Bayous to Beaches. Oct 2019: Day 4 New Orleans. Art, Jazz, Food and Drink. The perfect day.

[WileyCoyote]

Yesterday is here

As a reminder, we are now into the non Florida leg of this trip. We will return to the sunshine state in 9 days time.

Friday 4 October

Its my birthday!

Plans for the day ahead ...

I opened a few cards that I had brought from home and started the day with the leftover cake from yesterday - it was still very yummy.

We had a lazy morning - I organised the cases ready for our departure tomorrow and checked out the last few details of the road trip we were taking.

Poor Andy was suffering from a sore throat and looked like he was coming down with a full on cold.

Around 11 we headed out to Walgreens to get him some meds and we popped in to the Hard Rock to take a wedding wishes pic for Dibber goodevans.

Bourbon Street was still very quiet and for the very first time in our trips here the city was distinctly aromatic.

Not all the street rubbish had been collected yet and in the searing heat it was frankly stinky.

We made our way back to Bourbon Street - we did pop in to one of the voodoo stores but it was a no photos place.

We also passed what used to be the Old Coffee Pot

where we had breakfast on our trip in March 2018.

That was before the Gordon Ramsay programme after which it closed down ( side of mice with your toast sir ) .

Its now re opened as part of the Café Beignet chain. Its one of NOLA’s oldest establishments so nice to see its back up and running.

Our destination was next door at Pat O Brien’s.

Firstly because I wanted a Hurricane to start the birthday festivities

Secondly so that we could take my Dad on a final journey.

He passed away in January this year and two of his favourite places on earth were New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

I had brought a small amount of his ashes with us to scatter.

We sat in the same spot where we have a photo of him with a hurricane cocktail and raised a toast. It was sad and happy at the same time.

From there we headed to lunch at the Court of Two Sisters.

It’s a beautiful setting out in the courtyard and we had booked for slightly earlier so that we could hear more of the jazz while we were eating.

Having had a hurricane already, I decided to stick with rum based cocktails for the remainder of the day - error !

Lunch was booked for 1230 . Not as busy as last time when we arrived at 2.

Andy had a bottle of Malbec and I had a Zombie. Far too strong. and couldn’t really manage much of it - what was I thinking, 5 different rum types I deffo should have had the martini at the top.

Buffet choices were as good as the previous visit. You don’t see many people taking food pics here so Andy told me people were looking at me taking these. Not that I was bothered after that Zombie juice

I do feel the desserts are a disappointment as they look like something that could have come out of Costco rather than an in house made.

Not that there is anything at all wrong with Costco cakes, they are lovely, I was just hoping for something a bit more homestyle .
They are a bit average after the amazing starters and mains.

I made the error of having a biscuit with the starter which filled me up

I managed a couple of plates of starters and main courses, the jambalaya and duck being the most delicious.

Andy fared much better than I did and had the rib roast

I did feel full and attempted the king Cake (a Mardi Gras tradition) with ice cream. It was incredibly sweet.

We had a delightful server called Tamika who really made the afternoon so nice.
It was as perfect as our last visit with the sunshine, the birds in the trees and the mellow jazz in the background. It is very lovely.

It’s $32 per head, the wine was $32 for the bottle and with my $9 cocktail and tax the bill was $116.


We waddled out just before the lunch service closed at 3pm.
A serious afternoon nap was required

We both felt overfull and a bit sick really after all that food so it was nice to sit in bed and watch tv for a bit.
After a while Andy decided he wanted to pop out to see if we could pick up another of the Stroll paintings - we had seen two the last couple of days.

He was gone for ages and when he came back said that he had got chatting to Danny, had some wine and had ended up buying them both … but they would need shipping home as they had already been stretched on the frame.

But no problem as that would be sorted.

Whats that they say, buy in haste, repent at leisure.

The internet is amazing at letting you spend your money really quickly … one bank transfer later and we were the owners of two new pieces of art.

Yeah that’s all going to go smoothly isn’t it.
Longer running saga than the Archers. Stay tuned for daily updates

It was about 7pm now so we headed back to Maison Bourbon.

Yes that is two Chewbacca’s passing by.

I did have to pinch myself as to whether I was still zombie cocktail hallucinating or not.

The band here are very good - energetic old school jazz.

We enjoyed it and I was also very pleased to see that they had by some Back to the Future wizardry managed to send us back to 1998

By the time we got back out Bourbon street was rammed.

There was a Miranda Lambert concert on that night and the Saints were at home over the upcoming weekend so the place was bursting.

It was a bit too chaotic.

My photos seem to tell me we had a final stop in Bourbon Heat

but I didn’t make any notes so it must have been just a quick stop before heading back to chill out in the Bourbon O bar.

I know we didn’t have any more drinks as we wanted to be away relatively early tomorrow and neither of us wanted to be “delicate” with a long day of driving ahead.

So it was good night N’awlins and see you next time.

Tomorrow is HERE

Today's cocktail tally: 2 (I do feel the zombie qualifies as about 4 myself)
Holiday tally so far : 10

[KarenG]

What a lovely way to remember your dad Amanda.






As to the birthday day, is it becoming a new custom for you to birthday in NOLA (or am I getting confused with a different celebration, maybe Mother’s Day? Equally perhaps I’ve made that up completely )

The food and surroundings look wonderful again at the Court of Two Sisters (dessert excepted which looks a bit like what they serve at my local Chinese AYCE buffet).

I’m very impressed with today’s cocktail count

Having once made the stupid mistake of buying something over sized in Orlando and assuming I’d ‘find a way’ to get it home, I’m hoping the long story you’re going to tell ends better / less expensively than mine did

[Goldia]

A special toast to your Dad with a hurricane in one of his favourite cities.

I'm glad you had a good birthday celebration, even if you did feel a bit sick after all the food, but then over eating and over drinking on your birthday is a must!

[CrispyA]

Glad you had a lovely toast to your Dad. I’m intrigued about the paintings now. . .

[smithlane]

What a fab birthday!
Am I right in remembering it was last year that you passed out in an alcohol induced haze? If so well done for not repeating it this year, if not I can only apologise thinking you would do something like that 😂😆
That Zombie cocktail does look lovely but I can imagine it’s as potent as a Long Island Iced Tea, I’d have been under the table after one!
The buffet looks really good though and great value for money.
What a lovely way of remembering your Dad, he’ll forever be having a drink in his favourite place ☺️
I love the fact Andy bought both paintings, I really hope they’ve made it to yours in one piece. Looking forward to finding out what happens!

[Melbatb]

A belated happy birthday And what a lovely way to remember you dad.

What a fab day but I am more concerned how you get the pictures home

Looking forward to reading the rest of the trip to find out!

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by KarenG

What a lovely way to remember your dad Amanda.






As to the birthday day, is it becoming a new custom for you to birthday in NOLA (or am I getting confused with a different celebration, maybe Mother’s Day? Equally perhaps I’ve made that up completely )

The food and surroundings look wonderful again at the Court of Two Sisters (dessert excepted which looks a bit like what they serve at my local Chinese AYCE buffet).

I’m very impressed with today’s cocktail count

Having once made the stupid mistake of buying something over sized in Orlando and assuming I’d ‘find a way’ to get it home, I’m hoping the long story you’re going to tell ends better / less expensively than mine did

See more...

Ha ha, yes it was Mother’s Day. It was a lovely day. Dad would have definitely approved ah, the oversized items. Never go art shopping after jazz brunch

Originally Posted by Goldia

A special toast to your Dad with a hurricane in one of his favourite cities.

I'm glad you had a good birthday celebration, even if you did feel a bit sick after all the food, but then over eating and over drinking on your birthday is a must!

See more...

Thank you. I think it’s set the bar now for all future birthdays if I hadn’t tried that zombie I am sure I would have felt better, it was just knock your socks off strength

Originally Posted by CrispyA

Glad you had a lovely toast to your Dad. I’m intrigued about the paintings now. . .

See more...

Thank you. I thought I would be upset but it was ok. We were pleased to remember him there. Ha ha. You won’t have too long to wait

Originally Posted by smithlane

What a fab birthday!
Am I right in remembering it was last year that you passed out in an alcohol induced haze? If so well done for not repeating it this year, if not I can only apologise thinking you would do something like that 😂😆
That Zombie cocktail does look lovely but I can imagine it’s as potent as a Long Island Iced Tea, I’d have been under the table after one!
The buffet looks really good though and great value for money.
What a lovely way of remembering your Dad, he’ll forever be having a drink in his favourite place ☺️
I love the fact Andy bought both paintings, I really hope they’ve made it to yours in one piece. Looking forward to finding out what happens!

See more...

Ha ha, as if ! It was Mother’s Day and the tequila shots that floored me . The zombie was as potent but not as nice actually. Far too strong. As I type this Andy’s making me a Singapore sling. Much more my style I think

Well we will have to sea about those paintings ( get it, with the water in both ).

Originally Posted by Melbatb

A belated happy birthday And what a lovely way to remember you dad.

What a fab day but I am more concerned how you get the pictures home

Looking forward to reading the rest of the trip to find out!

See more...

Thank you. I think we would have approved of the days festivities.

The next day will reveal all. But then it just runs on and on and on ...

[mrsstitch]

What a trip so far! Great places, photos and dining. Today’s looked divine-a perfect afternoon and a strong cocktail is deserved on your birthday! Enjoying every minute so far, thank you for posting.

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by mrsstitch

What a trip so far! Great places, photos and dining. Today’s looked divine-a perfect afternoon and a strong cocktail is deserved on your birthday! Enjoying every minute so far, thank you for posting.

See more...

Thank you - it was a lovely day , sunshine, great food and drinks and just really mellow. Thanks for reading along x

[Fuellady]

What a lovely way to remember your Dad, in one of his favourite places.

Fabulous birthday celebrations... your long lunch sounds fab - so relaxing with the music in the background. Oh, I do hope you get your artwork home ok.