Friday

So turns out I need to take it easy on the old sun exposure. We were out for dinner last night at the Green Goddess (of course I forgot to take my camera), and everything was fine until I suddenly felt too ill to go on. Like, I can't eat anymore, not because I'm full, but because I'm sick. And the food was fabulous! Fabulous, healthy, vegetarian food and I couldn't eat any more. In my defense, we HAD ordered too much food. We got the 5 course tasting menu to share, plus 2 other appetizers, and I mean, I just can't eat that much! And of course we never get anything to go, mostly because we have no fridge in the hotel. So anyway, I figure it was too much sun and sweltering during the day with not enough drinking of water, so today has been all drinking water and eating healthy and sleeping enough and the like.

Still in love with NOLA; I even saw my bus driver friend again today, it's like Cheers, but on a bus. And with no alcohol. Also, I decided to go to a yoga class today. So I found one on Magazine (of course, my favourite street). And then after the class, I found this flyer for a place that makes fresh veggie juice! The thing I haven't been able to obtain in NOLA so far! (Even at Whole Foods) So I was asking people how to get to it and this one very nice girl offered to drive me there. So she drove me there, and we did the bonding, and then I went inside and they were out of tons of ingredients, and the only guy working there was really slow (in fact I highly suspect he was very high), but I managed to get both a juice and a smoothie (in honour of my crazy healthy day). Then I met this other very nice girl in the lineup (we got to chatting since the guy was taking so long). I was asking her how to get back to Magazine, and was it safe to walk back there, since I hear so many stories of unsafe neighbourhoods. Anyway, she said it was fine, but that I could wait for a bus, which only goes every half hour, if I felt it was safer. So that's what I did, I waited for the bus, and man I was just on ALERT the whole time. Looking around, being very aware that every single person who passed by in their car was staring at me, politely rejecting one kind man's called out offer to drive me there himself. I really felt like prey, like I was somehow lower on the food chain having to be in such a high state of anxiety almost every time I wait for a bus. And it doesn't help with the buses only running every half hour. But I'm sorry $3 for a day pass is just a way better deal than taking taxis everywhere! So anyway I made it to Magazine, then started feeling heat stroke-ish again, so decided to make myself go right home to rest. So of course when I got almost home I decided I had to stop at this vegan-friendly cafe I went to once before, so I start walking towards it when I was intercepted by a friendly young black man named Frank, who was looking for a beautiful girl to call his own. But I had to break his heart by telling him I had a boyfriend, and that was the very end of our very short conversation and he turned around and walked the other way. I guess it just wasn't meant to be...

So now I'm back at the hotel and have decided to have a swedish massage, because I'm worth it, and it's in a few mins, so ta ta.....

Food, Primarily

I was wandering along Magazine street yesterday (as it is the street that I seem to wander along every day...), and I popped into this "Superfood Bar" place (hole in the wall). First I got an iced coconut water with green tea (the ice cubes were made of the same combo), which was lovely of course, and then I got this pineapple-basil-almond milk-coconut oil-VitaMineral Green drink, which was delicious! And then, not only did Joseph (the guy running the place) offer me a job, he offered to CREATE a job for me! And I mean, I AM pretty in love with NOLA so.....

It doesn't matter how inconvenient it is for my hair, or for anything else, I just love being in a warm humid climate. It's like walking along in a damp warm blanket that never cools down, as strange sounding an analogy as that may be. I love it! It goes so well with the mood of New Orleans too. Words to describe New Orleans: romantic, charming, and gothic.

Also at the Superfood Bar they had coupons for a free coffee at Hey Cafe, so I put that to good use. It was a cute little hipster place.

And then last night for supper we went to the Roosevelt Hotel restaurant Domenica, where the food was amazing, and the menu actually fairly progressive (veg. options, some buckwheat noodles), but everything was SO full of fat that we felt disgusting after dinner. What we had: kale (which we found out later had been cooked in meat fat, hence the heavenly bacon flavour; yeah I could have asked about it before I kept eating it, but you have to understand how tasty this kale was...) with reggiano cheese, cooked polenta with cherry tomatoes, and a cheese and meat platter with various tasty little condiments, like wasabied cherries and things. No I didn't eat the meat from the platter. Ok I know I've gone off on a food tangent, but the food I ate yesterday was seriously worth talking about. And it's my blog. I can do whatever I want!

Anyway, good day for food. Oh, and then after dinner we went to the Sazerac Bar, within the same hotel, where I ordered, of course, a sazerac. Which is actually a fairly popular drink in other bars in NOLA as well.

And that was yesterday.

NOLA part 2

Well, I ventured out and here I still am! I never thought I would actually be proud of myself at the end of a day for not being raped mugged or murdered... But I am. I went all the way to Whole Foods on Magazine St., and passed many adorable shops along the way, a few of which I mosied into, before wrenching myself away and forcing myself to stand at the bus stop so as to get home on time and also to stop spending money.

For all the fear that was instilled in me about how dangerous nola is, I met quite a few very friendly people. It's very very warm here during the day, but tends to have just about enough breeziness to make it bearable. I say just about enough because there were definitely a few moments when I thought I was going to melt into a puddle. I also popped into Cafe Carmo, which is only an 8 minute walk from my hotel, and where they have vegan ham and vegan pulled pork! I'm impressed. I knew nola must be more health-conscious than a lot of people give it credit for, and I was right. That's all for now.

NOLA

The travelling adventure has begun! I am currently in New Orleans (NOLA), and am feeling a bit trapped in the hotel room, as I seem to hear nothing but warnings not to go outside on my own. I'm having a bit of a hard time distinguishing which are "safe" areas and which are "do not walk alone" territory, and am afraid the only way I will find out for sure is if I'm walking around, safe here, ok, it's safe here, here, here, and BAM - just got mugged and pistol-whipped! Ok, NOT safe on THAT particular block, note to self..... And the thing that makes it extra scary is I have pretty much zero sense of direction and am likely, if someone warns me not to go east, to end up deep east for most of the day quite by accident. So anyway, I'm sure everything will be fine, ha ha, oh god... No it will be, I'll be fine. I've decided today to check out the New Orleans "health food" scene, so Whole Foods and a cafe that serves fresh fruit and vegetable juices are on the list, and we will see what happens!