New Orleans Day 3

Saturday, January 10 was Cody's birthday! We celebrated by sleeping in late (again!!) and going out for breakfast to Cafe Du Monde. By the time we got there it was around 10 am, and the line was SO long. It was insane. Luckily, we knew that you don't have to wait in line because that line is only to get a table (I don't think most of the people in line knew that…). We cut through and got in the much, MUCH smaller line that was in the back of the cafe. We were probably 6 in line, as opposed to 200th! We grabbed our beignets and some hot chocolate and made our way to Jackson Square to eat on the steps.

A lot of people have been asking us to rate Cafe Du Monde against Cafe Beignet. I know that everyone LOVES Cafe Du Monde, and they were super yummy, but they weren't as big and fluffy as the ones from Cafe Beignet - 2 of mine were SUPER crispy and overdone, so I was kind of sad about that. However, there was more powdered sugar than Cafe Beignet (a big plus) AND the order came with 4 instead of 3 (for both me and Cody..maybe that's normal? it says you get 3 but they throw in an extra every time?), so we were both happy about that. I couldn't eat all of mine, but Cody finished it off for me and we were both happy and full.

While we were sitting on the steps, this car pulled over in front of us and these three guys with a bunch of tv camera equipment got out. They started putting it all right next to us and when they got unloaded, sat down. I started talking to the guy sitting next to me and asked him what they were working on. He said they were filming a Canadian children's cooking show and there are two kids getting the week of their life in New Orleans working with a bunch of chefs. We asked him about other things he's done, and he told us a few (all international so we didn't recognize anything); he said he had flown straight from a project in Canada to a project in Ireland to this project in NOLA. I asked if he had a family and he said no, only a fish. Which may or may not still be alive. 

So. If anyone lives in Canada and sees a children's cooking show filmed in New Orleans, think of us.

After our breakfast we went to check out the French Market. It was near Jackson Square and was basically a farmers market, shops and a flea market all rolled into one. Farmers markets and flea markets are on my Top 10 Favorite Things list, so we were excited to go check it out. 

I also bought a real, bona fide mardi gras mask there!

We walked around the markets, finding some junk stores that were amazing and made me want to move there just to shop at them.

We went to St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. It is the oldest cemetery in New Orleans and hosts some famous dead people such as Marie Laveau, Delphine LaLaurie (awful woman) and someday, Nicolas Cage. Apparently he paid whoever is in charge to move historical plots OUT of the cemetery to move his giant, gaudy pyramid in. Personally I think it's a nod to National Treasure, but that's just me. Basically everyone in NOLA hates Nicolas Cage and although the government has taken his homes away from him (in NOLA), they can't take his burial plot. And everyone wishes they could.

The offending tomb

After we walked around the cemetery, we went back to the hotel to relax before our ghost tour that night. We met our tour guide outside the St. Louis Cathedral and toured all the French Quarter learning about the spirits that haunt the place.

The back of the Cathedral at night

Me as a ghost

From Jackson Square looking on

 She told us about a hotel that is full of little boy spirits that watch Cartoon Network in people's rooms at night, a theater with spirits that you can hear crying or singing, the most haunted home in NOLA (which was owned by Delphine LaLaurie- who made it the most haunted home by all her horrible deeds - and later Nicolas Cage) and more. It was really interesting! Cody thought it was kind of boring, but I love a good ghost story so I loved it. 

LaLaurie Home - you should look her up. Or don't. She was seriously awful.

Close up of the St. Louis Cathedral - there are a even a few ghosts haunting this place!

After our tour we went to celebrate Cody's birthday with a fancy dinner! We went to K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen. It was this cute, little restaurant that you could watch the chefs while they worked. Well, we could at least because we were seated by them. 

We got to talk about the tour and I told Cody some ghost stories from when I was little and how freaked out they made me (and maybe still do? thanks a lot, mom!). They brought us the most amazing bread basket full of different rolls and we ordered. Cody got the Blackened Louisiana Drum ("Fresh Drum Fish from Louisiana Waters Seasoned and Blackened in a Cast Iron Skillet and Served with Drawn Butter, Potatoes and Veggies) (someone needs to edit their menu and tell them every other word doesn't need to be capitalized). I was deciding between Duck and Shrimp Dulac (Julienned Duck Breast & Shrimp in a Sauce of Leeks, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Shiitake & Oyster Mushrooms and Duck Glaze and Served with Pasta) and Blackened Twin Beef Tenders with Debris ("Twin Beef Tenders Seasoned and Blackened in a Cast Iron Skillet and Served with Debris Sauce, Potatoes and Veggies). The waiter said absolutely the beef tenders. And I know we all know this already, but it was amazing. I was literally almost in tears eating my dinner it was so good. Cody loved his food as well, but I don't think he was in tears about it :) 

My leftovers. Which you can absolutely bet I asked to take home (with extra bread of course) and I ate it in the airport right in front of 50 people. No shame. 

I told our waiter it was Cody's birthday. I didn't expect anything from it since it was a nicer place, but he said we could either get free drinks or a free dessert. That was a pretty easy (and obvious) choice. Cody picked Chocolate Hill (Homemade, Rich Chocolate Bundt Cake with a Chocolate Ganache Underneath and White and Dark Chocolate Drizzled on Top) (again with the capitalization)

And it was really, really yummy...

After dinner we went back to the hotel to grab my Mardi Gras mask (when else will I ever get to wear it??) and headed out to Bourbon Street to collect some souvenirs for our kids. I'm pretty sure I may be the only person in the history of the world that's ever uttered that sentence. Again, Bourbon Street is disgusting - strip clubs and bars along the whole thing, but luckily it was freezing so there weren't too many actual naked people. We did see one however - I wanted to give her a lesson on why you should respect yourself and not to let people make you feel like you're just a body and nothing more…but I didn't. Because I was running away. 

Also, because it was so cold, most people were just throwing beads and not expecting "anything" from it. (Except for one like 60 year old man that wanted everyone to flash him. He was nasty) We had 3-4 people throw us (me) beads and I think my mask helped! One girl saw me and said, "Ooh I like her!!" and threw me some giant green beads. I was so excited! 

We finally got back to our hotel around 12:30 or 1 in the morning. I think it was a pretty great day and a good birthday!! (Oh, I also surprised Cody with a go pro that morning! He's been loving using it on his airplane and flying it around the neighborhood)