New Orleans – Riveted

New Orleans – Day 2

Laura Domela — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 11:06:48 +0000

I don't really have any more photos to post besides this view from our office this morning. It's still a little stormy, but not dumping rain or throwing lightning around the sky like yesterday.

We went to Commander's Palace over in the Garden District for dinner last night. It was lovely. There's some interesting history of the restaurant (around since 1880) here on their website. We were in New Orleans for two nights and chose contemporary New Orleans for dinner one night (August), and old school New Orleans (and one of our standby favorites) for dinner the next. Both were fabulous. And now, it's time to get back on that diet. New Orleans is not for dieters. At all.

Yesterday it was so super stormy that we decided to go see a movie at noon. We saw The Master over at the Theaters at Canal Place. These theaters are perhaps the coolest theaters EVER. They've got nice big comfy seats with plenty of room to stretch out….oh and a CHEF! The usher seats you and gives you a menu and silverware and takes your order. You can get wine and what looked like some yum entrees, even. We shared a little panini sandwich with a salad and had some truffled popcorn and iced teas. They have cool little wooden pivoting trays on the armrests…it was very swanky. Ten bucks for a matinee.

Also, we stopped to exchange our Sodastream carbonators at probably the nicest most helpful Ace Hardware we've ever been to over in the French Quarter. If you live here and don't know about this store, now you know!

Well, we're headed to the Florida pandhandle this morning. Hope you're enjoying the trip!

p.s. Oh wait! I DO have another picture to share. The snap I took of the tasting menu we did last night. We had barbecued alligator!!! And OMG that five hour egg was exquisite. Everything was so so good, and our waiter did us a favor and substituted the bread pudding souffle (my favorite dessert) for the one on the tasting menu. I've made it at home a few times and it's good, but it's not the same.

New Orleans – Day 1 Part 2

Laura Domela — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:32:20 +0000

Tonight we got an early reservation at August over on Tchoupitoulas Street. We did the degustation menu with wine pairings and it was fabulous. Really. Right up there with our other favorites.

After dinner we walked down Canal Street over to Bourbon Street and figured we'd get a bit of a walk in before we grabbed a cab back to the trailer park. Stopped to grab this spooky shot for you guys. Nice, huh? I think they planned it that way.

We ended up standing outside of a place called the Bayou Club listening to a cool band…stayed for two or three songs, then we left and walked around a bit, but we decided to go back and hear more. We went in, had a drink and heard another set and a half and they were great. Brandon Moreau and his Cajungrass. So much fun. Here's a link to a few songs. If you pick just one, go with Jack of Diamonds. There was a cool guy dancing around energetically in front of the band wearing a good hat and sunglasses. Turns out it was this guy Mike James (I saw his photo on the "fans of Cajungrass" area and recognized him.)

OMG our cab ride to August!! Hilariously entertaining cab driver. I can't even begin to describe the awesomeness. So I probably shouldn't have even started this story, since I can't finish it. But just know…whoa! That was some crazyass New Orleans cab ride!

New Orleans – Day 1

Laura Domela — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 17:55:26 +0000

This morning (on a tip from our friend Steve) we headed over to Mother's for breakfast. We decided we'd do breakfast, skip lunch (oh, maybe a beignet or something), and then go to dinner. Pacing is important here. We know Steve is as much about the experience of a place as we are so we trust his tips. Mother's didn't disappoint. It was raining pretty heavily this morning as we headed out and as we found Mother's, we also found a parking spot right in front of the door. Score! There was a line out front but as we were parking they moved that part of the line inside.

The line was longish but it moved quickly. Honestly, I could have used a little more time to figure out what I wanted. (Crawfish etouffee omelet!) The food was good, but the ambiance was better. You get in line and look at a menu. The line moves up and you order when you get to cashier and they bring it to your table when it's ready. It's efficient and quirky and it's funny to watch the people who get all flustered and can't flow with the system.

After breakfast we did a drive down St. Charles Avenue to check out some of the cool architecture. Here are a few pics:

Kind of a dreary day for photos, huh? Oh well. It was still raining, so we stopped to pick up a couple of umbrellas and headed over to the French Quarter to walk around a bit.

This is kinda great: Did you know that you can get New Orleans Police Department T-shirts at the New Orleans Police Department? Now you do.

We stopped at Cafe Beignet on Royal Street for a cappuccino and a beignet. We remembered the place from when we were here before and staying at the Hotel Monteleone. At that time, we thought these were better than the more touristy Cafe du Monde. Not sure if that's still true, but they were good.

This gal's outfit was great. Striped T-shirt with black lace collar, ruffled denim shorts, and black lace capri tights.

Some French Quarter architecture:

Joy Theater on Canal Street:

And I wasn't fast enough on the draw to get this shot very successfully, but check out this great typeface:

Good Morning New Orleans

Laura Domela — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 10:28:46 +0000

Pontchartrain Landing RV Park & Marina

Hey! Let’s go to Miami! (via New Orleans of course)

Laura Domela — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:05:09 +0000

Last night after I picked Kevin up from the airport (he had a quick business trip to San Diego this week) we met up with his mom and her husband for dinner at La Hacienda de los Barrios. We sat outside in the large patio area…it was warm with a slight breeze…there was a guitar player…the food was good…cold margarita…it was just perfect.

We stopped on the way back to the Airstream and got some gas (not at Buc-ee's) and added a touch-free drive-through car was onto the tab. So now the truck is clean (the Airstream is not) and today we're heading to Lafayette, Louisiana, then New Orleans, and then to Miami to hook up with Kevin's brother. Oh. Didn't I tell you? We decided to head to Miami before going home…since it's, well, not on the way at all. (Get ready with those map stickers!) I think we'll be about as far as possible from home at that point.

We'll stay in New Orleans for a few nights and then not sure of the route we'll take to Miami yet. If you have any favorite spots on the way, let us know!

Also, I thought you might like to see the photo I took last night while we were sitting in the car wash. These are our cool lighted cup holders in the new truck. And by "cool" I mean six different colors of cool. Change the color of the cup holder light to suit your mood. An important feature, don't you think?