Fun

Twenty seven has been a really good year for me so far. I'm feeling happier than I have in a long time and doing so many fun things. Work is going great, I've made a ton of new friends, and I'm exploring parts of the city (and country) I've never seen. I've been busier than normal and filling up most of my evenings/weekends with activities. Here are a couple from the last week:

In an attempt to diversify my eating, I went out to my very first Cambodian dinner at Elephant Walk. It was awesome.

Rouleaux (crispy Cambodian pork spring rolls served with greens, herbs and tuk trey for dipping)

Special chilled avocado lime soup

Khar Saiko Kroeung (boneless beef short ribs braised in tamarind, ginger, chili pods and soy, with garlic Shanghai noodles and pickled cucumber

I had another event for work last week to kick off our tenth anniversary celebration. I spent an entire day putting together these favors...

One of my donors offered me Red Sox tickets in the Bank of America private luxury suite with unlimited food and drinks. I seriously don't know if I can ever sit in regular seats again. I ate WAY too much...

Owner's box right next door

The suite

Not a bad sky!

Unlimited watermelon

I bought a new dress for my event that I am in love with. I should have taken a picture when I had my real shoes on. It reminds me of the dress I almost bought from Stitch Fix but it was $100 cheaper and more comforatble. So crazy!!

Over the weekend I hit up Lawn of D with Mr. Math for a fun night. It was Beatles night and they showed Yellow Submarine (SUPER weird) and had some Beatles cover bands. It was a great night!

On Saturday I had a few birthdays to celebrate -- the first during the day with college friends in the Seaport. We went to a new rooftop bar that was amazing!! The view was awesome and they had free charcuterie to go around. I doubt they will keep that going for too long.

In the evening I moved downtown for another birthday party with people from my sports league. I had a blast but (as usual of late) drank a little too much. I need to stop accepting shots when they are handed to me.

On Sunday I watched the Orange is the New Black finale, met new potential roommates, went for a run (I'm finishing up week 4 of Couch to 5K), then had dinner plans in the evening. I've been staying up late every night watching reruns of The Office. I need to stop!

Now it's a short week because I'm leaving for NY on Wednesday for Liz's wedding weekend!!!

NOLA - Part 2

Our third day in NOLA started with one of the best breakfasts I've ever had. We walked about 15 minutes to a tiny spot called New Orleans Cake Cafe.

They had a glass case full of delicious looking goodies so we decided to split this stuffed bagel to start:

For my meal I ordered the special: crawfish and andoullie with grits, over medium eggs, and a biscuit. It was SO AMAZING -- I swear my mouth is watering just looking at this picture.

After breakfast we spent the rest of the day walking around town and seeing the various neighborhoods! It was SO hot out but I loved it.

Disney World?

This bar was completely covered in people's business cards!

Can you spot mine?!

Absinthe tasting!

Hard to tell, but the sugar on the spoon is on fire

The best part of the day was when me and Andy met this pirate! He had an adorable little parakeet sitting on his shoulder and fulfilled my biggest dream ever...

SO EXCITED

BFFs

<3

He sat in my hand for about twenty minutes. I really didn't want to leave him (the bird, not the pirate)!

Cool misty bar!

NOLA of LA?

After walking around for many hours we stopped at Luke, one of John Besh's restaurants! We made it just in time for oyster happy hour!

We had em fried...

And raw of course!

Round 1

Round 2

To be honest the oysters were a little bland for my taste. They needed some brine! Luckily I was able to get lots of flavor at our next stop, Nola Sugar & Spice. This place was awesome -- they had a ton of hot sauces to try and fresh pralines ready for sampling. I took home a few little bottles of my favorites.

So many mini tabasco bottles!

We scheduled a haunted ghost tour for later in the evening, so we spent the next few hours drinking on Bourbon Street until we were ready to go!

The tour was interesting. I was a little drunk and a little scared the whole time. At the last stop I became very scared. I deleted all of the photos off my phone of this tour except for the next three because they were freaking me out.

Our tour guide in Pirate Alley

Madame Lalaurie's mansion. This lady was messed up.

Andy searching for ghosts

 We were all a little on edge after the tour so needed to lighten up a bit...

And since we hadn't eaten enough, we stopped into a little dive bar for more food.

Casual dog on a stool

Alligator meatballs! They were okay.

The most unnecessary Rueben

Monday was our last day in NOLA. Sara's friend and her boyfriend were randomly visiting at the same time, so we planned to spend the day with them. And what better way to finish off our trip than with more eating and drinking!?

We started with breakfast at Stanley in the French Quarter. Not my favorite breakfast of the trip, but not too shabby either! I LOVE all the buildings int he French Quarter. I couldn't stop taking photos of them.

While on the ghost tour I met a couple who said we had to go to the carousel bar! This place was pretty cool. The bar was a full on carousel that spun around. It took 15 minutes to do one revolution so you didn't get too dizzy.

In the carousel mirror!

After a few drinks it was time for our final NOLA delicacy: beignets!

So good. They reminded me a lot of zeppoles. None of my friends knew what I was talking about with this. We used to eat them at carnivals on Long Island. According to wikipedia they are a Southern Italian deep fried dough ball topped with powdered sugar.

With only about two hours before we had to head to the airport, we grabbed some Grenades and hung out in the park. It was a wonderful way to end the trip!

I loved New Orleans way more than I imagined I would! I think it's bumped up into my top 3 cities to [maybe] move to!