Our time in the Big Easy

New Orleans, it's big, it's easy and ever since I was a little boy, I've wanted to go.  We've planned to go at least two other times but things always got in the way.  Last year, I had bought our plane tix, and booked our hotel.  The night before we were to depart, I went to print our confirmation tickets only to find that nothing had actually been confirmed.  Thanks Expedia.  A few weeks ago, we decided come hell or high water, we're going.  Here's how it played out.

We stayed at Hotel Pavillion, one of the oldest hotels in NOLA, and supposedly haunted.  When we were checking in we were told that a guest of the hotel had checked out early the week before, because of some type of haunting.  Sadly, no spooks for us during our stay, just extravagant french decor and overly kind staff.

Candice broke her sandal on the way back to the hotel.  That meant she had to walk in wet dirty streets, barefoot -yucky.

 The room is much prettier in person

 Steam ship on the mighty Mississipp

 New Christmas ornament during one of our shopping excursions

The food in NOLA is without a doubt the best food in the country and maybe even the world.  An exciting mix of elegant french technique combined with the spice and vibrancy of african, spanish and native american influences.  We said our goodbyes to abdominal definition and dove right into the wealth of caloric indulgences that creole cuisine offers.

We ate at Emeril's flagship restaurant.  Celebrity chef food can be hit or miss but thankfully, Emerils knew how to kick it up a notch.

 BAM - Chicken and Andouille gumbo!  Smokey and deep flavors.

Emeril's signature gulf shrimp with french BBQ sauce and mini rosemary biscuit.  Best shrimp dish I've ever had?  Probably.

 Local drum fish with fried shoe string potatoes and andouille gravy on a bed of veggies.

 Oh yeah babe, we had the best banana cream pie on the planet.  I can't remember what the other dessert was because all my brain can think of right now is how much I want another slice of what must have been banana crack cocaine pie.

  Here, Candice is wearing both her and my napkins on her shoulders to try and stay warm.  Totally pulled it off.

Sabayon served in an egg shell with caviar

 Softshell crab and also what appears to be the shadow of death standing behind me.

Bread pudding souffle with whisky cream sauce

Signed menu by the chef, in honor of our anniversary.  Nice but kinda weird too.

Pate with 3 types of marmalade, mustard and toasted brioche (not shown)

Beignets from the world famous Cafe du Monde.  French donuts are a wonderful addition to the world of fried dough.  Can't wait to make them at home.

Mo' soft shell crab

 This tartlet was the best dessert we ate on the trip. John Besh's August is simply divine.

For me the best appetizer was the oyster roast at Cochon.  Huge fresh oysters with lemon, butter, chili, garlic.  

Cracklin, cochon, cabbage, apples and turnips.  When's the last time you had pork rinds?  Awesome dish.

Pork cheeks with smoked tomato.  Cheeks are usually the most tender part of an animal.

More locally caught drum fish

Shrimp Po' Boys, mine had roast beef, friend shrimp smothered in gravy.

Chocolates from Sucre

Local root beer spiked with the shadow of destruction.

 We ate at Brigtsens, Cochon, Restaurant August, Commander's Palace, Cafe du Monde, Parkview Bakery.  We were lucky to be able to gorge ourselves silly on such terrific food.

 Beautiful architecture abounded

 We took a tour and learned about the Lafayette cemetery.  The water table is so high in NOLA that they have to bury their dead above ground.  One thing I really liked about the culture there is that they have parades when people die.  Most of the time, they have 10-12 piece brass bands lead the parade procession.  While we were there, we saw two parades and witnessed the grand party/send off the natives of Nah lin's get after they pass on to the other side.  People in the parade wear things that remind them of the person they are honoring.  We were told the bands play some religious music but also play pop or hip hop songs that the recently deceased would have liked.  In one case Outkast's "bombs over baghdad" was performed  They also have certain marches that they do on the parade.  Seems like an awesome way to celebrate the person's life to me.  Also, some knowledge of voodoo traditions was dropped for our enrichment.  Almost 4% of the city proclaims to practice voodoo as their main system of belief.

New Orleans is old, in this pic a tree is growing into the fence.

 Toured the garden district.  The most beautiful neighborhood I've ever seen.  Sadly, we don't have any pics but it's where Sandra Bullock, John Goodmen live.  It's also where the Manning brothers grew up.

 Austin Texas holds the official title of live music capitol of the US.  It's nowhere close to having the same amount of live music as the big easy.  Musicians are everywhere in the french quarter.  We went to frenchmen street and saw this street band rockin' it out, they included a cover of Nirvana's "Smells like teen Spirit."  We danced in middle of the street, just like everyone else.

 After that we went and saw this gypsy jazz band called Bad Penny Pleasuremakers.  Gypsy jazz is my favorite form of Jazz, so it was perfect.

Washed out and beautiful.

 New Orleans is also said to be the most haunted city in America.  We took a ghost tour to find out more.

Our tour was given by a chap named Lord Chaz (pictured above with Candice).  Some weird things about Lord Chaz.

-He had Candice feel his pulse, then he made his pulse flatline to nothing.  Some sort of trick but a good one.
-Lord Chaz explains that in old vampire folklore it is said that vampires are nocturnal hunters and never blink.  He invited you to watch his eyes.  He never blinked the entire tour.  I watched his eyes for ten minutes straight.
-Lord Chaz has really long finger nails, that are sharp.  He shows you his forearm and admonishes the crowd to check for blood packets or latex.  He then proceeds to puncture his own forearm, with his nails, until he bleeds.  The lord of chaz then wraps the wound and proceeds to tell another haunted story.  At the end of the story he removed his bandage and the wound had vanished. Cool trick Chaz, cool trick.... Or is it a trick at all? Bwahahaha!

There are some legitimately weird/creepy things that have gone on in NO.  The tour was fun and worth doing.  In the background is the oldest building in NOLA, it is said to contain the caskets of vampire women in it's attic.

I kinda like this picture.  It seems to say "welcome to my cozy corner of the world, grab some hot chocolate and let's talk about your day."

Gun show at the WW2 museum.  A really worth while museum that showcases and explains personal details from combat veterans of the war.

We went on a plantation tour to two different plantations.  The one above is known as oak alley and has been featured in "Interview with a Vampire" among other movies and tv shows.  In person it is espectaculoso.  The oaks that line the street are 300 years old.

View from the house balcony.

We also visited plantation Laura, a creole plantation build in their style.  We learned about slaves and saw their quarters.  It was interesting and sad.  Slaves in LA had it much better than other southern states but most of their lives were still filled with hardship and cruelty.

Ate a king cake and found a baby, I  guess it's a french thing.

Some negatives about the city.
-Some places are really smelly
-Some areas are fairly dirty

Overall, New Orleans basically is awesome.  Can't wait to go back.