Friday, February 10, 2012

Nawlins, or Our Tour de Food

So our trip to New Orleans was just the best ever.

Daisy and I arrived just before midnight Thursday night. Daisy is a great travel buddy-when the times of the flights don't interfere with her sleep too much. It was perfect-each flight was during her nap time, and timed just right so she woke up when we got off the plane and I could find a comfortable spot to feed and change her. I have done those things on the plane, but it definitely isn't ideal. Especially changing a diaper in a plane bathroom. That is tricky.

Anyways, I was real excited to visit Jordan. This was perhaps his most stressful business trip (either a tie or a close second: his last trip before my due date. Poor guy was terrified I would go into labor without him). A big thing was happening with his jobs customer that he works with, and he was working very long days.

Friday was a pretty low key day. Jordan had to work so Daisy and I hung out, went shopping, and saw a movie. Now, here is a part where I brag a little bit. There are a lot of cute babies out there. Really adorable babies. Daisy is one of them (in my humble opinion). But I am not the only one that feels this way. Every single time I venture out into the world-every time-someone stops to tell me how beautiful Daisy is. So we were walking into the movie theater, and we passed what one could call a "pimped out" suv. It was playing some music that appeared to be all bass, raised up, huge rims, etc. As I walked by with Daisy, I heard someone yell "Hey!" I turned to look, and all the windows were rolled down and one door was open with a young woman hanging out of it. She then yelled "She is so cute!" And lets be honest. She totally is.


Look at that little girl!

I picked Jordan up at the end of the day, and we got to show Daisy off to all of his co-workers. We then headed to our fancy downtown hotel. One of the HUGE benefits of this little vacation is that Jordan's work paid for everything but my meals and airfare, since Jordan was still technically on a business trip. We were pretty tired, so we ordered some takeout-Cajun shrimp pesto pizza. Absolutely delicious.

Saturday was the day that we celebrated my birthday, since Jordan was working most of Friday. The day started with a trip to the Ruby Slipper for brunch.

Here we are about to leave-does this remind anyone else of The Hangover?

Jordan got salmon eggs Benedict and I got blackberry cheesecake stuffed french toast. We shared, of course. So so so so delicious. Next we started walking around, heading towards the french quarter. We stopped by my favorite place in the world:

My parents used to order pralines from here every Christmas.

We had a great time exploring the little shops, watching street performers, admiring street artists, and listening to every hipster gypsy band that has ever existed (seriously. There was a moustachioed tuba player and waif like cellist on every street corner). Daisy did great-she would nap in the baby bjorn like a pro, and we found a nice park to stop and nurse in. We did get some looks that seemed to say: "Why did you bring a baby to New Orleans?" but whatevs. She is a great baby to travel with.


This is a really cool looking city


For an afternoon snack, we went to Cafe du Monde and got beignets.
At first I thought all the powdered sugar might be a little over kill. Don't worry. It wasn't.

After a little nap at the hotel, we went to dinner at Mr. B's Bistro. K, this was seriously the most delicious and fanciest food I have ever had. Jordan got the fattest pork chop I have ever seen, and I got their signature barbecue shrimp. I was in HEAVEN. So good. Also, turns out they have the recipe for the shrimp on their website, and it doesn't look too complicated. Guess what the Smith family is eating for the rest of ever?

Sunday we had a lazy morning-unfortunately we missed the meeting time for the only ward. We ordered room service, and got some great rest. In the afternoon we went to a family themed Mardi Gras parade, where Daisy was just an animal and got so many beads.

Look how she attacks the baby bjorn! Honey Badger don't care!

It was a lot of fun. We had dinner at a little outdoor place called Cafe Amelie. It was the our first candle lit dinner under the stars! The food was delicious! Daisy slept the whole time!

Monday Jordan had to work again, so Daisy and I walked along the Mississippi River, went back to Southern Candymakers (obvs) and explored the french quarter a little more. Of course we had yet another to die for dinner.

It was the most perfect weekend. We had a wonderful time. New Orleans is a really cool and interesting city, and clearly from this post, offers delicious foods. The best part? This: