just call me SURVIVOR

i survived a fabulous family trip to new orleans with my wick (who did indeed live to see 30), his parents (who, i must say are night and day- i'm talking one extreme to the other), and two other peeps who work with his mom- dawn (who turns 48 today) and nic (who still resides in the decade that begins with a 2. sigh. whatever).

our trip began quite normally- as we shoved our bags into the cracks and crevices that remained in the back of the van, we made several trips back in to retrieve various and sundry items we overlooked- mom wanted an internal converter, wick wanted pillows, i couldn't find my hair clippie. you know the deal. so we finally set off, quite excited and bubbling about our jaunt. dawn was driving- wick and i were settled in the third row of seats and were fighting for position with pillows and all our crap that, at one point, seemed essential to this trip. dawn took a right of lindberg onto 12 and wick suggested we go a different way, so you know what she did? in the face of oncoming traffic that could not have been more than 5 car lengths away, that woman did a u-ey in the middle of the damn highway. i do believe i was stunned; it took me an hour and a half to turn to wick, my eyes still glazed, knuckles white from gripping the oh-shit bar, and say, ummm babe, did we just do a u-ey in the middle of highway 12? and that, my friends, was only the beginning. i believe that we had a grand total of 4 near death experiences on the drive down, causing wick to wonder, as it was the eve of his 30th birthday, whether indeed he'd even live to see 30. but as luck would have it, we made it safely to our resort and thus began our adventure.

after a not-so-great and severely over priced dinner at Harrah's buffet, wick and i connected with brad-- how bizarre that he ended up in new orleans same time we did! and let's see, we visited bourbon street, knocked back a couple of drinks at DESIRE, an oyster bar, and just wandered around looking all touristy i'm sure. i do believe it was worth the blisters to wind up at Cafe du Monde, for no trip to New Orleans is complete without that. Frozen cafe au lait and a stack of beignets. lip smacking good it was! then we found a way to sleep six in a presidential studio (did you know that studios- or at least this one- don't have real beds?) nope, this spacious studio sported an honest to goodness murphy bed and a very comfy blue velvet couch that opened to a full sized bed. the furniture was oppulent; the chandeliers were stunning, and the tray ceiling was painted a steely gray-blue that offset the mocha walls. the ornate dining table was beautifully carved and the chairs were comfy. but you might recall i said there were six of us, and hells, none of us could be accused of being small. ever resourceful, pam brought an air mattress and we had to get creative with the space...we couldn't open the couch and use the mattress so poor dawn slept on the floor when she finally dragged her drunk tail back from meeting friends she met on a cruise back in november. you know what? i think that' s the only time i've ever seen a real live murphy bed, not that the bed was live, but you know what i mean. check that off my list.

after a restless night (our air mattress wasn't aired quite enough and we kept rolling together in the middle and then we were sweaty on the bottom and freezing on the top because air mattresses just surround you with heat and the room was freezing- not conducive to restful snoozing, i can assure you). but we hopped up saturday morning and packed all our crap and stored it downstairs til our bigger space was ready- we moved to a two bedroom. had 2 king beds and another pullout couch, and even more convenient- 2 full baths. :) we found breakfast in a little dive off canal. i don't think guy fieri will be visiting that lil place, but they had coffee and bacon, so we lived through it.

we hit up the french market and the creole tomato festival. it was hotter than hell but oh so good for the soul. we built a tomato: drizzled with a light vinegar, sprinkled with basil and cheese and capers, a little freshly ground pepper. oo and we tried blueberry limeade. was kind of watered down because ice and 100 degree sweltering weather just don't mix well, but it had great potential. think i wanna re-create that. we tried homemade cinnamon rolls, an apple turnover, and sweet potato cookies from Loretta's in the french market. she's a MUST DO. mmmm. i also purchased a jar of creole tomato jelly. i plan to slather it over a block of cream cheese and dig in with some crackers. mmm mmm delish.

we picked our way across the steaming pavement, weaving in and out of clumps of sweaty peeps shoving food and beer down the hatch and found ourselves at Central Grocery for lunch- muffalettas of course and we bought a big ass jar of olive salad to bring home. we stuffed our goods in my over-sized purse-- the very cute green one with embroidered daisies that BFT purchased for me at a cracker barrel-- and headed back to the room. we peeled off sweaty clothes, wolfed down the food, and showered. NAP TIME. whoop! whoop! slept about 3 hours and woke feeling refreshed.

for wick's special birthday dinner, we went to Dicki Brennan's Bourbon House http://www.bourbonhouse.com/ it was a perfect choice. to start, wick and i split a strawberry spinach salad with macadamia nuts, a delicious and light dressing, shavings of peccorino, and a mascarpone cigar. mmmm. i opted for the grilled redfish and he had the seared tuna. the food was fabulous. pam got the blackened catfish and it's, hands down, the best blackened fish i've ever had the pleasure of taking down. dad got the drum- i didn't get a bite of that. nic had the pork porterhouse and beer battered grit cakes. now, i wasn't bowled over by the grit cakes but everything else had a great flavor. dawn got a shrimp skewer and crab-stuffed peppers which were fabulous. for dessert, wick ordered the bourbon milk punch which i thought was divine and i had this layered chocolate sponge cake with chocolate cream and ganache. oh my. dad got bread pudding which was very tasty and dawn and nic split the pecan pie with pralines and ice cream. i have to say that the meal was very pleasing, from start to finish. the service was exemplary. the atmosphere was classy yet casual. it was just a perfect moment etched in time. and it was very affordable.

we left the restaurant feeling pleasantly sated instead of sickly stuffed and meandered on over to chartres house cafe http://chartreshousecafe.com/ for bloody marys. i usually prefer my bloody marys in the morning, but damn, this was fine. it was marvelously spicy and full of veggies! green beans, an olive and an onion and mmmmm it was really yummy. the service was nothing to brag about, but i'm of the thought that shit happens. it could have been an off day for our dood. i'll have to go a few more times before i slam them too hard for that. ya just never know. let's see, i think that's the night we did the jazz bar (not at all impressed...the prices were astronomical and the server was curt and unaccomodating. $6.75 for a bottled water...hrmph) we stayed for a few songs and took our leave. just weren't feeling it. we did a little more of this and that, including another foray into jackson square for a round of beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde, before we trekked back to the room for another shower and family time before bed. bone tired, we finally dropped into sleep and since there were no windows, we slept in a bit the next day.

sunday morning, we woke up ravenous and no one seemed to be moving fast enough for our liking, so we dressed and headed out on our own. trekked forever and a day to petunias on st. louis only to find that it was closed/moved whatever. so we followed directions and headed a couple blocks over to conti street and found the olde new orleans cookery aka oceana grille, aka petunias-- very confusing but oh so worth it. see my review on tripadvisor. i'm teacherwoman613. we enjoyed really large omelets infused with local flavor and ingredients and i had a bloody mary to go. are you noticing a theme? hehe- it was really yummy. i think i'm really liking the green beans in the drinks. i usually just put celery in mine but i'm very ready to branch out. we took a luxurious (if steamy) walk past the famous brennan's- we'll go there next trip; it's a must do.

we also came across New Orleans School of Cooking http://www.neworleansschoolofcooking.com/ that's also a must do for our next trip. For under 30 bucks a person, you can watch a cooking demo (the weekly menus are set) and then eat the fabulous meal. MMMMM....how can you go wrong? what fun! we're definitely IN. check out that site and click on the classes/events tab. FUN STUFF.

we wandered back to the rooms to get everyone jumpstarted and met up with kathryn- a delightful chick that wick has known a long time. she, being a local, took us around. we headed back to the french market to take in the cooking demos and sample the fare that at least a dozen fine restaurants offered in their booths. i tried a creole tomato stuffed with shrimp remoulade. OH MY GOSH, it was yummy. wick took down an alligator sausage on a stick and we tried fresh lemonade and limeade and jambalaya and ooo this tomato, avocado, red onion salad, and a really yummy tomato, basil, and cheese stuffed crepe. we hung out during the hottest part of the day until kathryn took her leave to go see a play; i think it was called shotgun. it sounded intriguing. we spent some time at crescent city brewery where wick experienced the sampler and i experienced my very first mojito. good stuff. the very accomodating and chatty oyster shucker made me an ice burrito to wrap around my neck and restore me to humanity. my gosh it was hot out there!

once we cooled off, we hiked back to the rooms and met up with dad again (he was studying). took a street car back down to the market to dine at coop's...not too shabby. http://www.coopsplace.net/ i wasn't crazy about the red beans and rice- it was missing something i thought. but dawn really dug it. wick got the rabbit and sausage jambalaya and it was really tasty. the shrimp creole was ok- not too shabby, and the burgers were great. i enjoyed mine. i was in the mood for a burger. we got there just in time to snag the last table and the guy who served us seemed to be everywhere at once- they appeared to be understaffed but ya never know what the circumstances might have been. was a good meal.

one of dawn's friends had dinner at coops with us and afterwards, our party kind of split up. mom and dad headed back to the rooms and we went in search of local bars with dawn's friend, lisa, who was just as against paying 8 bucks for a beer as we were. we wound up at a lil place off st peters called johnnywhites (not to be confused with the johnnywhites on bourbon, which is all touristy). they had 3 dollar drafts, so we pulled right up to the bar. it felt good to me. you know i'm all about vibes. was a tee-niney place, like a large hallway. the back of the bar was real wood and sported beautiful ornate carving. it was all masculine and inviting. kinda reminded me of that lil place on beale next to tater red's...charley's? something like that. anyways, we settled in with some wonderful music from the juke. had a great time. somehow or other, not usually being one to back down from a challenge, i wound up doing the splits on the bar...i dunno, the whisky was flowing, the bartender was laid back, and the atmosphere was dark (in a good way) and the vibes were fabulous...at some point, probably somewhere between my 6th and 7th whisky and coke, our group decided to say goodbye to lisa and johnnywhites and cut through bourbon street on our way back to the rooms.

amazingly, i woke up monday morning clearheaded and happy. we gathered our junk and loaded up. it tickles me how we tend to explode everywhere- why do we travel with so much stuff? is it really necessary? i want to be simpler, to pare down more, and i really did. wick and i packed lighter than anyone else- and there were two of us! but still, we had too much crap. i think my issue is all my little jars and bottles of bath and hair crap. shampoo, conditioner, body wash, in shower body lotion, facial scrub, regular lotion, anti-frizz (that's what happens when you go gray- your silky tresses turn to 10 pound test fishing line.) it's all relative i suppose, but we did have lots of crap to load. we stopped in slidell for breakfast at crackerbarrel and then i alternated between stretching the brain with sudoku puzzles and open-mouthed napping. all in all, i had a glorious time. the food was good and so enhanced the feel of vacation. the scenery is always good. and i was so happy to find that new orleans is fighting and clawing its way back to some semblance of normalcy. forging ahead and cutting loose toxic baggage.

if you've not been since katrina, by all means, it's time for you to go!