Week 4

Day 1 Chicago

B: Green tea only

L: Found a Japanese eatery in a shopping mall, fairly cool windy day, so opted for Miso Soup, followed by a Japanese curried chicken and rice, a nice simple but tasty meal, rating 7.5
D: Because it was so good first went back to the Italian restaurant, this time had triple cheese ravioli topped with bolognaise/tomato sauce and parmesan cheese, accompanied by fresh garden salad, Lizzie opted for thin pizza, went down well again , rating 8.0.

Day 2 on the train again to New Orleans

B&L Fresh and dried fruit and some baby carrots (little finger size or smaller, sold as a snack).

D: Arrived in New Orleans, found a Vietnamese restaurant Le Viet near our accommodation. Had Pho Noodle Soup (Beef), nice fresh flavour, rating 8.0.

Also sampled a couple of beers at the local bar, an Abita larger 4.7% for me, tasted quite good rating 7.5, whilst Lizzie even had a beer, a blue moon served with an orange wedge, rating 7.0.

Day 3 New Orleans

B: OJ Coffee (freshly made) and toast.

L: Visited French Market area, huge area of food stalls, fruit and veg and souvenirs, near the Mississippi River. Opted for Crab cake and poached egg on a wholemeal bread roll, with lettuce and tomato, rating 7.0 first time in whole trip service was appalling, ordered meals together served 10 minutes apart so no tip provided.  Decided to share a couple of French cakes, vanilla slice and a small mocha sponge cake, this was a case of looks being deceiving, as the taste was dry and stale, rating 6.0.
D: Got a tip from the taxi driver about a good spare ribs restaurant, about 3-4 blocks from accommodation, called Voodoo BBQ and Grill.
I tried the baby back pork spare ribs, accompanied by sweet potato mouse, broccoli and baby carrots, sampled the house smoky bar b q sauce and was a delicious condiment, good advice was really tasty and fall of the bone tender meat, rating 8.5.

Day 4 New Orleans

B: OJ, Coffee, toast.

L: Went onto I Hop, which was another family type restaurant, rather than the yellow arches type. I sampled a grilled chicken burger, with oven baked roma tomatoes, olives, cheese and lettuce, with French fries (for only the 2^nd time on the trip), not too bad for a fast food outlet, rating 7.0.
D: Went into the French quarter to a well- established New Orleans restaurant, Pralines to try some soul food, we shared fried catfish for starters, and I had Jambalaya, which is really simply spicy savoury rice, with either meat or seafood, I tried the alligator sausage option, which came with greens (chard) and cornbread which to me was a cross between a scone and madera cake, quite sweet. Lizzie had southern fried chicken, with greens and white lima beans, rating 8.0

Day 5 New Orleans

B: Coffee, toast.

L: Opted for a snack at the coffee shop, where we utilised the free wi fi, toasted Panini with chicken breast, pesto, cheese, peppers, red onion and tomato chutney, rating 7.0.
D: Went to a food court, where I had a combination soul food platter, consisting of shrimp gumbo (really a prawn stew type dish), jambalaya with pork, refried beans, rice, potato salad and garlic bread, good sampler, liked the spicy refried beans most of all, followed up with bluebell vanilla ice cream, rating 7.5.  And Lizzie had some Nachos with "Squeeze Cheese" (cheese straight out of the bottle).

Day 6 New Orleans

B: Coffee, toast
L: Went to a supermarket to get a supply of fruit and snacks for forthcoming bus and train trip, surprise, surprise they had a huge range of prepared foods, so sampled a turkey, bacon, and salad wrap, and southern fried chicken, washed down with fresh orange juice.
 D: Simply had to go back to the Voodoo Bar B Q and Grill, this time we tried a Po Boy, (a New Orleans speciality) which is simply a bread roll with meat and sauce of your choice. Opted for the pulled smoked  pork Po Boy, accompanied by, the good old packet potato chips (voodoo style, hot and spicy). Rating 7.5.

Also went back to an old favourite for beer, Stella Artois, rating 8.5.

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NEW ORLEANS –“IC” Explained a little bit I hope.

Need to add some general comments about visiting the famous Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, which is about 12-15 large city blocks in size in New Orleans not that far from the mighty Mississippi, where you can drink anything, anytime as long as it is in a plastic container, so drinking of 1 litre cocktails on the street, by ladies and gents is commonplace, huge ass beers are served etc, on a Saturday night where trust me, it ALL happens.

I have never been in a place like it and doubt very much I ever will again in my lifetime. The Saturday night we visited was during Navy week when thousands of US sailors visit on their war ships, apparently the second biggest night in New Orleans, behind Mardi Gras. The Police have a stationary manned sky booth (a big trailer in effect) with wall to wall cameras set up, which is about 20-30 feet in the air, right in the middle and above all of the action, “situations” are spotted by officers in the sky booth relayed to officers on the ground for quick response/control. There is a saturation of officers on the ground, virtually on every corner.

 To give it some context , there are basically 3 parts to Bourbon St the first 4 blocks are all about porn, sex and sleaze, the Larry Flint Bar, and any number of other pornographic notions/locations you could imagine are located and flaunted. The next 4 blocks are all about jazz, blues, music and dining of all sorts, where there is some sense of normality, the final 4 blocks are known as the “rainbow area”, where the gays trans genders, and other happy folks, etc, lurk, cavort, solicit and expose their particular sexual fetishes.

We have put together a series of words all ending in “ic”, to follow the general bedlam that prevails, here they are, with some simple explanations.

Exotic - the range of people/services on display;
Erotic - the more perverse range;demonic for the voodoo part which is big in New Orleans: Spasmodic - there is no rhyme or reason;
Bombastic - its all out there to see;
Neurotic - how you end up after the encounter;
Chaotic - wow is it possible to get all this action in one place;
Sporadic - no two aspect are the same;
Moronic - if people could only replay their conduct;
Estatic - the look on some of the players faces after their pleasure;
Erratic - just how some people behave;
Emphatic some people really mean it;
Pathetic - some sick puppies;
Psychotic - some behaviour;
Eclectic - like nothing else;
Fantastic - the great live music;
Frenetic - the drinking the sexual  behaviour;
Eccentric - must be to behave like that;
Automatic - after 2or3 litres of mojitos, margaritas etc;
Nomadic - some of the space cadets;
Altruistic -payout of themselves;
Schematic - who in their wildest dreams could plan this;
Characteristic - no fit single descriptor;
Futuristic - the gender benders, go there one sex emerge the opposite;
Archaic - man is really so primitive
Artistic - the musicians and the street music performers;
Graphic - it is all there for all to see, culminating in one word
VOYEURISTIC  !!!!

Not all photos have been uploaded but will be in due course.

Day 7: On the dog again New Orleans to Tallahassee and eventually Jacksonville Florida

B: Coffee, toast.
L: Fresh and dried fruits, nuts, baby carrots and cucumber with ranch dressing, healthy snack rating 7.5.
D: At 1 of the stops, got a good insight into the supersized philosophy, checked the menu, felt like a hot dog cost$3.99, but for the combo which added a small 20oz (600ml) drink and small French fries the cost was only$5.39, so I did the right thing and had the combo, rating 7.0.