The Big Easy

Whelp! We weren't there for long at all and I was not really impressed but I seem to have taken a lot of pics nonetheless.

Backstory: Scott and I were in New Orleans back in 1998 right after Hurricane Georges blew through. It was for a conference I attended so we took advantage of the opportunity and drove down together for a break before we started our first round of IVF. It was the best of times and the worst of times. Actually it was a fun trip but we felt unsafe much of the time in the French Quarter. I recall enjoying the Big Ass Beer place and I kept that cup for many years. We had a great meal at the Acme Oyster House but it was overshadowed by our nearly leaving our camera behind and also, once we stepped outside we saw a guy in a wheelchair emptying his colostomy bag into the street. That bag emptying embodied what I felt about being in the French Quarter.

So, anyway, back to our brief stay in New Orleans.
On the way down to Florida Emi requested that we stop in New Orleans for dinner. It didn't fit into the route or the schedule so we made it fit on the way back. We got to the hotel close to midnight and scored a club level room on the cheaps (priceline.com). After a fairly decent night of sleep and some glorious showers/baths, we went out in search of coffee and beignets. Cafe du Monde was close by and the beignets were just like I remembered...very much like a funnel cake. We took our cafe au laits and hot chocolates and beignets to a table outside and then proceeded to get sugared up! I think they could cut back about 3/4 of the powdered sugar and still sell beignets like hotcakes.

The First Beignet

Beignets for Everyone

Not a Plate of Coke

Beignet Mouth (we were all afflicted with this)

Powdered Sugar Everywhere

Afterwards I just wanted some savory cajun fare and I got lucky. We found some boudin (crawfish, regular and shrimp) at a gas station down the road. And the kids got a little rowdy on the road as evidenced below: