New Orleans in 36 hours

 

I flew in Thursday night to New Orleans with another girl from my medical school class . My flights were fabulous and I met some random GE engineer who had been in Gainesville hiring engineering students from UF at a Career Fair. He was talking a lot about himself and I was getting bored, so I decided he should interview me like he does the college kids. So he did...

GE Man: "What would you do if one of your workers dumped a bucket of bleach into the mix for your peanut butter cup factory line?"
Me: "Throw out the peanut butter cups"
GE Man: "But what about the $1 million dollars you would be losing?"
Me: "Umm I'm 100% positive bleach kills people."

My interview lasted another 20 minutes of him creating more silly scenarios, and then he hired me on the spot. Luckily that was the shorter of 2 flights because on my next flight I got to put myself to sleep by reading a book on EKGs.

The first night we stayed here: St. Christopher Best Western. Luckily those cesspools of semen  comforters pictured had since been replaced with a white-sheet covered duvet. I can sleep absolutely anywhere (plane, train, floor) but I cannot under any condition use a comforter like the one pictured.
I quite enjoyed my sleep here.

Friday
Friday was centered around food. We were planning to go to Mother's but when we got there, it looked too greasy for us. I then found The Court of Two Sisters via IPhone and proceeded to get us lost by leading us 1 mile in the wrong direction. Luckily Stacy took over from that point on and became my "Genie" for the remainder of the trip. Unfortunately the The Court was too expensive and we ended up next door eating a non-greasy egg on a biscuit at a tiny coffee shop which I can guarantee no one else has ever been too.

Next up, we took the Streetcar @ St. Charles through Uptown. We got off at Washington to walk through The Lafayette Cemetery, and walked right past a really yummy restaurant I had found online The Commander's Palace . I would highly recommend skipping the egg and biscuit/getting lost and instead sleeping in then streetcar  then stop at Washington for breakfast then continue on. We got back on the streetcar and made our way past Loyola + Tulane. The windows were down and the air was crisp. It took about 45 minutes to get to the end of St. Charles and it was such a nice relaxing activity. I tend to avoid seeing a city by moving vehicle but I'm glad Stacy wanted to do this because it was so enjoyable!

W. O. W. was put on tombstombs

We had a food tour scheduled from 1-4 pm which happened to meet right at the last stop off the streetcar. The foodtour was awesome per usual. I have been on several food tours (San Fran, NYCx3) and I have to say it is my favorite way to see a city. Not only do you get to eat yummy food, hear a little history (the perfect time to take 50 pictures of a food item/architecture being pointed out), but you also get to walk, and then find out other cool places to go to/eat at afterwards.

This is what we had..
1. Mufalatta from Mike Serio's Po Boys
2. Beignets from Cafe Beignet
3. Gumbo, Jumbalaya, and mushroom soup from The Old Coffeepot
4. Roast Beef Po Boys from Johnny's Po Boys

  5. Pralines from Laura's Candy Shop.

 The rest of the day consisted of walking around, shopping, and more eating. We had to compare the beignets we had at Cafe Beignet to Cafe DuMond (the most famous beignet place ever). The beignets were way better at Cafe Beignet. The DuMond ones were chewier and not as fresh tasting. However, considering they were both fried dough balls covered in powdered sugar I'd eat either again.

We also purchased a King Cake for $10 at The French Market (which I would recommend you not go to...it was a bunch of tacky tourist stuff. And I obviously am not a tacky tourist.) A large king cake was half off since it was the end of the day, so Stacy and I decided we must buy it. We realized it was a horrible idea immediately after purchasing it and getting handed an enormous box that we proceeded to carry around for the next 5 hours.

The infamous King Cake

We went to The Carousel Bar at Hotel It is for real a carousel but no worries it takes about 20 minutes to make a complete circle. For dinner, we went to Sylvain which I found compliments of my blog friend from Cupcakes and Cashmere. Okay, okay she really isn't my friend. I do highly recommend The Shaved Brussel Sprouts and The Seared Sea Scallops.

 Saturday: conference day

The reproductive health conference was from 8-4:30 and it was awesome. It reaffirmed my desire to do OB/GYN. I also now feel confidant telling a patient that it is not my first time placing an IUD, as I have in fact placed an IUD into a plastic cervix once before. "See one, do one" is the motto we use in medicine.

After the conference (in which I tried to eat as little as is humanely possible) we had pre-dinner at The Old Coffepot where we had been on the foodtour. We had been served gumbo and jambalaya by the chef during the tour. Then he told us all about a green bean casserole he had made and was going to let us try. Fresh green beans, home-made mushroom soup. The sample he let us try, however, was ONLY  the mushroom soup. And it was delicious. It tasted like 100% fat cream. So of course we had been suckered in and had to return for green bean casserole.

Pre-Dinner: Callas Cakes and Green Bean Casserole

He also told us about Callas cakes, which are some old time fried (surprise) rice ball covered in powdered sugar and syrup and boy were they delicious. Yum. These are an absolute must if you go to NOLA. Way better than beignets and boy are beignets good.  

Next stop was to the ferry to go to Algier's Point. It has a beautiful view of New Orleans, however by the time we made it over there it was dark. The view was still spectacular, but I am inept at using my camera at night. Luckily I have instagram...

Our last New Orleans activity was dinner at Luke. We had the best appetizer ever. Pate with watermelon, pickles, mustard, and gelee (see below) with country bread croutons. It was so yummy. The combo was heaven. I'll be dreaming of this until the next time I return to New Orleans.

Pate from Luke. Nom nom nom.

Sunday: Flight home/Pit-stop in miami
We got to the airport at 4:30 AM and then dug into our king cake. It tasted kind of bad. When we got into Miami, my sister and her boyfriend met us at the airport and then my sister somehow talked her way into extending my flight so that I left MIA at 7:30 pm instead of 11:20 am. My grandmother was coming up from Islamorada with friends for a play and lunch with my sister, so I decided it was worth it since I don't get to see her often. Then my parents and Bauer (their cavalier king charles spaniel) decided to come down from west palm. So we spent a fun filled day catching up. I also took a nap. And then I flew home and came back to reality.