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#JuddFest2016 – part the seventh [5/27]
At last we have made it to the seventh and final [full] day of my trip. A travesty! I fell more in love with New Orleans than I already had been (although I’m certain I couldn’t live there, only visit). It’s a wonderful city and there really is so much more to it than what people associate with it — Mardi Gras and devastating hurricanes. The culture is phenomenal and the food is delicious! And I’m forever thankful to the friendly people who are certainly exhausted by the endless tourists but are always willing to point you in the right direction anyway. Day seven started with another trip to Café…
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#JuddFest2016 – part the sixth! [5/27]
On day six, we were up to nine (!) people, five of whom started the day a cooking/demo class at the School of Cooking. I took a pass on that, and instead the rest of us went out to Remoulade for lunch. It was a cute little place, but the service left something to be desired, and my jambalaya wasn’t great. The crunch-to-soft acceptability ratio was all off. (Hi, I’m one of those texture people.) After lunch, we met up with the rest of the group and it was time to do one of my favorite things — Swamp Tour! This was my second one, and I loved it just as much…
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#JuddFest2016 – part the fifth [5/26]
Day five saw two more members of our group arrive from Cincinnati (hi, Craig and Ashley!). Our first stop of the day was for lunch, where we walked from our hotel to the St. James Cheese Company. Who doesn’t love cheese? I was playing it safe again, and went with the tomato/mozz ciabatta. Why don’t I cook this all the time? It was delicious. From there, we took a nice warm walk to the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. This was one of those niche places that is probably not on many people’s radars, but for $5, it was actually pretty interesting and a solid addition to the trip. There…
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#JuddFest2016 – part the fourth [5/25]
As I suspected, it would take me forty-seven years to finish writing about my trip, but here I am back with more. Day four! A lot of our day was improvised, I think, but that was part of the charm. As any self-respecting tourist does, we started our day with a trip to the legendary Café du Monde. The first time I tried it (last summer), I wasn’t a big fan of the coffee – I guess the chicory didn’t do it for me. But maybe it grew on me? Anyway, I could eat beignets every day forever if they had actual nutritious value. And also, this place teaches you…
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#JuddFest2016 – part the third [5/24]
Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday! This was a big day for us full of food and endless quantities of swamp ass. New Orleans, amirite? We started with a jaunt along the riverwalk on the Mississippi River, and on down to the French Market. As tourists do, we made sure to stop in every single store full of literally anything you can put a fleur de lis or a crawfish on. (I bought approximately 1,294 of them.) Then it was off to Dat Dog on Frenchmen Street. I’m no hot dog connoisseur, but #YOLO/#vacation/etc. I was certainly not daring enough for an alligator or crawfish sausage, and I went with a boring ole…
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#JuddFest2016 – part the second [5/23]
Day two started with high hopes for digestive luck (joke’s on me!) and brunch at the Camellia Grill, a quaint little diner with counter service. It was the kind of greasy-spoon place you know is going to be delicious the moment you walk in the door. The veggie omelette was the size of my entire head (and much larger than my stomach), but absolutely delicious. If it’s not yet evident, we ate a lot of food on this trip, and almost all of it came from New Orleans originals. Next, we swung through the French Quarter briefly and checked out the Voodoo Museum. Talk about a tourist trap, there…
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#JuddFest2016 – the epic vacation, part the first [5/22]
If we’re friends on Facebook or Snapchat, you’ve probably seen the extravaganza of photos and updates from New Orleans over the last ten days. On the 22nd, I hopped a flight from CVG to MSY to join four of my favorite people for a week of pre-nuptial festivities (and for me, post-graduation celebrations!). First of all, shout out to Allegiant for the absolutely painless experience. It was my first time flying with them; I’m loyal to Southwest to the end, but sometimes it’s nice to actually fly out of the airport closest to my house. Oh, and also very nice to spend $150 on an airline ticket. And neither of my…
