NOLA... and I can't belive she's MARRIED!!!

So.. back from New Orleans (and I officially HATE flying). Here's the lowdown:

Friday: Arrived in NOLA with Ben without a hitch. The flight was short and sweet, and we made it to the hotel without any problems. Julie, Angie, and Andy were already there, and we went to eat at a small nearby joint named Napolean. I had a drink (can't remember what it's called) that was made with juniper berry liqueur, some other stuff, and a slice of cucumber. It was interesting, but I'm not sure if I like it or not. We walked Bourbon street, but didn't drink, and then called it an "early" night.

Saturday: Went to River's Edge for breakfast. I had a Jambalaya Omelet with a side of grits. Ben had a Belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream. It was a nice, across the street from Cafe du Monde, which was way too crowded. After breakfast, Ben and I walked around a little bit, and stopped into the St. Louis Cathedral. We headed back to the hotel room and got ready for the wedding. We were a couple minutes late to the wedding because the taxis decided that they weren't going to come to the hotel anymore because so many had come and left (since people weren't ready by the time they got there). So the bellhop had to hail us a cab, and it took forever for one to drive by. We made it to the wedding just in time to see Adrianna and Ben, the groom, walking up the stairs. It was a nice, short wedding (lasting 20 minutes, tops), and a small one as well (50 people, tops).

The reception was nice. I didn't eat much, since we had just had a big breakfast an hour before, but the spread looked good. At least, I know Ben enjoyed the hors d'oeuvres. The wedding was a lot of fun. We danced, we drank, we took lots of pictures. It was great! I hadn't seen Adrianna in over a year, so it was great seeing her so happy and beautiful. seeing everyone else was fun too. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and napped for a few hours (after Julie and Angie were done hitting on the bellhop and getting his number). Then we got up and headed to Cafe du Monde for a snack.

We stopped into the Old Absinthe House for a round of "absinthe", at least what's considered absinthe in the U.S. I've decided that I don't like it, too much like licorice. We needed to get some real food, so we stopped by some restaurant for dinner. I had BBQ shrimp and Ben had a burger. It was nice, but the service took FOREVER. We walked around a bit and met up with the others at this little lounge bar off Bourbon St. Angie was dying to meet up with the bellhop on Frenchman Street (which is apparently where the locals hang out), but I didn't really feel like taking a taxi anywhere. I got a bit upset because we stepped in Razoo, and Julie and Angie diappeared. Apparently, the couldn't "find us" so they left. They headed up to Frenchman Street to meet up with the bellhop. Andy had an early flight in the morning, so we headed back and just hung out at the hotel. Julie and Angie (and the bellhop) got in around 6am (after Andy had left already).

Sunday: Ben and I got up and went to church at the St. Louis Cathedral at 9am. Then headed back, only to find everyone still asleep. So we headed off to brunch at Emeril's Delmonico without them. It was really nice. We were the first one's there. I had slow-cooked pork topped with two sunny-side up quail eggs over a bed of arugula. Ben had poached eggs over stone-ground grits and other things. It was really good. We finished off breakfast with some fresh baked cookies and ice-milk (which is, basically, frozen milk with vanilla).

We decided to walk back to the French Quarter, rather than spend the money for a cab. It wasn't too incredibly hot outside, but we didn't realize that the distance and the humidity was not good for us. By the time we got back to the hotel, they were up, checked out, and Angie had to head to the airport. So we said good-bye, and Ben and I attempted to kill a few hours. We walked along the river. We stopped into the Calbido (the Louisiana State Museum). We walked around a lot. We had coffee. Then we went to the airport. We were there pretty early, so we sat around and read and just waited.

When we arrived in Atlanta, we still had an hour and a half to kill. We ate at Chili's Too, and just sat around. Our flight was a bit delayed because we needed to wait for the flight crew to come in from another flight. We took off only five minutes late, BUT a sensor went off while we were in the air, something about the de-icing mechanism. Anywho, we were in the air for about 30-45 minutes, and they had to turn around and land back in ATL. So, we landed in ATL at about the time we should have been landing in PHF. The quickly moved us to a different plane and we took off shortly after that. We landed in PHF around 2:30 am, but it took forever for our luggage to get to the baggage claim. I think because there weren't enough workers there at that time in the morning. People were complaining like crazy, and getting on my last nerve. They were mad that we had to turn around to ATL rather than just landing in PHF close to on time. What they didnt' take into consideration is that if something were to happen to us on that flight, then everyone would have been asking "Why didn't they do something about that sensor when it went off during flight?"I with people would be more patient and less stupid. Oh, and that they would just shut up too.

Pictures from the trip can be found here (in no particular order). Enjoy!

Love, Tran

P.S. Here's a picture of a cake that I made last weekend for Chris' birthday: Three-layer chocolate cake with strawberries and blueberries.