back to the big easy

Thursday I was off to New Orleans. I literally grabbed one of my two bags from Italy and brought it with me. Adrian picked me up and we went to lunch at Oki Nago, which was maybe the best idea he ever had. We just chilled at his house for the afternoon and then went to Buddha Belly with Rachel to play pool. I almost forgot to tip the bartender (by way of reverse culture shock!) but remembered to for the second round. Rachel and I picked up Tara, and I took her to dinner at Stella! (The exclamation mark is part of the name.) She treated me to a delicious lunch at Commander’s Palace when I left New Orleans, so I made her promise me she’d let me take her to dinner when I returned. After that, she and I went to the quarter to meet up with Ben for drinks.

Friday, I woke up pretty early. (Combination of multiple jet lags and adrenaline. I hadn’t really slept since the week before leaving Florence. But all the fun was worth it.) Second best idea Adrian ever had: Breakfast at Camellia Grill. Between that and lunch at Bluebird Café with Ben and Katie, I had a nice long phone call with Mikey and got to catch up with him finally. That afternoon, I went with a bunch of my friends to Columns happy hour. Stephanie, Sylvia, Jack, Josh, Nicole, Jody, Taylor, Tara. The names go on and on. It was so great to see everyone and some surprises I realized hadn’t left town yet. Stephanie, Tara, and I went to dinner with Girl-Kory and some of her friends at Five Happiness. After that, I met up with Ben, Katy, Mike, and some of their friends downtown in the quarter. After a little barhopping and a little separation (MiKat and I hurricane-ing at Pat O’Brien’s) we had a little episode outside of Gold Mine:

Ben and Katy had bought lucky dogs, so we couldn’t enter until they finished. Some sketchy looking white-trash-hick guy walked up wearing both a do-rag and a baseball cap. I had no voice by this point, so Ben tried to dismiss him as usual by speaking German and pretending not to speak English. I’m pretty sure our new friend misunderstood the word “Deutsch” (German for “German”) as “Douche.” He decked Ben in the face and then ran off with his two friends. Ben was prone on the ground, so as Mike and I helped him up and made sure he was okay, I just heard Katy screaming “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?” and throwing her hot dog at him. Ben didn’t have a concussion but was pretty shook up… and was looking for his hot dog. Of course, the cops never showed up and we never called an ambulance. But ah, sweet New Orleans. The bouncers from Gold Mine brought over a bag of ice and a bunch of local complete strangers (even to each other) went chasing after the hooligans. For us, despite multiple text messages telling us otherwise, the night was over. Ben and I took a cab back to his place and Adrian’s.

Saturday morning, Emerald and I were supposed to meet for coffee and tea but ended up getting iced versions because of the heat. Adrian and I went to Jazmine Leaf for lunch with our cousins from Baton Rouge and spent the day hanging out with them. Coc, Ryan, Antonia, and we did a grand driving and walking tour of New Orleans: Uptown Cool for Blue Bell ice cream, the levee/fly, Community Coffee, Magazine, Decatur, Frenchman, Royal. We had dinner at Café Amelie and then dessert at Café du Monde. Josh and I met up and took the streetcar to meet up with Jody, Taylor, Lizzie, and The Choy Sisters for wine before heading to Madigan’s for a round of beer.

Sunday, Jody and I met up at the Tulane chapel for mass. We had some coffee and fresh bread at The Catholic Center with Miss Molly and some of the other faithful. Then we grabbed brunch at Saucy’s Café Freret. The afternoon was spent on Magazine doing some shopping and gelato-snacking with Sylvia… for old time’s sake. She took me back to her new apartment for a tour and introduction to her dog Stella. She, Jack, and I took the once-poodle to the dog park to drink iced tea, chat with their friends, and watch her frolic with other dogs. After grabbing a bite to eat at Louisiana Pizza Kitchen, we went to Bacchanal to meet up with Rachel and Tara for a few bottles of wine. They all went home after, but I hit up DBA with Stephen and Blue Nile for a bit to meet up with my friend Jenn. (I ran into another familiar face, Chad’s friend Alex, on Frenchman. Small world.)

Monday, my surrogate big brother Steven took me to lunch at Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro. We caught up with each other’s lives and, as per tradition, ate way too much. I love that guy. He drove the hour in from Baton Rouge to hang out with me for an hour before driving the hour back to go back to work. That afternoon I spent with Sylvia, Jack, and their med school friends I’d met at the dog park. They had a Memorial Day barbeque. Lots of good food but my definite favorite was what Jack prepared: Cream cheese and jalapenos wrapped in venison tenderloin wrapped in bacon. Basically deliciousness wrapped in amazing-ness. That was my last night in NOLA, so I spent it at Madigan’s so people could come and go as they pleased. Sylvia, Maureen, Stephanie AND FAMILY, Ben, Josh, Curry, and Jake all stopped by. I love NOLA, I love the people there, even the ones who aren't my friends. I can't wait to go back again.

long but eventful!

Saturday night started off great and didn’t end as well. After the delivery guy dropped off the booze (yeah, seriously) that Jack had ordered from the liquor store owner we’ve buddied up with, Giuseppe and I decided to go to aperitivo (happy hour with snacks) at the bar rather than sit around while waiting for the others to gather. A few rounds of rum and some tasty snacks later, I went over to the apartment of The Girls Next Block to have dinner. Mindy, who is queen of all things vegetable although not a vegetarian, cooked some and tortellini.

We came back to my apartment for cocktails, shots, and cake. And somehow the pre-game became the big game. And we lost. Badly. Some of us were team players but a few rookies handicapped us.

Happy birthday, Jessi shot!

Sunday, regardless of what they did for the weekend, pretty much everyone was recuperating. Spent the afternoon at my bar unsurprisingly. Grabbed dinner from the Cinese place down the block with Giuseppe, Henk, and Juan. Then we had a high-stakes game of poker and met up with Jack at Loch Ness. Pool. Mojitos. Foosball games. (Ghibellina 4 / San Freddiano 2.) Bloody Marys. Jack has been added to the ranks of Stephanie, Laura, and Ben as an official Andrew smoking buddy.

Our apartment is open 24 hours/never sleeps, loves hot moms, and has Brazilian soul.

Monday I thought would be busy, but it was surprisingly relaxed. My friend Jeremy, who also went to Tulane and lived in Butler freshman year (6th floor) had told me he would be in Florence for a few hours. I thought he meant the afternoon, but he called in the morning, so I got to see him before class. We just got coffee, pondered if it was too early for beer, and caught up on each other’s life. He teaches English in Tunisia now and is at the end of a month of vacation traveling. It was surreal to meet up at The Duomo with someone I associate with New Orleans, but it was amazing to talk with someone else who understands and misses that lifestyle. I walked with him to Santa Maria Novella since he wanted to check it out before catching a train to Bologna at the station next door.

the weary traveler

I was photo-finish just-barely in time for my Food Styling class. We had another chef as a substitute teacher today but used our actual teacher’s recipe.

Filet of sole wrapped around steamed mussels and topped with caviar, chives, and shrimp foam; served with a mussel shell stuffed with sole roe and diced zucchini flowers.

Delicious, which is not at all surprising. Our sub came up with the stuffed shell idea on-the-spot. Very cool.

After class Jack and I did a lot of walking. We went to get our new textbooks, made a stop at the chef apparel store, hung out at my apartment for a while, went to the bar, went to a sportswear store, and then went to dinner at the apartment of The Girls Next Block. After I hung out with them for a little while, including a gelato walk with Mindy and a balcony chat with Liane. When I got home, I just sat on the couch and watched Henk paint. It looked like he was starting a mural on our wall in his own blood, but it was cool. After I took the following picture, I noticed how much of our apartment is accented in red. From random papers and books scattered to our beer and wine bottles to the floor and pretty much the entire kitchen.

It looks like he's painting the wall with blood, but that's okay.

Tuesday morning I got up and went straight to our neighborhood market. It’s overwhelming at first, but after a stroll through you can figure out easily what and where you want to buy. Grocery shopping was never this fun. I came back here, cleaned the kitchen and did the basic prep work. Cutting the spinach off the roots, seasoning the meat, checking my frozen veal stock (from the osso bucco a million years ago), folding garlic and butter together, and making rosemary olive oil.

fresh produce at the market

I showed Liz where the gym was, so she could get her membership. We both opted for a quick workout even though it would mean an extra shower each. After said shower back here, I started cooking. Liz couldn’t come to lunch because she had class, but I happily fed my roommates, Jack, Mindy, and Aneet. I sautéed the spinach with olive oil, garlic, onion, veal stock, and lemon zest. And I pan-seared the steak (marinated in sea salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic, and green onion) in the rosemary oil and garlic butter. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

bistecca all'Andrea (as in, "Italian for Andrew") over sauteed spinach

After lunch, people dispersed. The girls went back to their apartments. Giuseppe went to the computer lab, Henk took a nap, and Jack hung out for a while then went home. Now I’m at the bar, drinking a macchiato and trying to decide whether to stay for aperitivo.

By the way, I drink coffee now, but only one small shot a day unless it’s morning cappuccino. It’s so much better here than America... excluding of course any gifts from Tara or Alison when they worked at Café Luna.

July already?

Yeah, I'm not where the last month went either. I'm back home in New Orleans and am subletting an apartment on Pine. New roommates, both cool guys. Went out with them the other night for a few doubles, carbombs, and games of Foosball. Yesterday was The Fourth, so I went to Mon Mon & Jon Jon's (i.e. Monica and Adrian) little celebration. T'was supposed to be in her yard, but the rain location was his house. Keg, barbeque (burgers, hot dogs, ribeye), frat brothers, sorority sisters, random friends/family, Goldeneye on 64. Good times. Left to go watch the fireworks on top of the parking garage with Stephanie, Sylvia, and Peter. I forgot the view from there rivals the one on top of Stern.

last week 4/29 - 5/6

Sunday

Sunday was the TCC crawfish boil. Crawfish are good. So are red beans and rice. Yeah, that's about it. Justin made cookies that afternoon apparently, so he made a special delivery. I know there were two kinds, and they involved some combination of butterscotch chips, peanut butter, white chocolate, and something else. I don't know. Heaven.

Monday

Monday was my last psych class ever. The topic of the day was Health Stress & Coping, so the professor managed to get one last jab in:

"That's my picture of marijuana. I got it from Andrew."

And then:

"We're from the same hometown, so we have the same dealer."

I'm going to miss that course.

Calculus was a sort-of review. Not really. Say your prayers for my final exam.

American Popular Music was... the usual mayhem. Not to be outdone, the professor not only gave us a lecture about how "when you're partying or getting laid, music is in the background, but in this class, [he] want[s] it to be in the foreground!" And then told us an anecdote of how he had to go to court and testify against Juvenile for plagiarizing the lyrics "you's a fine motherfucker won't you back that ass up." I might miss that course too.

I went to Stephen's final review and then went to Kyoto for dinner with him and a few other architects. Japanese beer and wine both made appearances. I got a Stella Roll (a spicy scallop roll enveloped in tuna tataki) and a Hotbox (a rainbow box with eel, avocado, and pepper sauces).

Tuesday

Former Vice President Al Gore delivered his famous "An Inconvenient Truth" lecture. David had the hook-up and provided a few of us with reserved VIP seating, which is especially great because I honestly wouldn't have gone otherwise. But I'm glad I did. Gore was hilarious in-person (and would've surely won the election if his personality was more in attendance back then) and does the world's best impersonation of Bill Clinton. (Figures.) He also went on record to say that he is never running again.

Tara and I skipped lunch because of the lecture and because she forgot her phone, and Ben and I had an early dinner (last one, sob) and caught up on each other's apparently-very-interesting weekends.

God, this was a busy Tuesday. I went to the last 1718 for the year, a gathering which always coincides with Columns Happy Hour. Andrei Codrescu did the author reading and was hilarious. I was sad to find out he was reading from a yet-unpublished book, so I bought his tribute to New Orleans, which spans 20 years. And I relate wholeheartedly to this excerpt from it:

"How did you fall in love with New Orleans? At once, madly. ... Looking back, sometimes I think it was predestined."

As always, the bartenders are great for conversation. We were talking about old age, so one (a woman who shall remain unnamed) asked me how old I was, and then told me "You're not old! I'm over 40!!!" and (the guy, also left anonymous) asked me what my plans were. When I said they were unsure, he suggested "Travel, get drun, have as much sex as possible, and don't be afraid to forget it all." Apparently it's what he did after college. God, I love that bar.

A bunch of us moved on to The Delachaise for wine and food. I don't remember what I got, just that it was the red that paired well with the "beefy bruschetta" I ordered, which is basically bruschetta with grilled flank steak. David met up with me, and we picked up Tara and Alison to go to Balcony Bar for more drinks and more food. I was all about the beef apparently because I got a "balcony burger," which is a half-pounder with tomato, grilled onion, green peppers, mushrooms, bacon, and jalapenos."

Wednesday

Adrian finally had free time to go to the "birthday lunch" my Mom gave us in April. We went to Pascal's Manale. I got the stuffed eggplant for an appetizer, while he opted for a dozen raw oysters. I got their signature Barbeque Shrimp, which are huge and delicious. He got crawfish ettouffee. We topped it all off with bread pudding and pecan pie, respectively.

That night was also interesting. LOST and a trailer party. Then a bunch of us went out to Bruno's and then TJ Quills for a little bit, but the bar crawl ended there... for most of us. Lauren called me about half an hour later wanting to go back out, so we met up at The Rat and then went to The Boot, The Palms, and Snake & Jake's. There was a guy there proving the rule that if you get shot at or get naked at the bar, you drink for free. I'll let you guess which.

Thursday

I think I bummed around all day? Whatever. Shannon, David, and I went to Rock-n-Sake for dinner. Their clear soup is easily the best I've ever had at any Japanese restaurant, and I know that's a strange thing to remember, but it was awesome. We got a portabello tempura appetizer, which was awesome. I got an omakase (chef's choice) plate of sushi, sashimi, and crunchy rolls. Then we met up with more people and went to Spider-Man 3, which wasn't as good as the first two, but every fan should still see it anyway. The main problems with it are it's perhaps too comic-book-y (everything is more extreme; the evil, the jokes, the romance). But I still enjoyed it.

Friday

Storming and flooding. Calc final. Sleep. Dinner with Whitney and Tully at Sake Cafe. TNT. which is tuna stacked with rice, various roes, and a quail egg. And an Uptown Roll, which is a mix of fish, roe, and avocado. We stopped by Creole Creamery after, where I got an I Scream Fudge Sundae. (It's a chocolate overload. A hot fudge coated glass with two scoops of I Scream Fudge, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, whipped cream, and a chocolate covered cherry.) I can now say I've had every delicacy I've ever wanted there.

After that, Tully left and David met up with us. Monkey Hill. Drinks. Shots. St. Joe's Bar. Blueberry mojitos. Storyville. Ms. Mae's/The Club. More drinks. Stephanie's. Hookah. Waiting. Wine. Awesome night.

Saturday

I finished my adolescent psych final in fifteen minutes. I don't remember what I did all afternoon, so I probably wasted it somehow. Shannon and I went to Whole Foods and bought dinner there. Those Xochitl chips we love, guacamole, a surprisingly/insanely spicy mango and pineapple salsa, salads (mine was basically a Cobb), and a "California Club" (a huge sandwich on foccacia with turkey, bacon, avocado, lettuce, and a sun-dried tomato aioli).

David, Nate, and I went out and met up with Whitney, Matt and Paul for Cinco De Mayo. Lots of Corona. Tequila shots. My roommates and I decided to do more bonding by going to Camelia Grill(!) which was as incredible as I remember. I love breakfast at three in the morning. WORD. I got eggs over easy with bacon and fries. And a chocolate cherry freeze. I let it get to my brain.

Now that I'm all caught up, I will do my best to update this reasonably on-time. Besides, what else will I do since there's no more class?

the rest of birthweek 2.0

Tuesday

Unless I’m forgetting something other than visiting Alison for strawberry birthday cake, Tuesday was pretty typical. Terrorism. Lunch with Tara. Screenwriting. Dinner with Ben. If I forgot something significant that you were a part of, please let me know!

Wednesday

Classes. As a belated birthday present, LauRu treated me to the gelateria, the name of which escapes me, on Oak. While staring at the paninis and talking about food, we realized we wanted non-dessert food. (Apparently we were both busy and had gelato as our breakfast.) So we went to Philip Chan’s Asian Cajun Bistro for dinner. We split a seafood tempura trio appetizer of shrimp, crawfish, and squid (family members: very much like the baked squid Dad likes) with a chili dipping sauce. Lauren ordered the pineapple prawns, and I got the soft shell crab, which like the other seafood was lightly beer-battered. It was quite the late lunch.

Back on campus, I went to a meeting for the terrorism debate we had Thursday. (More on this later, believe me.)

Then Tara treated Alison, Rachel, and I out for our birthdays to Côté Sud, a charming little French restaurant. That might have been the best birthday present ever. Thank you, darling.

We split escargots and garlic bread with mozzarella for appetizers. I had the saumon crème d’epinard (salmon with spinach cream over rice and vegetables) for my entrée. And we split a chocolate mousse layer cake and Poire Belle Hélène (poached pears, vanilla ice cream, melted chocolate, and Poire D’Anjou liquor) for dessert.

When I was returning home, I saw a bunch of familiar faces walking around in black. Lauren and I ended up back at our apartments at the same time, and while discussing our plans (or lack thereof) for the week, I realized what the somber occasion was: Fun Lauren’s funeral. I missed the service because I would have cried too much. She was buried next to the late Fun David, who passed away about a month ago, but whom I plan on resurrecting come May.

Thursday

Worst technological morning of my life. My computer malfunctioned, so I couldn’t even open my “domestic spying program” position paper for the terrorism debate. After two hours of messing with Getaway, I called my professor. He told me to just focus on the debate. So I went to the computer lab and started typing up notes and talking points, but when I went to the printer, the printer queue was about 23 names long. So I e-mailed my notes to (myself at) the other lab.

When I tried to print there, the computers told me no printer was installed. Great. I bypassed the busy library since I was already late to class and made a last attempt at Cudd Hall. Printers not available there either. Thank God the debate went well anyway because at that point I’d memorized almost everything from having to look at it so much.

Tara had a meeting so no lunch. David and I went to the grocery and Wendy’s. That night I missed Alifun’s (and slightly my) birthday celebration since my ride bailed due to sickness. I went with Ryanne et al to the bird flu BLew birthday bash.

Friday

So I skipped out on 80s Night with Whit and Puje because of my morning class, but when my classmates and I got there, we found it had been cancelled. I wished I had stayed in bed. Calc.

Pop. Bank with Ben. Shower and shave. 543@1.

That sounds like a strange countdown. It means dinner at five (o’clock) for three (people) at ONE (restaurant and lounge).

Shannon, Jenna, and I celebrated her long-awaited return. (It’s been about a week, but the girl called me last weekend to ask – "don’t get excited but" – if I would be her date to formal if she drove back for it.) Clearly I said yes, and she drove back.

I had a fried soft shell crab & escargots (atop herbed risotto with a leek & bacon meuniere sauce) for my entrée and a flourless Swiss chocolate cake (with real whipped cream and Louisiana strawberries) for dessert since someone wouldn't share even though she didn't finish hers. (Nothin’ but love, Shanizzle.)

Jenna and I did a quick-change into our formal dress clothing and then went to The Boot a little overdressed. Then we got on the drunk bus to the Board of Trade Plaza, which was a beautiful venue.

Chi Omega Formal was fun. All the Chi Hos looked gorgeous, especially the seniors. There was just a little bit of drama but Jenna and I just drank it away laughed it off. It’s only natural after four years of grudges and drama that a little alcohol would bring it out at the end. But it was still a fantastic night.

Saturday

David and I got up to go to Crawfest bright and early to have three pounds each (of the three tons) of crawfish for breakfast. The bands were good. The food was great. There should have been beer, Cynthia. I slept most of the afternoon away before going to Ralph & Kacoo’s with Shannon for (Gabby’s) Mikey’s birthday dinner.

Besides the bottles of Pinot Grigio the birthday boy ordered that prompted Gab to swear he’d be sorry on her birthday, seafood was the highlight. Shan and I split a she-crab soup (which was not authentic Maryland but still very good), and we all split gator bites (blackened and fried), and crab-stuffed mushrooms for appetizers. I had the Shrimp Charles: Gulf shrimp stuffed with lump crabmeat and topped with hollandaise sauce and more lump crabmeat. Then Shan and I split a huge slice of key lime pie (with real key limes).

I showed up a little late to the "Party of Shame," the Phi Sigma Pi date party. Lizzie, my lovely date was still sober and glowering, but we remedied that problem with drinking and dancing. Lots of that. It was F&M's. That’s what F&M's is for.

There aren't many significant stories. (Okay, there are a few about Stephanie, but ask me in person. She shot me a Lizzie-Shame-Glare-Minus-The-Squawk when Max, our knight in shining armor who drove us home, asked if she was a Hot Mess.)

Sunday

...was pretty much sleep and recuperation. Mass. Sunday night supper. Molly (who I met at a previous F&M's date party, on the pool table, and was present last night) mused and reminisced(?) on the fun. You can reminisce without remembering!

I was wrong, 21 was not the last good birthday. Like last year, some people couldn’t make it to the real day, so they insisted on celebrating later in the week. Except unlike my last "birthweek," food replaced drinks this time.

Thank you everyone who took me out to eat, bought me drinks, greeted me, etc. I have amazing friends and am grateful for y'all.

Oh yeah, pray for Adrian. It’s hell week.

here's the kick-off

Sunday

The festivities began Sunday night at Madigan's. Stephanie and I were the first ones there, so we played the world’s greatest game of pool. We're sharks. Watch out. Josh, Rachael, and Brian soon showed up. After impressing them with the last few minutes of our mad pool skills, we did a quick round then went to Walgreens. Rachael bought Josh a beard clipper as a birthday present, and we looked at birthday cards for a while. Then we went to Baskin Robbins, but only a few of us actually bought ice cream. The rest saved room in our stomachs.

We moved on to Uptown Cajun, where the majority of people showed up. Lauren, Lizzie, Becca, Nicole, Leah, Courteney, Whitney, Puja, Ben, Katy, and last but certainly not least Adrian and Monica. My parents called around eleven and then again at midnight. Good times. I think it was also around this time that people started marking the drinks they bought me off on my arm and writing signatures and birthday messages on it.

We also stopped by Bruno's, both old and new, where one of the bartenders jokingly asked Adrian and me if we were twins. I think it was here that I saw Laura and Helen. Sylvia(!) and Lizzie showed up too. Moira was there maybe? Or maybe I'm just so used to seeing her there that I just imagine her when she’s not. A bunch of Adrian’s friends were there too. Rachael and Josh played an amazing game of pool, which he totally remembers, but before that I had the honor of buying him his first legal drink first drink ever. We called G.Ho a few times. She didn't answer.

We went to The Rat, where we ran into even more people, for food and beer. I vaguely remember buying ice cream from the vending machines. And then we called it a night.

a very Good Friday

Last night was awesome. Nicole, her friend Brenna, David, and I started off in their friend Travis' "modular housing." (She told us to go to the trailer with all the booze in it and the Christmas lights. I thought it sounded very similar to Snake & Jake's and thus awesome.) I'll say at this point that Lauren, Storey, Becca, her friend Jamie, Whitney, Jordan, Mike, and Matilda all showed up at some point. And Brenna, Nicole and Travis disappeared eventually. Anyway, we went to Pat O'Brien's, where I bought Nicole and Brenna shots and... reaped the rewards even though no one else except our jack-ass waiter was paying attention. Then some of us went to 80s Night at One Eyed Jacks which was intense and as good or better than pre-hurricane. The line extended forever, but the place was packed and jumping inside. I guess since no one had work or school the next day. We like a prayed, killed the radio star, thrilled, 99 red ballooned, didn't stop believing, spun round like records, and tainted love. Michelle, one of Chad's most favorite Latinas, was there. We "crazy-danced" the way he would and internationally drunk-texted him. At night's end, Whitney and I went to Big Easy for food.

David and I began today by going to lunch at Franky & Johnny's. (In Louisiana, when Catholics can't have meat on Friday, they have crawfish boils.) We each polished off a batch of crawfish, his accompanied by french fries and mine by pepper rings.

Whitney, Tully, and I went to Creole Creamery. Their "skyscraper" (a very tall sundae with layers of chocolate, vanilla, and cookies and cream ice cream, hot fudge, caramel, crushed Oreos, whipped cream, and a cherry) is fantastic.

Lauren's felt "left out" for a while because she's never... partook in an experience almost every "real" college student has. So we, a group of ten or so, commenced this mission at Columns happy hour. After that, some of us moved on to Taqueria Corona for dinner. Sangria, cebollitos (grilled green onions), chips, pico de gallo... and their "numero tres" (tacos, flauta, burrito, beans, rice). I made sure to get everything made of shrimp and a little fish to avoid the meat.

After that, Lauren, Storey, Nicole and I went to Creole Creamery. Yes, again. Nicole took a picture of my plaque and me. I got a "I scream fudge" ice cream soda this time. With chocolate soda. Storey and I agree: No such thing as too much chocolate.

Back here, Becca rejoined our little party, and with Steph, Sarah, and her friends watching, we recommenced the mission... armed with everclear and mixers. We played "Presidents and Assholes," and Lauren was The Asshole most of the time. Mission accomplished!

other people's photos

The following photographs are courtesy of Shannon Will, Abita Banana, Lauren Ruth, Ryanne Clarke, and Caitlin Tully. The first three are from spring break in Panama City Beach; the following four are from "Freshman Night" last Thursday.

Shan and myself donning the life vests

with "Rosie" and "Abita" for our first dip in the hot tub

chillin' at Hooters with my favorite off-duty waitress

exact replicas of those Butler 216 boys in freshman year

I bought Ry an appletini, but a Kara'd be more freshman year.

with Steph, "Quick. Do something freshman year!"

Becca's midriff... totally freshman year

April Fools' Day

The highlight of today was, easily, eating. Stephanie and I took Samantha and Jeanine to Jacques-Imo's. But we forgot that it was closed on Sunday, so we went to Dante's Kitchen instead. I think I always forget how good Dante's is until I go again. I got a "crab threeway" (crab claws, lump crab meat on avocado with key lime vinaigrette, and a crab cake) for an appetizer and caramelized yellow fin tuna with soy butter sauce and merliton slaw. We all tried each others' food, and everything was delicious.

We opted for Creole Creamery for dessert, where Samantha, Jeanine, and I took on a Tchoupitoulas Sundae while Stephanie watched and was too full to eat even a spoonful. Our eight flavors were: cake batter, chocolate amaretto cheesecake, cookie monster (cookie dough and cookies and cream) Creole cream cheese, Gianduja (a dark chocolate Nutella), pink peppermint pie, raspberry sorbet, and red velvet cake. Our eight toppings were: bananas, butterscotch, caramel, chocolate chips, marshmallow creme, M&M's, nuts, and Oreos. And of course the whipped cream, sprinkles, and cherries.

I'm not sure how I finished one on my own before.

And no, nothing in the above was an April Fools' Day joke. Those Tchoupitoulas Sundaes were destroyed both times. For anyone who missed my April fools' tribute, here's a screen capture:

4/1/07 facebook profile

the freakin' weekend...

Baby, I'm havin' some fun...

What happened yesterday? Class. Nap. Whole Foods. Dinner with Matt and Becca at Brooks' place. I made a semi-Cobb at the WF salad bar, and Brooks had picked up sushi from Sake Cafe. I ordered my favorites, spicy yellowtail and New Orleans rolls. We played with Trek, his ex's dog, and Matt and Becca helped me completely fill in the blanks from Thursday night.

In the interest of privacy, I'll leave names out, but note that someone is singular and people is very plural. Here are more things that happened which I forgot in my previous update.

• people snuck into bars
• people pretty much made out
• people groped others' breasts, buttocks, and/or crotches
  
• people had nip slips
  
• people told someone they would do them
• people were throwing themselves at inappropriate people
• people fell... often into things or other people
  
• people couldn't drive/walk/read/speak
• people got laughed at by workers at The Rat
  
• people got into arguments over nothing
  
• someone accidentally hit someone else
• someone hid in the art building from someone else
  
• someone seriously danced with a stripper pole
• someone discussed their sex toys
• people passed out, impervious to light and noise
  
• people woke up still drunk
  
• someone woke up on a couch holding melted ice cream
  

Last night was much less Tara Reid. Some friends and I went to Karma. Last one ever. Sob. It was some people's first time ever, and it was also Tara's and my first Jacque-less one. The mix of food, drink, hip-hop, reggaeton, and bhangra was still amazing. Stephanie brought Samantha and Jeanine, just like I brought Adrian last year. Tara, Ian, Alison, Whitney, Lauren, David, Becca, and many others were also in attendance.

Some of us shuffled back and forth between Nirvana and the oh-so-cheap drinks at The Club: Miss Mae's. At the end of the night, Whitney and I went with some people to the only bar that's more of a dive than Mae's... Snake & Jake's.

bringin' freshman back

Terrorism and lunch with Tara. Typical Thursday.

Very atypical Thursday night! Ryanne had the bright idea of us going to Vera Cruz for margaritas and TJQuills for drinks after to relive the fun of freshman year... even though we're now old seniors. I surprised her with a special present: Kathleen "MIA" Fanone. (It would have been a present to Sylvia too, but she didn't come.) She, David and I even dressed up in old freshman year clothing to recreate "the look."

We went with Whitney, David, and Tully to Vera Cruz. Several flavors of margarita pitcher. Sauza shots on me. I knew NONE of the servers at Vera Cruz, which is probably in it's hundredth revision... just to show how long it's been since I've been there.

Kathleen had an emergency and left, but Stephanie, her sister Samantha, their Pinay friend Jeanine, Becca, Matt, and Paul joined us at T.J. Quills. Pretty awesome. I finally got my Choy sandwich to balance out the Marin one Steph got last year when Adrian visited.

Quills was fun. There was popcorn. Ry and I got appletinis to commemorate freshman year. (R.I.P. Kara "Whorkus" Wagner.) My favorite Quills bartender was there and was all "never thought I'd see you again!" My reply: "Old habits die hard." He gave me free shots.

We went to Phillips next. Danielle, my favorite lab partner ever, was bartending! I thought she left after graduation. She gave me more free shots. Good times. So was Jason "press menswear" Warrington. That brings the count of people-Sylvia-loves-with-me-tonight to TWO.

Whit, Tull, and I went to The Palms next to close out the night. It was packed. I LOVE it around that two in the morning time. I missed Chad Michael like whoa though. Dalia&Co were there too. Awesome.

We closed out the night at The Rat splittin' a turkey sub with "everything," a bacon cheddar burger, and a chicken tender combo. Then Whitney and I got ice cream for dessert.

I'd call this a good day.

Debate in terrorism class. Lunch with Tara. We caught up on our spring breaks. Shannon and Shivani joined us for lunch. Screenwriting class. I apparently forgot to attach my screenplay to the E-mail I sent out, but miraculously I was still ahead of the game because the other two presenters either forgot to send out E-mails or just entirely forgot to... write something? We watched a few clips from Goodfellas which is a fantastic movie.

Our class went out to dinner at Juan's Flying Burrito. I took Abie's suggestion to actually try his favorite... the fish tacos. (Yes, literal fish tacos.) They were surprisingly good. We ended up spending about $100 on food and then another $100 on drinks. (This is impressive considering their happy hour special was $1 beers and 2-for-1 margaritas but whatever.) Then we decided to buy a $50 chocolate cake, but that was worth it.

Back here, I took cake over to Lauren and Steph and then invited Whitney over to have some. She brought Ryanne and Tully with her for a study break.

I decided to be "responsible" or whatever and stayed in after instead of going out with the screenwriting people again...

Thursday and Friday

Very early Thursday morning, when Lauren and I left Uptown Cajun, we realized neither of us had an umbrella. I assumed she'd brought hers because mine was broken, and she assumed the rain was over. We were wrong. So wrong.

Well, we bonded with a nice walk in the rain. Only pelagic organisms should be allowed to be as wet we were. We couldn't have been more soaked if we had jumped into a pool. Seriously.

I decided to do late-night laundry and threw my sheets and towel in with my sopping clothes. But a few washing AND drying machines were broken. They wasted my quarters, so what should have been an hour-long laundry process took over two.

After about an hour of sleep, I went to the UC with Shannon to shadow her FBI interview and make her feel more comfortable. The gentleman asked me not to sit with them during it, which isn't surprising, so I hope my presence was of some help to her.

Terrorism, lunch with Tara, studying. I told Lauren I'd make dinner, so I pan-seared filet mignons (marinated with olive oil, garlic, sea salt, and mixed peppers) in butter. Well, I barely pan-seared them because Lauren likes her meat, very rare, mooing at her.

We met up with Steph to go see the Menage A Capella concert. Them, Green Envy, and a group from UT. Pretty awesome.

Friday was an adolescent psych exam (administered by the TA) then two more classes and FREEEEEEEDOM. Really loud. Braveheart-style. Lauren, Steph, Becca and I went to happy hour at The Columns, where I ran into Sonny and the professor who skipped his own exam that morning for a "conference." I hope he remembers the Manhattan I bought him when he grades. We went to the levee afterward to visit Sarah and Maddie, victims of flight cancellation.

P.S. trois more Mardi Gras pictures

All of these photos are courtesy of Evian White via Lauren Mitchell.

with Evian, Lauren, and Peter at Bruno's on Sunday Gras

Lundi Gras: waitin' line at Cafe du Monde

Steph's not actually lonely, and we're not actually judging her.

Monday again?

Today's been pretty chill. My day began at midnight at The Rat. Whitney suggested food and beer. Great idea.

Classes. Late lunch. Rachel came over, and we watched The Talented Mr. Ripley because she'd never seen it.

After that, Lauren and I went to the dinner reception for and reading by Elizabeth McCracken at the Newcomb Institute and Rogers Chapel, respectively. Stephanie was introducing her, and naturally Lauren and I were there for moral support. (Well, perhaps Lauren was motivated by the food too.)

"I hope you don't screw up." - Lauren

"I hope you don't fall on your face walking over there." - Me

"I hope you don't both DIE in the next minute when I punch you in the face." - Steph

Mardi Gras '07: part two

liftin' Lindsay to get more beads

with Ben between parades

with Carter and boas

piano man at Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Bar

apparently it'll be a huge party. see y'all there!

H.R.M. King Okeanos '07

Stephanie, Peter, and their sunglasses

Where'd the weekend go?

Friday was classes then groceries. Then began the back-to-back laser tag nights. Yeah. Apparently when you turn 22 you want to reaffirm your youth, so you decide to play laser tag. Ryanne and Ben, indepedently of each other, both wanted to play laser tag for their birthdays. Friday was Ben's night. We went with Katy&Co. After that I had made a raspberry tiramisu for Tara since she wasn't at Italian Night, so she and Ian came over. They approved. (Personally I prefer the strawberry version, less tart and less sweet. The raspberry version looks better though because it's a burgundy color and the berries require no chopping and distribute more uniformly.)

Shannon came over to have tiramisu also and convinced me to go to Beaux Arts Ball, the architecture party, at the last minute. I didn't have a costume ready. The theme was ConNEXTion. So she wrapped me in packaging tape because tape connects things? Whatever. Beaux Arts was fun. All the architects were drunk as usual.

The rest of the night is a bit of a blur: The Boot, J(ai)L Hall, The W Hotel, and then some French people's party somewhere.

Saturday was pretty chill. Laser tag again that night, Ryanne's "party." We had to split up into two groups of four because there weren't enough slots for all eight of us. Stephanie and I were on the red team and were assigned the code names "Cinderella" and "Aladdin." I had a lot of fun shooting the bitchy old couple who made two kids give up their vests and guns 'cause they accidentally let too many people in.

After that was a quick trip to the Big Easy because Lauren was hungry, and I just hung out at home the rest of the night. Mommie Dearest, which I'd never seen, and Bram Stoker's Dracula, which is one of my favorites, were both on TV. MD is a fucked up movie.

Sunday I made "macaroni" (really penne) and cheese from scratch to tide me over until Mexican Night. I'm never going to make the orange crap that comes out of the box again.

Mexican Night was a huge success although apparnetly "Mexican" is synonymous with "dip" because we had at least four of them. But one of them was Stephanie's guacamole, so I was automatically satisfied with our menu. We also had chicken and vegetable fajitas, Mexican lasagne, beans and rice, various forms of corn chips, a cake decorated with a Mexican flag, "Dos Amigos" ice cream (Mexican vanilla and Mexican chocolate), and of course, the strawberry tiramisu that we pretended was Mexican.

Just like Thanksgiving and Italian Night, we all said what we were thankful for (but Mexican things this time.) I guess that went succesffuly and unoffensively.

Some of us stayed after to watch The Oscars, but by the end only Becca, Leah, and I were left. I was happy because all of my predictions (Babel, Little Miss Sunshine, Helen Mirren, Martin Scorsese, Pan's Labyrinth, and THE DEPARTED) won except one.

HAPPY MARDI GRAS

I'm sure it'll be no surprise that actual Mardi Gras itself was anticlimactic. Well, it always is for me at least because everyone is intoxicated and exhausted. And at that point I don't even care anymore. I don't even call for beads or Zulu coconuts, let alone catch them. I just kind of bat the flying objects away from my face, so I don't get bruised by eager throwers. (It's happened to others.)

On that topic, the best beads I got this year were not the ones that were signature to each parade, not the Christmas ornament size ones, or not even the must-catch clay medallions. My favorite were the fiber-optic Muses beads that light up and changes colors.

Anyway, despite being drained and drunk, Mardi Gras was tons of fun.

After Nacho Mama's, we hit up "The Daiq Shack." They had a special on large daiquiris, so we got those.

At Stephanie's apartment, we hung out with Sarah and watched The Butterfly Effect (which was on TV) and Mean Girls (from my DVD collection). I was able to find a drinking game for the former and had long ago concocted one for the latter, so we played both.

After those, we got ready and headed out to "Tequila Sunrise" at The Boot. (I'll just say at this point that almost everyone local went to Zulu, so I won't even bother dropping names.) We saw two awesome guys standing outside. The first was wearing a nice blazer but eating french fries out the trash can, and the second was making out with two different girls next to the porta-potties. Some of us stopped by The Palms for a bit. I guess they got tired of being classy, so they replaced their pool table with a stripper pole? Then a handful of us went to Jackson & St. Charles early to stake out our spot.

Stephanie and David had found a great little market next to Igor's (where we get Bloody Marys) where we could get hot breakfast. It was beyond awesome to have eggs, bacon, sausage links and patties, hash browns, grits, and biscuits all fresh and ready to eat. Zulu was fun. A few of us left before Rex. Sarah, sober sister/hero of the day, was nice enough to pick us up.

When I got up after the most glorious pass-out ever (no fire alarms like last year's Mardi Gras pass-out), I went to dinner with Lauren, Evian, and Stephanie. Apparently Mardi Gras coincides with National Pancake Day this year, so we went to IHOP for dinner/breakfast.

I've been putting the Gras in Mardi Gras all break as any avid reader would know by now. So I had the chicken fried steak dinner, which came with corn, onion rings, garlic bread, and a side salad. And of course I took advantage of the free pancakes for NPD.

I'm going to justify all those carbs with the fact that carbs soak up alcohol, and it was the end of Mardi Gras. Do the math.

My mom asked if I had "a picture or two" I could show her from this Mardi Gras season. It's more like "a hundred or two hundred." They'll be up eventually. Here's the very last one. We're laughing because Lauren had just shoved David to the side and said "I'm the girl. I get to be in the middle!"

HAPPY MARDI GRAS
AND HAPPY ASH WEDNESDAY TOO

Lundi Gras

My day began with wakeup by Peter and a phone call with Ben. All our newly awakened, hoarse-from-too-much-partying-and-drinking, Tara Reid voices sounded exactly the same. A shower fixed that.

Lauren, her friend Evian, Stephanie, and I went to Mother's Restaurant downtown for lunch. It was amazing. Evian doesn't eat red meat or seafood so she got a chicken poboy, but the rest of us formulated a plan of attack that would get us what I consider the best stuff Mother's Menu has to offer: Ferdi's Po-Boy, a dressed po-boy of roast beef, ham, debris, and cheese; the combination plate (Jerry's Jambalaya, crawfish ettoufee, red beans and rice); a fried oyster plate; and an absolute overload of potato salad. Then we split some delicious peach bread pudding for dessert.

After that we walked down bourbon so Evian could see it, showed her Pat O'Brien's, bought drinks. and had a sang the afternoon away at their Piano Bar before walking to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and by the river.

We went back uptown to Ben's place for Proteus and Orpheus where David and OMG Sylvia(!!!), with Jack in tow, joined us. We went out to dinner at Nacho Mama's after and pretty much dove headfirst into some guac. I highly recommend the shrimp and bacon quesadilla.

We left dinner at eleven to finalized plans for our last Mardi Gras.

Sundi Gras

Sunday started off with a trip to Popeyes, so it was a good day by default. David and I picked up the chicken he bought for the day long camp out on the neutral ground that our group of friends planned for the Krewes of Okeanos, Thoth, Mid-City, and Bacchus. It was amazingly successful. I'd say about fifty people were there at one point. Besides the Popeyes (and requisite biscuits and sides), we had king cakes, chips, crawfish, burgers, hot/corn dogs, random food items people bought from nearby places all day, and gallons of beer and liquor. (There was a creation of a controversial new drink called "The Peter," which is cranberry juice, vodka, and champagne.)

I got kicked in the stomach! Looking back, it was pretty hilarious. I'll be nice and not say who the culprit was. I was upstairs with some other people in the apartment of our friend Brooks, who was nice enough to let us use his bathroom. I went back down the stairs to head out to St. Charles when I saw a girl coming in, looking madder than a wet hen and soaking wet. I said "____, what happened to you???" And I admit I was chuckling a bit because it was a funny sight. "I HATE YOU. DON'T TALK TO ME OR TAKE A PICTURE. I'LLFUCKINGKILLYOU!" Then she kicked me in the gut and ran away.

Explanation? Apparently Drunk Cosmin, who was watching the parade from a window upstairs spilled his beer... and it landed on poor _____. She thought I had decided to throw alcohol on her then run downstairs to laugh at her. Pretty funny. Well, maybe not to her.

At the end of the parades, ______ and I rode back with another fun Drunk Girl and got caught in traffic. _____ took a nap on me, and we cuddled and she said "we should sleep together more often." At the end of the ride - luckily Sober Peter was driving - she told me it was the best nap she ever had and napping on me was "like sleeping on a cloud!" I guess that kick softened me up?

Carter&Co, Nicole, and I went out to dinner but wound up at New Bruno's because everywhere else was already closed or extremely busy. Everyone else got the usual cheese fries and sandwiches, but Will and I decided to accompany our Black 'N Bleus Burgers (dressed 1/2 pounders with bacon and blue cheese) with Debris Fries, which are amazing waffle fries topped generously with roast beef debris, green onion, and a little horseradish sauce.

After a pitcher of beer, we walked back to Nicole's place for the travelers to crash and for me to say seeya to 'em. And somewhere in that ten minutes, the world fell apart.

When I got back to Bruno's, Car Ride Drunk Girl had apparently left due to a personal crisis of sorts. And members of the baseball team that had been bickering in Bruno's had been exiled to the street where they were openly brawling now. Bouncers from both of the Bruno's had to pull them apart and eventually N.O.P.D. showed up. At the end of this, I was about to walk back in and some bitch tried to shove me out of the way. Then I realized the bitch was Kicking-Cloud Drunk _____. She said she was so happy to see me, and then she hugged me and went to stand in the corner and looked upset. She called me over, and I asked what was wrong and if I'd seen Someone, and I told her I hadn't, and she told me to leave her alone. Emphasis added for irony's sake. Then Lauren came rushing out to save the day.

Eventually Lauren came back, and life was fun again. Lots of other people were there too. Sometime after as-yet-unmentioned Drunk Girls had made out (apparently prompted by my t-shirt) another new Drunk Girl grinded with Jordan to Boyz II Men's "I'll Make Love To You." They were grinding in front of the dartboards to the chagrin of all the players. I wouldn't want to piss off people holding darts but whatever. Last Drunk Girl of the Evening decided to throw up in her drink, set it back down on the table, and pick up a new one. (That's when Lauren and I decided it was time to leave.)

On the way out, those two tried to convince me that New Orleans is "pretty tame" and that Gainesville is the party capital of the country. They asked what time our bars closed. Ours don't! Shut up, bitches.

I like [drunk] girls that like [drunk] girls.