A Weekend In New Orleans

Jambalaya, Red beans and rice, Gumbo, Sausage

I'm back!! New Orleans was an amazing place and I had a fabulous trip! The best part was getting to spend the weekend with my friends from Children's that I definitely don't get to see as often! It was so nice to hang out with them again. Also, I got to meet some new friends as well!

The food there is fantastic! But definitely fattening. I also didn't hold back one bit on anything I ordered, so that didn't help! The combination of food and super sugary drinks really took a toll on me. I gained 6 lbs. Yes, you heard correct, 6 effing pounds!! WTF? I didn't even know that was possible! I couldn't believe my eyes when I stepped on the scale.

It was totally worth it though. I got to experience real New Orleans food and I loved it. I also had a constant buzz or was totally drunk the entire weekend, so mission accomplished. While it was an amazing trip, I'm glad to be back so I can start working out again and trying to eat healthier.

Duck with Gnocchi

 While in NOLA, we ate at Acme Oyster House, Domenica, Ruby Red Slipper, Praline Connection, Ruby Red Slipper (again), and randomly, Arby's hahaha. We also had some gross street pizza that, at the time, tasted like gourmet zza! Of course everything tastes better when you're drunk!

At Domenica I got to try duck for the first time. Can't say I'm a huge fan now or anything. It wasn't bad, I just didn't think it was memorable. Kind of tasted like turkey! But the meal was good and it was a nice place.

At Acme Oyster House we had chargrilled oysters and craw pups for appetizers. I loved the oysters! They taste so much better grilled and these had some type of cheese melted on top of them which made them taste amazing! I'm definitely a fan now. The craw pups were pretty good too. I had a variety platter for dinner, so I got to try a little bit of everything. The Jambalaya was definitely my favorite! I loved that stuff and I could eat a ton of it!

Eggs Blackstone

Saturday morning for breakfast, we went to Ruby Red Slipper which I loved. It was a cute little place with old wooden tables that were kind of rickety, and neat pictures on the wall. The menu was really interesting and everything on it looked great so it was really hard to choose. I went for the Eggs Blackstone. WOW! Biscuits with tomato, bacon, poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce on top. Frickin delicious! It was so good that I got it again the next morning when we went back!:-)

It probably wasn't the healthiest meal, but like I said earlier, no holding back! We also got Bellinis and Mimosas! Had to start early on the alcohol;-) I loved that place and if I ever go back to NOLA it will be at the top of my list to visit again.

Pretty much every day there consisted of waking up, getting ready, eating breakfast and immediately finding the closest spot to get a drink. Around there, hand grenades and frozen drinks are really popular. They have all these bars that all they sell is frozen drinks. There's a whole line of these frozen drink machines with about 10 flavors or more. I got a lot of those because they were easy to find and easy to drink! I had Mango, Peach Colada, Margarita, and "The Jester" which was some green flavor lol.

Taste of Soul Platter

Saturday night we went kind of far from our hotel to a place called "Praline Connection" which was legit soul food! It was crazy. I sorta felt like I was on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. We had fried pickle chips and gator sausage for appetizers. The fried pickles were amazing! I think we all ate too many! I liked the gator. It tasted pretty similar to regular pork sausage.

Of course I ordered the "Taste of Soul Platter" because I wanted to try everything! It came with Jambalaya, Ribs, Gumbo, Red Beans and Rice, Fried Chicken, Fried Catfish, and Bread Pudding!! Not everything is in that picture! Haha. I'm so fat!! But man, it was awesome. I really liked the catfish and the bread pudding was soooo good!

We all felt soooo fat and stuffed after that meal that we had to go back to the hotel and digest for a little before making our next venture out to go drink. It was the kind of meal that made you just want to take a nap afterwards, but alas, we had to continue to partayyyy!

One night we had a VIP table with bottle service, that was epic! We also went to a place called "Cat's Meow" both nights and that place was fun! It's a karaoke bar and they'll let pretty much anyone get on stage and dance! Me and a bunch of the other girls definitely ended up there a few times!:-)

We also got to experience throwing beads off a balcony which was fun but also a little scary! It's definitely not a good idea to literally THROW beads at people! They don't like that. Also, some people just want to flash you and it's not a pretty sight! But you gotta give them beads anyways, they still deserve the credit! Haha!

New Orleans was filled with tons of interesting people and lots of cool shops. The buildings were unique and pretty to look at. Some things were just different around there than they are here in MD. Locks on the door, for example. A lot of them were just little buttons next to the door knob that you push in. I had never seen that!

It was an awesome place that I'm so glad I got to experience. It was also only my second time flying ever and I think I did pretty well! Going there was fine, but coming back we went through a storm and it was so shaky! I definitely felt like I was going to puke a few times:-( But I survived and now I can't wait for the next trip!

I could go on and on about the things we did in NOLA, but I can't disclose all of that information on this blog!;-) I'm also going to make an album on facebook soon with more pictures. I just have to figure out which ones are safe to post, haha:-)

Oh, I forgot to mention that I went to the gym last night. First time since December 30th!!:-( But I was there for hours and worked my butt off and am happy to say that 3 of those 6 vacation pounds are already gone! Phew! Hopefully I can get it all off ASAP and work on getting down to my goal weight! I'm soooo ready!! Speaking of working out, I have to go! I'm meeting up with Lt. Bussing at station 30 and we're gonna have a hardcore workout! I'm a little scared, but I know it'll be worth it in the end!

Thanks for stopping by and reading about how fat I was this weekend:-) Check back for healthier updates!!

Anna