Anyways, I shall be outlining my culinary adventures here over the next few weeks, starting with my stay in New Orleans.
Ah, New Orleans. How do I begin to describe your beauty? Few cities in the US compare to your antiquity, your great architecture, and your unique culture. Fewer can boast that despite hardship, their resilient spirit has prevailed and their way of life is preserved.
We have friends that live outside of Baton Rouge that we've known for over ten years, and we were very close in our childhood. I remember visiting them a couple of years before Katrina hit, and noting how wonderful a city it was. I remember going to the aquarium and looking out from the windows at the Mississippi, how big it looked compared to the sharks and other critters I had just seen. What I remember most of all were the otters, though. For whatever reason, I really liked watching them play around in their little tank, swimming so gracefully, and floating on their backs so effortlessly. It was mesmerizing to me, in a way that I don't really understand any more. I was so impressed that I had my dad buy me this little rubber otter that was no bigger than my index finger that I kept on my bedside table for years. When Katrina hit, I thought of two things: how our friends were, and whether the otters in the aquarium were ok. Oh the things that children remember...
After that, everyone talked about how New Orleans would never be the same, and how it was so devastating and terrible that it should happen. It made me sad to think that the otters probably weren't safe, or alive for that matter, so I would ask my parents what New Orleans was like before the hurricane, since the Aquarium was all I really remembered. They told me about the French Quarter, the Superdome, the crawfish, and most of all, Cafe Du Monde.
The outside of this American culinary Meca
The way they described it sounded glorious: the best beignets and coffee you could ever imagine. Of course, I had no idea what a beignet was, but whatever it was, in my mind it had to be godly to warrant such praise from my parents. I grew older and came to learn what a beignet was; it's basically a rectangle of fried dough covered with powdered sugar, and quite delicious, I might add. Another way to look at it is a Cajun doughnut, kinda like how the Italians have their zeppoles and the hispanics have churros and buñuelos. And of course, how the American policeman has his beloved doughnut (how could I forget?)
So, naturally, when we went to New Orleans in June, I made sure that we stopped (twice actually...) at the famous coffee counter to have some beignets and some Cafe au Lait (no one I was with minded too terribly much :P).
My mouth waters looking at them now...
These things were freaking glorious. They lived up to the hype 100%. They were just fluffy enough, and the mountain of powdered sugar added nice flavor to the mix, although I wish they wouldn't put so much on them... I mean, come on. No one person should ever consume that much powdered sugar in one sitting. That's just disgusting. I shook most of it off, leaving a light veneer of sugar on top, which was absolutely heavenly. Add Cafe au Lait to the mix, and you'll feel like a Cajun policeman. Although I have to say that the coffee by itself was a little watery and wasn't much to swoon over. Cafe con leche wins, in my humble opinion.
So the next time you find yourself in N'Awleans, you would be doing yourself a disservice if you did not go to Cafe du Monde and have some beignets and coffee. Or any place anywhere that sells beignets . You won't be disappointed.
