Mardi Gras Time!

[VeraBlue]

I'm a French Quarter addict, I admit it. I'm strung out on that city and I'm always looking for my next fix. Lou and I visit once a year and currently we don't have a trip in the works. I'm hurtin' big time. We may not make it till next christmas, for chrissake!
In the mean time, I'll have to satisfy my jones with upcoming Mardi Gras plans for the Quarter of the North - Little Ferry, NJ.:bounce: My own tree is festooned with all the beads we've accumulated during previous trips. I'll decorate the front of the house as though I owned a balcony on Royal Street. I'll try to catch some of the parades on the parade cams and I'll make a King Cake.

King cake is really nothing more than a coffee cake. It's a yeast dough, rolled out and filled with butter, nuts, cinnamon and sugar. Roll it up, make it into a a ring, and then bake it. The tradition is to hide a tiny toy baby or dubloon into the cake before you bake it. When it done, ice it with a 10x and milk glaze, then sprinkle sections with yellow, purple and green sugar. Serve slices, waiting for someone to get the baby. Whoever gets the baby gets to be king for the year, but also has to host the first mardi gras party next year.

Lou and I are going to a friend's home for dinner tonight. He got the baby last year; and he's keeping with tradition.

Are there any other Mardi Gras or New Orleans Junkies here with me??

[jim_slagle]

We always enjoy New Orleans. I had business trips there several times a year. My wife is a teacher and would go with me during the summers.

I've been there for Mardi Gras and we've been to Mobile Alabama for Mardi Gras too.

Jim

[VeraBlue]

I'm going to have to make some Jambalaya this weekend.

We're going to have "paul's fantasy' for the weekend before Fat Tuesday. It's a recipe from a little dive called Ugelsich's just outside the quarter.

I wish I worked for a company that had conferences in the quarter.

[Adillo303]

It has been a while since I went to NO. If I had free choice, I would live in Louisiana. Probably not NO, most likely Baton Rouge. Last time I was there kind of a small town big town kind of place with easy access (about an hour or so) to NO.

I never got to see Mardi Gras, alswys the day before or after. I would have liked to see it, I am fairly sure that since the flood, it is not the same.

AC

[homecook]

I love New Orleans!! Dh used to go for conventions (he worked in the food service ind.) and I ALWAYS went with him. If nothing else, the food is to die for!! I would have loved to go during Mardi Gras. I'll live vicariously through you! lol

Barb

[Miniman]

Hi Vera

I wondered where you were.

Mardi Gras is something that has appealed to me, unfortunately the trip is not feasible at present.

[simplicity]

I love New Orleans. It's like a trip to another planet, yet close enough for me to fly there easily for a weekend now and then. It's a unique city. Sometimes when I got burned out I'd go over by myself and stay in this old home in the Quarter. It was owned by a woman who rented out a spare rooms, A little run-down, it matched the character of the City.

Sorry you're missing the big party this year. We have a smaller celebration in Galveston. They're still cleaning up after Hurricane Ike so I'm thinking of avoiding that one as well. The King Cake bakers are busy here and the decorations are up.

Hoping you make it next year.

[jim_slagle]

I like Louisiana too.

I enjoy NO but I think I would like Lafayette. Paul Prudhomes Mama has a restaurant there just a little north of town on I49.

[Constance]

I've never been to Mardi Gras, although I lived close to New Orleans for a couple of years...one year in Plattenville (down the road from Donaldsonville) and another year in Baton Rouge. When I turned 21, Fat Tuesday and my birthday were the same day, but no one would take me. :sad:

[VeraBlue]

We only went to Mardi Gras once. It was about 18 months after Katrina. It was amazing!!! I love the costumes. We discovered that if you watch a parade at the end of the route, you get the most throws.

I do have a prized, golden Zulu coconut, though....

[BamsBBQ]

I've never been to Mardi Gras, although I lived close to New Orleans for a couple of years...one year in Plattenville (down the road from Donaldsonville) and another year in Baton Rouge. When I turned 21, Fat Tuesday and my birthday were the same day, but no one would take me. :sad:

i am in the same boat

i use to live in Slidell, 31 miles away and never managed to go to Mardi Gras...lol

[buzzard767]

Back when I was flying domestic routes, my wife (she was a flight attendant) and I often bid trips together with NO layovers. The L/O hotel was the Royal Sonesta on Bourbon St., right in the heart of all the fun. The reason we bid NO was THE FOOD. :thumb: I don't think I ever went to a restaurant I didn't like.

A college friend of mine has a townhouse in the garden district a block from Commander's Palace restaurant on Washington St. Talk about food. Commander's has to be one of the world's greatest eateries. She is having mutual friend guests next week and I'll be giving them all a call out of sheer jealousy. :)

I'll be making some creole something or other with all the fresh seafood we have around this place.

[VeraBlue]

i am in the same boat

i use to live in Slidell, 31 miles away and never managed to go to Mardi Gras...lol

Bad Bam, bad bad Bam!:twak:

[VeraBlue]

Hey Buzz, the first hotel Lou and I stayed at in NOLA was the Royal Sonesta! What a beautiful place. We've done Commander's Palace twice, once for lunch and once for dinner.
I wish I was born into the Brennan family. I think even their bastard, red headed step children have restaurants!

[PieSusan]

I have celebrated locally and have received beads but not for showing off my, er, "assets" erm....you know what I mean! lol

[BamsBBQ]

i was in sales down there... we use to sell cases and cases of novelites and beads.... i didnt have to show my assets either..lmao:yum:

I have celebrated locally and have received beads but not for showing off my, er, "assets" erm....you know what I mean! lol

[joec]

I've been to several Mardi Gras over the years. Even went to New Orleans as a guest of a couple of the Miami Dolphins players for their first trip to the supper bowl against Dallas back in the day. They lost the game but came back the next 2 years and won.

They also have a Mardi Gras type event every year in Key West Florida called Fantasy Fest from the end of October to around the first of November. It is something most people won't forget really.

[buzzard767]

Hey Buzz, the first hotel Lou and I stayed at in NOLA was the Royal Sonesta! What a beautiful place. We've done Commander's Palace twice, once for lunch and once for dinner.
I wish I was born into the Brennan family. I think even their bastard, red headed step children have restaurants!

Brennan's for breakfast. Yeah. Another nice place.

After reading about your parents' unfortunate incident I was reminded of something. One of my copilots on a NO trip had a brother who was an ER physician there. We went out for beers with him and his stories about the numbers of gun shot and knife wounds he dealt with were frightening. Lots of crime down there. One morning I was on the street about a block East of the Cafe du Monde. There was a shop across the street that had two large urns on either side of the door. As I stood there two guys walked up and each one grabbed an urn (they were about four feet tall). and calmly walked off in different directions. The owner came out and was furious of course. He chased one of the robbers down and was able to retrieve his urn but the other guy got away. No arrest was made. Cripes.

[VeraBlue]

Breakfast at Brennan's is a three course meal....I love a place that serves you a cocktail, a real cocktail for breakfast and ends the meal with an artery clogging dessert...all before 11am.

[Fisher's Mom]

Oh yea, I love NO and I love Mardi Gras and I love Brennan's. Sadly, the Brennan's I went to the most was in Houston and it burned to the ground the night Hurricane Ike hit. And the only thing I ever had there was breakfast!!! It was to die for! I always had a mimosa with mine.

I've only gone to Mardi Gras once but it was fabulous. I've been several other times because there is an annual fencing tournament there and my sons used to fence. I made damn sure to do my motherly duty and chaperone all those young, impressionable fencers. :biggrin: The venue was very near the French Quarter so we'd spend all night there! Everyone fenced for shit on Sunday, of course.

[PanchoHambre]

Nola was a 6hr drive from Houston so we went a few times. Enjoyed the city but MardiGras was sort or a disaster... loved the parades but one of my buddies got out of control... what a PITA I would have left him in a ditch if he wasn't the one who had the hook up for a place to stay.... long story but he forgot everything and had no idea why everyone was so mad at him for months.

I like it better there not during mardi gras when it's a bit lower key... Have not been since katrina though... my brother travlels through and stays in Nola a fairly often... I always worry about him there he is such a moron.

[Fisher's Mom]

Nola was a 6hr drive from Houston so we went a few times. Enjoyed the city but MardiGras was sort or a disaster... loved the parades but one of my buddies got out of control... what a PITA I would have left him in a ditch if he wasn't the one who had the hook up for a place to stay.... long story but he forgot everything and had no idea why everyone was so mad at him for months.

I like it better there not during mardi gras when it's a bit lower key... Have not been since katrina though... my brother travlels through and stays in Nola a fairly often... I always worry about him there he is such a moron.LOL! I think everyone who goes to Mardi Gras has at least one buddy they wish they could ditch!

[simplicity]

Oh yea, I love NO and I love Mardi Gras and I love Brennan's. Sadly, the Brennan's I went to the most was in Houston and it burned to the ground the night Hurricane Ike hit. And the only thing I ever had there was breakfast!!! It was to die for! I always had a mimosa with mine.

.
It was one of my favorite restaurants too - somehow connected with Commander's Palace in New Orleans. Emeril once worked there as an assistant chef. I didn't pay much attention to the history of the place but the food and atmosphere were special.

[Fisher's Mom]

It was one of my favorite restaurants too - somehow connected with Commander's Palace in New Orleans. Emeril once worked there as an assistant chef. I didn't pay much attention to the history of the place but the food and atmosphere were special.Yes, I think Commander's Palace is also owned by the Brennan family. The food was soooo good at the Houston Brennan's - I'm glad you got to go before it burned. It's my understanding they will not be rebuilding.:sad: If you hear anything different, will you let me know? Heck, I'll take you to breakfast there!

[PanchoHambre]

LOL! I think everyone who goes to Mardi Gras has at least one buddy they wish they could ditch!

this kid took the cake.... I wish I had pic/video... alot of other revelers do he made quite an attraction out of him self... got "Saved" at some point in the evening too... the trolley ride back to the apt was NOT pretty... the sorority grils in front of him got the worst of it.. It would have made a great anti-drug commercial though!

[BamsBBQ]

I like it better there not during mardi gras when it's a bit lower key... Have not been since katrina though... my brother travlels through and stays in Nola a fairly often... I always worry about him there he is such a moron.

i like it alot better when it is not so busy... love the food and people there... nothing like a big shrimp po' boy or a shrimp/crawfish boil

i was there just b4 Katrina and then came back after her... wow is all i can say

[Maverick2272]

DW and I went to NOLA once long ago, when Katie was just a year old. It wasn't during Mardi Gras but we still had a lot of fun visiting Bourbon St. and the garden district.
We are planning a trip back there one of these days...

[Fisher's Mom]

this kid took the cake.... I wish I had pic/video... alot of other revelers do he made quite an attraction out of him self... got "Saved" at some point in the evening too... the trolley ride back to the apt was NOT pretty... the sorority grils in front of him got the worst of it.. It would have made a great anti-drug commercial though!OMG!!!! He might have been saved by my son! He was there with me at Mardi Gras and he is tall with very long flowing hair. Well, he was in a bar and this obviously inebriated fellow came up to him, stared at him, and then fell on th floor on his knees and started crying!!! He was blubbering about how his mom always told him that Jesus saw everything he did but that he had never believed it. He kept begging my son to bless him and kept promising to stop drinking and screwing around on his wife!!! It was unbelievable.

[PanchoHambre]

that is a funny story FM.... in this case he kept a whole group of missionaries busy for an hour til' we rescued him from salvation and them from his antics