Cook. Travel. Eat. The Adventures of Kurt and Cristina

Posts Tagged ‘New Orleans’

Top 5 Romantic Cities

Posted by Kurt on February 14, 2013

For Valentine’s Day, I decided to write my favorite romantic places I have visited with Cristina

5. Venice: Venice can be grueling because it is all cement and water. That is also what makes it beautiful. Best thing about Venice is that it is a perfect city to get lost. Eventually you find your way, but its a beautiful adventure.

4.Barcelona: My favorite walking city I have visited. Barcelona is a place to do lots of shopping at high fashion stores and at outside food markets. Coffee shops and restaurants are plentiful to sit and have a nice conversation. In addition, the architecture is full of wonder.

3.Paris: Sure the Eiffel Tower is romantic, but so is most of the city. A leisurely stroll down the Champs-Elysees is hard to beat in the romantic department, yet a cruise down the Seine comes close.

2. Rome: Rome is another city best seen by walking (I’m sensing a theme). The best time is sunset when the natural light and the city lights bring the Eternal City alive.

1. New Orleans: Yes, I am a homer, but I cannot see any reason why our city should not be number one. If you know how to walk the French Quarter (mainly stay away from parts of Bourbon), you can easily pretend you are in the Old World. If the moon is out, a walk along the river near Woldenberg Park is as good as it gets. Moreover, I have not even mentioned Uptown and Oak Street which are just as good if not better than the Downtown. As far as restaurants go, well, I think we have it pretty good.

Posted in Travel | Tagged: , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

A Tradition Unlike Any Other: Small Town Parades

Posted by Kurt on February 7, 2013

If you are reading this from outside of New Orleans and Louisiana, this blog is about Mardi Gras.  Yet, it has nothing to do with New Orleans.  Sure New Orleans and Metairie are great places to catch a parade.  But so are Houma, Luling, LaRose, Golden Meadow, and Thibodaux.  In fact, my two of my favorite parades growing up were the Lockport and Gheens parade.

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Kurt’s Year in Review

Posted by Kurt on December 30, 2012

A couple of highlights from this past year:

Best Festival: Hogs for the Cause. Great food, better cause. I splurged on the 100 dollar ticket this year, and it was probably the best monetary decision I made. For all the food from the contestants that I could eat and all the Nola beer I could drink, my money was going to patients with pediatric brain cancer. Oh, and some of the best local music acts around

Best Meal in New Orleans : Herbsaint on our anniversary. Spaghetti with a fried egg, followed by the best roast chicken I’ve ever had, and cucumber sorbet for desert. That meal was the second best at my table.

Best Concert: While it was close race with Neil Young and Glen Campbell, seeing Bruce Springsteen at Jazz Fest was by far the most joyful show I have ever seen. Grown men crying at “My City of Ruin” at one moment then dancing “Mary Don’t You Weep No More” made for possibly the best show I’ve ever seen. Worth every moment of heat exhaustion.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band at Jazz Fest

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band at Jazz Fest

Best Meal In a Foreign Country: Being history nerds, we don’t often plan out our meals when traveling. We normally just eat at tourist traps mainly because we are near the touristy things. Well, near the Coliseum this past summer, we were just plain hungry and didn’t care about getting a great meal. The menu was in every language, an obvious sign that locals don’t frequent this place. Yet, the food was amazing. Maybe we were just hungry, but the Cacio e Pepe and stewed lamb was simply amazing. And having the ruins of Rome in the background made for a memorable meal.

Best Walk: This could have easily been Rome, Dubrovnik, Barcelona or Venice. However, we walked the Rock N Roll half marathon this past year. We planned on running, but illnesses and other things got in the way. But we did walk it. The whole thing. We finished. And when it comes to a half marathon, finishing is a great accomplishment.

Geekiest Moment: Meeting most of Star Trek: The Next Generation Cast. Still have to meet Patrick Stewart and Wil Wheaton but more to come on that adventure.

Best Gelato: Beet and lime gelato at La Divina. Vegetables made into an art.

Best Movie Experience:  Seeing Color Me Obsessed: A Film about The Replacements at the Zeitgeist Multi- Disciplinary Arts Center.  A group of die-hard Replacement fans watching a movie that was as much about them as their favorite band.  This band’s music is the soundtrack for my life.

Best moment that should have been a horrible experience:  Camping in Fort Wilderness in Disney World in mid-July.  I thought it would be too hot.  However, the lows were in the low 70s every night. Best three nights of sleep I got this year.  Perfect three days except for the psychotic squirrel.  He was out to kill us all.

Last year, I must have been cranky. I wrote about a few bad experiences. Maybe the holiday spirit is getting to me but I can only think of positive experiences from the past year. I mean the second day in Venice was probably a horrible experience by our European Cruise standards, but it’s hard to complain about a second day in Venice.

Looking forward to 2013, I plan on doing more cooking (and blogging about it). We are planning on going on a study abroad so we definitely will be writing about that. To anyone and everyone that took the time to read our blog this year, thank you. As I told a friend the other night, if you find a way to stay creative you have found the way to stay young. This blog, and doing things to write about it, keeps us young. Hope you all have a great 2013!

 

Updated:  I did forget to update this post with some sad news.  I didn’t know the man nor did I frequent his bar, but it was really horrible to hear John Hogan of Parasol’s died.  I’ve been to Parasol’s three times in the past year and had a great time each time.  In fact, Cristina and I celebrated taking and passing the GRE by having a roast beef po-boy at the Constance Street Bar.  Parasol’s pulled pork sandwich was one of the best dishes at the Gambit’s Food Revue we went to in March.  May John rest in peace.

 

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A Night of Music at the Cathedral

Posted by Kurt on December 17, 2012

In another life, I was a New Orleans Public School teacher. I must have been crazy in this past life, because I loved it. It was a great job. I met some amazing students and teachers while I was there.

One of those people was Holley Bendsten. She was the reading strategist at my school. She still teaches in New Orleans. Yet, she still finds time to be one third of the Pfister Sisters.

Now, before I go on, I like my Christmas music as far away from Magic 101.9 as possible. I love Johnny, Nat, and Bing, but years of retail has all a humbug towards that type of music. Give me any of Sufjan Stevens’s music from his numerous Christmas EPs and I am in the spirit. In addition, I love listening to jazz renditions of holiday classics.

Getting back to the main narrative, I had told Cristina that St. Louis Cathedral used to hold Christmas Concerts. Cristina looked for information about the concerts. Sure enough, they were still having them and the only day we really had free was the night the Pfister Sisters were performing. Date night was set.

After a quick meal at New Orleans Seafood and Hamburger Company (one of the few chains we like), we headed to the cathedral. A large crowd had amassed for a Tuesday night. No one was going to walk away disappointed.

The Pfister Sisters, not blood related, are a jazz vocalist trio in the style of the Boswell sisters. There voice complement each other and bring out subtleties in the music. Since this is a church event, religious Christmas music was the main course for the night. The set, to these ears, was flawless. I got chills during Silent Night for three reasons: the voices were perfect, the setting was beautiful, and the fact that this was just a Tuesday night in most other places in the world, but not in New Orleans.

The Pfister Sisters at the Cathedral

The Pfister Sisters at the Cathedral

There still are a few more shows if you have the time to go. Moreover, that is all it will cost you (well that and maybe parking).

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Proud to Call It Home

Posted by Kurt on November 26, 2012

Originally written right after Hurricane Isaac.

Anything you love will come with a price. That price can be an actual cost, time, or having to deal with major weather conditions such as hurricanes. I love living in south Louisiana, but hurricanes are the cross we have to bear. Every region has some type of weather disaster that can happen and hurricanes are ours.

For Hurricane Isaac, Cristina and I decided to stay home. Most of our family lives near I-10 which means we could potentially evacuate to where a storm might go. If the storm was projected to have been a strong two or three we would have gone north. But, we decided to stay at home with the kitties.

We survived the storm unscathed. Entergy restored power in our area rather quickly, thankfully.

By Sunday, we wanted to get out of the house. Unfortunately, Cristina was not feeling well. So my sister and I headed to New Orleans.

Now, if you are reading this outside of the area, you might wonder why go to New Orleans right after a storm. Well, for one the Aquarium of the Americas was open. Secondly, most business closed for a couple of days, which means a couple of days of no income.

We arrived at the Quarter hungry. We walked a few blocks before it hit me that I really wanted seafood. We walked to Iberville and passed the people waiting at Acme Oyster House and walked into Felix’s Restaurant and Oyster Bar.

We did not get a perfect meal since they didn’t have any fresh oysters. We did get a decent meal though. I ordered half an oyster po-boy and a cup of gumbo while my sister went with half a shrimp po-boy with a cup of red beans. Service was quick and attentive. The food came out quickly. The po-boy was ok, but the gumbo was just what I needed…some comfort food. Full of shrimp and oysters, the gumbo looked and tasted more like a bayou gumbo than a city gumbo (there is a difference). My sister was equally impressed with her red beans.

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The Aquarium provided its usually great show. The opening walking tank was full of playful rays that were delighting children and provided parents with photo ops. The penguins ranged from the weirdo who stared at the wall to the one that seemed to scream “HEY KIDS LOOK AT ME!”. Parents kept apologizing for their kids being excited. Seems like a silly thing to be apologizing for since it reminds us old people how cool a place like this. We arrived at the Gulf of Mexico tank just in time for feeding. Kids screamed at the top of their voices about how cool it was to watch a stingray and a turtle eat a fish.

Even thought the parents were embarassed, the kids were doing exactly what a kid  at the aquarium should do.  And that quickly, you forgot you just went to through a hurricane.  I was seeing the aquarium, our aquarium, through their eyes.

That is just one of the many reasons why we love living here.

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PS: Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Cristina and I have decided to go back to school which eats up a lot of our time. We plan on keeping this blog going even if it means longer times between posts.  Maybe it will become an irregular regular thing. 

 

Posted in Adventures in NOLA, New Orleans | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Being a tourist in our own city of New Orleans.

Posted by Cristina on February 29, 2012

LivingSocial.com can sometimes have some amazing deals, though most of them seem to be about teeth whitening, hair removal, or house cleaning.  But every once in a while, you can find truly cool deal. Our first deal was going to the Old New Orleans Rum Distillery. Our second deal was through a tour company, Southern Style Tours, where you get a tour of New Orleans. Even though we live here, neither of us have ever taken a true tour of the city. So we decided to become tourists in our own city and explore New Orleans.

 

Posted in Adventures in NOLA, New Orleans | Tagged: | 3 Comments »

1000 Places: #1 – The New Orleans Restaurant Scene

Posted by Cristina on February 23, 2012

If you haven’t noticed, I am slightly obsessed with traveling. In the country, out of the country, in Louisiana, even in New Orleans, I love touring, history, experiencing new thrills. One of the books I read that helps me pick amazing places is 1000 Places To See Before You Die. I thought I’d do a themed category called 1000 Places, where I document each of the places from the book that I’ve been. Currently, I rest at 43/1000 using the updated book. The new book has about 200 new places. How did they add 200 new places without deleting any of the old places? By combining places. For example, in the old book, five entries were Anne Frank House, Canal Cruises, Red-Light District, Rijksmuseum, and Van Gogh Museum. In the new book, they combined all of these into one entry: Amsterdam. Right there, I lost four entries I had. But I am okay with this…I would rather have 200 new and exciting places to challenge myself to visit!

These entries will be randomly chosen, based on what I feel like writing about. So my first one will be near and dear to my heart: The New Orleans Restaurant Scene.

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Posted in 1000 Places, New Orleans, Restaurants | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Becoming Pro-Oyster

Posted by Kurt on June 22, 2011

The first time I tried eating an oyster it didn’t go well. It was in my grandmother’s kitchen. Someone had bought a sack and my family was shucking and swallowing. My aunt talked me into trying one. It took another twenty years before I tried another raw one.

Luckily, I was never so squeamish about trying cooked versions. My dad ordered baked oysters at Mike Anderson’s. That would probably be my last meal if I could order more than one order. Later, I convinced myself to order the fried oysters at Bozo’s. That was about as perfect as a fried food could be. I started to rethink my whole concept on oysters.

Finally, with friends somewhere I decided to try raw oysters and concluded that when they are shucked for you they are the best fast food ever. Now, I can get enough of them.

Now, I feel like an evangelist for the oyster with my philistine family and friends. The day after our wedding we met with our family at Drago’s in the Riverside Hilton. I ordered a dozen charbroiled oysters. Only my dad seemed to be interested. Then they were delivered to our table. Cristina couldn’t ignore the smell of the melted parmesan and butter. She had to have one. Then her mom succumbed to the allure of the oysters. Finally, her sister’s boyfriend decided to have one. Only my mom and her sister refrained. I’ll convert them next time.

Posted in New Orleans, Restaurants, Adventures in NOLA | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Hello world! (yes I’m keeping the WordPress Title)

Posted by Kurt on January 20, 2011

Two years ago, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Best thing that ever happened to me. I discovered that I actually have a passion for something: cooking. I’ve always been the kind of person interested in everything but no one thing in particular. Trying to control my diet led me to cooking. Cooking led to an obsession. In fact, I’m getting married soon – May 28 – and I think I enjoyed registering more than she did. I went nuts in the kitchen section.

However, having a passion for cooking doesn’t mean I do it well. While I don’t think I’m bad, my skills are still on the beginner’s side. My fiancée loves everything I cook…ok the one time I broiled steaks was a very notable exception. However, I have high standards for myself. It’s not I want to be able to cook some crazy dish that the food network stars make; I want to be able to look in my pantry, fridge, and freezer and make something I haven’t made before because I think it will be good. This is a slow, fun, and sometimes painful process.

Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything was a perfect present at a perfect time. Bittman’s book reads as if he is speaking the instructions to you in conversational manner. I’m going to buy the iPad app soon. Having a farmer’s market within 3 miles of my house is also a wonderful asset. Those two things, plus a supportive partner (who doesn’t mind cleaning up my mess since she doesn’t have to cook) allows me to really enjoy this new adventure. Also, I live 20 minutes away from New Orleans. And, I love New Orleans. Sure, it has it’s problems, and they are major, scary problems. But if you love New Orleans, she will love you back, eventually. I love the food of New Orleans. I love that a meal in New Orleans is both totally about the food and totally not about it.

My new year’s resolution was to cook more. By cooking more I know I will become healthier since I know exactly what I’m eating and where it comes from. My other resolution is to keep track of my cooking and dining experiences.

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