Anniversary in New Orleans

If you'll remember, John and I traveled to New Orleans in March to watch Baylor play win the Sweet Sixteen. We both agreed that given the opportunity, we'd love to back and see more of the lovely Crescent City.

So when we started talking about how we wanted to commemorate our first anniversary, NOLA popped into both of our heads. And so we hopped on a plane Thursday night and landed in the Big Easy, both of us ready for good memories, drinks, food and sights.

We first arrived at the historic (and haunted) Hotel Monteleone.

(Exterior)

(Lobby)

John mentioned we were celebrating our anniversary when he booked our room so we were upgraded to an executive sweet and greeted with champagne and chocolate covered strawberries.

We immediately went out and found ourselves a lovely spot to dine at the Green Goddess. John ate a truly Nawlins dish of crawfish, shrimp and snails over grits. I opted for a quinoa stuffed tomato with over corn maque choux. Delicious. Afterward we went to the Carousel Lounge, the bar located in hotel lobby for some after dinner drinks. (Yes, it's actually an old carousel and yes it still spins.)

We were up early Friday morning and headed to Cafe Du Monde for cafe au laits and beignets.

Shamefully, we ate the entire plate.

Following breakfast, we headed to the New Orleans School of Cooking. Our instructors, life long residents, taught us how to cook bread pudding, pralines, shrimp and artichoke soup and crawfish etouffee. And we of course got to eat it for our lunch!

 

This was definitely a highlight of the trip and we'd recommend anyone travelling to New Orleans in the future to make time for this.

After graduating from cooking school, we headed to the National WWII Museum and spent several hours there. We headed back to the hotel for a nap and shower before heading to our special dinner at Commander's Palace.

Y'all, we had the best food and drinks ever. I had a peach and blue cheese salad followed by soft shell crab and Creole cheesecake. John ordered gumbo then enjoyed a seafood special with crab, shrimp and fish and then finished it off with their famous bread pudding souffle.

Commander's Palace had very unique drink combinations. This was a basil and blueberry concoction. Very yummy. John stuck to sazeracs.

We then headed to Preservation Hall to listen to some New Orleans jazz music.

The music was incredible.

The next morning we lounged until lunch when we headed to Central Grocery, home of the first muffuletta.

We took our HUGE sandwich to the bank of the Mississippi and enjoyed watching the boats go by.

Afterward, we hopped on the street car and looked at the beautiful homes in the Garden District of New Orleans. We then stopped for a quick bite of ice cream from Creole Creamery.

Brown butter pecan ice cream cone.

Vanilla malt.

On our way back, we stopped at Acme Oyster Bar to try chargrilled oysters and split a poboy.

Turns out, I'm not an oyster person.

And then, as we were about to head to the airport, we discovered our flight was delayed. So we took a free guided audio tour of our hotel and then played rummy in the lobby.

New Orleans was absolutley fantastic and we're already to go back again. Maybe not in August when it's so stinkin' hot and humid though...

The American Way

I spent most of last week in our nation's capital. The purpose of the trip was for a conference at the Council of Foundations, but I also managed to sneak in a couple of excursions and activities along the way. I quickly remembered how awesome Washinton D.C.  the disctrict (what all the locals refer to it as) is and my visit refueled my patriotism. The fact that next week is the Fourth of July, one of my favorite holidays, probably helps too.

Anyhow, upon landing in DC, I threw my stuff down in my hotel room, caught the shuttle to the metro and the metro to the National Mall. I then did the most American thing I could think to do next. I ordered a hot dog and a coke and sat on the lawn of the Smithsonian overlooking the Capitol and the Washington Monument. It was glorious.

I was able to spend a few hours in any of the museums that were open late and free. This included quick tours/walk-throughs of the National Museum of American History and the Natural History Museum. Both were fantastic. I spent the rest of the time walking from one end of the mall to the other and taking in all the different sites. By the end, I realized the perfect ending to my time on the mall was a nice, tall glass of freshly squeezed lemonade, which I drank while trying to figure out how to get back to the Metro. Pure Americana.

(Of course I didn't take this picture. This one is way better than the one I took, which basically didn't include the top 30% of the monument.)

As I got back to the hotel room, I realized I was starving and looked to see what my dining options were. Chipotle, no. Chili's, no. McDonald's, absolutley not. (I haven't eaten there since 1998 thankyouverymuch.) What I was craving was something different, something that would allow me to taste the true culture of America.

What I found was Kabob Palace, a lovely Afghan restaurant where I devoured a chicken kabob, garbanzo beans, spinach and some delicious bread. The waitstaff was extremely sweet, generous and helped me order off the menu. This was my first Afghan dining experience and I look forward to many more.

Next day I sat in a conference with staff from about 60 community foundations across the nation. What we learned was significant but following the session, I went with my new friends to a sushi place near by. Now I typically stick with California rolls or Vegetable rolls at sushi restaurants but I figured being so cultured from my Afghan dinner, I should try a real sushi dinner. So I ordered spicy salmon and tuna rolls, which were great but I even tried fresh salmon, courtesy of said new friends. Not too bad, but definitely not ordering it in Waco anytime soon.

I spent all of Thursday again in an all-day conference but agreed to go to dinner with some of my "new friends" that evening. None of us had ever tried Ethiopian food so I went along to Hrararsomethingorother. Clearly if I can handle Afghan and Japanese food, I can do Ethiopian fare. (Insert John's joke: "I didn't know Ethiopians had food to eat.")

The food was great, the company was better but more than anything, I left DC this afternoon realizing just how many unique cultures there are to appreciate in our country and how unaware I am of most of them. So next time you're feeling adventurous, check out a random Afghan, Japanese or Ethiopian restaurant.

And, if you haven't been to DC in a long time, go the next chance you get! It is always makes me realize how truly blessed I am to be from the USA and more mindful of how far we've come and how much we've overcame  in the past 254 years.

Bon Voyage!

I will be here in two days.

My girlfriends and I are headed out this morning on a four day cruise from Galveston to Cozumel to celebrate finishing graduate school!

Can.not.wait. to get there. Hope to come back with some good memories and a nice tan!  And Mexican vanilla from an authentic mercado. That stuff is the best. Adios!

March Madness

John and I left for Houston early Friday morning, met up with our friends, Bo and Mary, and drove all.the.way to New Orleans to watch Baylor play Old Dominion University (who's that?!) in the second round of the NCAA tournament. We had so much fun.

We got in town that evening and explored the French Quarters and Bourbon Street.

(Sign looks a little rugged...)

(First sampling of pretty spicy cajun cookin'!)

(Bo and Mary)

(How did John get beads?!)

(We met up with Matt Rodgers and tried to keep him away from the casinos..)

Not wanting to waste our time in such a cool city, we woke up early the next morning and had cafe au laits and beignets at Cafe Du Monde. Indescribeable. Except for the fact that beignets are very messy--powdered sugar gets on everything!

(You should see all the excess powdered sugar on the ground.)

We decided to walk around Jackson Sqaure and see St. Louis Cathedral and the French Quarters during the day.

(That's for you, Gil.)

(Such pretty, historic buildings.)

After lots of walking and sight-seeing (and finding a taxi to take us back to Jackson Square), we stopped for lunch at a precious cafe right in the middle of the French Quarters. We had a spectacular table by the window and ate more delicious cajun food. (Who knew there was so much rice in their dishes? Not this girl...)

We made our way to New Orleans Arena but not before taking in all the beautiful homes on St.Charles Street and hoping to run into local homeowers Drew Brees or Brad Pitt. After Mary and I were convinced we wouldn't be seeing celebs that afternoon, we drove to the stadium and picked up our tickets. We may or may not have sneaked into the lower-level of the arena and sat a couple of rows up, smack dab in the middle, for the entire game. (I mean, those shouldn't be empty....)

And if you don't already know by now, BAYLOR WON! Way to go Bears, we're so proud of you!

(Oh, look, Scott Drew got in the picture too...love him.)

(Confession: I may have teared up when Lomers fouled out and Coach Drew rallied the crowd to support Lomer's performance.)

It made for a late night drive back to Houston but the andrenaline and excitment from the victory kept us plenty awake. Can't wait to watch the Bears take on St.Mary's (again, who's that?) next weekend.

New Orleans Bound

We're headed out tomorrow morning for the land of jazz, the Saints, Andrew Jackson (he defended New Orleans in the War of 1812, chimes my history-loving husband) and faulty levies.

We'll meet up with our friends Bo and Mary and head to the New Orleans Arena Saturday afternoon to watch the Bears play in the second round of the NCAA tournament! Can't wait to support our Baylor Bears!

(Love LaceDarius Dunn)

SIC 'EM BEARS!!!!!

Phoenix and Vegas!

Last Saturday was the start of our "unofficial" spring break. We spent the afternoon cheering on Baylor as they beat Texas for the second time this season.

After celebrating, we drove to Fort Worth and spent Saturday night with my parents before leaving early Sunday morning to visit my cousin Gina, and her husband, Brad, in Phoenix! Gina and Brad graciously offered us the opportunity to stay with them, watch some of the Texas Rangers spring training baseball games in/around Phoenix and hang out in Las Vegas for a day!

(These suckers are everywhere in Arizona.)

After landing we (almost) immediately drove to the ballpark to take in our first Ranger's game of 2010. And wouldn't you know that of the ten days it rains in Phoenix a year, we were there for two of them--meaning we'd have to wait a whole extra day for the long-awaited first game. We decided to head indoors and watched "Brooklyn's Finest" (review by John to follow, I'm sure...) and some dinner before calling it a night.

Monday morning we drove to Suprise, AZ to watch the Rangers play.....having to think really hard....the Angels. I'll admit the spring training games are cool--the stadiums are more intimate, the players are real casual and you can totally feel the excitement for the upcoming season. (Well maybe that excitement was coming from John, but it makes me smile to see him so pumped...)

(Murphy, Kinsler and Hamilton during the National Anthem)

Before the first inning was over, John had already purchased one of his all-time favorite meals...ice cold beer and a ballpark hot dog. Yummmmm.

After seeing all our favorites play, we took off to see the more scenic side of the greater Phoenix area. Brad and Gina knew of some pretty cool mountains/overlooks.  Phoenix is beautiful.

(Phoenix below South Mountain)

(Rock climbing in Uggs...)

(Gina and Brad)

(Mountains in the distance)

(Really cool rock formation)

Tuesday morning we took in another game (versus the A's?)  but not before  having devouring some delicious In-N-Out burgers and fries.

(Why won't they expand to Texas?!)

(John's idol, Michael Young)

Then, we hopped on a plane and flew to Vegas for the night and Wednesday. We checked in at the Mirage ate a wonderful meal at the steakhouse in our hotel and then walked across the way to see Blue Man Group!

(We were close to the stage and got to wear some lovely panchos.)

Blue Man Group was pretty awesome and we had a blast hanging out with Brad and Gina until early Wednesday morning.

(Glad we didn't wake up and find one of these in our hotel room.)

We spent Wednesday taking in all the excess that is Las Vegas, making a couple of bets, and eating more good food. This time, we found a Serendipity and Gina and I were estatic to try the legendary frozen hot chocolate.

(Deliciousness)

Our time in Phoenix and Las Vegas was incredible and we're so grateful to Gina and Brad for showing us a good time! We'll be looking forward to coming out there again soon!

We returned to Fort Worth and met up with my family and celebrated Dad's birthday at Pappasito's and watched the Bears dominate Texas again!

John left Friday for Colorado with his guy friends through Tuesday and I kicked it in Fort Worth with family and friends over the weekend.

It's back to the grind this week--luckily I've got some Baylor basketball games to look forward to and, what should prove to be an entertaining recording session with Courtney. Details to follow. ;)