oak street po-boy festival

 fresh off the coattails of our lawmakers' decision to promote childhood obesity, the city of new orleans (being the picture of health, after all) hosted probably the most highly-anticipated food festival of the year: the oak street po-boy festival. in an attempt to beat the crowds - because, you know, god forbid we have to wait in line to buy a 3rd, 4th or 5th po-boy - we skipped breakfast and hit the fest at 11. by 11:15 i was satiated and by 11:30 i had commenced self-loathing. thankfully oak street is long, parking was limited and the temperature hit 80 degrees by noon, so by the time we reached the car, i had sweated out at least one of the po-boys and an entire beer (which, in my mind, means i broke even by having one normal-sized meal. go me). 

ya. i don't know.

the bread had more security than herman cain.

new orleans food co-op grand opening

 over the weekend marty and i stopped by the new orleans food co-op grand opening party. the co-op is in the new orleans healing center, which is an amazing community center that houses a gym, yoga studio, used book shop, credit union, a cafe (that doubles as a theatre), and lots of other businesses geared toward wellness and learning. the co-op is is basically a porn shop for a foodie, with the organic fare and rarities like pink himalayan salt. upon entering i busied myself with the free samples and walked away with some locally-made habanero pepper and mango jelly from pepperland farms, which i've since been slathering on anything edible.

oktoberfest

 one of my favorite fall activities is oktoberfest - it's an excuse to enjoy craft beers and brats while doing the chicken dance in marginally cooler weather. on saturday night marty and i met up with some of my work friends in kenner for deutsches haus' annual celebration. interestingly, new orleans has a very strong german presence... meanwhile, when i try to google "polish" and "new orleans" in the same search, all i get are nail salons (no joke).  

mom and dad visit - part 2

 following our swamp tour my parents and i went to middendorf's to re-fuel and relax on the breezy dock. the weather was beautiful, the coronas were cold and the fish was deliciously fresh. later in the day we went to art for art's sake on magazine, which the annual new orleans event i look forward to most. every antique store, art gallery and boutique on magazine opens its doors after hours and provides drinks, hors d'oeuvres (ya, i had to google the correct spelling of that), entertainment and discounts (!!!). basically, it's all of my favorite things in one evening (wine, cheese, music and deals:). 

mom and dad [finally] visit - part 1

 my parents finallyyyy came to visit last weekend to enjoy the beautiful weather and see our new apartment. the last time they visited together was over two years ago. dad came last year to help me move in (see pictures from our trip here, here, here, and here). mom visited a few weeks later during the Great Blog Hiatus and Computer Destruction of 2010-2011, so i don't have any blog posts to link to... but i can tell you that mom's visits always result it a lot of wine and shopping and marty having to drive us everywhere. to celebrate my parents' return to the big easy, we had an action-packed weekend full of my favorite things: beignets from cafe du monde, some yard sales, a swamp tour, a trip to middendorf's for their famous thin fried catfish, and a jaunt on magazine street for art for art's sake. and that was just one day :) here are some pictures from the first half of saturday...