Day 31: Gumbo and Jambalaya

We woke up this morning safe and sound.  Which was a little bit of a relief, although the area was safe I was not sure if we were actually allowed to be there!  But all seemed well and we even saw Guy that morning on his phone, without any comment to us.  Guess we were fine!  We headed out fairly early to make sure we had enough time in New Orleans.  Since we couldn't snag a couch surfer for two nights (or even one) we only had one day there.  We wanted to make sure we made it count!

We headed down the road and towards something to eat.  We also needed to stop and find internet so we knew where we could park for the day!  After doing that (and discovering the slowest McDonalds in history!)  we headed to New Orleans and a day filled with lots of yummy food!  We started out by inadvertently stumbling onto the Visitor Center where we were directed to a cheap parking lot.  Perfect!  Only 5 dollars for the whole day, good stuff!  But we did totally trust the area, so we made sure to take everything valuable with us.

We headed to the French Quarter and walked around.  Once again we stumble onto a cooking class that we decided to sign up for!  We didn't need to be there until 2 p.m. so we walked around for a bit.  Our first and probably most important stop was at Cafe Du Monde where we had beignets!  We each had a helping of three which were absolutely covered in powered sugar.  They were like little bunnies in a snowstorm, you could barely see them under all that delicious sugar.  After scarfing those down and licking our fingers we headed to Jackson Square and the Mississippi River.  My hands were sticky for a long time after that!

We walked around Jackson Square for while and admired all the art.  Then we followed our guidebook and took a walking tour.  We wandered around looking at the old buildings and all the Mardi Gras decorations that were still up.  Several times we stopped and listened to Jazz music with the musicians literally playing in the middle of the road.  It was a really pretty city.  I could see myself wandering around those small streets, getting lost, and suddendly fiinding music and then a garden and then a sunny patch to sit and read in.  But none of that was to be, we had to somewhat rush to our cooking class.

As we settled into the class at the New Orleans School of Cooking we were surprised to see that we were th youngest, but at least 10 or 20 years.  But no matter, we ended up at a table with two couples from Virginia (small world!) who both had children our age. They were very impressed with our journey and very nice and interesting to talk to.  The class was really a combination history lesson and observatory cooking lesson.  And although we didn't get to make the food oursleves we had a fun time watching our cook make the food.  Very educational and interesting.  While cooking he told us all about the history of the area, and how food had helped shape it as well as be shaped by it.  Our three courses were: Gumbo, Jambalaya, and Pralines.  Each more delicious than the last.  All in all I had two bowls of Gumbo, two plates of Jambalaya and two Pralines, as well as a 2 hour cooking/history lesson, all for 24 dollars!  (Oh and we had beer....included!)  Not too bad!  It was a really fun class and we had a delicious time!

From the class we headed back to the streets and walked around.  Originally the plan was to stay in the area, but that was not to be, and since we couldn't find any cheap and safe accommodation in the area, we headed towards the Mississippi border and a campsite we found there. Unfortunately we only had one day in New Orleans, but it was tons of fun! And it is definitely a city I plan to return to, maybe for Mardi Gras some time?

Rammy taking a look around New Orleans!