Jambalaya, Hurricanes, Biegnets...OH MY!

I go to sleep every night thinking, gotta add a new post! Time flies, doesn't it? Well here it is :) New Orleans was a BLAST. What a great group of people we had on this trip. It was short and sweet, and tons of fun! One of my favorite cocktails in the world is a frozen margarita from the bar Fat Tuesdays. Anywhere I go, if they have a Fat Tuesdays, I HAVE to get at least one frozen margarita. It's literally the perfect margarita for me. Not too sweet and so refreshing. So needless to say, I was super happy when I saw a Fat Tuesdays on Bourbon St. Had to get my marg on! Wahoo!




Our 1st day in NOLA was awesome. We meet up with our friends Noah and Marcie after checking into our hotel. We met at a place called Tropical Paradise, which is known for the infamous "Hand Grenade" drink. Its like a Gatorade on alcoholic steroids. Not a drink for me, but I was happy when we took a stroll to Pat O'Briens for a N'Awlins fave, the Hurricane. Loved it! We walked Bourbon St. and then met up later in the night again to do some bar-hopping... lots of fun that night! I loved seeing Bourbon St all lit up at night. So pretty. It's amazing to think of what this city went through with Hurricane Katrina, and see how its come to be a thriving and exciting city once again. Amazing, actually.





On our second day, we decided to hit up some of the main culinary attractions of New Orleans. We had breakfast at Cafe Du Monde... DELOOOOOSH! Biegnets were amazing and I love the iced Cafe Au Lait... I drank that in about a minute and a half... yum. Then we met up with the crowd and toured Decatur St, making our way to The Central Grocery to order some Mulfulettas. On our way, Chris and Frank were brave souls and decided to try Alligator on a Stick. Go them. They said it tasted like chicken. HA.


The Mulfuletta were so good. I love olives, so it was definitely a treat for me.

After a full day of touring the city, we all went back to our rooms and relaxed a little before getting ready for our New Years Eve dinner. We ate at an authentic NO place called Pierre Maspero's. I tried chicken Jambalaya and Gumbo, LOVED the Jambalaya. Yum. Hope to try and replicate it at home soon!
After dinner, we strolled Bourbon St, taking in the craziness and bead throwing :) All the ladies picked up beautiful carnivale masks, which we donned after dinner. It was so festive! I think the masks made the outfits, right?! We stopped in a few places, danced a little and then headed over to Jackson Square for the big countdown to 2011. However, we never actually heard the countdown.
There were sooooooooooo many people in the square that we really couldn't hear much of anything. The explosive firework display (LOVED!) gave it away that it was time to toast to a Happy New Year. It was really cool to see the city all lit up and so many people having such a great time. I would say this was definitely one of my favorite New Years celebrations ever.


How cute are these two little girls with their beads?! They were such fashionistas in training, AND they gave me my 1st set of beads! SO. DARN. CUTE!
We only had a few hours on New Years day to grab a quick brunch and bid adieu to the lovely city of New Orleans. We had a nice brunch at Cafe Pontabla, complete with Mimosas and Bloody Mary's, of course.





Hope all of you had a great celebration and wishing you all the best in 2011!

XOXO ,Vanessa