NOLA

Y'all may not know but that's the common abbreviation for New Orleans, LA. I went with my friends, Vicki, Allison & Wendy to spend the day in NOLA Saturday. We were on a self guided "Taste of New Orleans" as we called it. We just wanted to go around to some of the places that are well known for certain foods & try them. Allison did this with her aunts & sisters & since they had so much fun we decided to do it.  I'll divide this up into 2 post because there are so many pictures! Wendy & I had to grab a drink for the road.  Starbucks was perfect.

Caramel Light Frappuccino! Then we hit the road. Our first stop was Central Grocery "Home of the original Muffuletta! This place is a little grocery store that has a counter that sells muffuletta's with a couple of counters in the back of the store to sit & eat. We got there around 11:15 so there was no line & we were able to snag 4 stools.

We only got a half & we split it 4 ways. We had a lot of tasting to do.

It was DELICIOUS!!! My only real issue here was the fact that you could buy bottled Barq's Root Beer or there was a Coke machine. I don't drink out of cans or bottles. I need (yes need) a cup with ice & a straw then I'm happy to pour my drink from the can over the ice. I ended up with a Dr. Pepper & a straw. Not ideal but better than drinking directly from the can.

Wendy & Vicki. Vicki was the muffuletta slicer.

All of those people were in line outside when we left. Next up was Johnny's Po-boys.

At this stop we were trying their shrimp po-boy & their roast beef po-boy.

This is a deli/restaurant. There was a line here but we only had to wait about 10 minutes.

We were hoping to only buy half of each po-boy but they don't sell half's at Johnny's. I don't normally eat roast beef po-boys. Not that I don't like them, I just never eat them. This one was really good but it had gravy & that makes the bread get soggy fast & I don't like soggy bread. The shrimp po-boy was good but not as good as the "best shrimp po-boy ever" at Roberto's which is just a few miles away from my house!

Vicki & Allison ready for a taste.

Me & Wendy. Incidentally, do you see that door behind Wendy? That's the bathroom. The only problem with eating & drinking around the city is that at some point you'll need a potty. This is New Orleans, you know they're not known for their cleanliness. This bathroom wasn't awful, but I've certainly seen better.

When we left the line was out the door. How lovely for those people to have to stand in line for lunch alongside the trash cans. The next stop was dessert.

We tasted pralines & they were really good.

See that layer of orangey stuff? Well, the little pink slab that's next to it is Wedding Cake Fudge. O.M.G. Sooo good!!! It tasted like butter cream icing. I loved it!

I thought these were adorable. We bought a few things to nibble on later. We decided it was time for a drink. We went to The Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleone.

 It's so pretty! I loved the outside of the building.

I had a pomegranate martini & those are some "fun snacks" as our waitress called them. It was party mix which I love! I also had a little treat with my martini.

We bought a couple at Southern Candymakers. It totally puts Reeses to shame.

Look at the bar behind Vicki & Wendy. It looks like a carousel & the when you're sitting at the bar it moves in a circle just like one! BTW, the potty here was great!

Toodles!