Look at this:
This was my dinner my first night in New Orleans. It's a muffaletta from Cochon Butcher, a sandwich shop close to my hotel that specializes in - yes, you guessed it - meats. You don't get many vegetables in New Orleans. And in the few convenience stores that I went into (are there even any actual grocery stores in the city? I found none, but then again, I was confined to a limited radius.) I saw no vegetables and only the sickliest looking fruits I have seen in quite some time. My meals consisted of meat, fried stuff, carbohydrates, fat, and sugar. Probably some salt, too. Now I know why Louisiana is the eighth most obese state in the nation, but look at how much I care about that as I get ready to eat my Johnny's Po'Boys lunch.
But, in addition to learning that there is a limit to how much meat, fried or otherwise, that I can consume in a 72 hour period, I also learned during my time in New Orleans that I liked it there. I liked it there quite a lot. And so did Doug. Bourbon Street was a people-watching dream,
and seeing the Mississippi River for the first time was pretty exciting, too.
I spent a cool (literally, thank goodness - the heat index during our stay was 100+) couple of hours inside the National World War II Museum, taking a look at the really moving artifacts of the war, such as this diary written on D-Day by an American soldier involved in the beach invasions,
and Doug spent some of his time exploring the scenery New Orleans is known for, like the Saint Louis Cemetery 
and the sculpture garden 
and, unfortunately, the 9th Ward, which is still much like it was directly after Hurricane Katrina. 
(I cannot help but wonder if the BP oil spill will create more devastation for the area than Katrina has, and after spending only three and a half days there I cannot wish any harder for some sort of miraculous solution to the problems caused by this spill; even though New Orleans is clearly a resilient city, it deserves so much more than being hit by these catastrophic events.)So. Food and sites. What else to New Orleans? Music,
stray cats, 
new friends, 
and, of course, the SLA pre-conference sessions.
Thank you, SLA, for bringing us to New Orleans this year. New Orleans gave me and Doug a lot to think about, a lot of reading material, and a lot of appreciation for life. Naturally, in true Doug-and-Rosanne fashion, we're plotting our return (semi-permanent maybe? The idea did cross our minds...) with the hopes of seeing more of what you have to offer, but Doug requests a visit when it's a little cooler. But I don't, actually. Because heat and humidity seem to me to be just as synonymous with NOLA as Mardi Gras beads and jazz, so maybe the summer's the best time to be there after all. Sign me up to go back as soon as possible, please, because my brow was definitely less furrowed while I was there (maybe that's why it's called the Big Easy?).
1 comment:
That muffaletta looks divine. YUM. Did you try a Hurricane adult beverage while you were there? If not, you're much smarter than I am.
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