Nawlins.

I should also mention that one of the reasons it took me forever to start posting again was that the day after I got my cast off I left for New Orleans for a week. It was a work trip, so most of my days were spent in training, but we got to explore in the evenings, and a bit on the weekend. Man, oh man, do I like that city! We stayed in the Central Business District, which was convenient for our conference, but also within walking distance of the French Quarter. If you get past the neon signs and drunken frat boys on Bourbon Street (which you really do have to see at least once in your life), New Orleans has some of the loveliest architecture I have ever seen. And, the food! My goodness.

I became addicted to coffee and chickory cafe au'laits and beignets about the second day there, and have been going through withdraw since I returned. For those of you who have not experienced the heavenly deliciousness that is a beignet (sounds like ben-yay), it's like a funnel cake, except in big fried squares instead of squiggles. At Cafe du Monde, you can get a plate of three of them (covered in more powdered sugar than you should probably eat in a year) for $1.82. You can see why they were hard to leave. Too hard, actually - I brought home a box of mix to try at home. We'll see what happens.

I tried to be a little adventurous in my eating while I was there. I'm a picky eater at my core, but have been forcing myself to get a life during the past year, and try different things - especially when travelling. Last year in Boston I ate clam chowder, even though the thought of clams make me dry heave...and it was good. So for my New Orleans visit I went for a local delicacy: crawfish. I couldn't bring myself to eat them just straight up, so I tried the much more subdued crawfish cakes at Felix's. That was the way to go for me: lots of cake, little crawfish. Once again my brain proved to be wrong and my belly right - they were awesome. Sal, ever the brave one, learned how to peel and eat them from a cook on the street.

More awe inspiring food from New Orleans that we tried: jambalaya, muffulettas from Central Grocery (the man who waited on us didn't bat an eye when I asked for one with no meat - he simply said "Don'tah worry. I take care of you."), hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's, red beans and rice, pain perdu, white chocolate bread pudding, and catfish po'boys. Twice.

While we were there we also got to catch some jazz at Preservation Hall, take in the St. Patrick's

Day parade where they throw cabbage and potatoes, as well as other festive junk. Don't worry - the veggies don't go to waste. There were a bunch of ladies hauling that stuff away by the bagful. Irish Stew...yum.

There is something about New Orleans that I haven't been able to shake, and I can't exactly put my finger on it. It started the first night I was there, when I couldn't sleep. I thought it might be just a first night adjustment; staying in a strange hotel and all, but no - it was every night. It was kind of like when I'm in Vegas - here is the whole city, alive and awake and I'm missing it. And now I'm here, and it's there. Maybe that's it. At least I brought back the beignets.

I heart Sal.

As I mentioned before, being one handed for two weeks was a big pain in the behind. This is not meant to be disrespectful to people who have only one hand all the time. But being that I am used to having two functioning hands most of the time, it was a huge annoyance. I'm really dominantly right-handed, so when I had surgery on my right wrist, I needed help showering, getting dressed, and eating. So obviously, cooking was out of the question. Lucky for me, my husband is awesome and took over like a champ. In addition to putting my hair in a ponytail, and pulling on my socks, he also made sure that I had food to eat. Here are a couple of the yummy local meals he whipped up while I was out of commission:

Chicken and tomato saute

Turkey Meatloaf

He made lots of other great stuff too, but having not documented it on camera, I can't remember. Pain medication will do that to you.

I'm baaaaack.

Why, hello ya'll! I have returned from the land of the one handed, and can now type a sentence in less than ten minutes. Yes, it is a happy time. I still have a splint on my wrist (not the giganto cast you see in the photo), but at least I can use the fingers on my right hand, which means I can now brush my teeth without poking myself in the eye. Ahhh, the things you miss when you're one handed. Anyway, look for some updating posts in the next week or so.

Oh, I do want to remind local Wilmingtonians that Lewis Farms is now open for business. Hoorah! For now they've got strawberries, plants and oh yes: their blessed ice cream. We walked down yesterday for their opening day and had ourselves some waffle cones for lunch. Delish.