corinne and becky take new orleans.

so, as you already know, my sister, corinne, and her best friend, becky, arrived in nola late wednesday evening.  after i picked them up from the airport, the girls let me know they were famished and corinne suggested i take them to raising cane's, a fast food joint that only serves chicken fingers (delicious ones, at that).  afterwards, we headed home and it was early to bed for me, since i had to work the next day.

we made plans for them to meet me for lunch on thursday.  this required corinne to drop me off at work on thursday morning, since they would have to use my car to get around.  so she had to get up early, which was fun for her, haha!  they met me around noontime and we went to empire state deli, a little new york-style deli down the street.  corinne and i both really like it there, and it was quick and easy (although i know it's not traditional new orleans-fare, but we didn't have much time to find something else).  then they headed off to the mall (because they both forgot to pack something green for st. patty's day!) and i head back to work.  they picked me up a few hours later, and we decided to pick up some popeyes chicken for dinner.

after we ate, we got dressed (green beads and all) and then the girls, ernest and i headed downtown to the st. patty's day parade.  it wasn't as big of a parade as the mardi gras ones, but it was still pretty cool and the girls got plenty of green beads, flowers and all kinds of other junk.  they also got plenty of kisses from all the men handing out beads!!  it was lots of fun and i'm glad they got a mini-mardi gras experience.

on friday, i decided to work only a half-day to spend most of it with corinne and becky in the french quarter, so ernest dropped the girls off downtown around 1 and we headed over to landry's for some lunch.  the girls had shrimp and fish po-boys and i had a cheeseburger.  we also had seafood stuffed mushrooms that were so delicious!  i forgo to take pictures, though (insert unhappy face here).   then we walked down decatur, wandered into shops and took pictures here and there.  we made sure to get some beignets at cafe du monde and visit the french market, though becky was the only one to buy anything, mostly souvenirs.  we also got a chance to ride the trolley, which was nice, though it didn't occur to me to figure out which one would best get us to where we needed to be.  oops!

friday night we decided to do something simple and went for some laid-back seafood at zydeco's.  y'all know i love that place.  ernest is not quite as excited about it as i am, but they have some good boiled crawfish, so i'm all for it!  corinne and i split a couple of pounds of crawfish and a couple of pounds of shrimp.  becky opted for a steak, which was actually delicious.  ernest ordered catfish, but after a few bites his upset stomach wouldn't allow for him to eat much of it.  after dinner we headed home and called it an early night, watching some leverage before falling asleep.

on saturday we had plans to go to the zoo.  i cooked breakfast and then we each began to get ready to head out.  i didn't realize how long it would take us and didn't plan very well so, much to the disappointment of all of us, we didn't end up going.  instead we found a small festival nearby that wasn't too expensive and decided to head over there.  there wasn't much going on, but they did have some great food booths, which we partook in.  i wanted fried pickles, so i got some and they were actually the best fried pickles i ever had!  ernest bought some jambalaya and it was delicious.  corinne opted for some alligator sausage on a stick.  now, i don't know if any of y'all have ever tasted alligator sausage, but if you ask me it doesn't taste any different from any other kind of sausage.  maybe it's just me.  but it WAS good.

afterwards we headed back to the apartment to relax.  the sun was beating down pretty bad that day, and we walked a little bit at the festival, combined with the food we ate, so we all needed a little rest before going to dinner.  we played a little mariokart, which was TONS of fun, and then i annihilated everyone at "who's smarter than a fifth grader".  for dinner we decided to do mulate's, at corinne's request.  the girls tried grilled alligator, zydeco bread and they each opted for seafood plates.  ernest and i shared the ribs, of course!  by the time we finished eating, my parents had arrived at the apartment.  they drove from san antonio to take the girls home, since their original plans for getting back to san antonio fell through.

we met them at the apartment and hung out for a bit.  i was feeling pretty badly, having caught whatever it was that ernest had, but we decided to go out anyway.  the girls had a good time, which is all that matters, since it was their spring break.  the next morning my parents and the girls were leaving early, but we decided to grab breakfast at ihop first.  i was really sad that my parents were only around for less than 24 hours, but as ernest reminded me, i'll be seeing them soon when we go home for vacation.

the girls had a good time, and it was a great weekend for me as well.  and ernest and i ended it with a crawfish boil at his friends house.  best crawfish i've had since moving to new orleans!  and good news!  ernest decided he actually likes them!  finally...