Knit-Nerd-Rant

To celebrate the 4 year anniversary with the boyfriend (has it really been that long?!?!), we went up to Montreal. We had some help from a friend with an abundance of airline miles who was appreciative of help finding a job recently. The boyfriend had never been there, and it had been over 10 years since I had been, so we were in for a treat. We picked up a Fodor's guide and even had a paper AAA map on hand. I found the Hotel Ambrose on Hotels.com, and it was a pretty sweet deal for being located right in downtown (on the advice of a coworker who had lives there ages ago). Right by McGill, which was almost my undergrad alma mater, was an interesting neighborhood full of English-speaking students and tourists from all over.  then it was a question of trying to prepare my brain to start back up in French (though it's definitely possible to get around with just English, having the ability to do both makes things a lot easier, and some people a lot more friendly). Begi...

A small shop near the hotel with an amazing Mardi Gras display So I just recently returned from a business trip to New Orleans, and I am officially a convert!  The city at the time was in the early throes of Mardi Gras, and also preparing itself for the upcoming Superbowl.  The French Quarter was covered with police, who justifiably expected a lot of crowd to control between Mardi Gras celebrants and Superbowl partiers.  It was a bit of a head trip.  Jackson Square and the river front area were covered with different stages where the CBS folks were filming interviews and talking heads.  Despite the growing insanity, I had an amazing time, and made sure to keep a food journal. It was such an amazing culinary adventure.  Some of the highlights include Crawfish etoufée Coconut custard bread pudding, chocolate bread pudding, and Mother's bread pudding Poboys: Sammy's - roast beef poboy Red Fish Grill - bbq fried oyster poboy Mother's - turkey, roas...

So first lesson of Blogger learned - must rotate photos before uploading. Also, scavenging the leftover edible orchids from the leftover fruit plate in the break room can turn your peaches from yummy to yummy and festively depressing.