happy 4th anniversary, byrds!!!!

celebrating a very happy 4 years with the love of my life!  four years.  four years of creating a life together, creating an even greater friendship, creating an even stronger love.  & now onto creating a little porter!

 {1st year of happiness in montevallo}

{2nd year of happiness in memphis}

{3rd year of happiness in nola}

i love you, dear love of my life.  you are truly the man of my dreams.

love love,

kjp.

fun & cocktails in nola.

a full stomach & a happy heart.  that pretty much sums up our wonderful vacay in new orleans.  so grateful to have my sister & my benny boo & my sweet husband all in one wonderful place.

new orleans is full of amazing craft cocktail bars.  impressive bartenders, ingredients of which you've never heard, & art & science together in one beverage.  we loved it.  bellocq was first up.

this super swanky hotel bar captures the essence of the pre-prohibition time.  cobblers {classic drinks with fresh seasonal fruit & crushed ice}, fancy cocktails, & great spirits.

julie really wanted to check out the historic cemeteries in nola; however, we were really bad at planning ahead on this one.  so our monday afternoon consisted of walking around outside of the cemetery.  but it was still quite impressive.

{benny boo checking out the inside.

this is totally legal, by the way.}

oh!  we also got the chance to thunder up in the big easy!  #wearethunder.

we took julie & ben to the oldest bar in the us, lafitte's!  delicious hurricanes & a super old, historic bar. right up our alley.

& our favorite bar in new orleans, bar tonique.  this place is absolutely fantastic.  it's rustic & historic & classic.  with original brick walls, chalkboard menus, & an amazing bartender, this was a true treat.  we went twice.  & had we been there longer, we would've gone many more times.  it was so fun to sit at the bar, chat about the delicious drinks, & watch the bartender with all of his concoctions.  a treat.

{my super sister & benny boo}

of course we stopped by the carousel bar at hotel monteleone, my first car's namesake.  

a stop at the musical legends park in the french quarter rounded out our trip.  celebration cigars for the boys & a beautiful evening for all.  

love love,
kjp.

barcadia & bourbon street.

after all of that eating, julie, ben, blakey, & i actually got out to have some fun too!  our first night out was at a fan-freakin-tastic bar called barcadia.  it's exactly what it sounds like - a bar & an arcade.  for adults.  & that, my friends, is awesome.

our night of fun began with life-sized connect 4! {not to be confused with connect 5, as some might believe...} i was pink & julie was green in this game above.  please note who is about to win here.  {because obviously i wasn't going to post a picture when she beat me}

the boys crushed some video games.  street fighter, that golf game that all boys love, frogger, ms pac man, all of the greats...

& they played a pinball machine that reminded me so much of the freddy krueger pinball machine we had growing up.  "freddy's home..."

& possibly the best of them all - life-size jenga!  julie & i had so much fun with life-size jenga.  we tried to play by the original rules, including once you touch one you have to move it.  so difficult.  so we cheated a little bit & changed the rules.  & once we decided it was game over, we knocked the whole thing over!  jenga!

now it wouldn't be a trip to nola without a stop on bourbon street!

we took julie & ben to a second floor patio bar that overlooked the street.  we got beads to toss at people below & made friends with our patio-standing neighbors.  it was a blast!

welcome to new orleans!  the greatest little city in the south, don't you think?

love love,

kjp.

a delicious taste of new orleans.

we had a wonderful wonderful trip to new orleans!  so much fun.  so amazing to hang out with family.  & i'm going to tell you all about it.  but i'm starting with the food.  because we love new orleans' food.

our first stop as soon as we picked up julie & benny boo from the airport was the one & only cochon butcher.  oh, donald link & your cochon restaurants, we love you.  four trips in this five day vacation.  truth.  & we loved every one of them.  this first stop included the must have boudin & pastrami sandwich, insanely rich duck sliders, quite awesome mac & cheese and green beans, & the most ridiculously tasty sweet + spicy brisket sliders.  oh, i love those sliders.  {for the record, stop #2 at butcher was those incredible brisket sliders & boudin, of course.  stop #3?  lots of boudin.}

we actually tried a few new spots on this trip to new orleans, including a little pub called capdeville.  it's a cozy little joint on a tiny, off-the-beaten path street that is anything but fancy.  comfortable & inviting it was.  we were one of two groups when we arrived at seven in the evening but were almost turned away due to the high number of reservations.  so it must be a happenin' place, if you go on nola time.  for our meal, we enjoyed a few local brews & some tasty burgers.  i'd recommend it for a little different taste of nola.

our first breakfast of the trip was, as it absolutely should be, at cafe du monde!  it was julie & ben's first cafe du monde experience & it was awesome as always.  the restaurant was crazy busy, as everything else on this trip, due to jazz fest.  we went all out, ordering 7 bags {which is TWENTY-ONE beignets... yessss} & 4 cafe au laits to go.  we took our gigantic bag of fried deliciousness down the street to sit on a park bench & enjoy.

get this - they were so busy, they didn't sugar the beignets.  they gave us a bag of beignets & a huge bag of powdered sugar.  so awesome.  so we poured the 5 pounds {exaggeration} of powdered sugar over our beignets & shook away.  just as amazing!

for lunch, the boys decided to take a walk down to the open air french market for some alligator on a stick.  delicious!

for dinner that evening, we intended to try out the famous acme oyster house.  but the line was crazy long & we were hungry, so we walked down the street to an oyster bar rated better on urbanspoon, royal house restaurant.  we enjoyed a lot of oysters - fresh oysters on the half shell, chargrilled oysters, oysters rockefeller baked with spinach & bacon, & oysters royale baked with seafood stuffing.  they were very good.  i love me some raw oysters, but the chargrilled were quite delicious too.

breakfast number two was another new spot for us, surrey's cafe & juice bar in the garden district.  it is a local favorite on magazine street with fresh fruit & homemade breads & other breakfast favorites.  i had a fabulous housemade onion bagel with avocado mash & vegetables.  blakey enjoyed huevos racheros with chorizo & a side of boudin patties.  he loves trying the boudin everywhere in nola, as it is always different.  & always good.

for happy hour drinks & food, we went back to our favorite nola happy hour at lüke, for half-off cocktails & fifty cent oysters.  these oysters are simply the best.  they are gigantic & fresh & so tasty.  we, once again, went all out with three dozen fresh & a dozen baked.  you know, just because we could :)

& then the meal blakey & i had been waiting for since we left new orleans last, cochon!!  i have had the highest expectations both times we have eaten at cochon & it simply does not disappoint.  in fact, it was even more amazing than i remembered.  we started our meal with fried boudin & fried alligator.  these two dishes are probably two of my favorite dishes i've ever eaten.  one, the very best of a dish you can find all around the city.  & the other, so create & unique & well executed.  for our meal, i had the pork cheek special served over hoppin john.  it was incredible.  & blake had the rabbit & dumplings.  normally, i would ask why on earth would you order rabbit at a restaurant called pig?  but it was delicious.  rich & delicious.  & we had to share a side of mac & cheese, as our server said it was the best.  he was certainly not wrong.  cochon, we love you.  

for our final nola meal, we went a little on the light side {well, light for new orleans} with happy hour pizzas at domenica.  at half off, we ordered three to try & share - proscuitto with tomato, mozzarella, & aurugla; calabrese with spicy salami, mozzarella, capers, & olives; and duck with porcini, mascarpone, sweet potato, & scallions.  my favorite was the proscuitto, which is not surprising at all.  it was fresh & light & lovely.  blake's favorite with the calabrese, which surprised me.  he loved how italian it was.  oh, & the duck.  it was rich & filling & delicious.  but we could only eat one piece each.  we headed home with an entire box full of pizza.  which we ate cold the next morning for breakfast.   

a delicious taste of new orleans, as always.

love love,

kjp.

coffee shops of new orleans.

{their humorous honesty makes me believe it}

while we were in new orleans, we, of course, stopped by quite a few coffee shops.  along with getting my caffeine fix, i absolutely love experiencing the different flavors & personalities & practices of coffee shops everywhere.

the winner of best cup of joe was, hands down, spitfire coffee in the french quarter.  this tiny little store has room for their brewing & grinding equipment, a little storage showcasing all of their fancy brewing techniques & ingredients, & the register.  no room for chairs here.  but who doesn't want to walk around the french quarter with their delicious cup of coffee?

while walking along magazine street in the lower garden district, we stopped in another store for a late morning pick me up.  the coffee was not the best i've ever tasted, so i'll let it remain nameless.  {no desire here to hurt someone's reputation.  it's all just opinion anyway, right?}  i did, however, absolutely love the the brutally honest personalities of these baristas.  it's pretty much what every person who has worked in a coffee shop wants to say, but never deemed it appropriate to actually say.  until this place.  awesome.

{AND they had maple bacon coffee beans!
i hope it is as fantastic as it sounds.}

one morning, blakey & i stopped by a coffee shop in the central business district with a beautifully modern vibe.  long skinny lights hanging over the coffee bar, white tables with rustic wood bars, & a huge poofy cloud light fixture.

while blakey was at his second work presentation of the trip, i headed to an adorable bakery to read & relax & enjoy the day.  bittersweet confections is a lovely store with cupcakes & petite fours & cookies & chocolate dipped strawberries & a nice cup of lemon ginger iced tea.  i couldn't bring myself to try one of the sweets on my week away from baking, but the smell of confectioners sugar was a familiar sense of home.

love love,

kjp.

swine & wine with the mcgs!

for st patty's day, we celebrated with the mcgowans at the swine & wine festival!  swine & wine is a whole pig roast with local food, wine, & beer & live music at the awesome old car heaven.  a group of awesome chefs get together each year to roast some pigs overnight, make delicious side dishes, & serve a big family style meal.

in addition to some great birmy chefs, the james beard award winning chef stephen stryjewski of new orleans' cochon joined in the fun this year!  & you know how much we love cochon.

all four of us gave the amazing boudin our favorite food award.  & guess who made it - you are correct - cochon!  they know how to make ridiculously good food.  well done, chef.

a fun fun evening full of so much delicious food, tasty brews, & fabulous friends.  now that is some good luck.

love love,
kjp.