Happy Mardi Gras, y’all!
I lived in New Orleans for a few months and although it never felt like home for me, it holds a special place in my heart. Every year I try to celebrate Mardi Gras with a New Orleans feast. Sometimes it creeps up on me and I don’t have time. This year I remembered two days in advance, so the gumbo is on. If you ever feel like cooking fantastic Cajun or Creole food, I highly recommend the gumbopages.com for recipes. I’ll be making their Seafood Gumbo and my own version of Banana’s Foster over Homemade Organic Vanilla Ice-Cream.
Here’s a little story from my brief stint in the Big Easy:
A girl I worked with was shocked that I hadn’t celebrated Mardi Gras before. After a few exclamations of amazement, she scrunched up her face and asked me in all seriousness if I had ever celebrated Christmas.
Not celebrating Mardi Gras was as unfathomable to her as missing Christmas.
Ah memories! Here are a few shots from my life in New Orleans:
This statue has always been emblematic to me of old New Orlean's culture
A streetcar named Desire, sometimes I took it up St. Charles to home.
Early morning in the French Quarter. This is Pat O's, the birthplace of the Hurricane.
Halloween, late at night in the Quarter. Such a great night it ended in South Beach. Yes, in Miami. I guess you could trace my eventual motherhood to this crazy night. Scary!
Morning Call is the best place to get beignets in New Orleans. It used to be in the Quarter, but after a dispute, the owner ripped out the entire structure and relocated it to a strip mall in Metairie. Locals still patronized it. Not sure if it survived the levees.
Cafe au lait (with Chickory) and fresh beignets: breakfast of champions. At Morning Call you have to dust your own powdered sugar. I was timid about making a mess, until a local came over and dumped it like crazy. My mouth is watering.
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