast. I can't wait to go with the family. If not the guys, then for sure one of our girls trip!

PS Forgive any spelling or grammar errors as I did not have time to correct. Off to St. Louis tomorrow to help my aunt with her move.