Laissez les bon temps rouler

New Orleans. Can I just say food, food and more good food. Seemed like everytime we turned around we were eating. Best food we ate was in the cooking class, jambalya, gumbo, bread pudding and pralines. Yummy! We got a history lesson at the same time about how the different ethnic groups had such an impact on the culture and cusine.

Roux and the color of roux is very important to the type of dish you are making. I thought her example of the four spoons was very helpful. We sampled some local root beer and beer from Abita, both were excellent, even though I don't really like beer. Bread pudding might actually have grown on me.

We got our second history lesson while on a walking tour of FQ learning about voodoo religion. The tour guide, Charles was pretty knowledgeable about the history of voodoo and how the various immigrants to New Orleans shaped the religion. Not to mention this was a great cardio work out, he kept us moving on a pretty fast clip. The funniest part, at the end we saw a girl throwing up in Pirates Alley, and Charles throws off the comment "another Hurricane victim". Nat and I both had a chuckle at that.

First day here, we behaved like typical tourists, Nat got this awesome picture of down of the streets. It's been 22 years since I was last here, the place has changed a little. Of course, Katrina had an impact. I was shocked to see the number of buildings still empty or undergoing renovation. The place is still beautiful with a special sense of place that is truly unique to the Quarter and the people. I loved looking at the buildings and we are talking about finding a place to rent and coming next year for a week and living down in the quarter, to get a true sense of place. One thing I can promise, we are going to come when the weather is cooler. Hopefully it will keep down the stench of trash and puke on Bourbon Street.

Scrapbdazzled by the Letting the Good Times Roll in NOLA