after a nice visit with my sister's family and the camper made right we headed out to ownings mills to visit with my best friends tim and jenne and our god daughters charlette and alex. we had a gorgeous fish tacos with home made tortillas prepared gracefully by chef tim. the next day we had a baby dance party
we drove from austin to las cruces new mexico and met up with my parents at the beautiful home of family friends, javier and ophelia. the drive was long, 10+ hours, but the scenic views were spectacular... we are really seeing something different now. along this drive you skirt the border of mexico and it got a bit exciting. on one occasion we were prompted to pull over by some random pick-up truck, we believed it to be a robbery attempt. as well we witnessed a border patrol high speed chase!
once in las cruces we had a couple days of quality food and family time. ophelia is a master of mexican cuisine and she showed us much love, in return i made them dinner to return the favor. we played some highly competitive dominos and we did some sightseeing; visiting my parents old home and the giant roadrunner built from recycled materials.
it was a blessing to see you mom and simp! thank you javier and ophelia for the wonderful hospitality.
drove through 4 states today into the devilish arm's of the big easy. picked up stephanie from the louis armstrong international airport and then the debauchery began.
thanksgiving we spent at a wonderful champagne brunch at restaurant 5 fifty 5 in the marriott hotel on canal streat, boasting a beautiful spread with everything from andouille corn stuffing, brussells sprouts with bacon, to a boat load of fresh oysters, roast duck, pork, prime rib, smothered chicken, of course turkey and bottomless flutes of champagne. we gorged ourselves like royalty, setting the tone for the following several days of equally extravagant food and drink. needless to say... it was a delightful holiday spend with a good friend.
i have to admit the last several days have been a bit of a blur, usually i post a handful of pictures, but somehow i captured beau coup evidence of the cajun conundrum. i am compiling a audio/video montage to showcase our drunken splendor: including thanksgiving, hurricanes, the house of blues, coyote ugly, metallic street performers, dancing in jackson square and the annual market jazz tribute to tuba fats.
quite frankly we did not have the best meals in the keys. maybe it was luck, maybe it was because food took second fiddle to the fluid libations. couple things to remember.... 2 for 1 drinks special really means the alcohol of one drink split into two cups. also if there are people outside promoting a restaurant, that is because there food is not good enough to promote itself.
we stumbled(literally stumbled) upon a good food find. noone pounding the sidewalk in front of the thai cuisine and sushi bar. we had a delightful sashimi app with a wasabi key lime sauce. i had the crispy duck, a little over cooked... but still good. kristen had the thai style garlic black pepper frogs legs that were to die for.
inspired by our snorkel trip, while in key largo i made some local grilled fish, cast-iron hash browns and duet of haricot vert.
although northeast florida boasts some of the atlantic's best surfing... it has not proven so for me. 2 days in flagler and 2 days in st. augustine have been completely blown out. i am getting dry and a lil' pissy. we are moving on to cocoa beach, cross your fingers, swellinfo is showing some love.
while in charleston we had the pleasure to take the "savor the flavors of charleson" culinary tour, guided by one miss cathy. we are not usually the tour type of people, but cathy's take on charleston's food history was fun and informative. we learned about the early influences of charleston's cuisine and got to sample some foods uniquely charleston; like stone ground grits, sweet potato cake, collard greens, corn bread and pulled pork... can you say yum. kristen's excited at the the spice and tea exchange she found a greek seasoning mix that makes any ordinary lettuce instant greek salad, yay for feta powder and lemon zest. thanks again cathy for the tasty afternoon!
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