New Orleans, Part III

saturday
started off sad but ended up good. we tried to go to mother's for breakfast, but ran out of time. we tried again for lunch and ran out of time again. we finally made it in the late afternoon when we didn't have anything else to rush off to.

so we waited in line--less than twenty minutes i think, although we were on a post-presentation high so i can't say for sure. with the kind of crowd they get, you get told where to go, "send the line that way" and all that. it's cafeteria style--you walk along the counter and feel like you are interrupting and slowing things down if you ask questions. but it is just cuz they're busy and trying to get people their food in an orderly fashion i think. anyway, so you order and then go to the register to pay. then you wait for them to call your name and you pick up your food. i think there's also some kind of process where you give someone your ticket and they bring your food to your table but i don't know how that all works.

anyway, i had the jambalaya, which was great. apparently jambalaya is very rice heavy compared to things like gumbo and etouffee. (see my cluelessness with new orleans cuisine?) one friend had the crawfish etouffee, which was also great. another friend had the seafood gumbo, which was a little too fishy for my taste. i believe it had oysters along with other kinds of seafood. definitely not my style. if i went back, i think i might also get a side of greens.

also headed to southern candymakers to pick up some pralines to take home. first off, the store just smells good. the employees are really cheerful. one of them taught us the correct pronuncation--praw-lines because pray-lines what you do in church. and then they gave us samples. they taste like they would be too sweet--like you wait for that sweet pain in your teeth, but it never comes. it's like magic. pralines and cream was one of my favorite ice cream flavors when i was a kid and i never even knew what a praline was. i bought some chocolate pralines and rum pralines for kea. and for me--until i realized all that cream and butter does not agree with me. they also had peanut butter pralines and coconut pralines but those didn't seem that appetizing to me.