Best Part of New Orleans: The Food

Like I said, the New Orleans trip last week was a bit of a disaster at times. Therefore, this first beer of the trip may or may not have been photographed at the Kansas City airport. And it may or may not have been chugged before the flight when the kind American Airlines staff (the only nice AA employees we met all day) informed us that we couldn't take them on the plane. So it goes.

Once in New Orleans, we needed food and coffee. This spinach croissant wasn't really bigger than Kelly's head, but it was delicious. I don't know if Kelly's head is delicious. I also want to go back to NOLA just for this coffee someday.

The next day for lunch, I found vegetarian jambalaya in the French Market district! I will very soon be attempting to make this at home and then sharing the recipe with you all. So delicious.

Lunch may or may not have been followed up with the best pina colada the world has ever known. Must attempt to replicate with what I saw go in it: pineapple chunks, ice, vanilla ice cream, coconut milk and white rum.

Except I surely didn't drink anything with rum in it at lunchtime. Please forget I said that. But make one of these yourself and drink it at a respectable hour.

Likewise, this Louisiana Lemonade surely does not have white rum in it.

Meals were eaten exclusively out and at places with vegetarian options. I don't remember the name of this location, but I love the old cast-iron pans everywhere.

New Orleans is frickin' hot this time of year. Probably you knew this. I didn't fully comprehend. I "had" to buy this cute little tank dress so as not to overheat and die.

The next day's lunch: beignets and coffee. Beignets are like donuts, but to me seemed like essentially square funnel cakes overloaded with powdered sugar.

Cafe au lait (coffee, chicory and hot milk) to go with.

I tried to use as much powdered sugar as I could, but what's left looks like a scene from Scarface or some other movie I'll pretend I've actually seen.

Cafe du Monde was delightful.

Post-conference snack of fried macaroni and cheese and a local beer, split between two people. For the record, this is the only alcohol I drank on what was supposed to be a crazy night of New Orleans partying. I'm a crazy girl...

I'd read about this place, Eat, that serves a blue cheese and fig torte. I must have misunderstood what a torte was because I expected it to be kinda quiche-like. Nope. It's a huge wedge of blue cheese, pecans, figs and a balsamic glaze. For better or worse, this picture is quirkily out of scale and masks the magnitude of the giant hunk of cheese. I seem like less of a cheese-eating piglet as a result. Whew!

I did not eat the entire thing. There was... one bite left...

And this, my friends, is part of why I went to derby practice the evening I got back into town despite being ridiculously tired. Good thing we walked all over the city because I think I ate my weight in cajun food and cheeses.