We recently joined the fam in New Orleans for a weekend stuffing our faces with incredible cajun food visting my sister.
She's a Sophomore at Tulane and she's been dying to show us around.
Josh and I met my parents then made the drive south.
On the ride down we watched Frozen (for the first time, I KNOW, four mid-twenty-year-olds in the back seat of our parents car eating candy and watching a Disney movie, I KNOW.)
We made a "light lunch" pitstop at Billy's for his famous boudin and crawfish balls (stuffed with pepperjack cheese! YES.)
Once we arrived to the big city, Ellie drug us to her favorite bar, The Boot.
I must say, I've been intrigued to see this infamous place (particularly after seeing most of Ellie's s "Happy Hour at The Boot!/penny pitchers at The Boot!/free herpes at The Boot!" statuses from freshman year)
. . . only kidding about the herps (but you really never know)
Once we fully enjoyed Happy Hour to it's utmost extent, we grabbed a bite to eat at Luke before the Elton John concert.
The waiter "accidentally" brought mom two drinks.
mmmhmmm.
Sorry in advance for the excessive food photos.
The pictures don't do it justice.
Every. Single. Thing. that touched our mouths was phenomenal.
One of my favorite meals, by far.
The Baked P&J oysters were probably my favorite oysters of my life.
That was a bold statement and I mean every single word.
I got the Flamenkuche (thin Alsacien onion tarte, bacon, Emmenthaler cheese) and Josh got the Croque-Madame.
. . . although no meal, no matter how magical, can compare to the magic that is Elton.
He was great.
He made mom squeal (and cry) like a teenager.
I'm not ashamed to admit I did too.
Levon did it to me.
Josh was just thrilled the venue had Sweetwater on draft.
Following the concert, we reunited with Liz and Jason to kick off Liz's birthday weekend with a few drinks at Pat O's.
Thanks to Jason's impeccable recommendations, we did Saturday morning breakfast at District Donuts.
Donuts and iced coffee straight from the gods of coffee and donuts.
I wanted the berries and cream (but the kind woman in line in front of me ordered the last one) so I settled on the salted caramel.
I'm kinda salivating just remembering how great it was.
We followed up breakfast with post-breakfast beers watching our alma matter win a basketball game at The Bulldog.
Oh and this is Ellie and Eric.
They are pretty cool I guess ;)
We had lunch Saturday at Dick & Jenny's.
It was such a cute restaurant inside an old house on Tchoupitoulas Street.
. . . and they served waters in mason jars, just sayin.
As usual, we each had the hardest time deciding what to eat.
Although my family is pretty great at each ordering something different and then passing around bites to everyone else at the table.
I settled on the eggs boudreaux.
Crabcakes topped with a poached egg covered in hollandaise sauce WITH DUCK CRACKLINS ON TOP.
Yes.
After we stuffed our faces for the second time that day, we were ready for nap time.
It was Eric's birthday, so Ellie planned to meet up with some of their friends at their favorite weekend spot on the river, The Fly.
We had a great time relaxing, enjoying the incredible weather, and visiting with Ellie's friends.
. . . and I got sunburnt.
How does that even happen?
Thirty minutes in the sun.
We met up with Liz, Nicole, and the boys at The Columns for happy hour (followed by a guhhhhhhhreat dinner at Dat Dog).
The duck dog (duck sausage topped with blackberry sauce) and white trash fries are what late night drunken food dreams are made of.
Following dinner, we went back to The Bulldog and spent some more quality time with Ellie's friends Charles and Rachel were my favs.
Josh's fav was Sweetwater on draft.
Prove it?
Ok.
On Sunday, we celebrated Liz turning the big 2-6 with brunch at Cafe B.
Yet again, another great food destination chosen by Jason.
Mr. Piper knows his stuff.
@nolapartyof2 y'all
Liz & I have been living in separate states for two years now and this was our second year in a row to have birthday brunch.
I think that means it pretty much has to become a tradition now, right?
. . . last but not least, before we could leave our lovely home state we had to stock up on Sweetwater.
Then I instagrammed this photo and tagged them and they informed me that they will be distributing to Texas this year.
Hallelujah, praise the Lort.
Nola, you were SO good to us, as usual.
Au revoir!