A Walk in the Garden

We started off our Saturday in New Orleans with breakfast at Cafe Beignet at Music Legends Park. It's always the right time for a beignet in NOLA.

The music legend on the right is Pete Fountain. Ted and I both immediately told the story of our trip to California when Pete Fountain was on the train with us. We were only 5 and 7 at the time, but we both remember meeting him. We thought it fitting to pose with him after breakfast.

We then headed over to Canal Street to take a streetcar ride on the beautiful St. Charles Avenue to the Garden District. We printed a walking tour guide, and took a little tour on our own. We started at the Garden District Book Shop, which is in a property known as the Rink, since it was originally opened as the Crescent City Skating Rink. The book store is the favorite of Anne Rice, well known author and New Orleans native, who usually holds her first book signing there when a new book is released. The Rink also houses a coffee shop, and a great little children's shop. One of my favorites.

Across the street from the Rink is Colonel Short's Villa. It was built by architect Henry Howard for Kentucky Colonel Robert Short. The cornstalk fence was built for his wife, who missed the cornfields of her native Indiana Iowa. It reminded Jim of home too.

This home is now owned by the Women's Opera Guild. They were getting ready for an event of some sort, and had a tent in the yard with beautiful floral arrangements on the tables. There was not a soul around when we walked past, but I stopped to take a photo of the entry way florals and the lanterns lining the walkway.

This is the childhood home of our favorite injured quarterback who plays for the blue team.

We didn't see anyone while we were there, but we thought Peyton might have stopped in to see Archie and Olivia. While he was in town for the game you know.

Halloween decorations were out in abundance. The Garden District is home to many celebrities, including author Anne Rice, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Nicholas Cage, and of course, the Mannings. It is a great place to take a walk on a beautiful day.

This is the house from the film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It is an interesting film, especially if you have visited New Orleans. It is a beautiful home, owned for many years by the Nolan family. You can read more about the home here.

Back on Canal Street, we enjoyed the view of the palm trees and streetcars.

We decided on an early dinner at Acme Oysters, one of the well-known oyster houses in New Orleans.

I'm not really interested in raw oysters, but these char-grilled beauties are delicious. Hot off the grill. Just ask Ted about that.

We did a little shopping in the French Quarter after dinner, and saw this jazz wedding procession on Royal Street.

The bride and groom lead their wedding party and guests in a jazz filled celebratory parade. Throwing beads along the way.

This balcony is all decked out for Halloween. There were bubbles, there was smoke, and the woman was throwing candy to passersby. A bachelorette party group was on the receiving end of several treats.

Elsewhere in the Quarter, a sports memorabilia shop had this display in the window. In honor of the upcoming game. I'll take the gold team.

Sportsman of the Year: Drew Brees.

We did not go in this store. That's probably a good thing. I'm sure I would have found something for the basement. :)

Phone Photo Friday NOLA Style

I took lots of photos with my phone on our recent trip to New Orleans. 

It is just so handy to have that little phone available 

when the big camera would be too much and/or to cumbersome 

to quickly capture the moment. 

What did we do before phones had cameras?

Anyway, I always like to take pictures of food with my phone, 

and New Orleans is the perfect place to do that. 

So much great food! 

Beautiful and delicious!

Oysters on the half shell ~ Crabmeat Karen

Filet Mignon Charlemond ~ Chargrilled oysters

Cafe Beignet ~ Bananas Foster

Bread pudding ~ Cafe du Monde

Creole trio: red beans and rice, gumbo, jambalaya ~ Hurricanes

We did enjoy more than just the food though.
We shopped, we went to the Saints vs. Colts game (Who Dat!),
we experienced Bourbon Street,
and we took a carriage tour of the French Quarter.

Waiting for a cab ~ Who Dat bling (I did not buy) ~ Jim enjoys shopping

View from our seats ~ Drew in the Quarter ~ Celebrating on Bourbon Street

Face painting in Jackson Square ~ St. Louis Cathedral ~ Hot Stuff the mule

All of the photos were edited using Instagram.

I am (hopefully) linking up today with Dawn at My Home Sweet Home

for Camera Phone Friday.

Hello NOLA

We had a great weekend in New Orleans, and I am finally getting a chance to share some of the fun and the photos. My brother and his wife came along with us, and it was great to spend time with them.

We were greeted at our hotel by this beautiful lobby.

This is the first time Jim and I have stayed right on Bourbon Street, and I must say the music kept up a steady level of sound all afternoon and into the evening.

Of course, Jim spent a lot of time like this.

We took a little walk, and settled on this restaurant for lunch.

The gumbo was yummy. (The soup, not my dog.)

And we enjoyed eating on the balcony overlooking Bourbon Street. Yes, Ted was sporting his Colts jacket. Remember, this was before the game.

This was the view across the street. There were many Halloween decorations up around NOLA. I'm guessing Halloween is a pretty big party in the French Quarter. Of course, every night is a pretty big party in the French Quarter.

We continued our walk down Bourbon Street to Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop. We tried their famous hurricanes, and we're pretty sure they are the best in the French Quarter.

Ted and Cheryl posed in front of the bar, which is the oldest in the US.

We headed down for a walk along the river, and were immediately accosted greeted by a slick character telling the guys that he "can tell you where you got your shoes."

The answer, of course, is "on your feet", and in the time it took him to deliver the punchline, he had applied polish to each of their shoes and was quickly buffing them to a shine. For 20 bucks. Can you say suckers?

Jim and I standing in front of the river.

We stopped in at Tujague's, which is another old, well-known bar in the French Quarter. This is Paul, the bartender, who could be described as a wee bit grumpy. We learned that the stories we had been told on the cocktail tour may not, in fact, be true. It seems everyone in NOLA has a story. Fact or fiction is for us to decide.

St. Louis Cathedral is the centerpiece of Jackson Square, and was looking especially beautiful in the bright sunshine.

It is beautiful inside, as well.



Ted especially liked the Jackson Square area, with its artists, musicians, and street performers sharing their talents on a beautiful day.

I love looking at all the balconies in the French Quarter.

For dinner, we went to Arnaud's, and ate in the Jazz Bistro. Here, the waiter is preparing Cafe Brulot for the table next to ours.

It is made with coffee, lemon and orange rinds, cloves, cinnamon sticks, and Orange Curacao, and flamed with brandy. Very impressive.

We opted for the Bananas Foster, a local favorite.

It is made with bananas sautéed in butter, cinnamon and brown sugar, flamed tableside with banana liqueur and dark rum and served over Brocato’s French vanilla ice cream.

It is one of my favorites.

The jazz trio stopped at our table, and performed a combination of Happy Birthday (Ted was 50 on the 5th), Back Home Again in Indiana, and When the Saints Go Marching In.

The saxophone player was awesome, and it was a great ending to our delicious meal.

I hope to share more photos from our trip... so stay tuned. :)

21 Years and 1 Candle

We celebrated Adam's birthday last night in West Lafayette at Bruno's, famous for Bruno Dough. So good. Bruno's has always been a hangout for Purdue athletes and students, and is filled with sports memorabilia. You can even "like" Bruno's on Facebook.

We had a good meal, and celebrated with a Doris cake afterwards. He didn't really want the singing and the candles, but he did finally agree to 1 candle. Can't have a birthday cake without blowing out the candles candle.

Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday, dear Adam. Happy Birthday to you!

And for the record, yesterday I posted this picture on Adam's birthday post. At dinner, my sweet daughter pointed out to me that it is actually a photo of Jonathan, not Adam. Oops.

I replaced it with this photo, taken of the framed collage with my phone, so not the best quality. But this one is actually Adam.
Mama memory fail.