Travel Time - Key West, Florida

Linking up for Travel Tuesday with Helene again.  Since she posted about her honeymoon trip, I thought I would do the same.  Steve and I were married almost 11 years ago (anniversary is May 11) and we spent one week in Key West, Florida for our honeymoon.  We really wanted to visit the Caribbean but we were pretty wiped out by the wedding financially so we opted for as close as we could get.  We flew into Miami the next morning after our wedding and rented a car and drove down Highway One to Key West.  The drive takes about 3 to 3.5 hours depending on how many times you stop on the other keys.  You definitely have to watch the speed limit as the Florida Keys are speed trap central.  The limit will suddenly drop from 60 mph to 30 mph and there will be 3 to 4 cop cars hiding in the trees waiting to pounce!  You can also take a small plane (American Eagle, Delta, etc...) from Miami and that flight is about 25 minutes.

(In the interest of full disclosure, none of these pics are mine -- 11 years ago I was still using an old film camera and I have never bothered having my old photos scanned in or digitized so these are from Google images.  I tried to find photos that reflect best what I recall.)

Map of the Florida Keys

Highway One - a beautiful drive!  Turn on the Jimmy Buffett and cruise.

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Key West.  It was a nice hotel but not as nice as their website photos appeared.  Overall we liked the location of the hotel as it was within walking distance to Duval Street and Mallory Square but it was pretty generic and waaaaaay over-priced.  We went back to Key West a few years later and stayed at a B&B called The Curry Mansion Inn and we preferred it to the Hyatt and it was about half the price.

Hyatt Key West - not as nice as their website's photos, IMO

Curry Mansion Inn - our preferred hotel

Key West is a really fun, lively place.  It has lots of bars, a laid-back vibe and it's definitely a party town.  The main things to do are:

1.  The Duval Crawl.  Basically, you wander down Duval Street and go in and out of bars and t-shirt shops.  The famous Sloppy Joe's bar is located on Duval Street.  We stopped in there but found it to be pretty cheesy and packed to the gills with cruise shippers.  Our favorite bar was Captain Tony's.  Captain Tony is THE Captain Tony from the Jimmy Buffett song, Last Mango in Paris.  We actually got to meet him.  He must have been 85+ years old but he showed up in the evening with a jar labeled "Captain Tony's Vegas Fund" for donations and he sat around drinking beer and flirting with every lady that walked in to the bar.  Unfortunately, Tony Tarantino died a few years ago but his bar remains.  Strong drinks!!!

Captain Tony's Bar

2.  The Hemingway House.  Even if you're not a Hemingway fan, the house is worth the tour.  It has beautiful gardens, an interesting history and is a great example of Key West architecture. Also, it has the 6-toed cats, which are really cool.  All of the 6-toed cats are descended from the original one given to Hemingway by a sea captain years ago as a gift.  Apparently it's a genetic mutation.

Hemingway House

Six-toed kitty cat at Hemingway House

3.  Mel Fisher Museum.  This was a really cool museum.  Mel Fisher searched for the shipwreck of a Spanish Galleon called The Atocha that sank in 1622 during a hurricane off the Florida Keys.  He searched for over 20 years and kept finding bits and pieces of things (a cannon here, a gold bar there) so he knew he was in the area but it took over 20 years to hit the mother lode.  He then endured a myriad of lawsuits from the U.S. government, the Spanish government and people claiming to be descendants of the Spanish sailors that died, all laying claim to the treasure which has been estimated to be b/w $3 billion and $7 billion (at the time he found it, the treasure was valued around $500 million).  He finally prevailed and he later used some of the proceeds to open this museum where you can see the treasure.  There are tons of gold bars, jewelry and artifacts.  It's a cool story, too.

Atocha Treasure at the Museum

4. Beaches.  I will say that you shouldn't go to Key West for the beaches.  The island itself is a coral atoll so it is very rocky and you won't find any good examples of white, sugary sand beaches unless said sand has been shipped in from the Bahamas and dumped to create a man-made beach.  There are some of those and they look pretty but the problem is when you walk into the water, that man made sand beach abruptly ends and it is rocky as hell.  You need water shoes to swim anywhere.  However, we found Smathers beach and Zachary Taylor beach to be the best for sitting, reading and people watching.

Zachary Taylor Beach

Smathers Beach

5.  Sunset at Mallory Square.  This was fun as well.  Everyone gathers at Mallory Square to watch the sunset.  There are street performers (including a guy that has trained house cats jumping through fire hoops) and all kinds of vendors selling trinkets and junk.  It's a great place to grab a rum runner and watch the spectacle.

Mallory Square

6.  Day trip to the Dry Tortugas.  About a 2.5 hour boat ride west of Key West are the Dry Tortuga islands.  This was a great day trip.  The main key has a huge fort on it (Fort Jefferson, I think) that was built during the Civil War.  It's now a National Park and you can tour the fort.  This key also has the really nice, Caribbean style beaches where you can swim w/o water shoes.  The water is beautiful out here - the best we saw.  The day trip is kind of pricey but we thought it was worth it and it's an all-day event that includes lunch.  We took the Yankee Freedom boat to visit, which was really fast and stable (I get seasick so that was a concern for me).

Fort Jefferson - Dry Tortugas National Park

I can't speak much to restaurants as we pretty much just ate at fish shacks and dive bars the whole time we were there.  I remember enjoying a few places including El Meson de Pepe for Cuban food, Turtle Kraals for casual seafood and The A&B Lobster House for a little more upscale seafood.  People rave about a place called My Blue Heaven for breakfast and brunch but there was a 2+ hour wait when we visited and we didn't have time to wait that long as we were driving back to Miami.

We really enjoyed our honeymoon in Key West.  We ended up going back for a second visit 3 years later, which was also a lot of fun.  The town does get really crowded during the day when cruise ships are in but they never stay the night (they have to leave before sunset so they can't block the sunset view from Mallory Square) so it's really pleasant at night.  Would love to go back again one day!

Weekends. Why are they so short?

Had a fantastic weekend that was far too short.  My husband's birthday was on Sunday so I deemed it to be his birthday weekend.  Fortunately, the weather also cooperated with us and it was gorgeous Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Friday night I prepared dinner of steamed mussels in white wine sauce, a field green salad with champagne vinaigrette and crusty garlic bread.  I also made an appetizer of a goat cheese gratin, which is the one of the easiest and tastiest apps ever (recipe below).  We had a bottle of rose and some white wine as well. I set up our table on our outdoor patio with a nice tablecloth, flowers and place settings and we dined al fresco.  It was a lovely evening and we stayed up late drinking wine and talking.

Mussel Dinner set-up

Goat cheese gratin appetizer and rose

Great French rose

The Legend of Beggar Vance showed up, aka, our dog, Fly

Saturday we slept in, had coffee and then I went off for a pedicure and some retail therapy at the mall.  I used my gift certificates that I received for my birthday and bought 2 new dresses, a blouse at Banana Republic and some makeup at Nordstrom.  I also bought Steve's birthday presents - some men's products from Kiehl's and a gift card to J.Crew.  I took him out to dinner to Salum, one of our favorite restaurants in Dallas where we had an excellent meal of steak, salad and we split a piece of chocolate tart, which was to die for - I love dark, bitter chocolate.

Pedicure

Remnants of chocolate tarte

Sunday was more sleeping in and I made us a light breakfast of egg white scramble with peppers and cheese.  We then ran up to the grocery store to get stuff for dinner.  We saw that they had live crawdads in so we got a pound of mud bugs to boil up for later.  It was kind of weird having them sitting in a bag in our sink all day - you could hear them moving every time we walked in the kitchen.

Live crawdads for later

We then did our neighborhood's home tour, which was nice.  I love getting decorating and remodeling ideas from other people's homes.  Our neighborhood in East Dallas is one of the older ones in the city.  It's called Hollywood Heights and most of the homes were built in the late 1920's and early 1930's.  The area has a really interesting history.  It was originally an old dairy farm and was bought by a developer after World War One who was from California (thus the name Hollywood which was his development company).  He was inspired by the architecture he saw in Europe so most of the homes are built in what is called a high tudor style.  Most of the homes look like little English cottages with high pitched roofs, gables and decorative details.  The entire area is also a protected conservation district.  Our home was built in the 1930's and it's still a work in progress.  We've done a lot of remodeling already but have plenty more to do which is why I love seeing what other people have done.  Living in an older home is challenging - apparently no one had more than 2 pairs of pants and 2 shirts back in the 1930's and closet and storage space is a big issue.  It's amazing what people can coax out of these homes though.  I got a ton of great ideas and have some new projects in mind.

Home tour brochure

Example of 1920's Tudor style home in our neighborhood

Loved this chevron tile design in one home's master bath

We saw this tacked to a telephone pole in our neighborhood
I guess someone has a sense of humor!

Following the home tour, we walked to our neighborhood park where they were having a small art fair and food trucks.  Had an amazing bahn mi sandwich.  The rest of the afternoon was laundry, margaritas on the patio and then a shrimp and crawfish boil, which was great.  I was so sad when the alarm went off this morning.

Art Fair and Food Trucks in our neighborhood park

Bahn Mi from Nammi Food Truck

Fly didn't want the weekend to end either

Goat Cheese Gratin Appetizer
Log of Plain Goat Cheese
Canned Plain Tomato Sauce
8 to10 Cured black olives (the wrinkly kind)
Thyme sprigs (5 or 6)
salt/pepper

Turn oven on to 400 degrees.  In a small gratin dish crumble the goat cheese and press it into the dish so that the bottom is completed covered.  Spoon tomato sauce over the goat cheese (usually 7 or 8 spoonfuls works for me) but leave a small border of exposed goat cheese around the edge.  Remove pits from olives and spread olive open so that it will lay flat - place olives randomly over the goat cheese and tomato sauce.  Remove thyme from sprigs and sprinkle all over the dish.  Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over the dish.  Cook in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until browned on the edges and bubbling.  Serve with crackers or crostini.  This goes really well with rose or white wine.

Weekend and Jury Duty

I am so looking forward to the weekend.  My husband's birthday is on Sunday (he is also turning 38 - we are old) so I have some special things planned.  Tonight I am cooking dinner and we are having an al fresco French bistro-style dinner on our patio.  I'll be doing steamed mussels in white wine sauce, a field green salad with a homemade champagne-mustard vinaigrette and garlic scrubbed toast with herbs.  Tomorrow I am getting a pedicure in the morning and then shopping for his birthday gift at the mall (he is impossible to shop for so I have to look around) and then we have a nice dinner out planned.  Sunday the weather is supposed to be amazing and our neighborhood is doing their annual home tour so I think we'll check that out and then will attend an Art in the Park event they are doing down the street followed by some grilled steaks.  Should be fun.

In things not so fun, I got notice that I have jury duty in another month.  Ugh.  I don't mind doing my civic duty but it's such a waste of time because I never get picked.  They never pick other attorneys to sit on a jury.  I think it's some kind of unspoken rule so I always end up sitting there for 4 or 5 hours before getting dismissed. Of course, I could do the below and maybe that would get me out earlier.

Let the weekend begin!

Better Today

Things are going a better today.  I am feeling better and I actually made it to my 7:30 am meeting on time because there was no traffic, which is the miracle of all miracles in Dallas.  The hubby apologized about the wine bottle incident yesterday so I have let that one go as well.  One thing I will say about my husband is that he is a great apologizer.  He likes to keep the peace so even when we fight (and even if I am completely in the wrong) he still usually ends us apologizing to set things right again.  I'm lucky to have someone like that b/c some men cannot bring themselves to apologize for anything (I have some coworkers like that and they drive me bonkers).

Since I was ticked off yesterday, I did a little online shopping.  I bought these shoes from JCrew:




This tote bag from Gilt:

Deux LuxeTote

and these earrings from Gilt:

Amrita Singh Earrings

I bought everything for my upcoming weekend trip to New Orleans.  The shoes and earrings are to go with this Ted Baker dress I bought on sale a few months ago and plan to wear on our anniversary dinner at Commander's Palace.

Ted Baker Dress

I rationalized the tote bag b/c I love the colors and it's made of a vinyl material so it's easily cleaned.  I have a cute striped canvas bag but I never want to set it on the ground (and definitely not in any New Orleans bars) b/c it gets so dirty so easily and then has to be washed and hung to air dry.

Now, if only the items will get here in time....

One of "Those" weeks

This morning was one of those mornings that make you want to crawl back in bed.  It doesn't help that I have been swamped at work lately, including 2 early morning meetings at 8:00 am or even EARLIER (which I hate b/c I am NOT a morning person) already this week, having to be on a work call until 8:30 pm last night and having to get too much stuff done in too short a time during the day.  So, I am already stressed and this stupid chest/sinus infection is making me irritable.

When I am like this, I expect sympathy and kindness from my husband.  I got neither this morning so I have proclaimed him to be Captain Asshole today.  I know I usually say nice things about him but today is not one of those days.  Long story short, I have been working a lot and sick.  Not a good combination.  I realized yesterday that today is Admin Professional's Day.  Have I purchased anything?  No.  Did I have time to buy anything yesterday?  No unless I tried to go shopping at 9 pm after my conference call.

My solution?  This morning, I grab a bottle of wine out of our wine cabinet and put it in a wine bag (I always have wine bags, gift bags and cards on the ready) as a gift.  Problem is that my husband gets up this morning and asks why I am taking this bottle of wine and I explained the situation.  He then proceeds to pitch a fit that the wine is too nice and he bought it and doesn't want to give it up.  For reference, this is a bottle from Sigel's he bought a week ago and is probably in the $45 range.  A nice bottle to be sure but it's not a 1975 Mouton Rothschild and has no special meaning or significance. I couldn't take anything else b/c we are out of "everyday" wine (thanks to him, I might add) and all the other bottles in our cabinet were gifts (special meaning) or are even more expensive.  I also reminded him that I have a work event tomorrow which happens to be a wine tasting and I promise to replace the bottle with one of equal or more value and he is having none of it.  He must have this bottle and it's his.  Argument ensues.  I leave said bottle with him, storm out with a few choice words and have no gift.  I now have to scramble on my lunch break to get something and I have a lot of work to do today (though I do have 5 minutes to spare to type of this rant).  I think he's being incredibly selfish.  He thinks I am being unreasonable and unfair.  I am quite certain that I am right.

Bottom line:  Sometimes men suck.

Oh, and to top it off, I spilled my breakfast on one of my favorite skirts this morning and the stain isn't coming out so I think it's ruined.  Love it.  I would solace myself with a drink or two this evening but I can't b/c I have to be at the office by 7:00 am tomorrow for yet another meeting.  Good times.

Two Big Thumbs Down on These Things

This could be a long list but for now I am only including two recent things that bother me.

1.  This awesome sunburn on my chest that I acquired sitting at the Texas Rangers baseball game on Sunday.  I was wearing a button down blouse so I burned right at the v-neck opening.  I am wearing a lot of high-neck shirts and dresses this week until it fades a bit.

Is this a good look for me?

2.  This hideous 1980's scrunchy that I paid $8 for on Sunday at The Ballpark and really pisses me off.  I went to the game on Sunday and didn't realize until we arrived that our seats were in the sun (I usually book our seats under the awning but screwed up), I had no hat and I forgot to put a hair tie-back in my purse or on my wrist. I swear that I have a hair tie on my right wrist 99.9% of the time, even when I sleep, and this time I just forgot to put it on before we left the house.  So, I bought a hat but I still really needed a hair tie.  I went into just about every store, the pro-shop and kiosk at The Ballpark and this piece of crap was all I could find.  My hair was bugging me so much that I broke down and bought it.  It's hideous.  It's wrong.  It should be destroyed.  I think it may become someone's white elephant gift in the foreseeable future.

Die, scrunchy, die!

However, I did find a few extra hideous scrunchy pics.  These bring back bad memories of my childhood.

Welcome to my collection

If you had to choose b/w having the bangs or the scrunchy, which would you pick?
Hard to say, isn't it?  Her earrings rock, though.

Worst. Gift. Ever.

There's just something about a crocheted scrunchy that says "I will always be a virgin and my name is Fern," isn't there??

Weekend Review

Beautiful weather in Texas this week!  Highs in the mid-70's, sunny and beautiful.  Our weekend was a mix of good and bad.  Unfortunately, I came down with a nasty and sudden sinus infection on Friday and have been fighting it all weekend.  My poor nose is all red and cracked from blowing it so much and I pretty much lost my voice on Sunday.  Definitely on the mend today but still not 100%.  I pretty much forced myself to do things this weekend and to get out of bed and enjoy this weather but I definitely didn't get to enjoy it as much as I wanted to!

Just a few scenes from the weekend...

Lunch with my friend on Friday and then stopping back into Christian Dior so she could pick up her new handbag.  Gorgeous bag but too rich for my blood!!!  Maybe when/if I get a bonus later this year....

Dior bag

Fried pickles at Jake's in Uptown on Sunday before the baseball game.  So delicious.  Because I was feeling like crud all weekend, I didn't exercise at all and my diet hasn't been that great.  I hope to be back on my game tomorrow so I can go running again.

Pickles....and ranch

Rangers game on Sunday.  They played the Seattle Mariners and we even got to see a grand slam thanks to Nelly Cruz.  Too bad I couldn't cheer for them b/c my throat was killing me and I had no voice but I clapped a lot.  Perfect weather for a game but I did get a decent sunburn on my neck.

We also planted some flowers in our front yard and my parents took us out to dinner on Saturday night at Matt's El Rancho (Bob Armstrong dip and spinach mushroom enchiladas were awesome) but I didn't take any photos b/c I was feeling so bad.  I wasn't much company that night as I was worn out, feeling terrible and was jacked up on decongestants.  Despite that, it was a great weekend!

Favorites in New Orleans

View of French Quarter & Mississippi River from our last trip

I will be spending a weekend in New Orleans next month to celebrate my wedding anniversary and thought I might list a few of my favorite places to eat, drink and go see.  I've been to New Orleans around 8 or 9 times now.  It's such a quick and easy trip for us because we live in Dallas.  Usually it takes us about 20 minutes to get to LoveField and hop a cheap Southwest flight and be in Nola about 1.5 hours later.  Nothing better than leaving your house around 8:30am and being in the French Quarter sipping a Pimm's Cup by 11:00am.  I hope this post doesn't seem too "Goop" but so be it.

I'll start with my favorite thing to do in N'awlins...EAT.

Places to Chow Down

Commander's Palace - great food and in a beautiful location.  It's located in an old mansion in the Garden District.  Food is nouveau Creole cuisine so it's not good for your waistline but it's worth the splurge.  It is pricey and jackets are required.  Definitely arrive at least 15-20 minutes early to have a drink in their bar - you literally "belly up to the bar" for your drink.

The Palace

Arnaud's - in the French Quarter and is our go-to "high end" place for dinner.  You must be wearing long pants to eat in the main dining room and jackets are strongly preferred.  It's more old school Creole cuisine so it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea.  Think trout almondine and steak with red wine sauce, bananas foster, cherries jubilee, etc... Not creative by any means but solidly executed and the service is excellent.  I love the dining room with its original tile floor and chandeliers and huge windows. So southern yet so French.

Arnaud's main dining room

Felix's Oyster House - in the French quarter and directly across the street from the better known Acme Oyster House.  We have been to Acme but still prefer Felix's.  First, raw oysters are exactly the same at each place.  However, Felix's has the best chargrilled oysters in town.  Waaaaaay better than Acme's and you don't have the ridiculous wait!  We've also had their po-boys and jambalaya and they've been good but both places are all about the oysters.  Felix's has awesome crawdads and their shuck-n-jive guys are true entertainers.

Steve looking guilty for eating the last chargrilled  oyster at Felix's when I  went to the bathroom

Mr. B's Bistro - great brunch.  They are known for the BBQ Shrimp, which does not involve BBQ sauce.  It's basically huge shrimp with the shell and heads still on that are sauteed in a rich buttery sauce with lots of spices.  Delish!

BBQ Shrimp at Mr. B's

Honorable Mentions:  Coop's Place; GW Fins; Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse; Luke; Stella!

Places to Drink

Old Absinthe House - one of the few places on Bourbon Street that I really like.  It's in a historic building and has tons of sports memorabilia hanging from the ceiling.  They make strong drinks and the bartenders are always hilarious - if you get the talking, you can hear some great stories.  They have seen it all on Bourbon Street.

Carousel Lounge - located in the Monteleone Hotel.  What a fun bar of you can grab a seat!  It's made from an actual old Carousel and the bar chairs/stools revolve around the bar.  How fun is that? (Did I just sound like Ina Garten?).  Great classic cocktails and they do live jazz in the evenings.

Carousel Lounge - how cool is this?

Harry's Corner Bar - located in a quiet section of the French Quarter near the Ursuline Convent.  Total dive bar filled mostly with locals and service industry people late at night.  Again, strong drinks but a fantastic jukebox.  One caveat - it is CASH only.  BTW, it got it's name b/c it used to be owned by Harry Anderson, the guy who played the judge on Night Court.

Making out at Harry's Corner Bar

Napoleon House - Ahhhh....No trip to NOLA is complete for me w/o a Pimm's Cup from the Napoleon House (they supposedly invented the drink here).  It is the perfect drink for steamy, humid, hot New Orleans weather - Pimm's liquor, lemonade/sprite mix and a freshly cut slice of cucumber, served over ice. The house itself is awesome - historic and was originally built for Napoleon himself as a place to live while he was in exile (he never made it).

Napoleon House Interior

Honorable Mentions: Molly's on Toulouse; Sazerac Bar in Roosevelt Hotel; Fritzl's Jazz Club

Places to Stay:

Soniat House - An old Creole house in the Quarter that has been turned into a small, upscale boutique hotel.  We really love this place.  It's in a quiet area by the Ursuline Convent so it can be a bit of walk to where all the action is on Bourbon Street and Canal Street but it's also much closer to Frenchmen Street and all the live music venues down there.  It's very old school and is furnished with antiques so if a flat screen TV is a must for you, the this probably isn't your place.

Soniat House View 

Maison De Ville on Toulouse - I have to caveat this by saying that we have not stayed here in years but will be staying here again next month.  This used to be the ONLY place we would stay in New Orleans.  It's right off Bourbon on Toulouse Street so it is smack in the middle of the Quarter.  It's an old Creole house turned into a small boutique hotel (notice a theme with what I like).  It struggled after Katrina and closed about 3 or 4 years ago.  A new company recently bought it, spruced it up and reopened it about 6 months ago so we are giving it another try.  From the website, it looks the same so I have high hopes.  They did promise us our same old room, which I loved.  We got a king size room on the second floor that overlooks Toulouse.  The cool part is your window opens from the floor up so you step through it onto a balcony.  Really fun to sit there in the morning or evening and watch the people come and go from Bourbon Street.

View of Maison de Ville - our balcony is the one with flags on it

Ritz Carlton - located on Canal Street on the edge of the quarter.  Obviously, it's a big chain hotel but it is beautiful and the rooms are super nice.  Also, Jeremy Davenport, a grammy-award winning jazz artist, plays in their bar lounge on the weekends.

Honorable Mentions: W French Quarter; Hotel Monteleone; JW Marriott on Canal

Things to See:

Royal Street - I can spend at least a few hours just walking up Royal and looking at the ornate wrought iron balconies and flowers.  It's also fun to weave in and out of the various art galleries and antique stores that I can't afford.  However, there are some fun jewelry stores and what-not with reasonable items.

Bourbon Street - it's gross, it's dirty, it's loud and it's totally tasteless which makes it pretty awesome.  Bourbon Street pretty much gives the finger to the rest of the United States (I think of Cartman screaming "That's right. I do whatta want!").  We usually wander up and down it at least a few times just to people watch and look at the craziness and stupidity.  

One of Bourbon St's many sights (not my husband, see the
large man in gold sequin bikini behind him watching the Weather Channel)

Aquarium of the Americas - located on the river, this is actually a really cool aquarium.  I have a hard time getting Steve in here b/c of all the screaming kids in line but once you're in, it's large and has plenty of interesting and educational exhibits about the Mississippi river and delta, the swamps and the gulf.  It also has otters.  OTTERS, people.  Is there anything cuter than swimming dogs that hold hands when they float and sleep?  I don't think so.

Look at this!  How can you not die from cuteness overload??

Natchez Steamboat - totally touristy which is fun.  Sometime I get snarky like Anthony Bourdain (be a traveler, not a tourist) and other times I am all "Paddle wheel boat with a bar??? Hell to the yes and where is my "I got Bourbon-faced on Shit Street" shirt to go with it?"  Hey - if the weather is nice, this is a good way to spend the afternoon and you get some great views of the city.  They also talk about the river and how it's still used today and it's interesting to check out the massive ships and barges going up and down the river.

Bring on the Cheese Factor

Things I Haven't Done but Want to Do:

Yes, even after 8 or 9 trips, I still have things left to see/do/eat in this city:

Lunch at Galatoire's on Friday - supposed to be a great tradition to put on your jacket and tie and line up to have lunch here with the city's movers and shakers on Friday afternoon.  Martinis will be flowing from what I hear.

Worth the wait from what I hear

Eat at Willie Mae's Scotch House - voted best fried chicken in the US by Gourmet magazine a few years ago.  You have to take a cab b/c it's not safe to walk here from the Quarter.  I don't even like fried chicken really but I think I have to try this place at least once. Probably not this trip, though.

Hmmm....Maybe.

See Live Music (preferably Kermit Ruffins) on Frenchmen Street - we may try and do this next month during our visit.  Apparently he usually plays down there on Friday night so we didn't make any dinner reservations for Friday to see if we can get in.  

Muffaletta at Central Grocery on Decatur Street.  I love a good muffaletta.  We always get ours at The Napoleon House but people have been swearing by Central Grocery's for years and years.  We walk by it everytime but have never gone in.  Need to add this to my list for May.

I think that's all I have for now.  If you ever go to New Orleans, drop me a line or comment as we have plenty of advice on where to go and what to avoid!