Big Time in the Big Easy

So Em left off after Jackson, MS and we started the journey to New Orleans aka the Big Easy.  We stayed in the French Quarter about three blocks from Bourbon Street.  If you haven't been to New Orleans, it's kind of gross, but really fun.  Bourbon Street is riddled with tourists, bars, and strippers.

Granted, we walked down the street while it was still light out, so it probably wasn't the best time to see it for the first time.  We walked around the French Quarter to look for a place to eat and finally stumbled upon Sylvain.  It was this little restaurant and bar on Chartres Street that had this super hip little menu with fancy cocktails and yummy food.  We walked inside and sat at the bar to eat.  That was where we met Darren the bartender who made Em a ginger, lemon, and vodka cocktail and me a champagne cocktail with lavender flavor and a sugar cube.  Em got a super delicious pulled pork sandwich for dinner and I got a fried chicken sandwich with house made pickles.  While we were devouring our dinners, Darren started making this drink called the Sazerac.  The history behind the drink is that it was first created as a medicine and popularized as a cocktail.  It's mostly rye whiskey with simple syrup and bitters and other flavoring and it is amazing.  Funny story, I misheard Darren when he told me the name of the Sazerac and heard "Saddlerack" which is what I was calling it for like an hour until I saw the bottle and read the actual name.  I have my moments.  My moment ended up inspiring Darren to create a drink, which he decided to name the Saddlerack.  Em and I were honored.  But before he made up our original cocktail, I had a Vieux Carre, which is another whiskey drink and it is also delicious.  I want to say that I am proud of myself for knockin' back whiskey cocktails.  I felt badass.

 The Sazerac

Darren

So after we consumed all of the cocktails (and Darren and I finished chatting about Band of Horses for days) Em and I tried to make our way down to Frenchmen Street.  This is the place where you go to hear jazz in New Orleans.  It's a little street full of bars with live music blaring from every corner.  We didn't quite make it there the first night, but we did find a jazz band.  The music was awesome, but we were beat and trekked back to the hotel where we slept in :)

Like for hours.  We didn't really make it out of the hotel until 2 in the afternoon, but the timing was sort of serendipitous.  We walked around and then got coffee and beignets that are heaven in your mouth, swear to God at the famous Cafe du Monde.  So we are just eating our beignets, minding our own business, when Aziz Ansari walks right by our table.  Emily and I mildly freak out and notice that nobody else is freaking out like we are.  THEN this tall guy and this other guy with glasses walk by and I look up to see Paul Rudd (with the glasses) and Jason Segel (tall guy, shocking right?).  Turns out they were all on location for a film called The End of the World and not only are those guys in it, but Seth Rogen, Emma Watson, James Franco, and a bunch of other cool people are in it.  Crazy.  Town.

So then we walked around and looked at more shops until we got hungry again.  We got a New Orleans sampler with red beans and rice, gumbo, and jambalaya as we listened to a live band.  The food was good, but it always tastes better with live music.  Then we got rained out so we rushed back to the hotel to dry off, blog, and watch Fried Green Tomatoes before our future stop at the Whistle Stop Cafe (in Juliette, Georgia).

Then we headed out into the night to see live jazz on Frenchmen Street.  We stopped in one place and had tamales for dinner and met this group of people from Boston.  They were all in town working on a house for Habitat for Humanity, which is awesome.  They kept handing us shots and beers and we hung out with them and bar hopped.  Long story short, I got shwasted and puked, which I am very upset about seeing as I has never puked before that night.

The next day was misery.  It was by the mercy of the gods that our only stop was Meridian, Mississippi where I could crawl under the covers and sleep away the worst hangover of my life (so far).  Well, and we did quickly check out the Dentzel Carousel, which I did manage to go around on once.  I convinced Emily that we should skip the Jimmie Rodgers Museum in favor of spending extra time safely tucked away in bed.

-KR