Po'boy Fest 2014

We have been waiting a year for today...The Oak Street Po'Boy Festival! We missed it last year because I was very sick and have been talking about it ever since. We both love a good po'boy! We had debris fries (a New Orleans specialty) as well as a Turkey Rib po'boy and a Smoked Pastrami po'boy. 

May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor...

Costumes are normal everyday in New Orleans. Some people are always in costume; other people just look like they are in costume. For that reason, it still surprises me when we go somewhere in costume and are the only ones! We love any excuse for wigs or hats or capes or just about any other fun accessory, so you know we were not going to pass up dressing up for the Mockingjay movie premiere. Dressed as Effie Trinket and President Snow, we headed to the show at the fancy shmancy Theaters at Canal Place, where you can reserve your seat in advance (it's a recliner!) and you have your own waiter throughout the movie. It was a blast :) 
(Even if we were the only ones in costume)

Restaurant #200: Mr. B's Bistro- A Brennan Family Restaurant

We can't believe it either...we have eaten at 200 New Orleans restaurants! So, what did we choose for #200? Well, a Brennan Family restaurant seemed like an obvious choice. We had family visitors and we all enjoyed a Jazz Brunch at Mr. B's on Royal Street in the French Quarter. Melody, Hughie and Michelle had filet and eggs, Matt had wood-grilled pork tenderloin with sweet potato hash and Steve had bacon-wrapped shrimp and grits.

Searching for Fall...

When we moved to New Orleans, I asked people: "Do the leaves change colors here in the fall?"

People responded, "I don't know, I've never really noticed."

To that I replied, "Then they don't. It's not something you don't notice."

Sadly enough, it's true. Fall never really happens in Southern Louisiana. On November 1st, we hit the Natchez Trace Parkway headed north in search of Fall colors and Autumn weather. A cold front gave us more than chilly mornings. It was downright cold! Our plans to camp quickly came to a halt with a forecasted low of 37 degrees!  We drove all the way to Tupelo before we really saw any bright reds or oranges and even then they were scattered. We spent some time at Tombigbee State Park while we were in Tupelo. It was so nice of mom and dad to drive down to meet us for the night. Here are some of our pictures....

Halloween in New Orleans 2014

Some would say that Halloween lasts an entire month in New Orleans...others might say that Halloween lasts all year long! We had a very festive October here in the Big Easy. We took a pumpkin patch road trip across Southern Louisiana. We went to the most awesome performance of Rocky Horror at this place called The Allways Lounge. We took a trip south to Houma for the annual Rougarou Festival and spent another day at a Fall Festival at the San Francisco Plantation. On October 30, we costumed for the Krewe of Boo Parade in the French Quarter- I was a fortune telling gypsy and Matt went as one of my tarot cards! On Halloween, we headed back to the French Quarter for people watching, and of course another excuse to wear costumes! Here are some of our photos!



Rocky Horror!

 

Halloween Night Costumes: Hunter S Thompson & his partner in crime :)

 

Oktoberfest on the River Road

Every year, the nearby town of Kenner, LA hosts 3 weekends full of German food, beer and music. We decided to check it out this year. We watching a yodeling contest, ate German sausages on pretzel buns, bought delicious cinnamon roasted nuts to take home and listened to some live traditional German music. We went on October 10 but the festival runs through October 25.

From the Swamp to the Zoo

The first weekend in October was a great one... not only was the weather hovering around 80 degrees with no humidity, we had visitors! We went to the zoo, strolled through the swamp and took a ghost tour. In the swamp we saw snakes, lots of spiders, frogs, alligators, beautiful birds and lots of other creepy crawlies. Here are some of our photos!

Joey K's and Rocket Fire Pizza

This week we tried 3 new restaurants! We went to a little café on Decatur in the French Quarter name Fiorella's. It actually turned out to be pretty bad and I don't say that just because I saw a rat run by the table. The food was bad too! We went to a cute place on Magazine Street called Joey K's. The onion rings we ordered for an appetizer were the best part of our meal...but they were really good! We also went to Rocket Fire Pizza. We're trying to branch out and try new pizza places- it's hard since we've found a few pizza bakeries we love. Of course, we are still keeping count of all the restaurants we try. This week, we are at 178!

Saturday Stroll through Uptown

We spent part of our Saturday strolling through the residential streets in Uptown. Houses in these neighborhoods rent for thousands (yes, plural) of dollars per month. We've seen a few of the larger homes online with rental rates in the tens of thousands per month. While we'll never live in one, they are surely pretty to look at!

 

 

Moonrise in the Swamp

We talk about getting up early for the sunrise, but what about the moonrise? I am a member of a women's group that gets together for walks, craft nights and inspirational events throughout the year. On this Sunday in September, we met at the swamp for a wordless meditative walk to watch the moonrise. The walk was lovely. The crickets and tons of other creatures were coming to life as the sun went down and it was truly like music. We saw more spiders than we could count, frogs, giant crickets, a snake and birds. At the end of the boardwalk, we sat for probably 30 minutes, taking in the night and the sounds, gazing at the stars, and finally breaking the silence for some snacks and contemplative thought sharing. Then, it was about a walk back through the swamp to get back to the cars. It was just the kind of retreat I needed from the city and the world of work. Here are a few of my photos...

Audubon Aquarium and Visitors from Tennessee

Labor Day weekend flew by... we were lucky enough to have family visitors but the time went by too fast. Niki, Brian and Caitlin came to see us and during their visit we went to the Audubon IMAX and Aquarium and ate some great food. We went to Dick & Jenny's for brunch, New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Company, Mannings, Dolce Vita Pizza and of course Café Du Monde. Here are a few pictures...

It's Always a Good Day for Beignets

After getting our new camera, I couldn't wait to head to the quarter and try out my new low-light lens. Of course, a trip to the quarter is not complete without beignets! 

A Day at the Fairgrounds

On August 16th we headed over to the New Orleans Fairgrounds for some Quarter Horse and Exotic Animal Racing. What we didn't expect was to find folks in seer sucker suits and derby hats. We really hate it when we miss out on a hat occasion! There were literally thousands of dollars on the line every quarter horse race and it was an exciting few seconds each time! Then....there were the ostriches and zebras. No one was allowed to officially bet on them but they were quite the entertainment!

A Camera fit for New Orleans :)

I am so proud to be able to upgrade my DSLR to the Canon EOS T3i. Not only will my new lenses have some of the newest technology, including image stabilization, I'm gaining several megapixels and getting some awesome editing software too! Let the New Orleans Photo Safari begin!

A boy and his dog...

I just love these photos. Sunday we loaded Max up in the car and we all went to Audubon Park for a stroll. It was a good time :)

A Thousand Red Dresses

Okay, so there were probably 4000, not just 1000. Yes, Saturday was the famous Red Dress Run in New Orleans. Although, the running rarely lasts more than a block and for some, it's never a "run". It's more of a skip, stroll, or wander. At it's very basic level, it is a fundraiser for a pediatric charities. Contestants pay a hefty fee to enter and get access to unlimited beer and food in Armstrong Park after the "race" which is about 2 miles if you make it before falling off at a local bar for a cocktail or passing out from heat exhaustion. For the rest of the city (that's us), it's a chance to dress up in little red dresses, drink, goof off, and see the never ending entertaining characters of the French Quarter. We wanted to do it last year but it was so hot. This year, it was just as hot (heat index of about 107) but we decided to do it anyway! Here's the evidence :)

(Above: Legs from the Streetcar and an outside view of Good Friends Bar on Dauphine)

(Above: Us of course! Matt's blue shoes really complete his outfit, don't you think?)

 

(Above: Me, David, and Joey. So glad we got to meet up with friends!)

Swamp Pop vs. Sno Ball

Perhaps you have never heard of Swamp Pop. It's not music. It's not a Dr. Seuss Book. It is a refreshing bottled beverage only available in southern Louisiana. And you are missing out. I know by now if you've been reading our blog at all, you've heard of a snoball. Snoballs are phenomenally delicious. At first glance you might say they look like a Hawaiian Ice. Well, that would be like saying a Po'boy is "just a sandwich"...don't get us started on that! So what might the difference be between a Swamp-Pop-Kind-of-Day and a Snoball-Kind-of-Day? I'll try to explain.

A Snoball Kind of Day happens only on a HOT day, when it is so bloody hot that all you can think about is cooling off and nothing could possibly be better than the smooth icy goodness of a lemon meringue or peach nectar snoball!

A Swamp Pop Kind of Day might be hot, it might be cold, but the difference is that on this particular day what you really want is to sink into a chair and feel refreshed and relaxed in a way only a glass bottled Ponchatoula Strawberry Pop or Noble Cane Soda can satisfy.

Maybe they'll start making Swamp Pop Snoballs!

July=Vacation

Sadly, July has come to an end. We spent most of the month traveling to see family in Tennessee and enjoying some time at the beach. Now it is back to work and back to school! While at the beach, we took a deep sea fishing trip. Here's a picture of Matt with his fish :)

Eating our Way through NOLA...Dragos, Oak Oven, and Beyond

As of today we have visited 137 local restaurants. Our goal is to make it to 200 by next summer! Food in New Orleans beats food we have had anywhere. We've had Italian just as good as the Italian we had in Italy. We've had the best steaks and seafood of our lives. Even the po'boys are created with such care and pride we are certain they taste better than anywhere else. Willie Mae's has the best fried chicken on the planet and you haven't experienced refreshing until you've eaten a real New Orleans Snoball on a hot summer day. Over the next few weeks we have already mapped out a few more places that we are excited about: Doris Metropolitan and Galatoire's (both steakhouses in the French Quarter), Mona Lisa (a small Italian hot spot that supposedly has bread alone worth dying for) and Gene's Po'boys are a few worth mentioning. We love going to Dat Dog, Company Burger, Café Du Monde, Theo's, and Katie's...however we are still on a mission to try as many places as possible! Recently we went to a place called Oak Oven. They grow their own veggies, make pasta from scratch, and even serve handmade sorbet and gelato with fruit straight from their garden. We had fish, fettuccine, fried eggplant, and blueberry sorbet. On another recent occasion, we went to Drago's, famous for their seafood. It was one of our best meals yet! Matt had chargrilled oysters and Andouille-crusted redfish. I had seafood bisque and lobster. Delicious!

New Orleans Botanical Gardens

Not only does City Park have a Sculpture Garden, there is also a Botanical Gardens Exhibit that is just beautiful. We spent Saturday wandering through the gardens and looking at the flowers. Here are some photos we took...

Meet Max

Yep, we got a dog! His name is Max. He's a German Shepard- about 1 year old. We were able to adopt him from an awesome local rescue program that trains dogs. He is already obedience, house, and crate trained. He'll stay in the house with us and travel with us too. We have had the best first day together!

A New Orleans Saturday: Po'Boys & SnoBalls

Po'Boys really are something to get excited about. Today we tried out a new place- Guy's Po'Boys on Magazine Street. Matt had pastrami and swiss and I resorted to my usual, fried shrimp. They were delicious. Later in the day we couldn't resist a good ol Plum Street snoball... This time I chose Lemon Meringue Pie Cream and Matt mixed Blackberry Cream with Pina Colada Cream. Nothing like a snoball on a hot day!

Happy Hour at Fulton Alley

Can you believe that in almost 6 years, Matt and I have never been bowling together? If we have, we can't remember it!! Fulton Alley is behind Harrah's Casino on, well, Fulton Alley. It is quite fancy for a bowling alley with specialty cocktails and upscale décor. We went during happy hour and got some pretty cool specials like half an hour of bowling and shoes for free! We decided to add another restaurant to the list by trying out pork belly sliders from the onsite restaurant. Matt won both games, by a landslide.

Swamp Time...

Walks in the swamp are always pretty cool... alligators, frogs, monster crickets that can't jump, snakes, and spiders. Okay, maybe cool and a little scary! The wetlands are so beautiful in their own way and are actually pretty peaceful. It's almost the time of year when giant flies take over the swamp trails so we're enjoying it while we can!

 

Irish House

Monday night is such a great night to go out because even though there's plenty of shows and live music, the crowds are few and far between. This week we grabbed dinner at The Irish House on St. Charles Avenue. We practically had a private harp ensemble performance because there were only 3 or 4 other diners in the place. We both started with some Irish Soup, potato and leek for me, carrot and ginger for Matt. Then Matt ordered a burger and I had classic fish and chips. It was a pretty cool place and the harps were beautiful.

 

A Church Revival for Dinner?

Well, only sort of. Less than 1 mile from our house is this really unique restaurant called Redemption. It is a small church that has been converted into a restaurant. Matt surprised me last week with a date night there. We had Frog Leg Grillades and Grits for an appetizer. I had sautéed grouper with Lump Crab and summer peas risotto. Matt had Paneed Lamb Chops with Herb Roasted Potatoes, Blueberry Pepper Glaze, and Mint Scented Snow Peas. How's that for dinner on a Thursday? Here's a photo:

Lunch at Katies

Katie's is one of our favorite restaurants in New Orleans. It was a special treat to enjoy lunch there with the family. Delicious!