laissez le bon temps roulez
May. 15th, 2011 12:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
merielleAwesome things about my last day and a half:
- I am in New Orleans with my honeybunch to continue celebrating our anniversary and because holy crap we needed a break
- We got a nice deal at the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans, a super-schmancy and very conveniently located hotel which, it turns out, offers outstandingly warm, friendly, and competent service. They are taking excellent care of us.
- I surprised him with champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries on arrival :)
- One thing for which I am deeply grateful after two straight years of WTF stratospheric stress level is our financial well-being. Money does not buy happiness, but it damn sure greases wheels. We're taking this really decadent trip without worrying about what anything costs, and that is a tremendous privilege.
- OMFG New Orleans French bread is fucking amazing
- Said bread is excellent with tasty shrimp and okra gumbo
- Said bread makes the best goddamn bread pudding I have ever eaten
- We listened to jazz and drank expensive but perfect drinks at our hotel lounge. The boy had a hurricane, I had a Pimm's cup. Ahhh, fruity booze and boozy fruit.
- The boy had never had eggs Benedict until he had them for breakfast from room service this morning (!!!), after which he said, "So basically, an egg McMuffin is a hideous desecration of this dish." I couldn't really argue.
- The aforementioned bread makes fucking amazing French toast
- The aforementioned hotel is six pleasant blocks of walking from Jackson Square
- There was - I'm completely fucking serious - a guy in Jackson Square dressed up like Prowl, the Transformer police car. And he could actually transform and roll around on four wheels. That guy fucking rocks.
- There were many mediocre and some amazing artists displaying their wares in the square. We bought a painting of a silhouette of a jazz combo, done on recycled slate, from the artist himself. I love handing the money to the person who made the object.
- There is a charming toy store nearby. I bought some NOLA-themed children's books for the kiddos in my life.
- We took a half-hour mule cart tour of the French Quarter with Charlie, the tour guide, and Sugar Daddy, the mule. We saw a bunch of stuff and heard some fun stories about pirates and movies and voodoo queens and other NOLA-y things.
- We had a stunning appetizer - slabs of Brie on slices of French bread, topped with shredded apple, golden raisins, and Creole honey-mustard. Ohmigod. Oh my gawwwwwwwd. If you are not vegan or pregnant or otherwise unable to consume any of these items, do yourself a favor and eat this as soon as possible. Because oh. my. GOD.
- The same place served freshly squeezed lemon-limeade. Ahhhh.
- My alligator sausage po'boy was pretty good, but the boy's steak, arugula, goat cheese, and grape po'boy was unbelievable.
- I had a custom perfume blended! (Vanilla, lily, and patchouli, if you're curious. Also got the same thing with clove added - it's definitely evening only, because, y'all, it is FOXY.) This may be the single girliest thing I have ever done. Seriously, if being femme were a video game, I would have just gotten, "Achievement Unlocked: Signature Scent." It was so much fun.
- Walking along Rue Royale/Royal Street, we came upon no fewer than four different wee street concerts. AMAZING stuff. The most unique was - again, I am completely fucking serious - a mash-up of the Doobie Brothers' "Black Water" and Salt n'Pepa's "Shoop." Fucking demented genius.
- I got a pedicure which was lovely and relaxing - and now my toenails match my car :)
- We now have a GRH - a gay Rudy heuristic. It started on Wednesday, when Rudy, our adorably flamey and super fun server at our lovely anniversary dinner at El Arbol gave us tons of flawless advice, which led to a thoroughly delightful meal and evening. And I mean flamey - actual dialogue included, "Honey, I like dessert wines like I like my men - white and sweet." :) That made me so happy. And yesterday, the concierge working was also an adorably flamey and super fun guy named Rudy, and he was able to finagle getting us dinner reservations at a charming little restaurant he likes, as well as offering many other useful tips. So now we have a heuristic - any advice a gay dude named Rudy gives us about food should be enthusiastically followed.
- Because holy guacamole, Martinique Bistro is charming, the service is great, and their food is glorious. The boy had a staggeringly delicious sweet corn bisque with crabmeat and bacon, of which I was slightly jealous because my roasted garlic gnocchi with herb-roasted pear tomatoes were merely quite good. But my rabbit roulade with grits and asparagus was awesome, as was his pork chop with goat cheese and green beans. However. Oh, ye gods and little fishes, dessert made flights of angels sing a mighty chorus. Okay, maybe that was my inside voice, but OH GOD OH GOD, i'm just saying, gorgeously silky, rich, fallen chocolate souffle with freaking Guinness ice cream. It was my second "oh gawwwwwwwwwd" of the day. I kind of want to get a job eating at restaurants in this town - except I couldn't possibly live here in the summer, because I'd die of heat stroke since it gets too humid for sweat to evaporate so one cannot actually cool down.
So, in short, New Orleans is absolutely fucking delightful, I'm having a marvelous time, and the cheery, easygoing, accepting, hospitable vibe of this city is just what I needed.
- I am in New Orleans with my honeybunch to continue celebrating our anniversary and because holy crap we needed a break
- We got a nice deal at the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans, a super-schmancy and very conveniently located hotel which, it turns out, offers outstandingly warm, friendly, and competent service. They are taking excellent care of us.
- I surprised him with champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries on arrival :)
- One thing for which I am deeply grateful after two straight years of WTF stratospheric stress level is our financial well-being. Money does not buy happiness, but it damn sure greases wheels. We're taking this really decadent trip without worrying about what anything costs, and that is a tremendous privilege.
- OMFG New Orleans French bread is fucking amazing
- Said bread is excellent with tasty shrimp and okra gumbo
- Said bread makes the best goddamn bread pudding I have ever eaten
- We listened to jazz and drank expensive but perfect drinks at our hotel lounge. The boy had a hurricane, I had a Pimm's cup. Ahhh, fruity booze and boozy fruit.
- The boy had never had eggs Benedict until he had them for breakfast from room service this morning (!!!), after which he said, "So basically, an egg McMuffin is a hideous desecration of this dish." I couldn't really argue.
- The aforementioned bread makes fucking amazing French toast
- The aforementioned hotel is six pleasant blocks of walking from Jackson Square
- There was - I'm completely fucking serious - a guy in Jackson Square dressed up like Prowl, the Transformer police car. And he could actually transform and roll around on four wheels. That guy fucking rocks.
- There were many mediocre and some amazing artists displaying their wares in the square. We bought a painting of a silhouette of a jazz combo, done on recycled slate, from the artist himself. I love handing the money to the person who made the object.
- There is a charming toy store nearby. I bought some NOLA-themed children's books for the kiddos in my life.
- We took a half-hour mule cart tour of the French Quarter with Charlie, the tour guide, and Sugar Daddy, the mule. We saw a bunch of stuff and heard some fun stories about pirates and movies and voodoo queens and other NOLA-y things.
- We had a stunning appetizer - slabs of Brie on slices of French bread, topped with shredded apple, golden raisins, and Creole honey-mustard. Ohmigod. Oh my gawwwwwwwd. If you are not vegan or pregnant or otherwise unable to consume any of these items, do yourself a favor and eat this as soon as possible. Because oh. my. GOD.
- The same place served freshly squeezed lemon-limeade. Ahhhh.
- My alligator sausage po'boy was pretty good, but the boy's steak, arugula, goat cheese, and grape po'boy was unbelievable.
- I had a custom perfume blended! (Vanilla, lily, and patchouli, if you're curious. Also got the same thing with clove added - it's definitely evening only, because, y'all, it is FOXY.) This may be the single girliest thing I have ever done. Seriously, if being femme were a video game, I would have just gotten, "Achievement Unlocked: Signature Scent." It was so much fun.
- Walking along Rue Royale/Royal Street, we came upon no fewer than four different wee street concerts. AMAZING stuff. The most unique was - again, I am completely fucking serious - a mash-up of the Doobie Brothers' "Black Water" and Salt n'Pepa's "Shoop." Fucking demented genius.
- I got a pedicure which was lovely and relaxing - and now my toenails match my car :)
- We now have a GRH - a gay Rudy heuristic. It started on Wednesday, when Rudy, our adorably flamey and super fun server at our lovely anniversary dinner at El Arbol gave us tons of flawless advice, which led to a thoroughly delightful meal and evening. And I mean flamey - actual dialogue included, "Honey, I like dessert wines like I like my men - white and sweet." :) That made me so happy. And yesterday, the concierge working was also an adorably flamey and super fun guy named Rudy, and he was able to finagle getting us dinner reservations at a charming little restaurant he likes, as well as offering many other useful tips. So now we have a heuristic - any advice a gay dude named Rudy gives us about food should be enthusiastically followed.
- Because holy guacamole, Martinique Bistro is charming, the service is great, and their food is glorious. The boy had a staggeringly delicious sweet corn bisque with crabmeat and bacon, of which I was slightly jealous because my roasted garlic gnocchi with herb-roasted pear tomatoes were merely quite good. But my rabbit roulade with grits and asparagus was awesome, as was his pork chop with goat cheese and green beans. However. Oh, ye gods and little fishes, dessert made flights of angels sing a mighty chorus. Okay, maybe that was my inside voice, but OH GOD OH GOD, i'm just saying, gorgeously silky, rich, fallen chocolate souffle with freaking Guinness ice cream. It was my second "oh gawwwwwwwwwd" of the day. I kind of want to get a job eating at restaurants in this town - except I couldn't possibly live here in the summer, because I'd die of heat stroke since it gets too humid for sweat to evaporate so one cannot actually cool down.
So, in short, New Orleans is absolutely fucking delightful, I'm having a marvelous time, and the cheery, easygoing, accepting, hospitable vibe of this city is just what I needed.
