JAZZFEST: New Orleans

It’s been about 3 weeks since I went to New Orleans so I guess it’s about time to post an update?!

One of my good friends that I’ve known since we were 5 decided it would be a fun birthday trip to go down to New Orleans for Jazzfest, which just so happened to coincide with her birthday. Count. Me. In. She extended the invite to our “group” from high school for the most part, but it ended up just being four of us, which was fine with me. I thought it was a great group. We woke up SUPER early on a Friday morning, drove down and partied until Sunday morning when we had to come back to our real lives. Ugh. Talk about depressing! I’m already trying to plan another trip back down there, I forgot how much I love love love NOLA. Granted the last time I was there was my freshman year of college and it was for a fraternity formal, so it’s not like we really did much besides drink in the hotel and go to the formal. But yes, definitely want to go back. And definitely recommend to anyone who is looking for a fun trip. Instead of giving you a play by play, I thought I would just let the pictures speak for themselves 🙂 Enjoy!

Can’t go to Louisiana without partaking in some Abita goodness…

Gettin’ ready to see Zac Brown Band! (And yes, I did already see him this year. Step off!)

The Crew!

Waiting to have what would be the best brunch of MY LIFE (see next picture)…

Can I just tell you guys about this meal… if you are ever in New Orleans, please go eat at Slim Goodie’s! This was where we had brunch on Saturday morning. I ordered what is called “Jewish Coonass.” Before you get all offended, Jewish Coonass is used to describe the act of eating the ass out of coons, which apparently is what Jewish people in NOLA used to do back in the day? At least, that’s how the server girl described it to me… so obviously I had to try it. I mean, come on… for the name alone. You probably can’t tell from the picture, BUT Jewish Coonass is composed of: two latkes (potato pancakes), spinach, scrambled eggs and crawfish etouffee. Get. In. My. Stomach. It was SO SO good. I cleaned my plate.

Who would have guessed this post would pretty much end up being about food? This was something I procured at the actual festival, and it was recommended to me by someone who lives in LR that lived in New Orleans before. Actually, I was told I HAVE to have this – crawfish beignets. From what I can tell, it’s a crawfish mixture, rolled in beignet dough, deep fried and covered with that mysterious sauce I can’t seem to figure out what it was. I ate them so fast, I’m surprised there was time to take a picture. Actually I inhaled them. Who am I kidding?! So good. Once again, please go there. And find this little treasure.

Can you go to New Orleans without making the obligatory stop at Cafe du Monde? No, I don’t think so. Luckily we hit it up at a time when we were able to get  a table relatively quickly (i.e. 11:00 at night). The beignets did not disappoint. Neither did the cafe au lait. It’s just so fun to hit that up and see all the people and realize that people have been eating beignets at this exact place for years and years. So great.

In case you’ve never had the privilege to see a beignet in real life… just use this as a teaser. Go there. Now.

Probably my favorite part of the trip was discovering Abita Strawberry beer. We ran into one of my friend’s friends who ended up hanging out with us for the rest of the evening and he was a blast! Very typical New Orleanite, and I don’t mean that offensively. He led us to this convenience store place that had “the cheapest beer you’ll find.” It still trips me out that you can walk around town carrying an open container and no one bats an eye. So we grabbed a couple Abita Strawberries and something else for ‘manda and trekked it to Mimi’s, where you went upstairs in this bar to a dark crowded room where this chick was (literally) spinning 60s and 70s funk music. It was awesome. SO out of my comfort zone – dancing to music I wasn’t familiar with in a crowded room with a bunch of strangers. But it was great, totally made the weekend. Needless to say, we found a place in Metarie, Louisiana to purchase more Strawberry Abita and I’m just not sure it will make it through the summer so I’m already figuring out a plan to procure so more before I run out. Arkansas really needs to jump on this Abita Strawberry bandwagon. I’m telling ya!

Overall, it was a great trip with great friends. I’m really glad I was able to go and I can’t wait for our next trip… whenever that may be. 🙂