Whirlwindy Trip to The Windy City

After booking a day trip to Chicago, I kind of regretted it. I've been exhausted lately and I just wanted to sleep all weekend. Being up for 23 hours straight did not sound like my idea of fun. I may have cancelled if it wasn't for wanting pizza.

This past Saturday, Drew and I landed in Chicago at 8:15 AM and hopped on the orange line to head downtown; super easy by the way. By the time we got there we were starving and wanted a good breakfast. It was raining at the time so we didn't want to go far. The nearest and best looking place was Wildberry Pancakes & Cafe. It had a 45 minute wait but Millennium Park was right across the street and the restaurant said they would text us when our table was ready.

Apparently, the restaurant ended up losing our place in line and we ended up waiting almost an hour and a half. I was extremely annoyed, especially considering we only had so much time in the city. They should have given us a free meal or something. The food ALMOST made up for it though. I had the most delicious red velvet french toast which was essentially three slices of cake turned french toast. 

By the time we finished breakfast, the rain had cleared and we walked to The Magnificent Mile. For the most part, there weren't any stores that aren't in Boston except for maybe Top Shop. We ended up walking until we reached the John Hancock Tower and we decided to head up to The Signature Lounge for a drink. I don't think I've ever been somewhere quite like it. Sure, I've been to other observatories but none where you can have a drink by the window! Even the views from the restroom were gorgeous. I just wish I had known about Tilt beforehand because I would have loved that!

Once we got back down to Michigan Ave, it was already 3pm. We did a little shopping and then walked to Lou Malnati's for deep dish pizza, the reason I wanted to visit Chicago in the first place. Omg...it was the best pizza ever..seriously life changing!! The tomatoes were fresh, the cheese stringy, and the crust crisp, not at all heavy and saturated like the deep dish pizzas from Uno's. I'm seriously considering paying the $60.00 to have two pizzas shipped to my home. 

After dinner, we headed back towards the Loop and were planning on grabbing dessert somewhere. However, I stumbled across Garrett's Popcorn Shop which I kind of wanted to try as well and bought a small tin of Garrett's mix to bring home. The combination of caramel and cheese is sooo good! Once we exited the shop, we saw the orange line and decided on heading back to the airport for our 8:50 pm flight and just grabbing dessert there. Boring, I know.

We got back home at around 1:30 am and I slept almost the entire day on Sunday. Even though I was and still am exhausted, I'm glad we ended up going for only the day. It was the perfect amount of time and quite honestly, if I had stayed any longer, I would have just gone back to Lou Malnati's for every single meal. So that's my trip to Chicago in 12.5 hours, 7.35 miles and 18,482 steps. Somehow, I still don't think I burned off enough calories to make up for that breakfast, let alone dinner #foodielife!

Stressed Spelled Backwards

Okay, so my posts have slowed down a bit this week. What can I say? I've been stressed. There's simply not enough time in a day! That being said, there's always time for dessert, especially on national dessert day. I have a huge sweet tooth so it may come as a surprise that I try not to order dessert when going out to eat, except while on vacation or while celebrating someone's birthday. There goes providing you guys with a list of my favorite restaurant desserts. Oh well, I have something better: a list of my favorite dessert recipes. Unfortunately, I don't have any good photographs of my own considering I'm so impatient and couldn't wait to eat each time I made these.

Bon Appetit's Coconut Cheesecake with Passion Fruit Glaze
This is one of my go-to recipes that everyone seems to love. The first time I made it, I spent almost $40 on ingredients...eek! It calls for 10 passion fruits and they're roughly $2 a piece. The next time, I experimented by using passion fruit juice instead. I didn't even end up pouring on the cheesecake and ended up going out the buy the passion fruits again. A few months later, I found out that some supermarkets sell Goya Passion Fruit pulp in the freezer section and it tastes exactly like the real thing; mainly because it is, only much cheaper. Also, I did make the compote the first time but found it unnecessary. I have since tried it with mango pulp instead of passion fruit pulp and it just wasn't the same. The sourness of the passion fruit perfectly balances the sweetness of the coconut.

Fine Dining's Chocolate Mousse Cake
I first made this recipe almost 10 years ago. I wasn't expecting much because the website seemed a little ehh but to this day, it's still one of my faves. I will say that it takes a lot of time an patience but the end result is worth it.

The Brown Eyed Baker's Red Velvet Cheesecake
A few years ago, I got it in my head that I wanted to make a red velvet cake/cheesecake that looked similar to the one The Cheesecake Factory serves. After scouring the internet for over an hour, I stumbled upon this recipe. Again, I wasn't expecting much since it didn't come from a well known site but it came out way better than expected. It is very very sweet and rich so it may not be for everyone but I've been craving it for a while. I wish I could make it, take one slice for myself and give away the rest because I definitely gained more than a few pounds by having leftovers for a week....and that's even after serving it to company and giving most of it away.

Paula Dean's Molten Lava Cakes
I'm still extremely mad at Paula Dean over her racist comments. However, I love food and her recipes are, unfortunately, some of the best. This past Valentine's Day, Drew and I decided to celebrate at home. He cooked dinner and I made dessert. I was dying for chocolate lava cake and this recipe looked the best. For some reason, I had it in my head that it would be a hard thing to make but it was extremely easy and it was delicious! It definitely hit the spot.

Chef in Training's Eclair Cake
My mom made this cake for a barbecue this summer and everyone really enjoyed it, including myself. People couldn't stop raving. I probably had 2 or 3 servings that same day. The next week when Drew and I were having a cookout at our house and it was 90 degrees out, I decided to make it too. I love that it doesn't require an oven.

So what did I eat for dessert on this national dessert day? Being a weekday, I stuck to my usual Weight Watchers Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Sundae Cup with Fat Free Cool Whip. I may have snuck in a Godiva chocolate truffle or two as well.

Day Tripping: Kittery, Maine

There's nothing quite like fall in New England; the leaves changing colors, apple picking, cider doughnuts, sweaters and the cool, crisp air. It's also the perfect time to take a day trip to Kittery, Maine.

There isn't a ton to do in Kittery but it makes for a relaxing and enjoyable day; just how fall days should be. My first stop is always to Stonewall Kitchen. They have a wide array of jams, preserves, baking mixes, cooking sauces, salsas, and adorable gift items. The best part of visiting the actual store is that you can sample almost all of their jams and sauces on crackers and/or pretzel sticks. Plus, there's a cafe inside that's perfect for breakfast or lunch.

After I grab something to eat, I usually head over to the Crate and Barrel Outlet before hitting all of the others. It's the only outlet they have in the area so it's always a top priority. I don't always find something that I want to buy but they definitely have some amazing deals. I purchased my favorite coffee mugs from there for $1.50 per piece!

I like to finish off the day by having dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Robert's Maine Grill. One fall evening, I ordered the most delicious Surf n' Turf special which included steak tips, shrimp, mashed potatoes and root vegetables. They also have amazing lobster rolls there; although I wouldn't really consider them fall fare. Everything tastes so fresh and I never get that gross, full feeling I get from so many other places despite the fact that I'm well fed.

Skip It: Babbo Pizzeria e Enoteca

The second "skip it" in a row!? You must think I either hate food or that I'm the most negative person in the world. So not the case; I swear. However, Boston has left me disappointed as of late.

I'm a huge fan of Eataly's La Pizza & La Pasta in New York which is why I was super excited that Mario Batali was opening Babbo Pizzeria e Enoteca on Boston's waterfront. I actually held off all summer, wanting Drew to take me for my birthday. It was perfect timing, too, because we could see fireworks from our seat.

 

Once our waitress finally arrived at our table, we ordered the Mozzarella in Carozza as an appetizer. Basically, it was a very greasy and salty grilled cheese. I hoped the meal would be better. However, not so much. We decided to share the Bufala e Pomodorini and the Prosciutto & Arugula pizzas. The Bufala e Pomodorini was practically inedible. It was soo salty and sour; almost like sour milk. The other pizza was okay but salty as well. Maybe we should have stuck to a Margherita or something more simple that they couldn't screw up.

 

Dessert was good but overpriced for what it was. I opted for the S'mores Coppetta which was basically just chocolate gelato and graham cracker crumbs topped with toasted marshmallow. Drew ordered the assorted biscotti which was a plate of the smallest cookies I've seen in my life!

I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable recommending this restaurant to anyone but I would like to go back and try something else. Maybe they were just having a bad night!? Regardless, I don't see how Mario Batali could let this ridiculousness continue. Let's pray that when Eataly finally opens in Boston, its food bears resemblance to that at its New York counterpart as opposed to the "food" at this monstrosity.

Skip It: Blackbird Doughnuts

Without a doubt, New York has been killing the doughnut game for quite some time now. That's why I was super excited when I found out that an artisanal doughnut shop, Blackbird Doughnuts, was opening in Boston this past winter. 

I was so excited, that I hauled a** in the middle of a snow storm, dodged traffic, and climbed over snow banks just to pick some up. The inside of the shop was adorable and I loved their display. However, the menu was scarce and there wasn't much of a selection when it came to doughnut flavors. Upon much deliberation, I picked out the four best looking ones: Pineapple Habanero, Lemon Coconut, Wild Berry Bismark and Dark Chocolate-Pomegranate.

The Lemon Coconut was my favorite but quite frankly, I wish I didn't spend the money. I would have much preferred a donut from Dunkin's which would have also been roughly 1/3 of the price. Although, fair warning, I do have an unhealthy obsession with Dunks.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. The doughnuts at Blackbird were way too sweet and it's very rare that I would say that about anything. I have a huge sweet tooth. Also, I probably wasn't supposed to eat the habanero garnish on the Pineapple Habanero doughnut but I did and what an awful flavor to be on a doughnut! Inventive, sure....but at what cost!? I will not be going back to this place and I suggest you don't either. Maybe I would be willing to try it again if they sent me a free box of dunks as compensation.

Oktoberfest

Who would have thought that Oktoberfest starts in September? Certainly not me. When I realized that tomorrow is the last day, and that it actually is October now, I thought it apropos to check the next thing off my cooking bucket list: homemade soft pretzels.

I started searching for recipes on the food network site and chose two recipes with five stars to decide from: Almost-Famous Soft Pretzels or Alton Brown's Homemade Soft Pretzels. 

Ultimately, I chose the latter due to the higher number of reviews and the lower butter content. Additionally, I used Blue Bonnet Vegetable Oil Spread instead of butter which I do often with recipes when trying to eat healthier. It doesn't seem to have a negative impact on taste whatsoever.

I start out by preparing the dough and separating it into 8 sections. The Sur La Table stainless steel dough scraper definitely came in handy for this step. Once the dough was rolled out, shaping the pretzels was somewhat of a challenge, being a perfectionist and all. I decided to pair the pretzels with a cheddar-hard apple cider sauce which I thought appropriate for both Oktoberfest and the time of year. Mangia! or should I say essen! 

       

The pretzels came out doughy on the inside and crisp on the outside. Delicious! However, they don't beat the buttery pretzels and their aroma from the mall. If that's what I wanted, maybe I should have tried the recipe with more butter. Oh the struggle of trying to eat healthier.

Fall Food Faves

A few weeks ago when it was 90 degrees out, I was looking forward to the fall. Now that it's freezing out, I have no idea why. Other than the food that is. Here is a list of my favorite fall retail food products. I'll admit, it's a cold Friday night and frankly I'd rather be eating my Bertolli soup than taking photographs so I kind of took these photos from the vendors' websites. I'm not entirely sure whether or not that was legal but please don't sue me, my favorite brands!?

Stonewall Kitchen Coconut Curry Simmering Sauce

I love Indian food and coconut but don’t always like coconut based sauces, especially ones that have that coconut water taste to them. That being said, I was a bit skeptical when Drew brought this home for the first time. However, I was very pleasantly surprised and it’s the only brand of Indian curries that Drew will buy or use despite the fact they’re a little pricey. In my opinion, they’re totally worth it and this is our favorite. It’s perfect on a  cold night with chicken, basmati rice and garlic naan. 

 

Stonewall Kitchen Pumpkin Pancake & Waffle Mix

I’m a huge pumpkin fan but getting a littttle sick of it considering there’s a pumpkin spice everything out there now. However, pumpkin waffles are one thing I can’t wait to have this fall and this is without a doubt the best mix. I’m thinking I may even purchase a pumpkin spice syrup to go along with them. I saw one in Crate & Barrel the other day. 

  

William Sonoma’s Parmesan Pumpkin Pasta Sauce

I was in Williams Sonoma a few years ago when they were cooking with their pumpkin pasta sauce. The sample I had was so delicious I had to ask how to make the recipe. It was a pasta and chicken bake with pan fried chicken in garlic & herb olive oil, mixed with pasta shells and globs of ricotta cheese. I bought the sauce at full price (which is rare for me) and made it a few nights later. Drew told me it was the best thing I’ve ever cooked and he’s not even a huge fan of pumpkin. Last year, Stop & Shop came out with their own Pumpkin Pasta sauce which wasn’t quite as good but it was decent and at 2/$5, it’s much more economical than the $16.95 that Williams Sonoma charges. 

Bertolli Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with Chicken Meal Soup

This is my absolute favorite frozen meal. It’s perfect for a cold Sunday night along with a slice of freshly baked Italian bread when all you want to do is relax before the upcoming work week. We’ve tried to make similar soups from scratch but none of them came out quite as good.

DownEast Cider House’s Original Cider

Ok so this one technically isn't a food, but can you blame me!? This past weekend, I took a tour of DownEast Cider house with some friends for one of their birthdays. It was it the middle of nowhere in East Boston, yet the place was packed. During the tour, we tried several flavors but I liked the original the best; so much so, that I went out and bought some from the local liquor store today. I can’t wait to have some during the next Patriot’s game.

Which Is Better...Blue Apron or HelloFresh?

I finally got around to trying out Blue Apron after bypassing several weeks when the menu looked less than spectacular. Prior to registering, it said they didn't start delivering to my area until two weeks later. This didn't seem right so I called and they told me they do deliver to my area but they were at capacity the following week. However, the woman I spoke with encouraged me to complete the registration so I didn't lose out on my Groupon and just keep skipping weeks until I was ready to use it. Easy enough. After registering, I found out that I could cheat the system and "unskip" the following week, thereby getting me the week I had wanted. Fingers crossed it would work and that it did.

Let me start off by saying that I was very disappointed by their packaging. All of the ingredients for all three meals were thrown all together in an iced bubble-wrap bag. No cute little boxes a la HelloFresh. This meant that it took more time to load everything into the fridge and to take everything out when it was time to start cooking. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose? The second disappointment was that the produce was covered in dirt. No big deal considering I would have washed it first anyways but it was not the best first impression. Strike number three was the fact that they only listed calorie content on their recipes as opposed to full nutritional information.

All of the meals looked good but the first one we tried, Cumin-Sichuan Beef & Noodles, was very mediocre at best. It might have tasted better with a different sauce. Next, we tried the Southern-Style Chicken Cacciatore which was actually very good. I knew at least one of the three meals had to be decent considering I have tried some of their recipes in the past with pleasant results (sans having them deliver the ingredients). The last recipe, for Sauteed Shrimp Sandwiches, was okay but a little too basic and nothing to write home about. The Celery Parmesan Salad that went along with it, however, was a creative spin on a salad that I would definitely make again.

Now that I've tried HelloFresh and Blue Apron, I can confidently say no thanks to Blue Apron. I had initially liked the fact that it was $10 less (per week) but the quality put forth by HelloFresh makes the higher price worth it. I'll definitely be ordering from HelloFresh again in the future. My favorite dish overall was their Plantain and Black Bean Tostadas with Pickled Red Onion. 

Next stop: Home Chef and Plated. Which one will come out on top? Stay tuned to find out and feel free to comment below to share your experiences with any of these meal delivery services.

Chicago for a Day!?

Southwest Airlines is the only airline I fly if I have a choice in the matter. It's cheap, they have an amazing rewards program, they still let you check two bags for free and their flight attendants are hilarious. Case in point: "if you press the little light bulb button above your seat, it will turn the light on; if you press the little flight attendant button, it will not turn us on."

The other day while checking my email, I saw that they were having a sale. Typically, their cheapest fares from Boston are $69 each way to Baltimore. I'll probably take them up on this offer at some point. However, I was shocked when I saw $41 flights to Chicago. If you click on the "flexible dates" calendar, you may even happen across a flight that's cheaper than those the sale is advertising. Everyone should definitely check this sale out. They have a lot of flights on sale if you book by 10/8/15 for travel between 10/13/15 and 3/9/16.

I didn't want to spend more money on travel since I just got back from New Orleans but this deal was too good to pass up, especially considering I had enough airline rewards points to cover the fares for both Drew and myself. Still....I didn't want to spend money on a hotel; oh the dilemma.

That's when I got one of my crazy ideas....why don't we just go for the day!? We can get some deep dish pizza, do a little sightseeing and have the rest of the weekend to recuperate. I'll keep you all updated after my short little trip later in October.

New Orleans Day 4: The Big Easy-to-Leave?

As soon as I stepped off the plane in New Orleans and got a whiff of something gross, I didn't think I was going to enjoy the trip. However now that it was the last day, I was sad to leave the city behind.

For our last meal, we decided to have lunch at Cochon Butcher. I've heard a lot of good things about Cochon but frankly, Emeril's looked better and I have a tendency to overspend on food while on vacation so I opted for its cheaper outpost.

 

I ordered the BBQ pork sandwich and a cherry limeade. Drew and I shared house chips and a side of mac-n-cheese. Everything was very good; but was it anything I haven't had before? Not really.

After lunch, we had some time to kill so we stopped at the Riverwalk Outlets. I had never been to an enclosed outlet mall before. Interesting. It was nothing special other than the pretty view of the Mississippi River from outside the cafeteria. It definitely didn't beat the breathtaking view from the plane ride home though.

Au revoir New Orleans....until next time? We'll see but there are still a ton of other places I want to visit first. 

New Orleans Day 3: Alligator Two Ways

I love, love, love donuts (yea, I know I didn't spell it correctly but can you blame me with all these Dunkin Donuts around!?) That being said, it is absolutely shocking that I didn't order beignets my first day in The Big Easy. I never had an authentic beignet before so I didn't know whether to expect more of a donut or more of a fried dough type pastry. I've never been a huge fan of fried dough so I was hoping for the former. Well, today was the day I was finally going to find out.

We walked down to Café du Monde and each ordered our own order of beignets and a frozen cafe au lait. I couldn't believe the amount of powdered sugar they put on those things! They must go through 10 million boxes of Dominos powdered sugar per day, especially considering the cafe is open 24/7. The beignets ended up being the perfect combination of donut and fried dough. Although....I don't think I'll end up craving them just as much as I would a donut. Still, they were delicious.

After breakfast, we walked around the shops at the French Market and bought some bananas foster coffee to bring back home. It ended up being way too strong. After we bought a few more things and took pictures inside the St Louis Cathedral, which we weren't supposed to do (I didn't know...I'm Jewish....remember!?), we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our Cajun Encounters Swamp Tour. I wish I had changed into jeans....

As soon as I got into the bus that picked us up from our hotel to bring us to the swamp, I scraped the back of my leg on a metal spoke that was sticking out from under the broken seat I went to sit in. An OCD person's worst nightmare! I've had like 20 million panic attacks since then. I'll tell you one thing, if I end up with some type of disease, I'm suing.

Anyways, the tour ended up being fun but I'm not sure it was worth the $50 ticket and scrape. The highlight of the tour was seeing the wild hogs and the pretty scenery. We didn't get to see any large alligators because a poacher came through and killed most of them a few days prior but we did see a few small ones.

Once we got back, I most definitely showered and wiped myself down with rubbing alcohol! After resting for a bit, we headed out to Arnaud's French 75 Bar, which I've heard amazing things about. I got the Honi Makai and the Bastille Cup. The Honi Makai was a little stronger tasting than I usually like my drinks to be but the spiced sugar sprinkled on top made it truly addicting. The Bastille Cup was light and refreshing. I also had a sip of Drew's drink, their namesake, the French 75, which was very good.

After drinks, we headed to dinner at Royal House. We chose the restaurant based on the fact that it served everything we had left to try while still in Nola. It also had decent reviews on Yelp. We ordered fried alligator as an appetizer which did in fact taste like chicken just like everyone says. I ordered the Taste of New Orleans which was a sampling of chicken & andouille jambalaya, crawfish etouffée and seafood gumbo. I thought that the etouffée and the gumbo tasted very similar but all three were quite enjoyable. Drew ordered the shrimp creole and we swapped meals halfway through. That dish was very spicy but good.

After dinner, I realized that I didn't get a chance to try Doberge cake and the following day was our last. Problem was....a lot of things are closed in New Orleans on Mondays and Tuesdays so my options were limited. Drew had wanted to head to Frenchman Street that night to listen to some jazz and lo and behold, the only place still open that served Doberge cake, Beachbum Berry's Latitude 29, happened to be on the way. I never in 30 million years thought I would end up at a Hawaiian restaurant in New Orleans....but that's what happened and I had the most delicious roasted pineapple doberge cake with key lime icing.

 

Finally, we made our way down to Frenchman street and happened upon another unexpected surprise, reggae music at Blue Nile. The reggae band was amazing but after a while, we decided to head out and see if we could find some jazz. There are about 12 jazz bars on Frenchman street, most of which don't require a cover. However, when we ducked into the second place, we were promptly kicked out. They said I had to order a drink if I wanted to stay but after all that food, I felt too sick to drink. I should have lied and told them I was pregnant or something. Oh well, it was getting pretty late anyways and I needed to get some sleep.

Happy National Coffee Day!

Who doesn't love a good cup of coffee? Unfortunately, I didn't get to take advantage of any free coffee offers because I'm working from home today but I decided to brew up some Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee that I picked up on my recent trip to Jamaica. Oh how I wish I was back there...I'm daydreaming about it now...

It's definitely the smoothest tasting coffee I've tried. I wish I had bought more while I was down there but of course I was being cheap. They do sell it on Amazon but apparently, according to reviews, it isn't the real stuff. What is everyone else's favorite coffee? Are you a Starbucks or a Dunkin Donuts fan? I personally love both but I could drink the blueberry coffee from Dunks by the barrel full! I also love Green Mountain's blueberry K-Cups and Folgers' Caramel Swirl K-Cups.

New Orleans Day 2: Southern and Grubbin'

On day 2, we woke up bright and early for breakfast and to lie by the pool for a bit. It was in the hotel’s courtyard so luckily, there weren’t any gross aromas wafting in from the street. After the pool, we headed outside to wait for our Southern Styles Tours tour bus (a Groupon deal of course). Normally, I’m not a huge fan of tours but when I was planning the trip, it didn’t seem like there was much to do in New Orleans other than eat so I figured, why not?

 

Our tour guide ended up being really funny and we got to see a lot. It was really eye-opening to see all of the damage left behind by Hurricane Katrina, even after 10 whole years. Of course we all heard about it on the news but I don’t really think I ever understood the impact it had until I saw it with my own eyes. As we were driving through the 9^th ward, the tour guide told us that the area was under 12 feet of water. He also said that the city recently gave paint to its residents so that they could paint the fronts of their houses. The president was coming down and the city wanted to look like they were doing better than they really were. He also mentioned that a lot of people believe the government used dynamite to blow up the levees in the 9^th ward so that they could save the French Quarter. Once I returned home, I watched Spike Lee’s documentary, When the Levees Broke, which also touched on this. A lot of people said they heard explosions. I really hope that this "conspiracy theory" isn't true. You can see some of the existing damage in the photograph below but we weren't even allowed in the area that was hit hardest.

Aside from the Hurricane Katrina Damage, we also stopped at The City Park of New Orleans and got out to walk around and grab a snack if we wanted. I was trying to save my appetite for dinner so I did some exploring instead. After getting back on the bus, we made an additional stop at a cemetery and drove past some celebrity homes, including Sandra Bullock’s and Peyton/Eli Manning’s childhood home. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting New Orleans. Since it's not a walking tour, you get to see a lot of the city in a short period of time and although there were some devastating things to see, it was very informative in a non-boring way.

By the time we got back to the hotel, I was pretty hungry and was regretting the fact that we didn't grab a snack so we walked over to Sucré and ordered some French Macarons. Drew ordered the Peanut Butter & Jelly and the Pecan Macarons while I ordered the Bananas Foster and the Salted Caramel. I'm not always a huge fan of Salted Caramel but the salesperson suggested it and it was delicious! In my opinion, they were definitely better than the macarons at Laudrée. They tasted like food as opposed to flowers. Just saying. 

After our light snack, we headed back to the room to rest up a bit before dinner and talk about the day. We didn't have plans for the following day and decided to book a swamp tour, which several people had suggested to us. Once our plans were set and we were ready, we headed out walking towards Emeril's for dinner. I always try to walk anywhere I can because a) it's exercise and b) it's free. However, in this case it wasn't the best idea. It was very hot out and I felt ridiculous because I was carrying my heels in a shopping bag so that I could change into them a block away from the restaurant. Yupp. Please tell me I'm not the only one...?

Emeril’s was very very good. We shared the barbecued shrimp appetizer which was to die for. In fact, it looked so good that I couldn't wait to dig right in. Hence, the lack of a photo. For our entrées, I got the Herb Crusted Salmon with a Potato-Sweet Corn Croquette, Baby Spinach, Watermelon Preserves and Chorizo Vinaigrette. Drew got the Andouille Crusted Drum with Grilled Local Vegetables, Shoestring Potatoes, Glazed Pecans, and Creole Meunière. I liked Drew’s dish slightly better than my own but they were both delicious. For dessert, I got the S’mores Ice Cream Sandwich and Drew got the Banana Crème Pie. Overall, it was definitely one of the better meals I’ve had in a long time.

After dinner, we headed back towards our hotel and stopped at the Carousel Bar in Hotel Monteleone, which is in all actuality, a real slow-moving carousel. Naturally, all of the seats were taken at the carousel so I didn’t get to experience it firsthand but we did sit down to have a drink in the lobby area. 

All in all, the trip was shaping up to be better than expected thus far. I just had to make it through the rest of the trip without any more of my OCD inducing mishaps...