NEW ORLEANS May 9

 May 9  New Orleans

A leisurely departure and then out to explore the town.  Where does one start a day in New Orleans?  With beignets at Cafe du Mond.  We knew we were getting close when we started seeing the powdered sugar trail.  Took us right there and a traditional NO band was playing outside.  Now, I really feel like our adventure has begun and it's great!

We wander through Jackson Square, past Preservation Hall.  Unfortunately they are all sold out for tonight.  I love walking the streets and seeing the architecture, decorated balconies.  The streets are pretty quiet.  Life doesn't start in NO until pretty late in the day.  We walk back to the hotel to make plans for the rest of the day.  Nick finds a "Sample New Orleans Cuisine" walking tour.  Oh my, that sounds perfect! 

We head out again about 1:00 to the meeting place for our food tour.  

We had a leisurely start and walked down to Café du Monde. Where does on start a day in New Orleans? With beignets at Cafe du Monde.  We knew we were getting close when we started seeing the powdered sugar trail.  Took us right there and a traditional NO band was playing outside.  Now, I really feel like our adventure has begun and it's great!

From the café we wandered through Jackson Square and on deep in to the French quarter.  Stopped in at Preservation Hall.  They are sold out for the show tonight but we at least got to see the gift shop. We left all the merchandise in the shop.  Mornings are pretty quiet in the French Quarter. 

Nick finds a walking food tour.  Perfect for this afternoon.  We walk to the starting point.  Our group of 14 includes a group of women on a girl’s trip.  And 3 other couples.  Our guide for the afternoon is a knowledgeable, engaging, man.  He shares a lot of local history.  The vast majority of it, I found interesting and don’t remember much of any of it.  Any time he asked about a king, the answer was always King Louis.  Learned the difference between Creole style and Cajun style cuisine.  Creole is more French and Cajun is using more of the native ingredients such as okra and gamey meats.  Therefore Cajun needs more spice to balance the gaminess of the proteins. 

At our first stop, we sampled a creole gumbo.  Instead of rice, it has mashed potatoes and no okra.  Really good, rich flavor.  From there we walked to the Pepper Palace where we sampled different sauces, jellies and spice mixtures.  They offered a $5 mail it home option which we took advantage of.  They also had a horseradish called Napalm.  It was really good but since it was refrigerated, I didn’t think we could get this home well.  Passover will just have to do without it. 

Next stop is the Royal Praline Company.  We sampled some pralines but left without purchasing any.  Next stop was for muffulettas, po-boys and boudins.  The muffulettas  and boudins were really good. The po-boy a bit mediocre.  The po-boys got their name from a restaurant that gave out sandwiches to the workers.  The cook would ask “How many of them po boys am I making sandwiches for today?”

The last stop was at New Orleans Creole Cookery.  Here we have beans and rice and a banana foster bread pudding.  Both are wonderful but by now, I'm full and really can’t finish them.

Back to the hotel to rest up for the evening.  Our tour guide suggested a few places  for music.  One is to go to Frenchmen St and wander until we find the place that we want to hear more of the music that is drifting out into the street.  Many of the places were loud with standing room only.   Walking down the street was an experience in itself.  Seeing people with drinks while they walk down the street is not something we see in Marietta but nice and casual.  Smelling dope is not surprising.  Having someone doing cocaine on the street and offering us some is something that I haven’t experienced before.   We chose a quieter  place. one with a trio of guitar, clarinet and singer.  Music and crab cakes were a nice relaxing time.  After a set, we were ready to move on. 

We walked back to Bourbon Street.  We got to Fretzil’s just as the band was taking a break.  Luckily, seats opened up and we grabbed them.  The band was a piano, clarinet, trumpet, string base and drums.  Now we’re talking! These guys were fantastic!  Just what I wanted.  Jazz classics.  We only stayed for one set as it was late and we have a long drive in the morning to get us on to San Antonio.