As mentioned in the previous post, the celebrations leading up to Fat Tuesday completely consumed us. I'm glad that it's over, but boy! Was it ever fun! (Unless I needed to be somewhere or get somewhere, then it sucked.)
The traffic was so thick most days, you wished you had a chainsaw to cut it with, and it was just like that when my mom arrived. Because there was just no way we were going to find a parking space anywhere close to Uptown, we just took off driving (slowly). We ended up on Canal street, and since we wanted some authentic seafood, I used my phone to locate some local flavor. We chose Mandina's, a nice little family place there on Canal. They were crazy busy, but the wait wasn't really that long. We were seated in about 15 minutes and met our waiter- a tall, large man with a booming voice, which was good, since the merry-making of the diners was deafening (this was just a two days before the Super Bowl, remember). We ordered fried shrimp for Shelby, and shared the shrimp remoulade and the seafood platter. We took away two boxes of food. Seriously. They brought us a plate of freashly toasted, buttery Frenchbread and our Reisling to start, then we had our remoulade. It was so delicious. You have to try it. The seafood platter was overloaded with catfish, shrimp, a ton of oysters and a mountain of fries. Their tartar sauce is also very good. A fine dinner to get us ready for the festivites that were to follow the next day.
This was our first-ever Mardis Gras, and our first ever parade was the Krewe of Pontchartrain on St. Charles. With Mom in town, and I wanted to show her around our neighborhood, so we had lunch (and mucho margaritas!) at Nacho Mama's. We were able to park only a block away, and it worked out perfectly that we could stay parked there and walk down to St. Charles to view the parade. So, that's what we did.
We had the perfect spot under an ancient oak tree, the branches of which protruded out of the ground in such a way that we could sit on them as we ate our blue cotton candy- the first of what would be two bags, most of which Shelby inhaled all by herself- and drank our coffee from McDonald's across the street. There were Port-a-Potties in the parking lot where you would show your receipt to get to use them. So I bought my drink, came over, and was told that since I was wearing my Saint's jersey, I didn't need a receipt. But I was thirsty, so it worked out. They even had Purell on hand! Certainly not the worst Johnny on the spot experience I've had. We sat for a while enjoying our treat, watching the people walking around, the men hawking candy apples, fried peanuts and Spongbob hats, and laughed at the tiny boy across the way on the neutral ground that kept busting out with intense dance moves. Once the parade started, for the first time, the Mardi Gras spirit within me came alive. Determined not to beg for beads- I'm too cool for that, after all- I soon found myself yelling "Woo!" and reaching out, just like everyone else. For Shelby, of course. I wanted to get her some stuff. That's it. After my mom complained of not being able to catch anything, a doubloon hit her (not to hard) right in the face, and we all had a good laugh. Sometimes you get what you want! The floats were especially interesting, as each had a word puzzle accompanying it. After the parade, we collected all our booty, took a few pictures for the grandparents and started off. Shelby wanted to add some of her broken strands to the ones already hanging in the tree, and a seasoned passerby gave ger some advice (the trick is to wad the beads up in your hand) and helped her land a few. It's fun to drive by the tree now and know that our beads are up there. (Not really sure how the City feels about it, though...)
Because our day wasn't nearly done, we went to the Monkey Playroom and ran wild. Being a Saturday, it was much more crowded than I'm used to (or like) so I didn't play as much. If you have a small child, though, and are looking for a fun way to burn some calories, I definitely suggest this place. It's super slow on week days and you can get right in there and play like you're six again. It's so much fun you won't even notice you're getting some exercise until you heave over on the rope bridge because your body has suddenly reminded you that you are most certainly not six again. Before we left we watched some fairytale-themed floats go down Religious street to line up for their respective parade. That was one of the fun things about this festive time- you never knew where Mardi Gras-ness was going to just randomly pop up!
Afterwards, we drove to Sucre. After all the bead gathering and monkeying around, we needed refreshment, so Shelby and my mom had gelato, while I had a "chef's trio" pudding cup and one of their huge cups of coffee. The mango gelato Shelby got was soooo good. Just like fresh, frozen mangoes that had been mashed up and served with a tiny spoon. I really look forward to enjoying some this Summer. Mom's hazelnut was chocolaty and yummy, while my very grown-up pudding cup was heaven. Three layers of cream, one mocha, one chocolate and one vanilla, were divine. We all shared each other's sweets and, against all I stand for in good eats, were unable to finish and had to leave some behind. Next time, though, next time.
After all the food and fun, we headed back to the house, where mom and I played New Orleansopoly until the early hours. I'm not really sure exactly who really won, but I declared myself the winner at some point and we were both so beat no one argued. It's an awesome game, but just like regular Monopoly, it's oodles of fun until it's not fun anymore and you're tired of playing.
This was our first-ever Mardis Gras, and our first ever parade was the Krewe of Pontchartrain on St. Charles. With Mom in town, and I wanted to show her around our neighborhood, so we had lunch (and mucho margaritas!) at Nacho Mama's. We were able to park only a block away, and it worked out perfectly that we could stay parked there and walk down to St. Charles to view the parade. So, that's what we did.
We had the perfect spot under an ancient oak tree, the branches of which protruded out of the ground in such a way that we could sit on them as we ate our blue cotton candy- the first of what would be two bags, most of which Shelby inhaled all by herself- and drank our coffee from McDonald's across the street. There were Port-a-Potties in the parking lot where you would show your receipt to get to use them. So I bought my drink, came over, and was told that since I was wearing my Saint's jersey, I didn't need a receipt. But I was thirsty, so it worked out. They even had Purell on hand! Certainly not the worst Johnny on the spot experience I've had. We sat for a while enjoying our treat, watching the people walking around, the men hawking candy apples, fried peanuts and Spongbob hats, and laughed at the tiny boy across the way on the neutral ground that kept busting out with intense dance moves. Once the parade started, for the first time, the Mardi Gras spirit within me came alive. Determined not to beg for beads- I'm too cool for that, after all- I soon found myself yelling "Woo!" and reaching out, just like everyone else. For Shelby, of course. I wanted to get her some stuff. That's it. After my mom complained of not being able to catch anything, a doubloon hit her (not to hard) right in the face, and we all had a good laugh. Sometimes you get what you want! The floats were especially interesting, as each had a word puzzle accompanying it. After the parade, we collected all our booty, took a few pictures for the grandparents and started off. Shelby wanted to add some of her broken strands to the ones already hanging in the tree, and a seasoned passerby gave ger some advice (the trick is to wad the beads up in your hand) and helped her land a few. It's fun to drive by the tree now and know that our beads are up there. (Not really sure how the City feels about it, though...)
Because our day wasn't nearly done, we went to the Monkey Playroom and ran wild. Being a Saturday, it was much more crowded than I'm used to (or like) so I didn't play as much. If you have a small child, though, and are looking for a fun way to burn some calories, I definitely suggest this place. It's super slow on week days and you can get right in there and play like you're six again. It's so much fun you won't even notice you're getting some exercise until you heave over on the rope bridge because your body has suddenly reminded you that you are most certainly not six again. Before we left we watched some fairytale-themed floats go down Religious street to line up for their respective parade. That was one of the fun things about this festive time- you never knew where Mardi Gras-ness was going to just randomly pop up!
Afterwards, we drove to Sucre. After all the bead gathering and monkeying around, we needed refreshment, so Shelby and my mom had gelato, while I had a "chef's trio" pudding cup and one of their huge cups of coffee. The mango gelato Shelby got was soooo good. Just like fresh, frozen mangoes that had been mashed up and served with a tiny spoon. I really look forward to enjoying some this Summer. Mom's hazelnut was chocolaty and yummy, while my very grown-up pudding cup was heaven. Three layers of cream, one mocha, one chocolate and one vanilla, were divine. We all shared each other's sweets and, against all I stand for in good eats, were unable to finish and had to leave some behind. Next time, though, next time.
After all the food and fun, we headed back to the house, where mom and I played New Orleansopoly until the early hours. I'm not really sure exactly who really won, but I declared myself the winner at some point and we were both so beat no one argued. It's an awesome game, but just like regular Monopoly, it's oodles of fun until it's not fun anymore and you're tired of playing.
