New Orleans Trip

Ok sorry for the long pause on blogging but I had some haters. However, after hearing people were begging for more, I couldn't resist.

I went to visit James in new Orleans late june and we had a blast! James had a living social deal to go on a tour of the old new Orleans rum house. It is kinna in the middle of nowhere on Elysian fields but it's definitely worth a visit. The visit started with a complimentary ice tea with rum. It was so delish! The tour is not very long, maybe 20 minutes, but the best part is that it's intimate. There was maybe 8 people there. After we saw the entire process of rum making, we got to taste their 4 rums! This place sells 3 of their rums in grocery stores around Louisiana. But if you go on the tour, u can taste and buy their 10 year aged rum that is soooo smooth you can drink an entire glass straight! We bought all four kinds of course!

After our tour, we headed to my cousin Jeffrey's apartment. We decided to walk to the quarter to go eat. We happened upon Arnaud's Remoulade. It's on Bourbon street and a much cheaper version of the original Arnaud's. It was so yummy! We got oysters, strong drinks, burgers, and I think the guys got meat pies! Everyone knows how much I love meat pies. Definitely check it out!

After dinner we went to pat o'briens. It was my first time going! James got a hurricane, I got a rainbow and jeff got a mint juliep. We sat on the patio and finished our drinks, which were so strong!! We then went to the pat o's piano bar. This was the most fun I've had in a while! You can write down a song on a cocktail napkin and donate a dollar and they can play almost any song you want on the piano. It is so much fun! One little note about pat o's....return the fancy glass when you finish your drink and you get $3 back. Definitely worth it!

Thanks Jeff and James for a fun time!

Birthday Extravaganza!!

So my birthday was April 27th but since James had finals the weekend after my birthday and then I had finals immediately after him, we postponed my birthday to celebrate it big!! I decided that instead of a gift, I wanted to go to a fancy restaurant so we decided to go to Arnaud's and James went all out. I'm so grateful for such a fabulous boyfriend

Since James and I got really dressed up, we decided to hit up the Sazarac bar in the Roosevelt Hotel on Baronne. I love the Roosevelt because it is gorgeous. Well the bar was beautiful as well except seating is very limited. We had to stand half the time. The drinks are pricy as expected but the bartenders know what they are doing and they are very nice. The drinks are original and traditional. I got a floradora which has gin, raspberry liquor, lime juice, triple sec and ginger ale. They garnished it with a beautiful flower. It was delicious and light. The ginger ale made this drink amazing. James got a Ramos Gin Fizz. I personally didn't care for it too much but he really had been wanting to try it and he liked it. It was Huey P. Long's favorite drink and it was invented at the Roosevelt. It has egg whites in it and it looked like foam.

After drinks at the Roosevelt, we headed over to Arnaud's. They seated us early too. We began with more cocktails. Lol. I got a cosmo while James got a whiskey old fashion (old man). The cosmo was excellent. We each had a soup. I got the chicken and andouille gumbo and James got the turtle soup. Both were great but mine didn't come with rice. I had never had gumbo without rice but I'm glad I did so I wouldn't be too full. We then had the oysters Arnaud. It is 5 oysters and each one is cooked like one of the 5 recipes on their menu. I don't know which ones were which but I ate 2 and mine were really good. There was one I didn't like much because it sort of tasted like Mexican. It was not that great. They also give you fantastic bread that was ferociously hot. Then we decided to order wine to go with our entree. We got a bottle of Kendall Jackson (yes I felt like crap the next day). Our entrees came out and I ordered the veal wohl and James ordered the trout meuniere. the veal whol was a sautéd veal with a mushroom sauce. It also came with crawfish tails in a crawfish étouffée sort of broth. And the best part is that it came with the most amazing crabcake I have ever had in my life. I told James that if I ever won the lottery, I would get whoever made that crabcake and hire them to make me crabcakes all the time. It was that amazing. The trout menuiere looked tasty. James really enjoyed it but he liked the crabcake as well. We also got creamed spinach and sautéd mushrooms. They were both yummy but we were too full to eat them all. We then sat for an extra 30 minutes enjoying our wine and watching several people get flambéd bananas foster. It looked delicious.

After we paid the bill, we went upstairs into the museum portion. It is ultra creepy! They have all these female manicans that have these huge Mardi Gras ballgowns on. We were the only people up there.

After dinner we went back to James' apartment and met up with some friends. Then we went to a karaoke bar called buddah belly. There were literally 4 people there when we walked in. But I guess that encouraged me to sing with Mary and James.

I want to thank James for giving me an amazing birthday!! I had so much fun.

Sorry the photos are dark but I didn't want to be a tacky tourist or anything at a nice restaurant, duh no flash!

Ninfa

James and I went ate lunch at a Baton Rouge Mexican staple....Ninfas. It's so yummy because their tortillas are made from scratch by the tortilla lady! I must admit that I like the ambiance of ninfa before they remodeled it. They used to have piñatas hanging from the ceiling. Now it's kind of bland. However the food is still great!

They always start you with chips and salsa (red and green salsa). Then James got a ninfarita--bring a designated driver!

Today it was not crowded at all so our food came out in like 10 minutes. I got the tacos and James got the steak fajitas. I always get tacos at ninfas so I can taste their incredible tortillas. Usually at other Mexican places I get enchiladas. I am a creature of habit.

Ninfas is better at night but they do not take reservations but i don't mind waiting by the bar.

Pulled Pork!

Ok so I realized I don't go out to eat that much and it's too expensive. Therefore I will supplement thus blog with some yummy dishes I also whip up.

Tonight I made pulled pork and it is so easy and so delicious! If your cooking for a man, they will gobble this up!

I use my slow cooker to slowly cook a boneless pork shoulder. I buy one of those spice packets that's for pulled pork. It uses vinegar, brown sugar and ketchup ( I have to face my fear to deal with that nasty red stuff).

All you do is mix everything together and put the slow cooker on low for 8 hours. Don't do the alternative of putting it on high for 4 hours unless you have to. The meat is so much more tender if you do it for 8 hours.

The meat was falling apart after the 8 hours. It was fantastic!! Also I keep my slow cooker on warm overnight after so the meat can absorb all those juices for the leftovers.

The best way to serve it is to rip off a piece of french bread. It's so casual and enjoyable with roomies or friends. James is jealous that I have never cooked this for him yet!

Capitol City Grill

On Monday I went to lunch with my mom and Rebecca to start the wedding planning downtown. We stopped by Capitol city grill on Lafayette street. It's fairly casual and I have been here a million times but still love it! They also have another location on Sherwood Forrest Blvd.

I got the club sandwich but I forgot to take a picture AGAIN! I need to get better at this. Anyway, the sandwich was good but what club sandwich isn't? Again the menu did not specify mayo and that damn condiment was ready to piss me off on my sandwich! However, I got over it. Their fries are amazing! Very thin!

They also have great specials so do look at them.

Parkway Poboys

After a failed attempt during Mardi Gras to go to Parkway, I finally got to try this legendary place. I mean any place the president goes must be popular, right?

This New Orleans institution is hoppin so go early if you don't want to wait in a ridiculous long line.

If you don't like seafood or are a vegetarian, don't fret! This place has many interesting poboys that you would never expect, like caprese! They do have some great Louisiana favorites and even alligator!

I of course got the roast beef and gravy poboy. I really like what my friend Hayley said-- the best way to judge a poboy place is to try their roast beef. That is so true! Well I can definitely say this place is glorious because their roast beef was so tender! I bet they cooked it all night!

If you do get the roast beef poboy, don't wear a nice shirt bc it sure is messy but that's a good thing! Their fries are perfect too because they are thick but still crunchy!

James got the catfish poboy because if catfish is ever on a menu, it will be on his plate. But I guess I'm the same way with MEAT!

This place is pretty cheap too so it's a great place to bring tourists but I really have no idea where it is because I'm still learning Nola. Midcity perhaps?

Capdeville

So we went to capdeville for one of my bestest friend's birthday--Hayley Mitchell!! It's in New Orleans on Capdeville Street near Lafayette Square.
It's a Pub type place that kind of has a secret agent theme. Kind of like 007. The menus were modeled off of a secret file. They had many British decorations. They had album covers everywhere and interesting light fixtures. The bathroom said "WC" but I think it should have said "loo" haha.

I think everyone at our table got their fabulous gourmet burgers. I got the capdeville burger which had gruyere cheese, caramelized onions and lettuce with an amazing beef patty. One thing I was a lil p-o'ed about was that they put mayo on my burger even though the menu did not state that this burger had mayo. If you really know me, you would know that I hate condiments. They had many different types of burgers so everyone can find what they like. The hamburger buns they use are homemade and amazing!

One dish that is really original that they have is fried red beans and rice. I personally didn't try it but I heard it was delish.

They had really good fries that were pretty spicy. But I love spicy!

The best part of this place was the price! It is around $12 a person but the atmosphere of this place makes you feel that you are at a much more expensive place.