9 Likes, 1 Comments - Lagniappe Life (@lagniappe_life) on Instagram: "Basically, here's the situation 🤣 #neworleans #lake #lagniappelife #nola #louisiana #geography"
My grand littles, Danielle, came in town for a visit. Her timing couldn’t have been better! The weather was PERFECT and I was much in need of a pick me up from a friend. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I sent Danielle on some outings by herself while I was at work and then we met up to play tourist together in the afternoons and evenings.
Wednesday we roamed Magazine Street, Frenchmen Street, and the Jackson Square areas of New Orleans. I found Danielle at Basin Seafood tucked in the corner looking all adorable snacking on crawfish and crab stuffed beignets. From there we roamed Magazine Street and the adorable houses around there. Then we headed over to Frenchmen Street where we roamed through the market and settled in for dinner at B.B. Kings, like the majority of places they had live music. We ventured over to Jackson Square for a daiquiri and some tricentennial celebrations. The 300 sign was clearly drinking too much and couldn’t stay lit up completely. Then we roamed back through the French Market and up Frenchmen Street to checkout the night art market. This story would not be complete without telling you that we both learned to play the ugh I’m not even sure what it’s called. But we learned to play the whatever with the very famous guy who confidently said “I taught Mark Zuckerburg how to play, that’s why I’m on Facebook!” despite telling him I wasn't musically inclined (if you know who the guy is let me know so I can tag him).
Basin Seafood
Basin Seafood- stuffed beignets
Basin Seafood- stuffed beignets
Danielle at Basin Seafood
Us on Magazine Street
9 Likes, 1 Comments - Lagniappe Life (@lagniappe_life) on Instagram: ""date night" is getting changed up tonight #lagniappelife #nola #neworleans #bbkings #datenight"
Tricentennial celebration in Jackson Square
Daiquiri stop in Jackson Square
Frenchmen Street Night Art Market
strolling the market
Frenchmen Street Night Art Market
Here is what Danielle thought of Day 1.
43 Likes, 8 Comments - Danielle * TakingOffFromRVA (@takingofffromrva) on Instagram: "I couldn't have asked for a better day to explore Magazine street. The weather was amazing, the..."
Thursday after work I went and met Danielle in Baton Rouge. We had BBQ from T.J. Ribs so she could see the Heisman trophy, Shaquille ONeill’s giant shoes, and a cochon de lait. From there we headed over to campus so she could see the beautiful LSU Lakes (and play bumper cars), Greek row houses, stately oaks and broad magnolias, and of course Mike. Mike was in a very playful mood to say the least! He was running around, jumping in the water, and giving people high fives through the glass! We left campus and headed downtown to see the old govenors mansion, old state capital, and stop in the Kingfish Lounge for my favorite blueberry lemondrop martinis. Unfortunately we couldn’t see much of the USS Kidd since Tom Hanks and his film crew were more important filming a new movie. But we were able to watch the sunset over the beautiful Mississippi River. We left there to wonder down Third Street to Boudreaux and Thibodeaux’s to introduce Danielle to Boudan Balls. With the Pelicans tip-off starting in any second we decided to call it a night and head home to watch the second half of the game from my sofa with calzones from Rotolo’s.
TJ Ribs cochon de lait
Mike
Danielle at Mike's habitat
Mike
Mike giving out high fives
43 Likes, 2 Comments - Danielle * TakingOffFromRVA (@takingofffromrva) on Instagram: "Y'all, today I met MIKE. Hands down the most epic school mascot. 🐯 . It was another long day here..."
Blueberry lemon-drop martinis
35 Likes, 2 Comments - Lagniappe Life (@lagniappe_life) on Instagram: "#Repost @takingofffromrva with @get_repost ・・・ Headed down to the French quarter today but still..."
Movie filming on USS Kidd
While we were out on this girls adventure hubs had one of his own. Hubs went to the Pelicans game with some of our friends. He even got to go on the court after the game and meet some of the Trailblazer players!
Friday after work I got home to see that hubs had taken Danielle on his version of Louisiana tour; Cane’s, drive through dacquiri shop, and PJ’s coffee. We hung out at the house enjoying the lake life from the hammock and then taught Danielle how to eat boiled crawfish.
Louisiana Standards; drive through daiquiris, Cane's, and PJ's.
8 Likes, 1 Comments - Lagniappe Life (@lagniappe_life) on Instagram: "#Repost @dnogle with @get_repost ・・・ When in Louisiana... ❥ . #Crawfish #crawfishboil #louisiana..."
6 Likes, 2 Comments - Lagniappe Life (@lagniappe_life) on Instagram: "This dude is just laid back chillin (📸 @takingofffromrva ) #lagniappelife #louisiana #crawfish"
Saturday was the annual Zip-lock fishing tournament and camp out on the bayou for hubs so we had over 24 hours of girl time. We started off the day with a quick tour of an old cemetery. Which worked up a significant appetite for our Jazz brunch at Commander’s Palace. It has been at least 4 years since I’ve ventured down to Commander’s so this was a real treat! Since we planned to be there right at 11:00 when they opened, I didn't think we needed a reservation, I was wrong. There weren't any people there but apparently walking in was not encouraged since we were given "the only remaining table" and a very stern look about not having a reservation even though we looked adorable in our little sundresses. We enjoyed the jazz band making it an extra special brunch and ate wayyyy too much! We finished eating and needed to waddle through the Garden District to digest the deliciousness. We saw a group on a fire truck party bus and decided we need an excuse for it, if you have an idea for an occasion excuse let us know! We popped in and out of places while we walked picking up the occasional drinkie-poo (open carry should be allowed everywhere). Pelicans excitement has swept over the area so we pulled some strings to score tickets to the game with my friends! We no longer needed to be jealous of hubs going to the game and the post game locker room visit without us. I can’t emphasize enough how much fun we had with the unbelievable energy in the whole building!!! I'm beyond grateful for the tickets and experience! After the game we skipped over to Bourbon Street because why not. I introduced Danielle to Charbroil oysters at Bourbon House and we finished the night with their milk punches for dessert.
Ponchatoula Strawberry Salad
Sliced Louisiana strawberries, grilled red onions, cracked black pepper chèvre, tender greens, smoked almonds and basil-white balsamic vinaigrette
Truffled Mushroom & Dirty Rice Gnocchi
All the flavors of Louisiana dirty rice in this artisan gnocchi with a porcini & wild mushroom ragù, tender greens and parmesan whipped Creole cream cheese
New Orleans Barbecued Gulf Shrimp
Seared Gulf shrimp crusted with rosemary, garlic and lemon zest over goat cheese grits with charred chilies & New Orleans barbecue butter
Cochon De Lait Eggs Benedict
16-hour barbecue shoulder of pork over buttermilk biscuits with poached hen’s eggs, ripped herbs, sauce forestière and housemade tasso hollandaise
Creole Bread Pudding Soufflé and Ponchatoula Strawberry Shortcake
36 Likes, 2 Comments - Danielle * TakingOffFromRVA (@takingofffromrva) on Instagram: "When in New Orleans you cheer for the home team! 🏀⚜️ . Let's go PELICANS! ---------------- . . . ...."
8 Likes, 3 Comments - Lagniappe Life (@lagniappe_life) on Instagram: "Still on a high from witnessing the @pelicansnba sweep! #lagniappelife #basketball #nba #playoffs..."
charbroiled oysters BEFORE
charbroiled oysters AFTER
Burbon Milk Punch
Sunday morning was bitter sweet taking Danielle back to the airport. We had such a great time while she was in town and plenty of long overdue catching up! I’m beyond thankful for her coming to visit and giving me the little energy boost I needed.
Hubs was bad and didn’t get any pictures from the fishing tournament or spending the night on the bayou so fuss at him for not sharing!
XOXO
The Mr. & Amanda
For more details about Danielle’s adventure in the bayou with us follow her here. This is her final score as of Monday morning.
34 Likes, 1 Comments - Danielle * TakingOffFromRVA (@takingofffromrva) on Instagram: "Headed into Monday like... . New Orleans: 1 Me: 0. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect trip,..."
*Obligatory blogger disclaimer: I was not paid for anything in this post.