Monday, January 31, 2011

Return of the Native

My younger brother and I were born in New Orleans but our family moved to California when we were too little to remember life in the Crescent City. The oil spill response however, provided me with an opportunity to explore my geographical roots.



Originally, I was going back and forth to Mobile, AL to help with the oil spill but the operation there shut down and we all moved to an office building in New Orleans across from the Super Dome.



I took my last trip (Yeah!) in mid-November so these pictures are all a few months old. I love the balconies and the pretty iron scroll work in the French Quarter. They even had horse drawn carriages . . .












A co-worker and I went on a "Haunted History" Tour in the French Quarter. We met up with our group around 9pm in the evening at a local Voodoo Shop. We then walked around for 2 hours while our guide, an aspiring stand-up comic, told local legends and pointed out dark and creepy buildings. We were sweating buckets but it was still pretty great. Unfortunately, none of my pictures came out well so I stole the one below from google images. The French Quarter has these great gas lamps and at night they give everything an old fashioned spooky feel.






One of the "must see" places to go is Cafe Du Monde. This is "the" place for beignets in New Orleans.



These are the classic Beignets (french donuts). Imagine a humid afternoon, a couple of these babies, a tall glass of cold milk and a little jazz music wafting through the air. Oh yes!


Post Script: This picture in no way reflects my personal powdered sugar preferences. They just come that way, OK. . . OK !!