Anyhow, back to New Orleans. I drove in my first day after a brief stop off in Houston. I didn't blog about it because the stop just consisted of crashing with a Peace Corps friend for the night and taking off as early as I could manage. I didn't actually see anything of the city. I've been there before and some day I will return.
I arrived in New Orleans around 4:00pm, and headed straight to my friend David's house. Even before stepping out of the car, I felt captivated by the place. The buildings themselves are quite interesting with long French doors- many of them with two apartments in a one story building. The neighborhood he lives in is "up and coming" which is usually a nice term for still a little rough with raising prices.
I took a few minutes to say hello and get settled in before we went for a coffee at his neighborhood coffee shop/vegetarian place called Satsumas. Cute place. I ordered a quiche which was quite excellent, though I must say... the coffee was pretty crappy. It took two Splendas in my small cup to cover the bitterness when I usually just use about a half packet. It was the end of the day though. Oh well. I'd recommend it anyway for quiche and ambiance. The juice looked good too.
After the coffee, we're both a little more awake, and decide to head to a dive bar called Mimi's for, according to David, a really good Bloody Mary. As a bit of a Bloody Mary diva, I was really looking forward to trying them. I wasn't disappointed. Perfectly spicy (by request- she asked spicy or not) with the right texture, and some lovely garnishes of pickled green beans, and olives. Perfect.
My buddy David chillin with his lovely Bloody Mary.
The interior of this neat little dive...
Yeah, that's right... I already ate the pickled green beans.
Just one of many interesting houses in New Orleans. If I had a real camera, and not a cell phone or a little point and shoot, I would have gone nuts. If I move down there, I WILL go nuts. Did I mention my first degree is partially in photography?
After leaving our fun little Bloody Mary bar, we headed down to the French Quarter. I've never been to New Orleans before, but I could only imagine the chaos that must go on during Mardi Gras.
Cute little bar where we got beers to go before walking around.
Next, we decided to stop for some absinthe. I've never had it before, and there are several bars here that carry it. I'm not a big black licorice fan, but really, I had to try it anyway. Our bartender at the Pirates Alley Cafe was a really cool chick and she agreed to be in a few photos of the pouring process for the blog... she even got her hat for effect. Sadly, I forgot to give her the web address so she could actually see it for herself. Perhaps someday she'll find it randomly and remember the silly people who walked in with an absinthe fascination- though probably she gets it all the time.
The process itself consisted of pouring the absinthe through a lump of sugar which she set on fire and then very slowly pouring ice water from a tap into the glass which gave the absinthe a cloudy appearance. Check out the three photos below for a clue to how the process works, though for a really good idea, you should just see for yourself sometime. It's cool.
David and I drinking our absinthe. Good times!
After the absinthe, we wandered around the French Quarter a little. I swear I took a video of Bourbon Street just to show you all, but that one went MIA. Maybe it was the absinthe. We started looking for a place to get food. It was crawfish season and I was really looking forward to digging into a bowl. I couldn't remember if I had ever had them before and David hadn't, so we were sure to ask how to do it. I was a pretty big fan, but between that and the gumbo, I was pretty terribly full.
After we ate, we went to a bar to meet up with a girl we knew in Morocco, but I'm afraid I wasn't so wonderfully social. I think the rice kept expanding in my stomach, and I was highly uncomfortable. There was a good band playing that night, however, and I enjoyed the music as much as I possibly could. The band was a trio, and the girl had quite the voice. I'm always envious of girls who get that low, sexy, husky, thick smokers voice. When I smoked cigarettes back in the day, my voice got all hollow, and I couldn't control my voice as well. I guess that's even more of an incentive for me to never smoke cigarettes again. Regardless of my past, boy did I have voice envy this evening... and this wasn't to be the last night in New Orleans that I would be afflicted by that longing feeling one gets while watching someone really good and wanting so much to be her at that exact moment.
I have so much more to tell about New Orleans. Stay tuned... I'll update within the next few days.
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