Nola food!

[oyceter]

Me and a few coworkers went to a restaurant today called Nola's for dinner. I feel sort of guilty for not being able to donate large sums of money for the Hurricane Katrina thing, but I ordered a Hurricane at the restaurant, and they are donating $3 for every Hurricane sold there for the relief efforts.

And there was good calamari and frites with sweet potato (gaaaaah I love sweet potato fries. Whoever invented them rocks). There was also crawfish and alligator dumplings (very good). Seriously! How could I not get something with crawfish and alligator? Although I admit, I was highly tempted by the gumbo and the crab cakes and about half a dozen other items, but I figured I wasn't going to be able to get crawfish and alligator dumplings anytime in the near future. Not that I eat crab cakes every day either, but potentially I could, were it not for that pesky budget thing.

Alas, I couldn't taste the alligator and the crawfish had a texture somewhat like crab cakes, but it was really good.

Then I got beignets for the first time ever! I am so, so full. I ate all three beignets. They were doughy and crispy, with tons of powdered sugar and chocolate sauce. I think my new motto shall be: You can never go wrong with fried dough! Witness: beignets, doughnuts (admittedly, I don't actually like doughnuts, but I keep trying them in hopes that I'll change my mind. I have a rather flat learning curve sometimes), Indian fry bread, funnel cake, and assorted other goodies. Mmmmmmm.

I wish I had had the chance to go to New Orleans before to have beignets and gumbo and jambalaya and Cajun. But I haven't given up hope that I'll still have the chance to sit on a street corner there and munch on beignets and wonder that it was flooded a decade ago or somesuch. (ehhh, I hope that didn't sound too horribly cold... I know it will take much, much work and money and sweat to rebuild, but one must hope)

Comments

[chi-zu.livejournal.com]

Mmmm......we had a restaurant here that served food like that but it just closed! I am very sad.

I've been meaning to say hi and sorry about your Grandmother. Also that I hope you feel less down now and that your yarn purchases are exciting. I'm not sure why I didn't before, I've just been feeling quiet so to speak.

[oyceter]

Hi back! I do indeed feel less down now, thankfully. And I've been knitting a bit more, since I brought some over to Ohio for the funeral. I have started a purple alpaca scarf (it's the pink fuzzy mock cable one from SnB Nation) and the I Do shrug from Knitty.

And duuuude. I still want more yarn. This cannot be good for me.

[chi-zu.livejournal.com]

It is totally ok--for you. Not so much your wallet.

I am eagerly anticipating the day I can knit again. If anything will motivate me to get to the 6:00 am pilates class at the Y, that would be it.

Have you been to Artfibers in SF? You must go, it is blissful. I went with my mom and aunt when I was home and it was just...gah!

[oyceter]

Yeah, my wallet is not so happy ;). Thankfully, I had the gift certificate for the sale!

I've never been to Artfibers? Oh, you are cruel and tempt me ;). Just... gaaaaaah. Total kid in the candy store feeling. All the colors! All the possibilities!

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Mmm, crawfish. Fresh-caught and steamed and dipped in melted butter. Nostalgia.

[oyceter]

You've had fresh crawfish? *jealous jealous jealous*

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Our summer student-teaching assignments were all at, well, a four-days-a-week summer school; some students were there because they (or their parents) wanted More Learning; others were there for remedial work. Interesting mix (since STEP was all about heterogeneous learning, it was a good environment for that). Anyway, the school had the luxury of a sort of mini-nature preserve--a pond, a lot of native flora, and maybe some of the fauna--for science stuff. The science class did a basic experiment (these were middle schoolers) gathering data on whether crawfish liked bacon or [something else] better as bait. At the end, they caught a bunch and steamed them that day and served 'em. Since we were next door and there were plenty, we got some too! Absolutely delicious. I was under the definite impression that the crawfish population was more than healthy.

[oyceter]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hungry. And I just had lunch too!